The absence of complacency within the Liverpool camp is perhaps most effectively defined by the fact that Brendan Rodgers and his staff were planning for next season within hours of 2013-14 concluding.

Second place in the Barclays Premier League was sealed on May 11, with a 2-1 home victory over Newcastle United capping a campaign in which the Reds had come tantalisingly close to claiming the championship in stunning fashion.

During the preceding 10 months, Rodgers' squad had surpassed all pre-season predictions, combining hunger and youthful energy with clinical movement and finishing in a whirl of the attacking football sought by the boss.

The day after the final fixture, though, the Northern Irishman was back at the training ground, returning to his headquarters at Melwood to begin plotting the pathways to more of the same when the Premier League table begins blank again in August.

"Our work has started already," Rodgers explained to Liverpoolfc.com in an exclusive review of the season shortly after the finale.

"We had a three-hour recruitment meeting. So there is certainly no complacency; we're hungry to succeed here. As much as we've had a good season, we want to go one better next season if we can."

The boss, who collected the League Managers Association's Manager of the Year accolade for his achievements, continued: "There's certainly no complacency. You can't take your eye off the ball.

"This is an ever-evolving league; it gets better every season. We're in a league where there are not just British players - this is a league that is full of world-class players."

A barely comprehensible 11-game winning streak that kicked off with a 5-1 destruction of Arsenal at Anfield on February 8 had carried Liverpool to the brink of the Premier League title in the closing weeks of April.

Their control at the summit was surrendered, however, with unfortunate defeat by Chelsea followed by untold drama at Selhurst Park, where Crystal Palace recovered from a three-goal deficit to level with the Reds.

For all of the natural disappointment, the manager has no doubt that his growing team - with the third-youngest average age in the division last season - can build on the experience of competing at the highest echelons.

Rodgers added: "We need to draw on the positives of this season - of which there are many - and we need to add players that can come and improve us. That's key for us.

"It's about taking in players that have hunger; you've got to retain your hunger and bring players in of that profile, as well as the other attributes I want, which is the technical capacity in the game and tactical intelligence."

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