Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers says his side is capable of once again going on an 11-game streak as they did last season. GEORGI LICOVSKI / EPA
Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers says his side is capable of once again going on an 11-game streak as they did last season. GEORGI LICOVSKI / EPA
Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers says his side is capable of once again going on an 11-game streak as they did last season. GEORGI LICOVSKI / EPA
Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers says his side is capable of once again going on an 11-game streak as they did last season. GEORGI LICOVSKI / EPA

On the mend, Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool aim for repeat of 11-game streak


  • English
  • Arabic

Agence France-Presse

LIVERPOOL // Brendan Rodgers concedes Liverpool hit rock bottom last month but the manager is confident surviving such a tumultuous period will be the making of his players.

Rodgers' side lost three successive English Premier League matches for the first time in his two-and-a-half-year reign as a nightmare run threatened to ruin Liverpool's season.

But they responded positively to end November with a battling 2-2 Uefa Champions League draw against Bulgarian side Ludogorets and then a 1-0 league win over Stoke City last weekend.

Liverpool followed that with a more convincing 3-1 victory at Leicester in midweek and Rodgers says morale at Anfield has improved significantly ahead of Saturday’s home clash with Sunderland.

“We were at a low as everyone saw,” Rodgers said. “We had set such high standards here over the past couple of years and we had fallen way below that.

“I felt the performance levels weren’t quite right. But I felt the change after that. I felt that could be the making of us.

“Our last two performances have shown we have got that character.

“That period where we hadn’t won, we had some decent performances but ultimately we’re in the business of winning.”

Liverpool now face a defining month as they look to make up ground in the Premier League starting with the visit of Sunderland, before matches against Manchester United and Arsenal.

They also face Swiss side Basel knowing victory is required to reach the last 16 of the Champions League next week, and travel to Bournemouth in the League Cup quarter-finals a week after that.

“The feeling is certainly different now,” Rodgers added. “For us we just need to go game by game. That’s how you build runs and momentum.

“It was the same last year when we won 11 games in a row. The feeling now is much different on the training field and in the changing room.”

Liverpool are still without Italian striker Mario Balotelli (groin) and will assess knee injuries picked up by midfielder Philippe Coutinho and left-back Jose Enrique.

Long-term absentees Daniel Sturridge (thigh), Mamadou Sakho (hip) and Jon Flanagan (knee) all remain on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Sunderland manager Gus Poyet says his side must show the right kind of mentality as they look to end their long winless run at Anfield.

The Black Cats have not beaten Liverpool on Merseyside since October 1983, and are intent on bouncing back quickly from the 4-1 midweek home defeat to Manchester City that left them two points above the relegation zone.

Poyet, whose side have won one of their last seven games, is set to ring the changes as his squad faces the third of the Premier League’s four Champions League sides in succession.

“I’m trying to create a new mentality here. I need to get people to break away from the idea that just because we’re playing a top team that we can accept a defeat,” Poyet said.

“I don’t see how you can convince yourself you’re going to win a game if you think it doesn’t matter if you lose.

“It’s a mental thing, and the more the players get the idea that we can’t accept defeat to anyone, the easier it becomes to approach each game with a belief we can win.”

Winger Adam Johnson, centre-back Wes Brown and midfielder Jordi Gomez are set to return to the starting line-up after missing out against City.

Will Buckley, Sebastian Coates, and Jack Rodwell are the players expected to make way.

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma

When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

While you're here
Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Date started: 2015

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Sector: Online grocery delivery

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Featherweight: Ali Alqaisi (JOR) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (UZB). Round 1 TKO

Featherweight: Abu Muslim Alikhanov (RUS) beat Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG). Unanimous decision

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  • As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses. 
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The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

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