Brendan: This club is about trophies

The Reds will travel to Goldsands Stadium for the fourth-round tie against the Cherries, and the manager has admitted he will field a side close to full-strength.

"We don't have a lot of choice at the moment," said Rodgers, when asked about his selection plans for the Championship outfit in his pre-match press conference. 

"We've only got 15 players training [due to injuries], and obviously we'll call on some of our younger players to come into the squad. 

"It's a competition we want to do well in, the history of the club dictates that it's about winning trophies and this game is important for us, so we'll be strong and look to get a good result."

When asked whether it would be hard to balance Liverpool's ambitions for a Champions League place with progress in the FA Cup, Rodgers responded: "It's always been the priority, to arrive in there [the top four], but as I said this club is about trophies, and winning trophies. This game is one we'd like to win." 

The 40-year-old is fully aware that Bournemouth will raise their tempo for the encounter, and expects the Reds to do exactly the same.

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"Whatever your motivation is for games against Manchester United or Chelsea, I think you have to go five times more in a game like this because they're such tough games." said Rodgers.

"They're a great side and Eddie [Howe] is a terrific manager, who's found a good home at Bournemouth. He's set the club up really well, they're ambitious going forward, they use a 4-3-3 and have good players all through the field.

"The players are under no illusions that for us to get through, we have to up the tempo. Last year, I didn't underestimate Oldham or any opponent, we just had to make the changes [to the team], and we suffered for it."

For his thoughts on why lower-league opposition are so difficult to overcome in the FA Cup, Rodgers mused: "You've got one of the biggest clubs in the world coming to the ground, which is a big deal. When you're Liverpool, and you're playing well, I think you're always going to be a scalp.  

"We saw that in our last game against Oldham, who may be in League One, but have some good players who kept the game in the balance all the way through. They made it hard for us and I think this will be a difficult game as well.

"But it's for us to ensure that our mentality is right and that we're willing to do the dirty stuff, and the ugly bits in the game and then you look at your quality to come through in the end."

One of the areas Liverpool will need to improve on if they are to achieve their aspirations for the campaign is at the back. Rodgers admits the side hasn't been as durable as planned when defending.

"It's certainly been nothing systematic," he said of the club conceding five goals in the last two games.

"We've made individual errors this season and I think part of that has been about the balance of the back four, which has been difficult because we've had so much change.

"But the players have still done very, very well. We had a meeting this morning about heading into the next number of games having that stability in the team, which is important.

"As much as we want to be offensive, it's very important to have that tactical discipline and as I've said, we've got players here who have a strong mentality. As well as scoring goals, we want to be defensively sound," concluded Rodgers.