Rodgers hits back at Allardyce over complacency claim
Rodgers: Denying complacency. Photo credit: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Brendan Rodgers has dismissed claims by the West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce that Liverpool were guilty of complacency in their defeat by Aston Villa last weekend.
Allardyce was quoted as suggesting the Merseyside club’s Champions League ambitions had an impact on their Premier League performance.
“It was their first Champions League game back for many, many years. Maybe that caused a bit of complacency in the performance and Aston Villa took full advantage of it,” said Allardyce, whose side meet Liverpool on Saturday.
When informed of the observations, Rodgers said: “No, we are allergic to complacency here. We are not good enough to do that. Villa played well.”
Allardyce was most likely guilty of a poor choice of word rather than anything sinister, but his suggestion that Liverpool are having to keep on eye on future fixtures as much as what is on the immediate horizon is valid.
Rodgers has conceded that Liverpool lack the fluency of last season, putting that down to a combination of injuries, integrating new players and others still finding their form in a new campaign.
“We were not playing the same way in March and April last season as we were in September,” the Liverpool manager said. “We played some outstanding stuff last season, but this time last year we weren’t playing like that. We developed over the season, and we will do that this time around. We are patchy, yes, it’s one where players are settling in.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)
