Rodgers claims coming through testing period will be making of Liverpool squad

Liverpool football team manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that the club has to hit rock bottom before they could kick start their season, but also insists that coming through this testing period would be the making of his squad.

Liverpool lost three Premier League games on the bounce during a nightmare run in November. Rodgers also found himself under pressure, with questions being asked over whether he was the right man to lead the club forward.

Rodgers held a clear-the-air meeting with his players in the wake of their 3-1 humbling at Crystal Palace in a bid to address the slump, and they responded by ending November with a battling draw in the Champions League against Ludogerets and a 1-0 win over Stoke, The Daily Star reported.

Their Stoke win was followed by a 3-1 win at Leicester on Tuesday, and Rodgers thinks that getting through that testing period could well define his side. He admitted that they were at a low as everyone saw, adding that they had set such high standards there over the past couple of years.

And the boss also said that Liverpool had fallen way below that, adding that he felt the performance levels weren't quite right.

But, Rodgers claimed that he felt the change after that, adding that he felt that could be their making. He said that their last two performances have shown that they have got that character.

Rodgers said that that period where Liverpool hadn't won, they had some decent performances but ultimately they were in the business of winning.

Liverpool now face a defining month as they look to climb the Premier League, starting with Saturday's visit of Sunderland, before crunch games against Manchester United and Arsenal.

Rodgers' side also face Swiss side Basel in a winner-takes-all match for place in the last 16 of the Champions League next week, and travel to Bournemouth in the Capital One Cup quarter-finals a week later.

Rodgers said that the feeling is certainly different now, adding that for them they just need to go game-by-game, claming that that's how one builds runs and momentum.