Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was left cursing at his side's lack of cutting edge in front of goal in the 0-0 draw against Bolton Wanderers on Saturday evening.

Liverpool were dominant throughout the affair and carved their opponents open on a number of occassions, however a combination of poor finishing and heroics from Bolton 'keeper Adam Bogdan saw Bolton hold Liverpool to a stalemate.

"We did everything but put the ball in the net. Creative-wise we were excellent and we were defensively solid against a good team," the Ulsterman said to reporters after the game.

"Neil [Lennon] makes them very difficult to beat. We worked the spaces really well. With a bit of luck and the ball dropping for us and maybe better finishing we would have won the game. But we didn't. We kept a clean sheet and it was a good performance, but we just didn't get the goal."

There were questions over how Liverpool would feel about a replay, especially with the amount of games they could potentially play this season.

"Of course you want to go through," said Rodgers. "We're still in the hat. It's a beautiful pitch at Bolton and that will be good for us. We have players coming back from injury and it's an opportunity for them to play and for us to do well in the competition.

"We have a squad of players here that allows us to rotate and change and hopefully keep the consistency at the same time. The team is playing well at the moment, so when it's like that, everyone wants to play in the team."

Rodgers confirmed that Mario Balotelli wasn't left out of the matchday squad due to an illness he has recently had, he simply wasn't selected.

"He was not selected. It's tough for Mario because the team is doing well and he has probably seen the real Liverpool over the last six or seven weeks and understands now what is required to get into the team. I've had a good chat with Mario. He knows exactly what is required to get into the team. We spent an hour or so yesterday chatting and he understands where he's at.

"He was fully understanding. He saw the level of our performance against Chelsea and in fairness to him he actually said it was probably a struggle for him in terms of how he would play the game because he's naturally been a box player. I am confident he will respond."

Rodgers also spoke about the long awaited return of Daniel Sturridge, who hasn't featured since August.

"He starts training tomorrow with the team. He's in the final stages of his rehabilitation with the medical and sports science guys today. He joins in with the group now and it's just about getting football fitness and game fitness. We'll see how he is for Tuesday. If he's not ready for Tuesday then he'll be back, for sure, against West Ham next weekend."

Attentions now turn to the Capital One Cup semi final second leg against Chelsea on Tuesday, for Rodgers and his team.

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