Rodgers targets remarkable finish
As Liverpool enter the final weekend of the Barclays Premier League season, Brendan Rodgers has urged his charges to continue the remarkable progress displayed during the campaign.
The Reds are second in the standings following a sensational turnaround from last term's seventh-place finish.
Liverpool have already bettered 2012-13's tally of points by 20, with Sunday's home clash against Newcastle presenting them with the opportunity to end on 84 - the second highest total the club will have obtained since the days of Division One.
Rodgers' players are also just one goal away from recording a century of league strikes, a feat managed by the Anfield men on just one other occasion - 1895-96.
The manager reflected on the advancement the Reds have enjoyed, which has them in title contention going into the close of the campaign.
Manchester City, in pole position, host West Ham United on Sunday. Should the Blues suffer defeat and Liverpool record a win, the championship will be heading back to L4 after a 24-year absence.
The fact the league victors will only be decided on the final day, is credit in itself to the Merseyside club's progression.
"I want to congratulate my players on a remarkable season," said Rodgers in his last pre-match press conference of 2013-14. "They have put Liverpool on the world map again in terms of what we want to achieve at this club, and with their exceptional performance levels.
"Come Sunday, we will fight right till the very end. If we win the game and end up not winning the title, I think to finish second to the richest team in the history of sport really shows the measure of progress that we've made here."
Rodgers highlighted Liverpool's improvement this season as a starting point; a platform the club will look to build on and surpass.
"For us, this is only the beginning. I've had two years here, and we've been constantly improving," he said.
"There's lot of talk about other teams improving next season, and we will also still dramatically improve - the process is continual for us.
"We have young players here who've had the experience of this campaign and will only bode them well for the future.
"We'll be looking to finish this season strongly and tick the box at the weekend. We know it will be a hard game but the combination with our supporters and the confidence as well as quality in our play has been fantastic. For us to get 16 wins out of 19 would pencil in a great return at home."
Regardless of how the final day of the Premier League season pans out, the Northern Irishman pointed out just how phenomenal his players have been given the expectations of Liverpool from the press at the start of the campaign, and the compliments pouring in at the end.
"We've had a really successful season," re-enforced Rodgers.
"We set the objective at the start of the season to reach the top four and everyone in the media at the beginning of the season predicted it would be a huge ask for us, so it's a big compliment that you guys now talk about us potentially winning the title.
"For that you have to give a huge amount of credit to the players, who have continually gone out and performed very well and we'll all grow from the experience of the last couple of months.
"It's my job to ensure that we are ready to fight again next season, and that's what we'll do."