Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says that his team will continue with their attacking style of football as they bid for their first league title in 24 years.
A 4-3 victory over Rodgers’ former club Swansea City on Sunday kept Liverpool within four points of top place and gave them a six-point lead over fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur in the battle for a top-four finish.
The display was also in stark contrast to the performances and fortunes of title rivals Manchester City and Chelsea, who had each ground out 1-0 victories 24 hours earlier.
With 70 league goals to date, Liverpool have now overtaken City as the division’s leading scorers and even though poor defending left Rodgers with cause for concern, he said that he will not alter his approach.
“It’s not our style,” said Rodgers. “I work always to play good football. I’m not one that’s totally satisfied about results.
“It’s the point of the season that’s about winning; that’s what professional sport is about at this level.
“But for us, I’ll always concentrate on performance because the consequence of performing well consistently is you get results. We’ve shown that this season.
“There have not been too many times this season when we have talked about hard luck stories. And today (Sunday) we weren’t quite at our best, but we scored four goals and won the game.”
Two goals each for Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson secured victory and meant that Liverpool have now taken 31 points from the last 33 available at Anfield.
However, Swansea’s Wilfried Bony also scored twice, while former Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey added another, as the visitors exposed the defensive weaknesses that may yet cause Rodgers sleepless nights.
“Don’t get me wrong — I’d take a clean sheet and a 1-0 win, absolutely,” Rodgers added. “We didn’t defend anywhere near well enough today. I’m not overly happy with the defending.
“It’s mistakes or decision-making that is costing us and there is no doubt we will continue to work on that side of it.”
– ‘Natural goalscorer’ –
The victory also saw Sturridge equal Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League record of scoring in eight consecutive league games.
The feat earned the forward glowing praise from Rodgers, who said: “He’s just a natural goalscorer and he gave us a great start with a really good finish.
“His second goal is an area of his game he has been looking to improve. It was a lovely ball from Luis Suarez and he finished it with a great header.
“It looks like he can score every single game. He has good ability, good quality and thankfully he plays for us. There is a lot of improvement to come as well.”
Henderson continues to enjoy one of the most eye-catching Premier League transformations of recent years after a difficult start to his Anfield career under former manager Kenny Dalglish.
“Jordan showed great leadership today. You could see him driving the team on,” said Rodgers.
“The most pleasing thing for me was his second goal because he has the legs and energy to do that.
“We talk to the midfield players about not only getting into the area but getting into the six-yard box, and that is where his second goal has come from. That was a really important goal for us.”
Meanwhile, Rodgers’ former Swansea player Garry Monk, now in charge of the Welsh club, has no doubt that Liverpool are genuine title contenders.
“Why not?” said Monk. “They are up there and it is not out of their grasp. I’m sure that they will be thinking that themselves.
“You can see the work that Brendan has put in place. I worked with Brendan and saw what he can do.
“I said when he left us that Liverpool have a good manager on their hands and you can see the progress they have made with the strike-force they have.”