"We needed to win because our record away from home has not been good enough for a team like Liverpool," he said.
"On a personal note, I am very happy. I have tried to convince myself I couldn't lose it overnight and maybe I have put too much pressure on myself.
"Signing for Liverpool has been a dream and perhaps that has added to the pressure. But I don't want to look for excuses - sometimes you have too many and it's harder to turn it around.
"It gets noticed more when you're at a club like this, but I had a similar spell at Blackburn before going on a scoring run and I ended up being named player of the year.
"It would be easy to say I haven't done that well at Liverpool because I have had something hanging over me.
"There is no point me getting into that because it hasn't had a bearing on me. You don't want too many excuses from me.
"At the end of the day, I haven't played as well as I would have liked and hopefully it gives me a chance to go on from here.
"As soon as you go on the grass and play for your football team, all troubles go away. It is all about 90 minutes of football.
"What goes on before then and after then to me doesn't matter. It is what you do when you go onto the pitch and try to win the game."