Moses not all at sea anymore

Bournemouth 0 Liverpool 2

Moses made just six Premier League starts since moving to Anfield on a season-long loan, a disappointing record by anyone’s standards but his performance in the FA Cup victory over tenacious Bournemouth was his best yet and offered hope he will feature more prominently.

A neat piece of control, followed by a crisp finish gave Liverpool a first-half lead and while Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez assumed leading roles, Moses caught the eye. He is now in contention for a starting spot in tomorrow’s Merseyside derby, a reward, Rodgers believes, for steady improvement since arriving at the club.

“I have seen improvements in his training,” said the Liverpool manager. “That is the big part of it for me. How he plays well on a daily basis.”

Rodgers is convinced Moses is moving in the right direction but insists he is not the only young player who needed to be nudged along in the direction of hard graft.

“In this country we pay them to fail,” the manager said. “They show huge potential. We don’t want to give them the contracts. I had the situation last year with Raheem Sterling. He was brilliant the first six months. I was hanging off, hanging off [offering a new contract] as I know the consequence.

“You think at 17 or 18 and you are handed that contract you think you don’t have to work anymore. And then you are given the contract and it’s only natural you slowly just cruise and before you know it he didn’t play as much in the second half of the season.”

Rodgers believes that for Moses, the rewards for stepping up a level are clear.

“If he does really well for us there is a possibility we will want to have him permanently, but ultimately it is Chelsea’s decision because he is their player,” added the manager.

“And if he has done really well then they will want to keep him. So there’s every motivation.”

Sturridge added the second after being set up, inevitably, by Suarez and a testing hurdle was negotiated.

Rodgers believes this game showed the progress his squad has made since last season’s FA Cup exit at the hands of League One Oldham, a point reinforced by midfielder Jordan Henderson.

“I think our mentality is changing all the time,” said Henderson. “We want to win games and the winning mentality is coming. We are not easy to play against.”

Bournemouth’s ability to out-pass their opponents for long periods caught the attention and confirmed Eddie Howe, their 36-year-old manager, as one of a rare breed of Championship managers.

“It is a conscious decision [to play football in this league] and you have to work on it every day much as Brendan will do with the philosophy he has built at Liverpool and other clubs,” said Howe. “We are trying to develop a way of playing and you have to work on it every day. That is what we are trying to do.

“You are seeing a couple more Championship managers coming through with that ideal, I think the difficult thing if you don’t get instant results is to stick with it.

“That is why we played the way we did today. We knew it was going to be very difficult to out-football Liverpool but we attempted it.”

BOURNEMOUTH (4-1-4-1): Camp 7; Francis 6, Elphick 7, Ward 7, Daniels 8; O’Kane 8; Ritchie 6 (Fraser 73, 6), Arter 7 (Pitman 78, 6), Surman 8, Pugh 7 (Rantie 73, 6); Grabban 8.

LIVERPOOL (4-4-2): Jones 4; Kelly 6 (Flanagan 73, 6), Skrtel 7, Toure 6, Cissokho 6; Moses 8 (Sterling 84, 6), Gerrard 7, Henderson 6, Coutinho 8 (Alberto 84, 6); Suárez 9, Sturridge 7.

Referee: Lee Probert.