Brendan Rodgers not getting 'too carried away' after Liverpool's rout of Swansea

The Reds won 5-0 at Anfield, against a weakened Swans side

Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, is not amused (AP)

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says his side won't get "too carried away" after the weekend trouncing of Swansea.

His side put five past his former side to make it four wins from five home matches, but Rodgers remains wary of over-confidence and was aware Swansea might have had one eye on this weekend's Capital One Cup final.

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The Reds are back up to seventh in the Barclays Premier League table but still nine points off fourth-placed Tottenham, having played one match more.

Rodgers admitted there is plenty of work still to do in the season's remaining 11 matches, saying: "I am an optimist, you have to be, but we'll not get too carried away.

"I've likened us to a marathon runner just getting ready for the finish line, ready to make our move, and then we trip ourselves up.

"That is something we have to change going forward for the remainder of the season and finish as strong as we can."

The win ended a congested an disappointing week for Liverpool, losing 2-0 at home to West Brom on Monday and losing by the same margin away to Zenit St Petersburg.

Steven Gerrard opened the scoring with a first-half penalty, having missed from the spot on Monday.

And 16 seconds into the second half, January signing Philippe Coutinho, making his full debut, made it 2-0. Jose Enrique and Luis Suarez made it four within another ten minutes.

It was only left to Daniel Sturridge, generously handed the duties by Gerrard, to convert Liverpool's second penalty of the afternoon and Swansea were dispatched with consummate ease.

"It was an important three points," said Rodgers.

"We've had a bumpy road in terms of games Monday and Thursday but the Premier League is very important for us and we knew we had to show focus and determination."

But Swansea manager Michael Laudrup had done his predecessor a favour, naming an understrength side ahead of Sunday's Capital One Cup final.

Top scorer Miguel Michu started on the bench, along with Angel Rangel, Ashley Williams and Wayne Routledge- all of whom could expect a start at Wembley.

Rodgers acknowledged this, saying: "I don't think you can take anything away from the Liverpool players but it (the final) was something Swansea were thinking about."

And Swans boss Laudrup admitted that may have contributed to the poor performance, for which he took some of the blame.

He said: "We had a couple of bad games in September but this was a very bad game for us and we just all have to take the blame, me included."

"It is a little difficult to explain but I made a lot of changes so the first to blame is me because I picked the team.

"But I will not exclude players were thinking about the game next week, which in a certain way is human logic because it will be the biggest game in the history of the club.

"Seven days ago we played QPR (winning 4-1) and we spoke about remaining focused on that game and not on the final so it very disappointing to see what happened yesterday.

"(Afterwards) my main thing to say to them was that everyone should look inside at what they could have done better.

"We have to learn from it and move on and think about the final."