Brendan Rodgers has countered Jamie Carragher’s withering criticism of Liverpool by insisting his team does possess character and will prove it when attempting to preserve their Champions League status against Ludogorets.

Liverpool visit the Bulgarian champions on the back of four successive defeats and requiring a first win in four Champions League games to keep qualification in their own hands. Lucas Leiva and Kolo Touré, two players who impressed at Real Madrid only to return to the bench for the following Premier League game against Chelsea, are expected to return to the starting lineup in Sofia with Rickie Lambert leading the attack in the absence of the injured pair Mario Balotelli and Daniel Sturridge.

Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace prompted condemnation from former Liverpool vice-captain turned Sky television pundit Carragher, who described the performance as the latest example of Rodgers’ men being bullied, weak and showing no leadership on the pitch this season.

The Liverpool manager, however, said: “We hear criticism of the team but this team has character, it showed it last season. It has shown it’s got resilience. Okay, we concede more than we would like at times but you can’t question the character. That can’t be criticised. We have players who’ve shown they have spirit but when you don’t get victories it affects confidence and you don’t perform quite as good. My job is to keep instilling that confidence.”

On the specific point of being bullied at Palace, Rodgers added: “It’s a comment that’s been made of course. It’s something that happens when you’re paid to be critics, well not critics, but to assess the team. When you lose games what I’ve learnt is that people will say they want and that’s what comes. Whether criticism is deserved or not you won’t like it but you just have to ignore it. I have a team full of characters, of fully committed people and hopefully that’s something that will improve. We have to stand up and show that we can get a result and tough it out, and that’s what we will definitely do.”

Rodgers has long advocated style over substance at Liverpool but admits the result is all that matters against Ludogorets as the team fights to remain in the Champions League. “I think that has been the case for a number of weeks now,” he admitted. “The philosophy is important and we know how we want to work but you need to get results. We would take a scrappy win. Listen, you can’t play perfect football. It is going to be tough here. We want to get a result.”

Liverpool have lost their last three Champions League games and have never suffered four consecutive European defeats in the same season. By contrast, Georgi Dermendzhiev’s side sit second in the Bulgarian league and have won nine of 13 fixtures on home soil this term, not that they will have the true comforts of home with their Champions League games switched to the capital’s Vasil Levski Stadium.

Rodgers’ team required a 93rd-minute penalty from Steven Gerrard to overcome Ludogorets in the opening game in Group B but the captain’s role is again under scrutiny following a poor display at Selhurst Park on Sunday and Carragher’s subsequent comments about a lack of leadership.

However, the Liverpool manager, who may switch Gerrard to a more offensive position against the Bulgarians with Lucas in the holding role, has issued a staunch defence of the team’s figurehead. “It’s simple, I judge Steven on merit,” said Rodgers. “The spotlight he is under is incredible. I think people expect him to be the player he was 10 years ago and that is simply not the case.

“He has been adapted to a playmaking role, so the player who scored 15 goals a season is not there anymore but it is hugely unfair that he gets judged on that level.

“He is the best player I have ever worked with in terms of football mentality and the loyalty he has shown this football club. I have shown in my time I do not deal on sentiment. I do not pick him on sentiment.

“He is in at 8.30am every day to prepare for training. I judge him on that and the influence on other players. Of course he is coming to the latter part of his career but he is still invaluable to me. It’s an easy situation to manage because he is a top-class player who accepts what is best for Liverpool. He is a unique case at a time when modern football is very much about the player’s interests in that every decision he makes is in the interests of Liverpool. He can still contribute at a high level and it is my job to manage how that is.”