Brendan Rodgers addressed a press conference at Melwood on Thursday afternoon ahead of Liverpool’s first game of the new Premier League season against Southampton at Anfield on Sunday.
When asked about a new contract for Glen Johnson, Rodgers said there was no update to be given and looked coy on the situation. Other than that, here are the highlights of his press conference:
On team news
Jon Flanagan is still in rehab, Adam Lallana out still but both will start training the week after next. Lazar Markovic unavailable this weekend.
Daniel Agger also unavailable, but they’re our only casualties for the Southampton game.
On pre-season
Pre-season was good, finishing with an excellent game against Dortmund last weekend. We’re really excited to get going.
On Southampton’s player exodus this summer
Every club loses players, but will hope they have the objectives to continue improving.
On Raheem Sterling
I didn’t say Raheem Sterling was like Lionel Messi, I was a bit shocked to read I’d “said” that. He’s a great young talent though.
Sterling is just one of a number of young players here with so much potential, we’re looking forward to seeing their developments.
I’ve not heard anything about Sterling being offered a new contract.
On more transfer activity
We’re nearly done with transfers. There’s one or two more things to complete. We needed to develop the squad this year, add more depth.
The players we’ve brought in will allow us to deal with injuries and more games. We needed to bring in players this summer.
This summer will probably be our biggest transfer window for the next two years.
Alberto Moreno deal to be completed very soon and he’ll be a terrific signing for us if that’s done.
On finding goals after Luis Suarez’s departure
The spotlight is on the team, we won’t be relying on Daniel Sturridge to score goals. The group has been developing and working well.
What happened last season counts for nothing. It’s a new, long, hard season, but an exciting one and the belief of the group of players.
Our league objective is to finish in the top four, then we can look beyond that.
We’ve got goals in the team, intensity, Suarez leaving makes no difference to that. We’ve proved that before.
We’ll look to improve that top end of the field (attack), but if the right player doesn’t come along, we’ll play with what we’ve got.
On the Premier League and long-term objectives
The Premier League is very competitive, a fantastic league to be in and we’ll be ready for the challenge ahead.
We’re looking to make this a sustainable team for the next 5-10 years, lots of young talent.
People will automatically look at Man City and Chelsea to win the title, we’re up there to challenge and be competitive again.
Every team is forensically looked at in football nowadays. Suarez was a great talent, but we scored more goals from other parts of team.
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