Gerrard eyes life without Owen

Steven Gerrard has called on his team-mates to forget about the departure of Michael Owen.

Owen completed his move to Real Madrid at the weekend and Gerrard admitted it was a big blow to lose the England international.

Liverpool started life without Owen with a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur and Gerrard has rallied the troops to concentrate on life at Anfield.

"Michael's gone and we've got to keep our chins up," said Gerrard.

"It's disappointing to see him go, but I've got to move on personally and so has the team.

"It happened quite quickly and the players were a bit shocked just like everybody else. We came back for pre-season and expected Michael to be our front man again.

"Within days, or a week at most, he was a Real Madrid player.

"We don't all sit around talking about each other's possible moves. People make their own decisions and keep things close to their chests.

"I can guarantee there was not much transfer talk with Michael last week. He's made his decision away from the rest of the lads and we wish him the best of luck in his new challenge."

Meanwhile, new Reds star Djibril Cisse believes he can help fill the void left by Owen's departure after netting on his debut.

"First of all, I have to settle. But it was great to score my first goal and that can only bring me confidence," said Cisse.

"Of course, now that Michael has gone, I know everybody at Liverpool wants me to score the goals he scored.

"All I can say is I scored many goals in France and I believe I can do it here too."