"I've had a difficult start to the season. I held my hands up in the dressing room after the Aston Villa game and said I wasn't good enough," said Gerrard.
"I'm man enough to do that and I needed to react myself to Monday's performance, and I feel I did that.
"It was big win. It's been well documented that it's been a tough week. No-one expected us to lose two of the opening three games.
"There was a lot of pressure on us to deliver three points. The performance had to play second fiddle, it was all about the result.
"The criticism has come because of the expectation. Because we finished second last year, everybody expects us to have a flying start and go straight to the top of the table.
"People were writing us off after three games of the season, which is absolute madness.
"All the players knew the performance was not good enough against Villa and we needed to react.
"We were putting pressure on ourselves. We have some big players in the dressing room who expect to win every game.
"I thought every one of the lads stood up and was counted and the win was well deserved."