Monday, 22nd September, 2014
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has stressed the importance of his side progressing past Middlesbrough in the League Cup as he targets his first major trophy in management.
Rodgers has never won a major trophy as a manager, with the only pot he has lifted in senior football being that handed out to Swansea City for winning the Championship playoff final in 2011.
Liverpool last won the League Cup in 2012, under Rodgers' predecessor Kenny Dalglish. And the Northern Irishman is aiming to emulate the Scot.
"We want to get through", Rodgers told a press conference, looking towards the Middlesbrough game.
"We want to win a trophy, which I mentioned in pre-season, and this competition will give us the opportunity to do that", he added.
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Rodgers also defended his side's poor start to the season, with three defeats suffered in their opening five Premier League games.
And the 41-year-old believes performances have dipped due to a large number of new players being added in the summer.
"As a squad and a team we all respect that we can be much better. We're all looking to find our performance level. But we've been here before, when I first came in, a lot of games, a lot of new players settling in.
"We've got new players coming into the club, it's never easy.
"We will improve, there's no doubt about that."
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