No regrets over Andy Carroll loan, says Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers insists he has no regrets over Andy Carroll’s loan move to West Ham United despite Liverpool’s back-to-back stalemates in the Premier League.

The Reds were unable to beat Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy despite producing 26 attempts at the Madejski on Saturday, with the Merseyside outfit drawing 0-0 with the Hammers in their last game at Anfield.

Liverpool’s goal drought has prompted criticism of the club’s decision to send Carroll on a season-long loan to Upton Park after the striker scored in West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Southampton on Saturday.

However, Rodgers is adamant the Reds have not missed the England international this season, with the Merseyside outfit the fourth-highest goal scorers in the Premier League.

“It’s not at all unfortunate that Andy’s scoring goals,” said Rodgers. “We’re the fourth highest goalscorers in the league, so scoring hasn’t been a problem for us.

“Andy’s situation is really simple. He didn’t want to stay and be on the bench, he wanted to play games.

“You always try to find solutions to break down the opposition. We broke down Reading, we just came up against a keeper who was inspired.”

“We can have no complaints this year, we’ve scored many goals. But, in the last two games, we just haven’t been able to produce the goal, which sometimes happens.

“But we’ve kept a clean sheet as well. That’s 13 clean sheets, which is one of the best records in the league.

“These are marginal gains that we’ll take, but we know we have to finish off games like that in the future.

“It’s a process and what I’m seeing all the time is the hunger, spirit and determination of the team.”