And Aldridge believes, despite it not being the pretty game that many would have hoped for, it shows team spirit and was exactly what Liverpool needed.
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Brazilian Coutinho underlined his worth at the club scoring a sensational 25-yard strike in the 86th minute of Liverpool’s Premier League opener against Stoke City on Sunday to seal a 1-0 win.
The Brazil global is some weeks behind most of his team-mates in terms of fitness having joined pre-season late because of the Copa America.
Liverpool collected four yellow cards in the game – majority out of frustration.
Stoke will be without influential defender Ryan Shawcross after he underwent surgery on a back injury but Bojan is back in contention after recovering from a long-term knee injury.
“It is always about the results”.
He said: “I would’ve been happy if we’d picked up a clean sheet but it wasn’t the worst way to start the season“. A player like that can pull something out of the bag, win the game and collect the points. You can’t always play free-flowing football, sometimes it is a battle and you need that bit of brilliance.
“We matched them toe-to-toe today; they have spent a lot of money during the summer and I didn’t think that was evident at all given both sides’ performances”, the 51-year-old added.
Coutinho has seen his reputation as a long-range scorer grow over the years.
Moreno’s future has been uncertain for the past few months with rumours suggesting Rodgers may be willing to sell the Spaniard, but he insisted his aims are to stay and be “a regular in the starting line-up” so that he can “play as many games as possible”.
“He’s an experienced player in big competitions and big competitions for his country as well”.
Asked about his potential prospects of an spot in Vicente del Bosque’s squad, he acknowledged that he has his work cut out – with the likes of Jordi Alba, Benat, Jose Luis Gaya and Cesar Azpilicueta all to compete with for the left-back slot.
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The playmaker failed to offer enough support to Christian Benteke and it was a indictment of his performance that the Reds performed better once Emre Can had come on to replace him.
