Brendan Rodgers

[Phoenix07]

Wat?

Mascherano - came as half of the previous transfer window's most covered transfer stories, one of Argentina's most talented players and hyped up throughout world football as one of that generation's most talked about national talents

Maxi - a proven international player who scored the goal of the tournament in World Cup 2006. Regular goalscorer for club and country, one of the highest paid players at Atletico Madrid

Agger - the best young talent to come out of Denmark at that time and was also being chased by Spurs (quelle surprise) amongst others across the continent

Skrtel - played at a high level for Zenit and a regular for the Slovakian national team.

Hardly unknowns

Take Mascherano out of the equation for a second. Maxi was on the decline at Atletico Madrid. They were desperate to offload him because of his wages and we were skint, but desperately needed someone, so we got him on the cheap.

I dare to say the majority of Liverpool fans never heard of Agger prior to being linked with him.

The same goes with Skrtel and besides, Heinze was our first option in the summer before we decided to get our arses spanked by the Mancs legally yet again. We had to move for Skrtel in January as a result.

[McDermotX]

Brendan Rodgers Caught Rapid

[dom9]

I can see he's squinting.

[Shaggy]

Brendan Rodgers Caught Rapid

He's looking right down her top!

[Bender]

He's looking right down her top!

not much to see there unfortunaltey

[-V-]

Brendan sayin lets aim for top two as 11 point gap is catchable over the season. Effectively telling the team they can get to second if they go for it.

I like that

[Vermilion]

Brendan sayin lets aim for top two as 11 point gap is catchable over the season. Effectively telling the team they can get to second if they go for it.

I like that

Lucky he didn't let his gaze slip lower down, or he'd be ridiculed for saying the title is still possible, eh.

[Gibbo]

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers sets his sights on a top-two finish

Brendan Rodgers has challenged his Liverpool players to continue their winning form after targeting a top-two finish in the Premier League.

The Reds entertain Aston Villa on Saturday looking for a third straight league win - something they have not achieved since the 2010-11 season.

"We are 11 points off second and that can all turn around very quickly so you need to get consistency," said Liverpool manager Rodgers.

"That is what we have at the minute."
Liverpool's last five finishes

2011-12: 8th (Kenny Dalglish)

2010-11: 6th (Roy Hodgson; Kenny Dalglish)

2009-10: 7th (Rafael Benitez)

2008-09: 2nd (Rafael Benitez)

2007-08: 4th (Rafael Benitez)

Liverpool start the weekend in 10th place in the table, their highest position in what has so far been a frustrating season.

The last time they finished second was in 2008-09, when they led the table over Christmas only to finish four points behind champions Manchester United.

But back-to-back victories over Southampton and West Ham, together with a 1-0 win at Udinese in the Europa League on 6 December, have convinced Rodgers that his players are beginning to make progress under his leadership.

"They have been hammered left, right and centre by numbers of people," he added.

"But for a club that has been very poor and disastrous, by all accounts from other people, we lie four points off top four.

"When you are a club that is the size of Liverpool then that criticism comes.

"But I was quite calm because their [the players'] focus and concentration has been first class, our mentality was very much relaxed as we can only worry about ourselves.

"We know what will come our way when you don't win games and we are trying to still improve.

"Everyone has their opinion on Liverpool and I understand that because of the standards set by this club in the 1970s and 1980s."

[Captain Stu]

I admire his optimism but top two isn't realistic this year... I don't even think top four is realistic this year, our squad simply isn't good enough.

[kingfunk]

He's bold.

[Boogs]

He's bold.

Expect some cunting amazing signings in Jan lads

[little dave hedgehog]

why do i expect that "bloody amazing" is going to fail to happen according to my definition?

[Vermilion]

I wonder what peoples definition of a 'bloody amazing' signing would be, and are any of them realistically attainable in jan ?

[little dave hedgehog]

i would settle for good, but i would call it what it is

[Boogs]

If we are going to get 2nd place then Messi is on his way