The Northern Irishman confirmed he would not appeal the FA misconduct charge, and has subsequently been reprimanded for remarks that “question the integrity of the referee”

Brendan Rodgers has been fined £8,000 (€9,700) for comments made following Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester City on December 26.

The 40-year-old confirmed he would not appeal a Football Association misconduct charge, and has subsequently been reprimanded for remarks that “question the integrity of the referee”.

Rodgers was left incensed at the end of the game at the Etihad Stadium after a series of decisions that went against his side, including Raheem Sterling having a goal ruled out for offside despite  being in an onside position, while he also felt Luis Suarez should have had a penalty late in the match.

The Northern Irishman labelled the performance of the officials as “horrendous”, while he also questioned the decision to appoint Bolton-born referee Lee Mason for the fixture, stating: “Hopefully we won’t have a Greater Manchester referee with Liverpool-Manchester games in future.”

A statement on the FA’s website read: “Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing today, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has been fined £8,000 and warned as to his future conduct after he admitted an FA misconduct charge.

“Rodgers was charged for a breach of FA Rule E3 in that his post-match comments following Liverpool’s game at Manchester City on 26 December 2013 constituted improper conduct in that they called into question the integrity of the match referee, and/or implied that the match referee was motivated by bias; and/or brought the game into disrepute; and/or amounted to a failure to act in the best interests of the game.”

The Dane has started just nine Premier League games under Brendan Rodgers this season and is rumoured to be wanted by Napoli – but he says he is happy at Anfield

Daniel Agger insists that he has no intention of quitting Liverpool during the January transfer window.

The Denmark international has started just nine Premier League games this season and has been linked with a reunion with former Reds boss Rafael Benitez at Napoli.

“I’m not thinking about moving at the moment, not at all,” Agger told Jyllands-Posten.

“I’ve only seen what the papers say and I can’t really do anything about it. There is no reason to believe these rumours.”

Agger’s primary focus is on helping Liverpool challenge for the Premier League title, with Brendan Rodgers’ men currently just six points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

And the centre-half reckons that a new-found belief has been the key to the side’s displays this term.

“There is a much different atmosphere in the dressing room,” the 29-year-old explained.

“It’s like we truly believe that we are going to win and that is not something that we have done in the last couple of years.

“We are winning games, playing some great football and scoring a lot of goals. We’ve proven that we can challenge and then we have a guy up front [Luis Suarez] who scores goals from time to time.”

The in-form Moroccan is unable to face his parent club due to the terms of the deal that brought him to the Britannia, but insists he will be cheering on the Potters

On-loan Stoke City winger Oussama Assaidi is disappointed he will not get to show Brendan Rodgers what he is missing in Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Liverpool.

The Morocco international was allowed to join Mark Hughes’ side for the season, after failing to break into the first team at Anfield.

Assaidi has made the most of his opportunity to play Premier League football at the Britannia Stadium, scoring three goals and catching the eye with some lively displays.

The 25-year-old former Heerenveen man will not feature when Liverpool travel to Stoke this weekend due to the terms of his loan deal but there is no doubt as to where his loyalties lie.

Assaidi told the club’s official website: “I would love to be involved in the game, but through rules and regulations that isn’t possible unfortunately.

“There is nothing I can do about it, apart from sit on the sidelines and cheer my team-mates on, which is what I will be doing on Sunday.

“I want Stoke City to win the game of course, because this is where I am playing my football at the moment, and for as long as I am here I will want us to win every game we play.”