Brendan Rodgers has discussed the fall out with Mamadou Sakho back in September, insisting all is forgotten after the French defender helped Liverpool to a third consecutive clean sheet.
Sakho missed three months of the season through injury, having previously fallen out with Rodgers after walking out of the ground when dropped for the Merseyside derby with Everton.
Since his return to the side on September 22, Liverpool have won six, drawn four and lost just one – whilst Liverpool are now behind only Chelsea and Southampton with eight clean sheets this season.
Rodgers said Sakho’s turnaround is a sign that players are never written off at Anfield, whilst insisting the fall out was nothing personal.
“It’s never a personal thing. You have to be honest with players and sometimes the modern player cannot deal with that but I think your behaviour and your actions will allow players to see that what you are doing is for the benefit of the team,” he said.
“This is how we play, this is how we work and if you can’t work this way, if you can’t be competitive or function then you won’t play.
“But I won’t disregard them. I think I’ve shown that millions of times. I’m a developer and I want players to be the very best that they can be whether they’re 16 or whether they’re 32 or 33 and if they follow the philosophy and the methodology of how we work then they’ll improve.
“In terms of Sakho, maybe he was frustrated with himself at times but he’s got a really strong mentality and that’s what you need, a team that’s hard to beat with mental toughness and he’s a tough boy.
“We know that we need to be aggressive and strong and the players are working very hard at that. We’re also working hard at reintroducing the principles of our defending, that pressing in particular because that maybe left our game for our period.
“We’re very compact as a team and you also saw that aggression in terms of how we go and hunt the ball and then we know we have the ability to play well and score goals.”
