Although Brendan Rodgers is remaining understandably coy on Liverpool’s title credentials, simply the fact that it’s even a conversation is a testament to the progress the club has made under him.
Saturday evening’s 3-0 victory over Southampton put the Reds second in the Premier League, remaining just four points off league leaders Chelsea with 10 games to go.
Liverpool are 2 points off from reaching last years total for the entire season, with 10 games left to play. #progress #LFC
— Edward Brailsford (@Ed_Brailsford) March 2, 2014
#LFC have 56 points after 27 games.That is the most points Liverpool have had at this stage since the PL started! #Progress
— Kop-Ice (@kopice86) February 23, 2014
After the match, which saw Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling and Steven Gerrard sink the Saints at St Mary’s, Rodgers told the club’s official website, “We’ll just stay calm. 10 games to go, we’re in a good position and we just want to continue working at the level we’ve been at.”
But a jubilant Rodgers also revealed that he is delighted that fans can dream about winning the Premier League, saluting the positive atmosphere around the club.
He said, “We’ve made many changes on and off the field in the time I’ve been here, but what we have created is a one-club mentality. Now when anyone talks about Liverpool, it’s about the football, and that’s very pleasing.
“We still have a lot of work to do in terms of where I want to take the team. It’s great to have a group of players that are very honest and want to go with you on the journey. You can see by their work-rate, intensity and quality that we’re improving all the time.
“We’ll stay calm. It’s good for the supporters to dream. It’s great for them because they’ve seen the evolution of this team over the last 18 months – and we’ve been constantly for over a year progressing and performing at a good level.
“We stay calm, we don’t get too carried away and we always just focus on the next game. After Swansea we knew this was going to be a really difficult game here today.
“They’ve scored in all but two games here, have some wonderful players and the manager is excellent. For us to come and play as we did today and find the solution to nullify that threat was impressive.”
Liverpool’s next Premier League encounter is an unpredictable visit to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, March 16th.
Rodgers hopes his side will continue the fantastic run of form which has seen them drop points only once in the league since the turn of the year.
Against Southampton, the Northern Irishman was delighted with his players’ resolve when he switched to having an extra man in midfield, replacing Raheem Sterling with Joe Allen.
He added, “We’ve played 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 3-5-2 and today we played a 4-4-2 diamond. You’ve got to heap huge praise onto the players, who kept the tactical discipline in order to block up the space and be a threat going forward.
“We’ve had an outstanding performance today – a really significant performance – against a very, very good side with an excellent manager. Our players were tactically brilliant today; kept a clean sheet collectively as a team and scored three goals.”
Are Liverpool supporters right to talk about winning the title with 10 games left to go? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, on Twitter @thisisanfield or in our forums.
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