Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard has admitted this is the first time in possibly his career that he feels confident that Liverpool can challenge for the Premier League.
The Reds came within two points of ending a 24-year wait for the title last season before losing out to Manchester City, but the Anfield captain is excited by their prospects ahead of this campaign.
Speaking to the official Liverpool website, Gerrard said: “I think this is the first time in a long time that I can be confident of telling people that we are the real deal and are real title contenders before a ball has been kicked.
“I believe we are in a much better place now than we were this time last year. The reason being because we’ve got the taste, the know-how and the experience of being in a title race. If we can use the hurt of falling short last season in our favour then hopefully we can go one better.
Reflecting on last season, the former England captain revealed that he hasn’t yet recovered from the pain of coming so close to winning the only piece of major club silverware that has eluded him - and the only way to cure that is to ‘achieve something this season’.
“When you play at this level the margins are so tight, so when you fall short of something having been within touching distance the emotions are still going to be raw and will take time to get over.”
“The only way to do that is to go and achieve something this season. But the longer I’ve reflected upon it and analysed the season, you can look back and be proud of your teammates.
“I think the fans will agree with me that the performance levels last season were incredible. Some of our performances were top-drawer.
“If we can build on last season and find the consistency, there’s no doubt that trophies are around the corner.”
Rodgers will deliver
The 34-year-old realises his club has lost an important player following the £75million sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona, but he has put his faith in manager Brendan Rodgers to construct a squad capable of filling the void.
“Brendan has created a group of players who are all prepared to fight and are all very talented. Hopefully there will be a few more players added to that in the coming weeks,” he said.
“We’ve lost a world class player in Luis Suarez. There’s no getting away from that as I’m his biggest fan but hopefully four or five additions can help soften that blow.”
