Brendan Rodgers has accepted it is time to embellish his Liverpool reign with silverware but hinted that progress in the Capital One Cup would further strain his relationship with José Mourinho.
Liverpool host Chelsea in the semi-final first leg on Tuesday with Rodgers yet to win a trophy or record a win over the Stamford Bridge club since becoming manager at Anfield in 2012. That task would be easier “if you’re a manager that comes into a dressing room full of experienced players that have won consistently”, said Rodgers, in what could be interpreted as an unsubtle dig at Mourinho’s work with the commanding Premier League leaders.
Mourinho appointed Rodgers as Chelsea’s youth team coach in 2004 but their friendship has deteriorated since the former returned to the English game in 2013. The Liverpool manager accused his Chelsea counterpart of parking two buses at Anfield last season, adding: “It’s not difficult to coach to just get 10 players right on your 18-yard box”, before calling Mourinho to apologise. Rodgers hopes to intensify the rivalry by reaching Wembley at Mourinho’s expense.
“We probably don’t have as much contact now but the respect has not left,” he said before the semi-final, which will be concluded at Stamford Bridge next week. “The opportunity to work with him in that period of three-and-a-bit years was invaluable to me and hopefully in some ways I helped him because we had a lot of communication. But of course when you’re fighting for the same competition, the friendship …
“I have a huge respect for him, he’s a wonderful man and coach but you are so engrossed in your own work that you don’t communicate as much, you don’t have the conversations you had before and ultimately you become a rival. But certainly the respect hasn’t dropped or been lost. He is a good man.”
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