Brendan Rodgers believes that Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was not to blame for the club's 2-1 defeat against Manchester United.

Gerrard was brought on for Adam Lallana at half-time, only to be trudging back down the tunnel after only 38 seconds on the pitch after Martin Atkinson showed the 34-year-old a straight red for a stamp on Ander Herrera.

Speaking immediately after the loss, Gerrard admitted "full responsibility" for the full-time result, despite the fact the 10 men of Liverpool pulled one back with 21 minutes to go. 

Yet his Northern Irish manager refused to throw his captain under the bus.

"It’s big of someone when they do get sent off to come out and apologise," said Rodgers. "But Steven was probably frustrated watching us in the first half, where we didn’t make a tackle.

"At least he was man enough to come out and make that apology, but it (the result) wasn’t just about that.

"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.

It was not the hurrah that Gerrard would have wanted to finish his final game for the Reds against United with, and asked whether the taunting from away supporters may have played a part in Gerrard's brief cameo, Rodgers responded: "You’d have to speak with Steven on that.

"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."

In a game full of drama, Martin Skrtel was accused of a stamp on United goalkeeper David De Gea - and he faces a charge and potential ban from the FA as a result, but Rodgers defended his centre-back.

He said: "I didn’t see it like that. I think that it’s towards the end of the game, he’s been pushed upfield, but I don’t think he caught him with intent.

"I think he’s trying to nick the final contact on the ball, and if he does that then he probably gets a penalty, so he’s stretching.

"The ball goes into the ‘keeper’s arms, and obviously he’s caught him after that. But he’s just trying to get a toe on the ball, and if he does that and gets brought down then it’s probably a penalty.

"I didn’t think it was on purpose, at all, but obviously when the ‘keeper gets the studs like that then it can be a bit painful for him. It was a different incident, though."