Brendan Rodgers: Liverpool Revises Targets, Expects 'Trophy' In 2014-15

Brendan Rodgers has set his sights on a shining, silver target for the 2014-15 season.

At a press conference in Chicago on Saturday, Rodgers said Liverpool realistically hopes to win one or more of the four competitions in which it will participate this season.

“Our expectancy this season is to win a trophy,” Rodgers said, according to LiverpoolFC.com. “That is what we’ll be looking to achieve this year.

After finishing eighth in the Premier League in 2012-13, Liverpool rocketed to second place last season. Liverpool’s surprising surge in 2013-14 made the club revise its targets sooner than previously planned.

“My focus when I signed my first contract was purely to get us into the (UEFA) Champions League because we felt that’d put the club back where it belonged at that level and give us greater resources as a football club,” Rodgers said. “We’ve achieved that goal. Now, as the philosophy is starting to become defined in the team, the next goal is for us to win a trophy.

However, winning trophies isn’t the end goal for Liverpool. Rather, it’s the inevitable outcome of the Reds’ pursuit of their long-term ambition.

“The most important thing for me as a coach is continuous improvement,” Rodgers continued. “It’s very important that on the back of a good season where we arrived in the top four and just missed out on the title, we can go and push on again. Success for us is a moving target — we’ve got to keep moving, keep stretching ourselves and the expectancy of Liverpool is to win. That’s what we’ll look to do this season.”

The 2014-15 campaign will be a pivotal one for Rodgers’ Liverpool. If the Reds can continue on their upward trajectory — from a point closer to where they finished last season rather than one where they started — trophies will naturally come their way.

But Liverpool’s heightened standing in today’s soccer world will be the real long-term change. When Liverpool is expected to win every game and every trophy, the Reds will have returned to the ranks of the superclubs and past glories will have been restored.

Rodgers work then will be complete and he, Liverpool, will set new targets and relentlessly pursue them.