Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool departure ups the ante for Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers is under no illusions about the size and nature of the task awaiting him once Steven Gerrard plays his final game for Liverpool.

Brendan Rodgers has called on his Liverpool squad to react to Steven Gerrard’s departure from the club by proving they are “big players” while also indicating he will seek to buy proven talent in order to fill the void.

Gerrard made his 362nd and final appearance at Anfield as a Liverpool player on Saturday before a move to LA Galaxy but he did not get the send-off he would have liked as they were comprehensively beaten 3-1 by Crystal Palace. After the match Gerrard addressed the crowd and there was audible laughter and jeering from the home supporters when he expressed his optimism for the team he is leaving behind.

Many Liverpool fans are frustrated with a side who in the space of 12 months have gone from almost winning the title to failing to qualify for the Champions League and win a trophy, and the loss of one of the best players in the club’s history hardly soothes those concerns.

Rodgers is adamant his team can improve next season and show there is life beyond the player who won seven major honours during 17 seasons at his boyhood club, most notably the European Cup 10 years ago.

''Stevie had a huge influence in the changing room and that will be missed,” the Liverpool manager said. “But there is now an opportunity; if you want to be the big player and you want to play for the big club then you have to stand up and show that in big games you can make big contributions. We’ve got players here with good character and if we can throw in quality with that then that will be important for us.”

Rodgers’ priority is signing offensive players having seen his side struggle to score following the sale of Luis Suárez to Barcelona and the long-term injury to Daniel Sturridge. Indeed, going into the final game at Stoke on Sunday, Gerrard is Liverpool’s top scorer with 12 goals.

There is also a need to add experience. This is largely due to the policy under the owner FSG to sign young players with the potential to improve, but having now lost Gerrard, Suárez and Jamie Carragher in successive seasons Rodgers indicated that he will target older, wiser heads.

''Losing Gerrard, Suárez and Carragher is an incredible wealth of experience, game-management and quality going out of the team and that’s something we will find, I’m sure,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got to plot a way to improve collectively and our job in the summer is to find the players who can make a difference for us.”

The man likely to replace Gerrard as captain is Jordan Henderson and following the defeat to Palace he expressed his disappointment that the team had performed so poorly on such an emotional occasion. “We’re devastated we couldn’t get the result for him in his last game,” the 24-year-old said. “We wanted the three points first and foremost to finish the season as high as we can, and also for the fans in the last game at Anfield. All round, it was very disappointing.”