Andy Robertson: “We Don’t Have Much Time To Waste”

Liverpool Men return to Anfield on Friday. After what felt like an eternity, it’s time to hit the ground running and make up some of the lost ground from the early season. The restart began with a win against Aston Villa on Monday, and defender Andy Robertson is eager to build on that success.

“We’ve started off well [in the league] in terms of we’ve picked up where we left off and got three points, which was so important,” Robertson told the club website on Thursday.

“[Next] we are back in front of our home fans and I’m sure they are itching to get back to Anfield and we will need their support. It’s a real intense period of time.

“Usually when you come back from a pre-season you kind of get eased into the Premier League but not this time, it’s every three and four days. We will need their support to create a special atmosphere against a Leicester team that picked up before the break as well.

“We don’t have much time to waste. We know our start has not been as good as we wanted and we have to start closing the gap. We have done that [at Villa]. We’ve closed the gap a little bit. We need to focus on ourselves game by game and we just need to keep on picking up three points and let’s see where we end up.”

In addition to the win on Monday night, Robertson celebrated a personal achievement - becoming the Premier League record-holder for assists from a defender - though is prepared for another colleague to pass him up sooner rather than later.

“You are up against some unbelievable players from the Premier League but obviously I’m out on my own just now and I’ve managed to go ahead of Leighton Baines, who always had fantastic numbers,” continued the defender.

“But there’s a certain somebody quite close behind me [Alexander-Arnold on 45] and he’s got a lot more years on his side unfortunately! I’m sure he will overtake it but I’m happy to be there just now and happy to contribute.

“It was an unbelievable ball from Trent. Sometimes they are more important than the actual assist. The ball to me was unbelievable and I just saw Mo across the front and it was a perfect start.”

Monday was also a time for some of the youngsters to shine. Stefan Bajcetic and Ben Doak both came off the bench to make an impact. Bajcetic scored to make the victory complete with three goals, and the appearance for fellow Scot Doak was his Premier League debut.

“He’s a fantastic player,” Robertson said of Bajcetic. “He’s got a huge future ahead of him, lots of potential. He was unbelievable.

“When he came on he broke up the play, that’s what he’s probably well known for, not quite his goalscoring, but it was a massive goal for us. I’m so happy for him and young Ben.

“I’ve got a soft spot for young Ben for obvious reasons. When he came on I was just buzzing for him. For such a young age he’s been unbelievable since he’s come into the squad, no fear, trying to dribble past all of us, keeping us young and keeping us fresh. We saw that.

“Fair play to all the young lads, they all step up and we’ve got some brilliant ones around us. It’s important we try to help them, they are the future and I think they both showed our future is pretty bright.”