RODGERS BEATS CRITICS

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has had some critics since taking over the Merseyside club almost 2 years ago. He has been able to get to the club only into the seventh position in the league despite spending a lot of money. Liverpool’s ambition has been to get into the top four once again, but they are quite far off from achieving this ambition. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard reckons that it is primarily due to the fact that Rodgers decided to use youngsters for most of the matches. He has praised the manager for being brave in deciding to use youngsters.

The likes of Raheem Sterling have become prominent players in the Liverpool squad after coming through the academy. Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher remain as the established first-team players to have come from the academy and they made their progression almost two decades ago. Unlike in the past few seasons, Liverpool have made a great start to the league campaign and are currently second in the table. Gerrard believes that they can finally qualify for the top four after missing out on the Champions league for the last five seasons. The club was last seen in this competition back in 2009.

Apart from Sterling, 20-year-old Wisdom is also a part of the Liverpool squad.

“Managers are only ever eight to 10 games away from the sack, so to take risks on unknown young players is difficult. There’s no two ways about it, it’s a lot more difficult to break through nowadays because of the standard of players and because there is a lot more foreigners about. Brendan Rodgers has been fantastic at this club because he’s been brave and he’s given young players a chance,” Gerrard told BBC Breakfast. Liverpool are just two points below table leaders Arsenal after taking four wins from the six matches.

RODGERS PRAISES STEVIE G

The Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has praised the leadership qualities of the captain Steven Gerrard by saying that he is truly phenomenal. The 32-year-old Liverpool midfielder is regarded as one of the best players in the world, but he is coming to the twilight of his career. He has rescued Liverpool on numerous occasions in the past, but he has not been so influential this season for the team. He has managed just one league goal so far this campaign. It came in the 2-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United earlier in the season.

Even though he has had very little impact on the game in terms of goals, Brendan Rogers has said that he has been massively influential on the pitch due to his extraordinary leadership qualities. Liverpool recently lost the match against Tottenham 2-1, which once again raised a lot of questions about the ability of the team to at least challenge for top four positions. Even though the Liverpool defender Carragher recently said that there was still an opportunity for the team to qualify for the Champions League, it slowly seems to be slipping away from the hands of the Merseyside club, who won the competition back in 2005.

“I don’t want to focus too much on him, other than that he’s been brilliant since I arrived here. His inspiration and leadership within the team has been phenomenal. He might not have got the goals he would have wanted this season, but you can see how effective he’s been and the quality of his game. Against Spurs, his range of passing, his commitment and his drive into the box was superb,” said the Liverpool manager after the Tottenham match. Rogers has said that there is a chance that Joe Cole and Lucas Leiva will be back for the Southampton match.