Brendan Rodgers : It's a Great Victory

Liverpool 1 - 0 Swansea (March 16, 2015)

About the Winning

"It was a wonderful demonstration of the character and resilience in the team, especially [after] how we played in the first half."

"Any system you play in the game doesn't work unless you have that ability to work, and we just weren't anywhere near it in the first half. But that resilience and character kept us in the game."

"We knew we were going to be better in the second half, we changed the structure of the team a little bit and then I thought in the second half we really dominated the game."

"You can see whenever the team isn't quite pressing how we want then it becomes a little bit broken, like it was in the first half."

"We pressed the game and shortened the pitch much more in the second half. We got the goal and had opportunities to get a few more."

"We know that we have the capacity to win games. Our away record over the last two years is really strong.

"You see the resilience in the team and when we're not playing so well, we've still got that organisation and resolve to keep a clean sheet.

"In the second half we were much more fluent in our passing and movement. We played the most part of the game in their half. We didn't have too many scares in the second half.

"It's a great victory, it's a difficult place to come here and we're very happy."

About Strategy

"People who know me and have watched my teams regularly from when I was a youth coach, my teams have played 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 diamond."

"If you look at Swansea tonight, they were a diamond and we were a box in midfield, and they got between us quite well I felt because they've got good players and they passed it well."

"We've prepared that in training for if we have to flip and you see the difference it can make. The players went smoothly into it."

"You push the sides further up, so it's a 3-4-3 but in a different format. We pushed Raheem [Sterling] higher up the pitch onto the full-back, [Alberto] Moreno went right high and then the diamond occupies the spaces in midfield.

"They play with two front players, but we still go three versus two at the back and then that allows us to have the extra numbers. It worked well for us."

About 13 games unbeaten in the division since mid-December.

"I'm proud whichever way [we win]," 

"We work very hard first and foremost on how we defend.

"It's not just about the style, you have to have a foundation and the foundation for that is how we press the game."

About Steven Gerrard As Substitution

"What we did in the second half was run more without the ball, that notion for the team that you've got to move not just when you have the ball, you've got to run off it.

"We talked at half-time about penetrating and options for the guy in possession. Steven came on and offered that calmness.

"We switched to the diamond in the second half. He came in and fitted into the bottom of that. His calmness and control was very important in that."

"You have to pay respect to the team."

"They've been playing very, very well and getting results. Collectively over the last three months we've been in great form."

"But, of course, Steven has been out for a considerable period of time. He's fit [now] and you saw him in the game today how important he is when he came on."

About the Competition

"We can now really look forward to that. Tonight, whatever, we needed a result - so to get the victory was a huge result for us."

"At home, we look forward to going into this game - they're massive games, great games to be involved in."

"Hopefully, it'll show the strides we've made since we played them a number of months back. For that, I have to give immense credit to the team."

"We've put ourselves in a great position. There is still a lot of work to go so we'll recover now and get ready for the weekend."

"[The target is] to finish as high as we can. Everyone talks about fourth but it's the same every year for me. We do the best we can do."

"Manchester City's result at the weekend gives us an opportunity to finish second, so our mentality, the run and confidence we have at the moment we're just going to take that into every game and see where it takes us."

"We've clawed our way slowly back into it. We knew it was going to take time being so many points behind, but to get back to this level of consistency is very, very impressive."

"We've still got a lot of work to do, but we're on the right pathway."

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Jordan Henderson : About Match-Winning against Aston Villa

"It was a fantastic finish,"
"Rickie has got great finishing ability and he came on and worked really hard for us, holding the ball up and showing his quality with the goal."
"You can see how much it means to Rickie [from his celebration]. But as a team it meant a lot to get the three points. It was very, very pleasing.

"First half, I thought we controlled the game well and had quite a few chances to go 2-0 up. We knew that in the second half they would come out and make it very difficult, putting the ball into the box early, but I thought we dealt with it really well.
"I thought the back three - as well as the goalkeeper - were fantastic, dealing with the long balls and the set pieces. As a team, we were very solid. Thankfully we got the second goal with a great finish from Rick."

"I think Lazar [Markovic] and Philippe [Coutinho] produced some good play in the corner and I just made a forward run and it was a great ball from Lazar," reflected the midfielder. "Then I've just put it in an area and Fabio got a great contact to it and a great finish.
"It was a good goal, but then I thought that throughout the first half, we kept dominating and really wanted the second goal, but it didn't quite come. We kept going, kept digging in and we got it in the end."

About Villa's Performance
"It was a difficult period, but we knew that would happen," said Henderson. "They are a good team, Villa. I thought Simon Mignolet was outstanding for the whole game, dealing with crosses coming into the box, he was very dominant.

About Simon Mignolet
"Simon is a great lad and a great professional, who works really hard. I think he's dealt with everything fantastically well. That was the same last week. He put in a great performance and he did that again today, which was not only great for the team, but also for him personally."

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Jordan Henderson : About Lazar Markovic & Match-Winning againts Sunderland

"He's a fantastic player,". "He's got great potential."

"He wants to learn all the time and he puts in hard work on the training field. I think you saw that today - the quality he has got going forward."

"Overall, it was very pleasing. We knew coming here would be difficult. They made it very difficult for us. In the first half, I thought we controlled the game really well. And then we dug in towards the end and tried to fight for the result. Thankfully we got it."
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