Jose Enrique was personally satisfied with his Liverpool debut and is not discouraged by the team's winless start.
Left-back eyeing Arsenal win to make amends for opening draw
New Liverpool left-back Jose Enrique was satisfied with his debut performance on Saturday and is not discouraged by the team's winless start.
The Spaniard was thrown in at the deep end, starting the Reds' 1-1 draw with Sunderland after taking part in just one training session with his new team-mates after completing his move on Friday.
Enrique, who was only informed of his inclusion hours before kick-off after Fabio Aurelio failed to overcome an injury, put in a solid shift at full-back and expects the new-look side to gel in time.
"I am very happy because I only arrived the day before and I played my first game," he said.
"I was surprised. I only found out a few hours before kick-off. I knew Fabio had not trained but it was only this morning they told me.
"I am very happy (with my debut) but I am not really happy with the result. I think in the next few games, if I continue to play, it will be easy to understand players of this quality.
"It was just about defending first, because that is my job. I have plenty more days to train with the team and understand."
Next game
The 25-year-old is refusing to dwell on the Sunderland draw, a game which Liverpool led 1-0 through Luis Suarez before Seb Larsson spectacularly equalised in the second half.
"We have to think about the next game," he said, with Liverpool to travel to Arsenal next Saturday.
"We need more fitness but that is normal, as it is only the first game. I am okay. I am not 100% because I have not trained with the team and I need to get to know everyone. That is normal."
Meanwhile, manager Kenny Dalglish insists he had to start an unfit Suarez, who was bursting with enthusiasm having triumphed at the Copa America with Uruguay this summer.
The livewire forward ballooned a penalty before handing his side the lead, and Dalglish admits the miss took him by surprise.
He said: "Certainly Luis was never going to finish the match so it was no surprise we tailed off a little bit.
"We will manage all of them but he was on such a high when he came back we had to start with him. The surprising thing was the penalty kick - he didn't half miss it.
"We need to do better than that and we would like to think that we are going to have an improvement."
