Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers claims his squad are capable of picking up the slack for the injured Daniel Sturridge.

Brendan Rodgers has called on Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto to step up and show they are worthy players for Liverpool after Daniel Sturridge was ruled out of action for two months.

Sturridge suffered an ankle injury while on international duty and Roy Hodgson has since admitted that he played the striker knowing he wasn't match fit.

The absence of the star left Liverpool looking a different side against Hull City at the weekend and they were convincingly beaten 3-1 by the Premier League newcomers as a result.

But Rodgers believes that the Reds can get their season back on track and insists that summer signings Aspas and Alberto, who moved to Merseyside for a combined fee of £14m, can continue the side's successes while Sturridge recovers.

"The likes of Aspas and Alberto have been at the club for a few months now and have seen the difficulties of playing in the Premier League, how hard it is and the physical demands," Rodgers said, according to the Echo.

"I can see them improving and working hard to fit into it. They will get improve and get better in time. There was always going to be a period of adjustment.

"With Daniel out, other players who have been working hard will get an opportunity. We now have to find a different way to win games. We can't just rely on one player for goals. It's the responsibility of everyone."

The manager had a clear message for the players that they can't just look to Luis Suarez to score the goals after much responsibility was shouldered on the striker last season before Sturridge joined the fold.

"It has to be for everyone to create and score goals. If some aren't available, we need to do more as a team - that was the message after the defeat to Hull," he explained.

"It was too predictable. Certainly you wouldn't have said that about us in the last number of months.

"We are normally exciting and create lots of chances. We are on the front foot. We conceded a poor goal which put us on the back foot but we needed to be more dynamic. That is something we will look to put right."