Friday 3 October 2014 13:46, UK
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admits his team are back in a period of transition similar to when he first arrived at Anfield.
The departure of striker Luis Suarez, integrating a raft of summer signings and injuries to a number of players have all contributed to a difficult start to the campaign.
The Reds have won just twice in the Premier League and scored only eight times in six matches, while keeping just one clean sheet in nine outings.
Rodgers accepts there will be more pain to come before things pick up again, but he denied he was facing the biggest challenge of his managerial career after expectations were raised following last season's second-place finish.
Liverpool haven’t become a bad team overnight and sooner or later they just need to get a break, score an early goal and they will be alright. This could be the game.
"No, not really. It's an exciting challenge. This is an incredible job and nothing has changed," he said.
"The first six months were difficult here but for 18 months we've been on a magic carpet ride in terms of our performance level and everything improving.
"For me it would have been a case of keeping the squad we had and adding a few bodies to thicken up the squad.
"But that wasn't the case. There was big change here in the summer and we lost a world-class player (when Suarez was sold to Barcelona).
"We had to improve the squad and bring in a number of players and unfortunately we've lost a number of our key players to injuries.
"It brings us into a little period of transition again. It's something that was difficult in the first few months when I got here.
You have to go through some pain along the way. We are in a difficult moment but that's the great challenge for myself and the players.
"You have to go through some pain along the way. We are in a difficult moment but that's the great challenge for myself and the players.
"We will look at it even harder and analyse it more just to ensure we keep it simple and keep to the values and ethics of this team - hard work, honesty and concentrating on our performance."
Liverpool host West Brom on Saturday, and the Baggies were Rodgers' first opponents when he took over in the summer of 2012.
"There are similarities in that it feels like a new group again," he added.
"I'm not here to whine or complain about injuries. We just need to get on with working hard and go back to core principles which our good performances and wins were all about.
"The job now is similar to then in terms of need to integrate all of that to create winning performances."
