Hodgson and Gerrard ready for Sunderland

Roy Hodgson and Steven Gerrard joined forces today as they promised Liverpool will leave their Carling Cup nightmare behind them against Sunderland tomorrow.

Though the atmosphere was understandably subdued yesterday at Melwood after the previous night's debacle against Northampton Town, both the manager and his captain insisted there was no point wallowing in self-pity.

Hodgson will make wholesale changes for the visit of the Black Cats tomorrow with all his star names being thrust back into the action and securing three points is imperative to get their spluttering campaign back on track.

While he admits Liverpool performed way below expectations when tumbling out against the League Two side, Hodgson is confident they will show their true worth and has challenged his players to create some positive news.

"We have to regroup, of course," said Hodgson. "There are going to be lots of other games this season when people are expecting us to win and we don't.

"There will be games this season when people expect us not to do very well but we do. That's the nature of football. Let's hope we can come out (against Sunderland) and give a good performance.

"We want to put the headlines behind us. That's all we can do. We went out to do as much work as we could to try and win the game. We couldn't do it.

"We didn't lose the game because we didn't try to win it. We didn't lose the game because we didn't work hard enough. We lost it because we were not good enough."

Gerrard, like so many other Reds, left Anfield bitterly disappointed in midweek but, equally, he knows there is no point stewing on what has happened.

Having targeted a four-match winning spree after the defeat to Manchester United, Gerrard is now desperate for Liverpool to sign off before the next international break with three victories.

"No-one is hurting more than the players who played," Gerrard pointed out. "We've all been there and all experienced it. Everyone is disappointed and down but it's not the end of the world.

"It's gone now. It's important we move on and think about Sunderland and try to get the three points.

"It's up to players like myself to pick them back up because playing for this club there are big games every two or three days and we need to get everyone's head focused on Sunderland now."

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.