Fifteen minutes into an interview with Brendan Rodgers and Luis Suarez has not even been mentioned.

It is not an indication that the Uruguayan’s form is dropping — he is still odds-on to be crowned Footballer of the Year — more a sign that others in this emerging Liverpool team are also newsworthy, namely five Englishmen who have shown that nationality is no bar to playing the right way.

Helping English players kill the stereotype that they lack the skill and swagger of overseas stars is clearly important to Rodgers as he speaks about Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Arsenal.

A week ago in front of the Kop, Liverpool thrashed Arsene Wenger’s side 5-1 with a performance that drew comparisons with the great Anfield teams of the Eighties.

As usual, Suarez played well but three of Liverpool’s five goals were scored by English players — one for 24-year-old Daniel Sturridge and two for Raheem Sterling, who is still in his teens. The late midweek winner at Fulham was converted from the penalty spot by national team captain Steven Gerrard.

The idea that English players are not as technically accomplished as Spaniards and Italians does not wash with Rodgers. He is happy to present his team, genuine challengers in league and cup, as Exhibit A.

‘My life’s work has been trying to show that British players can play. I grew up being told they weren’t as good technically or tactically as European players — it’s the biggest tosh I’ve ever heard,’ he says.

‘It’s about giving players confidence. British players are born the same as Spanish players but we have an inferiority complex.

‘I’ve worked with kids from the age of five to world-class players at Chelsea and Liverpool. I have a decent idea what technique looks like and British players are as good as Europeans.

John Terry was a brilliant footballer and tactically brilliant. Steven Gerrard is the best I’ve worked with for tempo and technique. An England team with Gerrard, Lampard and Paul Scholes in midfield should have dominated games, dominated the ball.’

The suggestion from Rodgers is that England will do best in Brazil this summer if they trust their players.

To prove the point, half of Liverpool’s team, sitting fourth in the table and only four points off leaders Chelsea, are eligible to Roy Hodgson; Sturridge, Sterling, Gerrard, midfield dynamo Jordan Henderson and local defender Jon Flanagan. England right-back Glen Johnson will be back soon.

‘There’s no reason English players can’t succeed. We have players who have confidence and who can play,’ stresses Rodgers.

‘Look at Jon Flanagan. At one point we didn’t even have any Championship clubs who wanted him on loan. But I hear people talking about what a good passer of the ball he is.

It’s exercises and drills that have made him better and better. Look at Jordan Henderson. Everyone is talking about how good he is tactically. He can play and pass. We can do that in this country but players need to be encouraged and given confidence. And, of course, the players also have to want to do it.’

Liverpool’s ferocious pressing game has caught many opponents unaware this season. They scored nine goals against Everton and Arsenal when both clubs boasted good defensive records but were panicked into errors at Anfield by a red swarm.

‘There are triggers when to go and press the ball and you need tactical discipline from everyone,’ explains Rodgers. ‘A club like Barcelona teach it from their youth teams, so when young players make the first team they already know all the triggers. It took time to introduce it here but the players all listened.

‘The reference (when to press) is in relation to who has got the ball, which opponent. You might have a right-footer like (Arsenal defender Laurent) Koscielny playing on the left side so you could highlight him.

‘You let him have the ball and as soon as he has it, you jump, you press, you know what his passing line is going to be, so you set up your winger to press on the next one. The midfield follow up. They are all links in a chain.

‘The game against Arsenal was a beautiful game as a coach.

I was very proud to watch the team because that’s what you work on. To hear some of the former players like John Barnes and John Aldridge, who come from a time when Liverpool were in their pomp, talking about the best part of a game they have ever seen – that really tells you the level the team is at.’

Rodgers has an ideal blend in midfield; Gerrard’s passing, Philippe Coutinho’s quick feet and Henderson’s athleticism.

Ironically, given Arsenal’s nineyear trophy drought, Wenger may have to rest some of his players today for an even bigger midweek Champions League tie against Bayern Munich.

Rodgers, with no European distractions, can afford to name his strongest line-up. ‘The idea is to try to win the FA Cup,’ says Rodgers, who has publicly played down his chances of a first league title since 1990. ‘Last year, I gave opportunities to the squad in the FA Cup and it showed the depth wasn’t good enough because we lost to Oldham. This season there will be no wholesale changes in the Cup.’

It is 18 months since Rodgers tasted a 3-0 defeat at West Brom in his first League game as Liverpool manager. A sign of the club’s remarkable progress since then is that his former mentor at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, now considers Rodgers worthy of some mind games, trying to crank up the pressure by describing Liverpool as title contenders.

‘It’s OK, we are good friends and I know the game,’ says Rodgers. ‘I take it as a compliment that after 18 months we are being talked about in that way.

If you go back to September 2012 and look at what Jose said when I came in, that the club was not set up to win the league, it shows you his thoughts on where we were at then and where we are now.’

—Daily Mail