Rodgers: I would be happy with third place

BRENDAN Rodgers would happily have the season finish now with Leicester City in third place, writes Jordan Blackwell.

The City boss is satisfied with how his team are performing as the halfway stage nears, and he has admitted he would gladly accept the club’s current position in the Champions League places.

The victory over Newcastle took City back above Tottenham, but in one of the tightest tables in memory, just seven points separated the top half before last night’s game between Liverpool and Southampton.

“Our targets haven’t changed,” Rodgers said after the victory at St James’ Park.

“If we’re honest with where we’re at, we know there are other teams with greater resources who want to be up there.

“We’re happy with where we are at the moment. We have ambition to improve and develop. And with so many young players, I can see the development of the team clearly.

“If the season finished now, we’d be really satisfied, but there’s still such a long way to go and we’ll try to finish as high as we possibly can.

“The ambition is to get into Europe. We want to be a team that year on year gets European football.

“It’s always going to be a process for us.

“We don’t have the finances to get a £70 million, £80m, £90m player, so we have to develop an elite player, bring in a young player and improve them, or have a senior player who we can really look after, like Jonny Evans, who is a top player, and manage his career through so he can help our young players.

“Our goals are still the same. We’ve started the season very well in Europe and in the league. We know where we’re at and we’ll have to keep being as competitive as we can be.”

While City are third in the Premier League table, when it comes to games away from home, they are at the summit – with 22 points from a possible 27 on the road.

“The players have been outstanding in some of the games we’ve played,” added Rodgers.

“There’s been some real difficult games in there.

“It’s just time working together and evolving. It’s a huge credit to the players and their mentality.

“The first part of the season is nearly done, so there’s a long way to go.”