Steven Gerrard has publicly announced via his Instagram feed that any talk of a rift between himself and Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is “nonsense”.

Gerrard was dropped from a starting position in the Liverpool league squad for yesterday’s match against Stoke for the first time in almost a year, further strengthening the speculation of a poor relationship with his boss.

It was a game that saw the Red’s legend celebrate his 16th anniversary since making his debut for the club.

Rodgers did admit that he was unaware of such a milestone: “I wasn’t aware it was 16 years until I walked into the dressing room and saw the programme,” he explained.

“I felt quite bad but he’s a wonderful man. He thinks about the team.”

Gerrard’s post read: “Just to set the record straight, media talk of a fall-out between us two is nonsense.”

Gerrard did come on for the final 15 minutes though, to gain a rousing applause from the Kop faithful.

Rodgers has been under mounting pressure in the past few weeks after a terrible run of form saw them drop to the worrying regions of the Premier League relegation zone.

But they secured a first win in five yesterday defeating Stoke City 1-0 thanks to a late Glenn Johnson goal.

The win sees Liverpool move up to 11th with a trip to Leicester ahead on Tuesday.