Brendan Rodgers hits back at Steven Gerrard claims Liverpool were complacent during fateful Chelsea loss

Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says his side were not guilty of being overconfident during their fateful clash with Chelsea in April 2014 – they day they lost their grip on the Premier League title.

Liverpool saw their 11-match winning streak ended that afternoon – a game best remembered for Steven Gerrard's untimely slip that led to Demba Ba scoring his side's opener. The defeat meant the fight for the title was taken out of their hands. Manchester City capitalised on their game in hand to win the title by two points.

Gerrard later criticised his former manager for his overconfident approach to that game in his autobiography My Story. The former Liverpool skipper said: "I've never been able to say this in public before but I was seriously concerned that we thought we could blow Chelsea away. I sensed an overconfidence in Brendan's team talks. We played into Chelsea's hands. I feared it then and I know it now."

Speaking on Goals on Sunday however, Rodgers insisted his side were not complacent going into that match at Anfield and remained adamant the approach taken that day was the right one.

"We were never that complacent," he said. "I don't think you can approach it differently. We were an aggressive team when we were defending and when we had the ball. We had an unfortunate circumstance on the stroke of half-time. You can't vouch for a slip.

"Up until that point we had been playing well. Chelsea were trying to slow everything down but we were trying to get the intensity in the game. I don't really think we could have changed our approach. We started the second half well but then with 20 minutes to go we stopped doing the things we were good at."

Rodgers, in his first media appearance since being relieved of his duties at Anfield in October, spoke on a wide range of subjects, including Raheem Sterling's transfer to Manchester City and Liverpool missing out on signing Alexis Sanchez.