Rodgers warns United on failure to qualify for European top tier
Dramatic improvement in Anfield side puts them 11 points above Moyes’s side
Brendan Rodgers: “When you’re not in the Champions League we found it difficult because the best players want to play in the best competitions.” Photograph: Chris Ison/PA
The Liverpool manager has watched a remarkable swing in fortunes against United this season and heads to Old Trafford 11 points above David Moyes’s team, having finished 28 points below Alex Ferguson’s champions last term.
Rodgers knows from experience that Liverpool’s global reputation and history of success could not compete with the lure of the Champions League for leading players. He believes United will not be immune from the problem should Moyes’s side – in sixth and nine points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City, having played two games more – need to rebuild from a position of weakness this summer.
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“This is a worldwide club, a monumental club, but when you’re not in the Champions League we found it difficult because the best players want to play in the best competitions. Any club will suffer when they’re not in there. There is no doubt it will hurt you but they [United] know that,” said the Liverpool manager.
‘Long way to go’
“It’s not simple to get back in. You think every year is the next year. I was reading a Jan Molby interview today about the great Liverpool teams of the past. He said when they missed out one year became two and then all of a sudden it was 20 years since they last won the title. It can get away from you very quickly. It’s our focus and drive to arrive in there. We have a long way to go but show great potential to be in there. I believe if we can get to that level then it gives us a massive advantage as a club,” he added.
“It’s not simple to get back in. You think every year is the next year. I was reading a Jan Molby interview today about the great Liverpool teams of the past. He said when they missed out one year became two and then all of a sudden it was 20 years since they last won the title. It can get away from you very quickly. It’s our focus and drive to arrive in there. We have a long way to go but show great potential to be in there. I believe if we can get to that level then it gives us a massive advantage as a club,” he added.
Liverpool are unbeaten in the Premier League this year and Champions League aspirations have turned increasingly towards a first championship since 1990.
Rodgers, though bullish about his team’s fine vein of form, claims Liverpool “still have a lot of work to get into the Champions League” and denied his players arrive at Old Trafford as the superior team.
“I think it is dangerous to think that. They are still the champions and all we can do is go there and look where we are at. We are second in the league on merit,” he said.
“We have performed consistently for a long period of time and that makes us a very dangerous opponent.
“Our first job is to consolidate fourth and then work upwards. That is the aim.”
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