The former Reds boss says he would not have done anything different despite the Reds’ being within touching distance of the title in 2014
Former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers says he ‘doesn’t lose sleep’ over the Reds’ failure to land the Premier League title in 2014.
The Merseyside club looked set to end their long wait for a Premier League title when a run of 11 straight wins put them five points clear at the summit with three games to play.
However, a home defeat to Chelsea – featuring the now infamous slip by captain Steven Gerrard – and a draw at Crystal Palace handed the initiative back to Manchester City, who went on to win the title by two points.
Rodgers was sacked as Liverpool boss 18 months later before going on to enjoy a trophy-laden spell with Celtic prior to returning to the Premier League with Leicester in February.
Reflecting on his time at Anfield, the 46-year-old insists he has no regrets, particularly about the way he approached the Chelsea game, where many felt a draw would have been good enough to maintain their title charge.
“You are going to get that, aren’t you? There are a lot of things said in hindsight, what we could and should have done,” Rodgers told the Telegraph ahead of his return to Anfield with the Foxes on Saturday
“I have heard the other one about us being overconfident. When you look at it before that game I did and said nothing different.
“We had won 11 games on the spin going into that game, making a quick start and playing attacking football. That was what put us in that position, including beating Manchester City at Anfield. We could not have played any other way and I have no regrets about sticking to that. Of 14 games at the end of that season we won 12.
“You know, when you watch it back we played well in the game for 70 minutes, Chelsea doing nothing. Then we lost a goal in very unfortunate circumstances before half-time. Even at the start of the second half we were doing okay. The only thing I would accept is maybe a more experienced team would have been calmer in the last 20 minutes chasing the equaliser. We only needed a draw and then obviously conceded another chasing it at the end.
“The story that went unnoticed was Jordan [Henderson] was unavailable for three of the last four games because of a last minute sending off against City. He was a huge miss for us that day. But as time goes on and you see the images and you realise how well we played that season so I don’t lose sleep about it.”
The undoubted star of the team that season was Luis Suarez, who scored 31 goals to win the Premier League Golden Boot as well as the PFA Players’ Player of the Year.
It was suggested that such was Suarez’s impact, Liverpool were something of a one-man team that campaign – something Rodgers refutes.
“It [the Suarez criticism] was unfair on every player,” he said.
“The strikers obviously get the goals and Luis was also the one who started the press for us, set our intensity level, but he needed players around him.
“Look, his quality and imagination in the final third was amazing but it was the team that flourished.
“We went so close [to the league title] and ideally you want to build on that but then you lose a world-class player. We lost our identity.”
Rodgers also insists he is not bitter at Liverpool for his departure in October 2015, just hours after a 1-1 draw with Everton in the Merseyside derby.
His successor, Jurgen Klopp, led the team to Champions League glory last season and looks set to mount at sustained challenge for the Premier League title this campaign.
“It went a bit pragmatic to get results and I was not watching a team playing in the way I believe in because we could not press high from the front. That was not the journey I wanted to be on. Safe is death, to me,” said Rodgers, who returns to Anfield for the first time since his sacking with Leicester this weekend.
“When I received a phone call from Mike [Gordon, Fenway Sports Group president] on the way home from the Everton game, I understood where it was at. From their perspective, maybe I could have gone in the summer but they wanted to give me the chance.
“It was a tough start to that season and they felt it needed a change. Look, it worked out brilliantly for them. When Liverpool won the Champions League I sent them all a message congratulating them and Jurgen.
“I am the type of person who is happy for the club and especially happy for players like Jordan and James Milner – players I worked with and had a strong relationship with. I was so happy for Jordan when he lifted the Champions League trophy because I know how much he has developed and worked for it.
“I was never going to be bitter. That’s why I let Jurgen move into my house!”
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