Brendan Rodgers thanks Swansea City fans for warm welcome

BRENDAN Rodgers thanked Swansea City fans for the reception they gave him yesterday.

Rodgers was back at the Liberty with Liverpool nearly six months after leaving South Wales to take charge at Anfield.

Unlike Roberto Martinez, who was booed when he returned with Wigan, Rodgers was given a more friendly welcome by home fans.

And the Northern Irishman was grateful for that reaction.

"It was an emotional return for me," he said.

"I saw so many people that I shared a great moment in my life with.

"I was really looking forward to coming back and it proved to be a really good game.

"I thought the fans were very respectful, I have to thank them for that."

There was the odd chant poking fun at Rodgers but nothing malicious for a man who wrote his name into club folklore.

Rodgers's two years in SA1 were among the most successful in the club's history as they climbed out of the Championship and thrived in the top tier.

"There's always going to be a bit of good-natured banter, but it was brilliant for me to see some people before the start of the game, some people by the side of the pitch who are important members of the Jack Army," said Rodgers.

"I will always remember my time here fondly. I have great memories and it was great to be back."

Another man back at his old stomping ground was Joe Allen.

He went head to head with former Swansea team-mates after completing a £15 million move to Merseyside last summer.

"I thought Joe did very well. He was playing more as a controller for us today," said Rodgers.

"He was the link player with Jordan (Henderson) and Steven (Gerrard) ahead of him.

"There has been a lot going on for him in the last few weeks, he's just become a father, but he's been brilliant for us this season."

Rodgers came up against a Swansea starting line-up containing five players signed since his departure.

Chico Flores, Michu, Jonathan de Guzman, Pablo Hernandez and Itay Shechter were all brought in by Michael Laudrup, but the club's football principles remain the same.

"Swansea's philosophy has been in place for a number of years and they've got good players," said Rodgers.

"They've invested well in their squad this season."

The draw made it eight Premier League games unbeaten for Liverpool.

And Rodgers thought they might have sneaked victory after claiming Jose Enrique's disallowed goal should have stood.

"We performed really, really well. We created chances. This is a difficult place to come to and get a result," he said.

"We were unfortunate with the goal that was ruled out because I thought it should have stood.

"It's another clean sheet for us and we're eight games unbeaten in the league so we're chipping away and slowly moving up the table.

"We wanted to keep our run going and I would never say coming here and drawing is two points dropped.

"But we are disappointed after we missed a couple of chances."

Rodgers was left ruing one late opportunity in particular as Raheem Sterling failed to play the right pass to Suarez when Liverpool had a man over.

"I was really pleased with some of our build-up play and our quality," he added.

"We had a chance near the end and didn't take it."