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Brendan Rodgers says it is “easy” to see why Liverpool have made such a stuttering start to the season - a lack of goals.

Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge struck 52 times between them in the Premier League last term as the Reds came agonisingly close to winning the title.

But with Suarez sold to Barcelona in the summer and Sturridge currently sidelined through injury, Liverpool have struggled to find the back of the net this season.

Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United was the fifth time Rodgers’ side have failed to score in this campaign and Rodgers says it “fairly straightforward” to see why their form has dropped off.

“You are always analysing and looking,” Rodgers said.

“It’s fairly straightforward and easy to see why the performances haven’t been as fluent.

“We’ve lost goals, we scored 101 goals last year and the team has been working towards that.

“But then, you take out nearly 80% of that and it can become difficult for you.

“There has been the introduction of new players as well.

“So it is not rocket science but you need to find the answers and that’s my job as the manager and coach to do that.

“I don’t think we deserved to lose the game but we didn’t do enough to win it.

“But when it’s like that you can’t make mistakes. We defended well in the main but made a mistake near the end which cost us.”

Rodgers, however, maintains that last season’s success was built on a strong team ethic and though top scorers Suarez and Sturridge are absent the manager believes Liverpool are good enough to get back on track.

“Our success was built on the collective,” he added.

“The two players at the top end of the field got the goals and everyone supported them in that.

“But it is for us all.

“We win, lose or draw as a collective and a team so it’s not a case of me trying to identify any individual because, for us, it is really about the team and that is something that will always be the case.

“So we need to find the solution as a team.

“The result wasn’t what we would want so we need to rectify and improve.”

Despite Saturday’s set-back and with the daunting prospect of back-to-back games with Real Madrid and Chelsea on the horizon this week, Rodgers insists confidence in the squad remains high.

“It’s my job to focus on lots of elements of our performance.

“You see the players with confidence - they’re not shying away from the ball, they want the ball - the movement was good and the creativity to build the game up was good but we lacked that creativity and end ball in the final third and ultimately that is what has won us a lot of games over a period of time unfortunately we didn’t have that.”

Rodgers concluded: “Momentum is obviously vital.

“For us it’s been a difficult start, not ideal, but we can only continue to work well and that is all you can do.

“You work hard, that gives you extra confidence and that confidence brings you success.

“That is something we will strive towards.”