Steven Gerrard told journalists how the Liverpool team delivered the right response to the defeat against Villa and looks forward to players returning from injury.
“The manager questioned the whole team after Monday’s home defeat by Aston Villa, and rightly so. We were nowhere near good enough and we didn’t play close to our standard.
“There has been a lot of soul-searching this week. The manager asked for character, determination and intensity and I think he got the three things he wanted from us all.
“We have had a couple of good meetings this week and we couldn’t wait for this game to come around.
Liverpool had to come from 2-1 down to take all 3 points against Bolton yesterday.
“We went behind twice but again we showed what character we have in this team.
“Going behind twice there are times when you think you are not going to get a point, never mind three, but we got our rewards in the end and we could have ended up scoring four or five.”
Steven Gerrard now joins up with England for a friendly and a World Cup qualifier – the reds next play on the 12th September.
“We now go away on international duty and when we get back we will have a few new faces back in the squad with the lads who have been out injured, so that will give us a boost.
“We played so well last season and everyone was expecting us to start strongly again and win matches, but we all expected that ourselves.
“To lose two games already was a bit of a shock to us all but it is all about reactions. We know we have got a good team, a team that is capable of fighting for the title and we have got to go and prove that now.”
Fabio Aurelio, Daniel Agger and Alberto Aquilani are amongst the players on the Anfield treatment table.
