Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson says he feels he has the confidence of manager Brendan Rodgers.

That he had to wait until late November for a first league start suggests he had been left to languish in the wilderness.

Henderson is quick to challenge such a perception.

"From day one he has been good with me," he told the Daily Express. "Fulham was an option, but I felt I had more to give here, that I could help the team, that I was improving and I could give something back.

"He gave me that opportunity and helped me to do that.

"I have been working with the manager on the tactical side of the game, which I think has improved.

"I am thinking about the game a lot more. I am more disciplined in terms of when to press and when to make the forward runs.

"I have improved this season. If I look back on my performances I'm more mature, disciplined, more tactically aware. I just have to keep going in that direction."