• Premier League

Rodgers must accept Liverpool flak, says Gerrard

Steven Gerrard says Brendan Rodgers must accept the flak flying his way because it comes with the territory at Liverpool.

The captain has also urged his team-mates to roll up their sleeves and get their disappointing season on the right track with a win against Arsenal on Sunday.

But he knows that manager and players are there to be shot at after suffering seven league defeats and making an early exit from the Champions League. Gerrard said: "It comes with the territory.

"There was a stage when a couple of my performances were under par and I got a bit of stick. It's normal. I've got to accept it being captain of the club and Brendan's got to accept it being the manager of Liverpool.

"If results don't go well, questions are going to be asked, criticism is going to fly, you take it on the chin and try to improve things. That's the only way. I know when I don't play well. I think every individual does, but collectively it has been tough.

"For me I've experienced it a few times during my career at Liverpool when it gets tough under certain managers and from the outside people are trying to kill you. It's normal. We're at a big club, we've got to take that responsibility. We can't have players hiding, we need men out there."

Liverpool were a point ahead of Manchester City at this point in December 2013, but have since sold Luis Suarez to Barcelona and lost Daniel Sturridge to injury, leaving them in 11th place and 18 points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea.

They got a fillip after losing 3-0 to Manchester United last weekend by reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup with a 3-1 win at Bournemouth on Wednesday night.

But Gerrard maintained Liverpool need a similar performance to that against Arsenal last season - when they scored four times in the opening 20 minutes and eventually won 5-1 - to boost confidence after their "SAS" blow.

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Raheem Sterling ended a run of 17 games without a goal against Bournemouth © Getty Images

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"Everyone knows if we perform the way we have done of late against Arsenal we'll get beaten," Gerrard said.

"When you have a strike-force of Sturridge and Suarez, they are capable of killing teams in 20 minutes. It's different this year and everyone knows that.

"I think they were 60-70% of our goals those two. You take them out of any team in the world and it's going to be tough and it has been. But I think this is where you find out what kind of players you've got in the dressing-room. It's time to roll your sleeves up and fight for the club and try to put it right as soon as possible and that's what we're trying to do.

"We made mistakes against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday and we got punished by world-class players. The first-half against Bournemouth was probably as close as we've come to last season's standards.

"It's been tough to perform of late because we haven't played well as a team, but if we keep giving everything we've got then I'm sure the good days are not too far away. If we can get a big result against Arsenal and build on this, then I think we can turn it around."

Steven Gerrard believes Liverpool can still qualify for the Champions League © Getty Images

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Liverpool are currently seven points behind West Ham in fourth place and, although he admitted it would be hard, the 34-year-old insisted that his side can qualify for Europe again this season.

"It's a tough question and it's going to be tough to do it. We knew it was going to be tough the moment we lost Luis and the injuries we've had to Daniel of late," Gerrard said. "Everyone in the country knows the job to get in the top four becomes that awful lot harder. But we'll keep fighting until the end and if people are going to write us off, we can't control it.

"I tell players individually and I tell them in the dressing room. But if you're sitting in that dressing room and you don't know that the performance levels haven't been good enough of late, you're at the wrong place.

"All I can control is what goes on in the dressing room and try to help other players to perform well. But certainly, on the performance against Bournemouth, there's still a chance."

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