'You can see the philosophy - now we have to get the results'
Liverpool have shown how they intend to approach the season in their opening three Premier League games, according to James Milner – but the vice-captain admits improvements are needed.
The No.7 was on the mark from the penalty spot on Saturday as the Reds were held to a 1-1 draw by Tottenham Hotspur in a match they could easily have won.
Joel Matip nodded a header against the crossbar after Milner’s first-half opener at White Hart Lane, and Sadio Mane also had a goal disallowed for a narrow offside.
With the lead still slender, Spurs rallied in the closing stages and claimed a point from the contest when Danny Rose beat Simon Mignolet with a finish at the back post.
“They are a team that plays a similar style to us – high tempo, fast pace and a lot of quality, they like to move the ball around and switch the play,” Milner told Liverpoolfc.com.
“It was quite warm as well, so it was a tough game. But it was the same for both teams. Not many teams enjoy playing against us either.
“We can learn things from it and what we can do better. But I think it’s disappointing because it was another pretty good performance. It could have been better obviously and was not quite the result we wanted.”
Despite being disappointed to depart north London without three points, Milner believes Liverpool have laid a marker of their competitiveness in the meetings with Tottenham and, earlier in the month, Arsenal.
The challenge after the international break is to convert the promising efforts into positive results on a regular basis, explained the midfielder.
He said: “[The games so far are] probably a fair reflection of where we’re at. Against teams who come out and play against us and attack us a bit more, we probably find it easier to play and there’s a bit more room to play.
“You look at last season as well – the teams that are going to sit in, defend and try to hit you on the break are the teams we’ve struggled against. That’s something we can improve on.
“Even the Burnley game was a pretty good performance until the last 15 or 20 yards of the field. Ultimately, that’s the most important part of the pitch because you have to score goals.
“Some people might just look at the result; it was a good performance, it was solid and they weren’t breaking on us every time they got the ball. But ultimately, we didn’t get the result and they scored two goals. So we learn from that.
“But I think you can see the basics and how we want to play. The philosophy is there. We just have to make sure we use that to get results.”