Brendan Rodgers has stressed his belief that improving players is a key element of his role as manager – and pointed to Stewart Downing, Jose Enrique and Jordan Henderson as perfect examples.

The trio, all signed in the summer of 2011, found first-team opportunities scarce at the beginning of the campaign but have worked their way into contention with each passing week.

And the Northern Irishman expressed confidence that his squad can learn and improve under his guidance at Anfield, work that has already yielded fruit during his opening months.

He said: "I will be able to improve players - that is my work and I have confidence in that. If I look at the first six months, I believe there has been improvement in a lot of the players.

"I will be able to rinse everything that I possibly can out of them, but the bottom line is about talent. If you don't initially have that then it can be difficult.

"That is also why I was brought in here, because we will get talents and we will try to maximise what we can out of players.

"You look at Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Jose Enrique since the start of the season and we have added value back to them. Absolutely.

"That is the job of the manager and the coach, as well as winning games. My job is to improve players in every aspect of their game.

"You have to work with the players you have and I have done that throughout my life.

"I will always push to get the best possible squad we can here but the most important thing at the minute is putting in place the philosophy and model that will allow us to improve players."