Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was pleased to salvage a point from the 3-3 draw with Everton on Saturday, but felt his side would have taken all three points had they been calmer in possession in the second half of the game.

“We were [too] loose,” said Rodgers. “ We went to 2-1 – and had a great chance to go to 3-1 [through Joe Allen] – and after that I thought we gave the ball away far too easily. We never kept the ball. We were just going longer with it, which is understandable sometimes but not as often as we did. We needed to be better with the ball and control the game better.”

Rodgers’ sentiments were backed up by the stats, with Liverpool posting their joint lowest pass accuracy of the season and having less of the ball than their opponents for only the fourth time this season.

Liverpool Pass Accuracy 2013/14

“We had a period where we handed control back to Everton and from that they got their goals,” he continued. “So from 2-1 up and nearly going to 3-1 we found ourselves down 3-2 and chasing the game with 10 minutes to go.”

Liverpool Possession Stats 2013/14

“[I thought it was] another example of the resilience of the team [with] their ability to keep threatening, and this has been a big marker for us today. We’ve come to a team that’s very difficult to play at home – one of our rivals – and we’re very disappointed not to win the game, but we certainly were fighting not to lose the game. It’s important that a rival doesn’t gain on you.”

Former Swansea manager Rodgers felt that Everton’s Kevin Mirallas was lucky not to see red for a challenge on Luis Suarez, but insisted that referee Phil Dowd had made the right call in not sending off Steven Gerrard for an alleged elbow.

“I thought Mirallas was so lucky to be on the field. It was a poor challenge. I’d be interested to know if Luis Suarez had made the challenge what the outcome would be. “

“He’s jumping in, the ball has popped up off the floor and Luis is looking like he’s going to have a touch on it. But the ball was nowhere near his knee, and that’s a really reckless challenge. People might say it was an attacker on a defensive challenge -and Mirallas looks like an honest player – but it was a poor challenge and one that really rocked Luis. Thankfully he rode the challenge a bit – but it could’ve been a lot more serious “

On Gerrard Rodgers said; “First and foremost I think the jump from Steven is what it is. Both are jumping, he’s up against a taller player, he’s making a jump up [and] he’s got to use his arms for leverage”

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