Daniel Agger's first-half header was enough to secure three points for Liverpool at Anfield in a game that saw the hosts pull the strings for the majority of the 90 minutes.

However, the last 10 minutes saw the home side succumb to clumsy passing and a lack of concentration in possession that could have seen them lose vital points.

Rodgers said his side should have put the game to bed before half-time but was nonetheless pleased with the win.
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"I thought we were outstanding in the first half," he said. "The tempo and way we shift the ball and everyone was passing and moving and the creativity was there.

"Throughout the game, it's just that little bit of luck with the final ball, and no matter how much you dominate the game, if it's still only 1-0 going into the final 10 minutes, it's always going to offer you that wee bit of challenge and you've got to defend.

"Absolutely no question we should have been out of sight (at half-time)."

The game against Southampton saw Liverpool midfielder Lucas return from injury and Rodgers was more than pleased to the see the Brazilian back in the starting line-up.

"I thought he was excellent. In my mind, he's come so far in training and I felt I needed to get him into one of the games and he's another piece to what we want to do here and you can see the difference he makes when he is in the team," Rodgers said.

Southampton manager Nigel Adkins paid tribute to Liverpool after the hosts dominated the encounter.

"We've come away from home and adapted because we're an attack-minded side and today we didn't have nearly enough possession of the football as we usually do and that's credit to Liverpool in all respect," he said.

"We're obviously disappointed in respect to the fact that we haven't got anything from the game.

"We've come away from home on a good run of form of late and I think it's fair to say that Liverpool's movement was very good today and we couldn't get a grip on the football.

"If we could have got to half-time 0-0 (and) still in the game, that would have been very pleasing (but) a free header in the area has given them a 1-0 lead."