Liverpool vs Manchester United: Brendan Rodgers won't criticise Steven Gerrard after red card

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers wouldn't criticise Steven Gerrard after his red card against Manchester United.

Gerrard was sent off less than a minute after coming on as a substitute in Liverpool's 2-1 defeat at Anfield, after stamping on United's Ander Herrera.

Gerrard apologised and accepted "full responsibility for the result".

"At least he was man enough to come out and make that apology, but it [the result] wasn't just about that," said Rodgers.

"With Steven, it was him purely wanting to make an impact. He's made his apologies for it, and of course in a big game you suffer with 10 against 11, but it happened and it's great respect to the players that stayed on that we kept fighting with 10 men.

"He's a highly competitive player, and he's made a great challenge when he's come on, which was probably our first challenge of the game.

"He wanted to help the team so much, and I won't criticise him. He's been brilliant in my time here, and sometimes these things happen. It doesn't happen very often to our team, but it did today and it's one we'll move on from."