• What They Said

'Outstanding' Liverpool delight Rodgers

Luis Suarez was on target for Liverpool © Getty Images

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Liverpool ran riot against Norwich and manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the effort. He said: "I thought the players were outstanding. The first goal was important for us. Their work-rate and application was outstanding. Some of our football was very good, so five goals and a clean sheet was pleasing."

Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez combined well in the 5-0 win, much to the delight of Rodgers who said: "They linked very, very well. Luis has done what he's done for us all season. He's 100 per cent every game.

"They are both players who are not just static. Daniel's got pace and power but he's also clever. That was important for us today. It gives the opponent someone else to really worry about.

"Suarez has been incredible for us this season and has had some young players up there with him, but we've now got a recognised goalscorer up beside him.

"If you look at the movements between the two of them... The second goal was a wonderful demonstration of how good players can link together."

Rodgers also confirmed keeper Pepe Reina, who missed the game, will be assessed next week. "He had a thigh problem before the game last week," he said. "He played and on assessment afterwards it got worse. Plus he broke his nose [in the game].

"He had an operation to fix his nose yesterday. We'll see how he is by next week and review it from there."

Norwich boss Chris Hughton had no excuses, saying: "We were poor today. By our standards, we conceded poor goals. We gave them too much space. We tried to be solid as a team, but they showed in their finishing the quality thy have got. On a bad day and you do not do the things you have been doing well, you can get beaten and beaten badly."

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew saw his side slip to a 2-1 home defeat to Reading, but he is not worried about speculation about his future. He said: "I'm strong enough and been in situations before to deal with where we are at. I just think we were well set to today, the mood was good in the camp. We want a result, it would help every situation. The mood can change considerably, one goal can do that.

"We're lacking impetuous, the result would have given us some, but we need to strengthen the team. Give me some options that will work for us. The 10-day break will also give us the chance to get Steven Taylor up to speed, he's only had four days' training. We definitely need two or three more players in this group. Hopefully we could get them over the line before Villa."

Brian McDermott, who joined Reading when Alan Pardew was the manager there, was understandably delighted with a second fightback victory in a week.

He said: "Adam Federici pulled off a couple of really good saves in the first half which proved to be match-winning saves. Pavel Pogrebnyak had a real chance in the first half before they scored and we could have been 1-0 up. But you come here and they get to 1-0 up and then it's never going to be easy. But I thought in the second half, we upped our game. You have to manage games. You have to stay in the game and once Newcastle didn't get a second goal, we knew we were in with a shout the longer the game went on.''

David Silva netted twice for Manchester City in their win over Fulham and he earned praise from assistant manager David Platt. He said: "David's been magnificent since he's been here. He does so much for the team, on and off the ball. He is a valued member of the team. The one thing missing from last season was the goals ratio, so it's pleasing he's got a couple. Even when he's not scoring he's a very important player."

Fulham boss Martin Jol had words of praise for City but felt his side contributed to their own downfall. He said: "Every point you gain here is a bonus because they do not lose a lot at home. They have been on a great run and did not struggle. There was nothing to say we would be favourites, but to give the ball away in the second minute, it was a cheap goal."

Sam Allardyce was frustrated to see his West Ham side draw with Queens Park Rangers in a game they dominated. He said: "The agony of not being able to sit at home and relax having secured three points is very disappointing. If we continue to play like that and dominate teams, we will get victories. Their keeper has made save after save and their defenders have made block after block. We made many chances to win it, but could not find the finish. It is frustrating more than disappointing to create so many chances and come away with only one point. We tried to play a stupid offside rather than go with the run. You can only tell them, when they are on the field they make the decisions. It was the only chance they had in the game, but at this level if you switch of you will be punished."

QPR made it five games unbeaten and Harry Redknapp was delighted with the effort of his playes. "We got 1-0 up and looked okay at that stage," the R's boss told www.qpr.co.uk. "I felt we looked like we had more goals in us on the counter-attack with [Loic] Remy and his pace, and Adel [Taarabt] playing in behind. But then we started giving the ball away, came under a lot of pressure and dropped deeper and deeper.

"In the end we were under pressure and found it very hard to get out, it was difficult. We fought for our lives and we'll take a point. That's five games unbeaten, that's a big improvement."

Michael Laudrup's Swansea proved too strong for Stoke and the Dane felt it was close to perfection. He said: A win is always important. The win, the performance and no injuries. A combination of those things is near perfection."

Stoke boss Tony Pulis put the defeat down to a bad day at the office. He said: "Right from the first whistle to the last whistle, we were second best," commented City's manager after the disappointing defeat at the Liberty Stadium. Over the course of a season, you have your good days, you have your bad days. This was certainly a bad day for us and there are no excuses for that."

Sunderland claimed a 3-2 win at Wigan and it came as a huge boost to manager Martin O'Neill. He said: "It was a really big win for us. After going a goal behind early on it was almost as if there was a hangover from Tuesday night, but having said that we responded brilliantly."

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez insists the Latics are prepared to fight for their Premier League future after they slipped into the bottom three with a 3-2 defeat at home to Sunderland.

"We never take anything for granted,'' he said. "If we had done that we would never have had eight seasons at this level. Today we weren't good enough defensively for 30 minutes. We need to rectify that. Ivan Ramis' injury last week cost us today's points. That is something I need to correct.''

Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill was thrilled with the battling spirit his side showed.

"We've had to show a lot of fight and determination,'' said O'Neill, whose side have moved comfortably into mid-table after five wins from their last eight games. "Wigan threw a lot at us but and were never out of it. It was all hands to the pump at the end and I am delighted with the result.''

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