Speaking ahead of the Merseyside derby, Brendan Rodgers brought his press briefing to a standstill with a shocking revelation concerning his skipper.

"When I came into this job Stevie Gerrard came knocking on my door having cut short part of his holiday to welcome me to the club," says the Liverpool FC manager.

"He said he would be 150 per cent behind me. And he lied."

Yet such is the esteem in which Rodgers holds the talismanic midfielder, even that seeming criticism was spoken with tongue firmly in cheek.

"He lied because he has been 250% behind me," adds the Northern Irishman.

"For me, across the board as a captain he has been magnificent."There will be a lot of managers who go into jobs and maybe feel a senior player or a captain aren't giving everything for them.

"But Steven has been absolutely brilliant for me in everything he has done, very much a great ambassador for the club on and off the field.

"Games like Everton are right up his street. He loves these games, the intensity and he knows how important they are and that translates to his teammates."

While Rodgers' third derby, Gerrard will line up for his 30th clash against Everton if, as expected, he recovers from the hip injury that hampered him while on international duty for England last week.

The 33-year-old has played all bar 27 minutes of Liverpool's 13 games this season having missed only the final two matches of the previous Premier League campaign.

And keeping the influential midfielder on the field has been a priority for Rodgers.

"I said at the start of the season I want him to be available for every game," says the Liverpool manager. "We have one game a week, we obviously have the internationals and he played an hour the other night.

"He is so determined to play in the games and of course I have to manage him and monitor that. I have said that if we are ever in a position in games where I can give him a rest then I will.

"You are trying to plan forward. I took him off against Fulham with half-an-hour to go and that half-an-hour can save the legs because it is a long season.

"We are always looking to manage that situation in order to get the best out of him because he is still such an influential player.

"The quality in his game is remarkable really and if I can help manage that to get the best out of him and maximise his talent then that is something I will do."

In last season's 2-2 draw at Goodison, Luis Suarez forced an own goal from Leighton Baines before netting the visitors' second.

And the Uruguayan - who besides Gerrard is the only current Liverpool player to score in a derby - will aim to continue a run of eight goals in six Premier League games despite having arrived back on Merseyside barely 36 hours before kick-off after helping his country to the World Cup finals.

"I've certainly worked with no-one with the will and that length of desire to actually play football," says Rodgers.

"I've been fortunate enough to work with some outstanding players, character-wise very strong ones, but I'd say no-one stronger than him mentally.

"He's tough, it's his love of football, he loves playing and training. So of course he will be tired after the travel but he will be ready to play.

"That was the whole plan when we looked at it. He wanted to play when we looked at the Fulham game, the two qualifiers and this one.

"We sat down with a plan, because he was so keen to play in all them. There was a lot of organising to ensure he could play against Fulham, to assure their federation he would be out there at the time stipulated, then the plan was to get him back with as much preparation time as we could."

With Roberto Martinez having introduced a similar possession-intensive style of play at Everton, there have been suggestions this afternoon's derby may lack a trademark feisty edge.

Rodgers, though, does not think both teams trying to maximise their time on the ball will take any fire out of an encounter which has witnessed 20 red cards in 42 Premier League meetings.

"It is going to be a fiercely-competitive game," he says. "It doesn't take the intensity out by having the football. The idea of having possession is to penetrate and have aggression in your game.

"A lot of our game is based on that aggressive nature. It won't take anything out of the game, it will only add to it.

"Our game is based upon the intensity of our pressure, to get the ball back as quickly as we can and look to have superiority with numbers around the ball."

Rodgers adds: "When you analyse our last performance against Fulham (a 4-0 home win) and assess it over and above the result we were just short of 700 passes in the game, which for me is a sign of the fluidity and the fluency of the team as much as anything.

"Our rhythm in the game was good. We had nearly 70% of the ball but with that we had 30 shots at goal and we scored four goals and could have had more.

"It just typified the confidence of the players and their belief.

"We are averaging two goals a game and whatever ground we go to we always feel we can score."

Source: Daily Post