REDS ROAR IS LOUDER NOW
EARLY af ternoon outside Liverpool’s training ground yesterday and it was the same as it used to be when the club were last winning league titles.
A kid in a full home strip was juggling a football among the throng of autograph hunters while, along the road, another had climbed a ladder to see over the wall.
Inside Mel wood, it was throwback time, too, as Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers outlined his vision of blitzkrieg f ootball ahead of tomorrow’s titanic Anfield meeting with Barclays Premier League title rivals Manchester City.
‘When we play at Anfield, we expect to win,’ said Rodgers, 41. ‘This is what we work for, the joy of going and playing. We have an army of supporters behind us who are incredible. We have a team high in confidence and belief, knowing we can beat anyone.
‘At Anfield, we have taken a huge amount of points this year and that’s not going to stop.
‘Our confidence to play and to pass and move, to press and work will be even higher this weekend.’
Rodgers was 17 years old when Liverpool last won the title in 1990. He was a trainee midfielder at Reading, fresh over from Northern Ireland.
Few back then thought Liverpool would wait so long for another league triumph. Even f e wer perhaps thought the spell would be broken this season. Liverpool finished seventh last term.
The scale of progress under Rodgers at Anfield has been immense and now Liverpool stand on the cusp of the most unexpected and fantastic glory. Should they beat Manuel Pellegrini’s City team tomorrow, they will lead them by seven points at the top.
Earlier this week, Kenny Dalglish, that most revered Anfield icon, commented that the current Liverpool reminded him of the old Liverpool. ‘Everybody is in it together,’ he said.
Prompted on this yesterday, Rodgers’ proud shoulders eased back just a fraction further.
‘Kenny knows the club better than anyone and we are hugely privileged to receive that,’ he said. ‘But we must keep on working because we haven’t achieved anything yet. I think what we’ve shown is we are on the right road.’
Few would dispute that. Liverpool’s football — so full of energy and forward thrust — has arguably been the best of this season, followed closely by that of tomorrow’s opponents.
In some ways, Rodgers and his team have already fulfilled their primary aim. They will play Champions League football again next season and that, in relative terms, constitutes a successful year already.
Pellegrini’s attempts to place a little pressure on his opponent’s shoulders yesterday seemed, therefore, a little clumsy.
Rodgers, after all, isn’t the manager who has been told by his chief executive to deliver five trophies in as many years.
‘I can’t believe that at such an important team as Liverpool, the manager has no pressure to win the title,’ said the City boss. ‘ I think everyone who manages Liverpool has that pressure.’
Rodgers and Pellegrini have a little crossover. City wanted Rodgers to work as assistant to Roberto Mancini a few years ago, while Pellegrini was interviewed at Anfield before the appointment of Roy Hodgson. Certainly, both are fine coaches and have s ome issues to contend with in tomorrow’s showdown.
Ultimately, the result may depend on who plays the occasion better.
Rodgers believes his team will be inspired — rather than awed — by the pre-match Hillsborough commemorations but we must wait for proof of that.
Pellegrini’s players must hope that European visits to Bayern Munich and Barcel on a will help prepare them for what Liverpool believe will be a unique atmosphere.
‘ We will unleash our supporters,’ said Rodgers. ‘I’ve even sensed it myself recently, the roar is different. Anfield is a different place now.’
‘For us the supporters are really the ones that will push us over the line and they’re the best supporters in the world.’
Occasionally, Rodgers has been accused of talking too much. Sure, he loves his football theory. Yesterday, though, he struck the right tone.