LIVERPOOL MANAGER BRENDAN RODGERS has played down the importance of Luis Suarez’s contribution to Saturday’s 3-0 win over Wigan.
The Uruguayan striker scored twice as the Reds dominated the second half against Roberto Martinez’s men to post only their fourth league win at Anfield in 2012.
But Rodgers believes the result was a product of his side’s collective performance, rather than individual brilliance.
“It’s not just Luis Suarez. Luis Suarez finishes off the great work,” he told reporters.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a wonderful striker and he gets paid a good sum of money to score goals but so do lots of other teams (have great strikers).
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“Lots of other teams have strikers that are the pinnacle and finish off a lot of good work. We’re very much a team and Luis is a very big part of that.
“His first goal was a wonderful finish, great weight of pass by Raheem (Sterling) and he finished it great and the second one is a lovely pass from Jose Enrique and a nice little off-the-shoulder run and finish.
“He’s a master marksman, absolutely outstanding and obviously we’re thrilled to have him, but the ethos is very much along the team and I thought the team was excellent today.”
Rodgers did, however, say he would look to bolster his squad in the January transfer window.
“We’ll see what January brings,” he said.
“I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to get five, six players in – it doesn’t work that way.
“We know it’s going to be very difficult this season in terms of transitioning the group but we’ll get some support in and the players that we’ve got we’ll work with them and see where it takes us.”
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez, meanwhile, revealed his midfielder Ben Watson had suffered a broken leg during the match, after falling awkwardly following an aerial challenge with Sterling.
“It’s a broken leg and we are really going to miss him,” Martinez told reporters.
“He’s got a fracture, obviously we’re going to assess him now because maybe he need surgery.
“It’s too early to tell (how long he will be out) but we are really disappointed because Ben reached a very good level and today he was growing into the game, you could see that every time he got on the ball.
“We were penetrating with his quality and unfortunately he has got definitely a broken leg and now we will see what the type of the break is and see what treatment he needs.”
The Spaniard lamented his side’s tiredness after the international break following an encouraging first-half performance.
“We started quite sharp, I thought we controlled the game in the first half,” he said.
“We were the team that looked like we were going to be a real threat and stopped Liverpool completely. Unfortunately in the second half we suffered too much from the international fixtures.”
Rodgers: We are more than just Suarez
LIVERPOOL MANAGER BRENDAN RODGERS has played down the importance of Luis Suarez’s contribution to Saturday’s 3-0 win over Wigan.
The Uruguayan striker scored twice as the Reds dominated the second half against Roberto Martinez’s men to post only their fourth league win at Anfield in 2012.
But Rodgers believes the result was a product of his side’s collective performance, rather than individual brilliance.
“It’s not just Luis Suarez. Luis Suarez finishes off the great work,” he told reporters.
“Lots of other teams have strikers that are the pinnacle and finish off a lot of good work. We’re very much a team and Luis is a very big part of that.
“His first goal was a wonderful finish, great weight of pass by Raheem (Sterling) and he finished it great and the second one is a lovely pass from Jose Enrique and a nice little off-the-shoulder run and finish.
Rodgers did, however, say he would look to bolster his squad in the January transfer window.
“We’ll see what January brings,” he said.
“I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to get five, six players in – it doesn’t work that way.
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez, meanwhile, revealed his midfielder Ben Watson had suffered a broken leg during the match, after falling awkwardly following an aerial challenge with Sterling.
“He’s got a fracture, obviously we’re going to assess him now because maybe he need surgery.
“It’s too early to tell (how long he will be out) but we are really disappointed because Ben reached a very good level and today he was growing into the game, you could see that every time he got on the ball.
“We were penetrating with his quality and unfortunately he has got definitely a broken leg and now we will see what the type of the break is and see what treatment he needs.”
The Spaniard lamented his side’s tiredness after the international break following an encouraging first-half performance.
“We were the team that looked like we were going to be a real threat and stopped Liverpool completely. Unfortunately in the second half we suffered too much from the international fixtures.”
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