Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers wants ‘significant improvements’ next year
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admits his first season as Reds boss has been a learning curve but wants to improve next term
Brendan Rodgers has admitted his first season at Liverpool has been a great learning curve but warned there must be “significant improvements” next year.
The Reds are set to finish in seventh place this season after a challenging campaign which was hampered by a lack of squad depth before Luis Suárez received a 10-game ban for biting Branislav Ivanović.
Rodgers’ men made premature exits from the Europa League and FA Cup, while they trail fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur by 11 points meaning the Reds will not compete in Europe next season.
But the 40-year-old has seen signs of progress in recent months and hopes the club can make bigger steps in 2013-14 campaign.
“This year has provided a great learning curve for me and I look back and see that it was learning that I needed,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
“I knew the expectancy of the club but going into next season, I am a much better prepared manager for that.
“We want to make significant improvements next year in the points total because the reality is we are 30 points behind the leaders and 11 points behind the top four.
“But I’ve seen enough and if we improve our mentality in the summer – by signing players who have that consistent winning mentality – we can then improve again, like we have done in the second half of the season.
“That’s the job of the recruitment team and the club to identify those types of players. They might not always be the best players but what we need in the second year of this project is to find a great level of consistency.
“There is a process of getting into the top four and becoming champions and that is consistency. This club didn’t win two league games in a row for over a year.
“That came earlier on in the season and when you step back and look at that, it is nowhere near good enough if you are going to succeed.
“You build a mentality in your group and you get the types of players who can be on it every single game.
“I’ve loved every minute of being here and the small steps of where we want to go. But now I want to make bigger steps.”
