Rodgers: What we need against City
Brendan Rodgers has explained why Liverpool's naturally adventurous playing style when in possession will remain the approach when they take on Manchester City this Monday.
The Reds enter their second fixture of the season, against the side that narrowly won the race for the Barclays Premier League title in 2013-14, on the back of a victory over Southampton.
On their last visit to the Etihad Stadium, Rodgers' charges were unfortunate to lose 2-1 to Manuel Pellegrini's team, having secured a 2-2 draw on their previous meeting at the same venue.
Though acknowledging that matches of this magnitude are often tightly-fought, the manager expects the mentality of both opponents to produce an encounter filled with flair.
"The nature of both teams is an offensive game, but they're normally tight games," he assessed at his pre-match press conference from Melwood.
"If you look at both sets of players, there's lots of invention and creativity in the team. Both teams will be creative and want to score goals.
"We know we need to be compact and solid when we haven't got the ball, we need to be aggressive and press well. That's the nature of our game.
"We know we have the freedom, movement and pace that can hurt teams. We understand it's early on, but it'll be a good game for sure. It's been a great start to the league campaign.
"There were some excellent games last weekend and we were certainly delighted to start with a win. I was very, very pleased and very happy we won the game.
"Of course, we will perform better and the fluidity will get better as the season goes on. You have to understand a lot of players are coming back late.
"But whatever time [in the season] this game comes, it's always very important - and for us, so early on, it's even more significant.
"We know it's going to be a tough game - they've been really tough games with Manchester City - and we'll go there and play how we've played before, with no fear and going to look to attack the game."
Liverpool kicked off the season with three consecutive wins 12 months ago, laying the foundations for a long-term challenge with City and Chelsea for the Premier League trophy.
Despite that, Rodgers stressed today that Monday's tie will not be a defining moment, no matter what the final result when the 90 minutes have concluded.
"It's an important fixture for us," said the Northern Irishman, who oversaw a 3-2 victory when City came to Anfield back in April.
"We had a couple of great games against Manchester City last season and, of course, they are the champions. But I don't think it will define everything. It's over the course of the 38 games.
"We did reasonably well in the big games last season, but it's over the course of the 38. That's something I'll always look at. We've gone there in the last two seasons and performed very well.
"That will be the same idea going into this game - to perform. It's early in the season and we started with a great win, and now to go and perform and hopefully get the result is what the aim will be."