The Reds defender is preparing for his 17th season in a Liverpool shirt and has revealed his determination to maintain the consistency levels that have been his calling card at Anfield for nearly two decades.
Carragher will reach the milestone of 700 appearances when he next plays for the Reds, but he’s not considering the prospect of hanging up his boots as he insists he’ll do all he can to help make Rodgers’ reign a successful one.
“It’s about playing as many games as I can for Liverpool this season and see where we go from there,” Carra told the Liverpool Echo in Boston.
“It’s up to the manager when he picks me, what games he thinks are right for me. He’s the boss and he makes the right decisions. You’ve always got to respect the manager’s decisions.
“The fact is I’ve got a year to go on my contract, and whenever the manager calls upon me I’ll be there, wanting to play and wanting to do as well as I possibly can for Liverpool. That’s always been the case and nothing will change this year.
“I wouldn’t say getting a new deal is my motivation. My motivation is to play well for Liverpool, for Liverpool to win games, hopefully get a trophy and get into the UEFA Champions League.”
Rodgers is the sixth manager to take charge of the club during Carragher’s tenure, and the 34-year-old is not only impressed with the Northern Irishman’s new regime, but he’s also keen to learn from the man five years his senior.
“I’ve only known him two or three weeks and he’s been fantastic with me, but also all the players, especially the young kids,” Carragher continued. “Brendan is very much a coach, and it’s great to see him out there. Even at my age you never stop learning.
“I’ve learned a lot from him already because, although he is relatively young, he has been a coach for 20 years. I’ve learned from the way he talks to players about what he expects, even those who are not in my position.
“If I’m picked, I’ll know exactly what he was expecting from the other players so I’m learning all the time. It’s not just what he’s saying to me, but everyone.
“When a new manager comes in it’s fresh and new. There is more enthusiasm because people are trying to impress a bit more and it’s a clean slate.
“I’ve learned a lot from the manager over the past few weeks and I’m sure I’ll learn a lot more over the next 12 months. Ronnie Moran once said to me at 65 you never stop learning so I have still a lot to learn at 34.”
Several members of the Liverpool squad who returned for pre-season at the beginning of the month have emphasised the positives of Rodgers’ training methods — a sentiment shared by their vice-captain.
“Normally you have your football work and your running,” he explained. “This time it is all incorporated in one, so you have the football all the time. We joke that it’s what you call disguised running.
“All the elements have been blended into one thing rather than separated out, so we’re working really hard physically, but any footballer will tell you it’s better when you’re with the ball.
“It’s fantastic to have a manager who has these ideas about wanting to pass the ball. But it’s not like we’re going from being a long-ball team. We’ve always had that in our history and in our DNA. We’ve always been a club who play good football.”
Now Carragher wants the Reds to build on their encouraging preparations and mount a serious challenge for a top-four place and qualification for the Champions League next season.
“We should be looking to challenge for the top four,” concluded Carragher. “It won’t be easy as you look at the competition for those places now.
“We should be challenging and of course we want to be getting in it. We want to be in there fighting against the good teams, we won’t want to be getting to January and February looking like it’s not going to happen.
“The league form has to improve but we still want to do well in the cups. We had some great days to remember last season. We beat Everton at Wembley, we went there three times and won a first trophy for six years. Those are things we want to build on.
“The last few weeks have been great but we can’t keep saying that training has been great. We need to take the enjoyment and enthusiasm the lads have shown out onto the pitch.”
