Brendan Rodgers is adamant that his Liverpool side’s stuttering start to the season has not been the disaster it’s widely been made out to be, and that the Reds are still on course to achieve a top four finish.
After coming so close to a first Premier League title last term, the Anfield side were highlighted as trophy favourites alongside champions Manchester City and Chelsea in the build-up to the campaign.
Yet after the loss of last season’s top player Luis Suarez, and a raft of new additions, Liverpool are some way off of the pace and have been roundly criticised by their own fans and pundits.
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Heading into 2014/15 Rodgers insisted that finishing in the top four and making it into the knockout stage of the Champions League were his major goals, and the Northern Irishman is confident that they remain distinct possibilities:
“I think perspective is something that will be lost because of the nature of our rise,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
“When I hear people talk and I hear people criticise the team, that’s fine as you expect to get criticism when you lose games.
“But if you look at where we were last season and what has happened over the summer and in the early months of this season, if you are someone who works on logic and reality you will understand that it’s not a simple process.
“Unfortunately, there is another little period of transition with so many new players coming in. We’ve had injuries and we also lost a world-class player in Luis Suarez.
“I repeat we’ve lost nearly 75% to 80% of our goals from the team in terms of Luis leaving and Daniel Sturridge not being available. We have to find different ways in order to replace that.
“I think at this moment in time with everything that has been thrown at the team, a sense of perspective is very important.
“In the league we are equal fourth on points and we’re playing in the last 16 of the League Cup next week.
“Our objective in the Champions League was to get out of our group and that’s still in our hands. Everyone saw up close just how good Real Madrid are and it looks like it will be a fight for second place between three clubs.
“It’s how people want to spin it, but for me our season is very much on track.
“There’s still a lot of great work going on here. We’re working harder than what we did last season and eventually we will get the same results.”
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