Rodgers pleased with Liverpool

Despite playing rival Everton in the English Premier League this weekend, Rodgers opted to name a strong starting line-up at Anfield which included the likes of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez and he was rewarded with a 1-0 win.

"Great credit to the players, to be fair I haven't even been thinking about the derby game, for us it's really just about one game at a time at the moment and Anzhi are a very good side with some outstanding players," he told ITV4.

"Tonight was an excellent performance.

"I thought the players were terrific, they took control of the game, and then when they had to dig deep towards the end they put their bodies on the line and got their blocks in and they were outstanding."

Rodgers was also pleased with another clean sheet, which means Liverpool has now not conceded since its 3-2 home defeat to Udinese at the start of the month.

"It's three clean sheets in a row which is important for us and we're now adding that bit of steel and concentration to some of the footballing elements that we're working on," he added.

"It was a good win and we can now recover and look forward to the weekend."

The winning goal came from Stewart Downing, who cracked home an unstoppable effort from outside the box in the 53rd minute after coming in from the left flank.

Rodgers said of the winger: "It was brilliant goal. He's had a rough ride here really, it's been difficult time for him, but he got a great round of applause from the Kop and if you can get that from the Kop then it'll give you a massive lift going forward.

"He's a good guy, he's working very hard and he's a very important member of our team."