Liverpool are set to face newly promoted side Bournemouth on Monday at Anfield in their second match of the season.
Ahead of the match, Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has suggested that Liverpool counterpart Brendan Rodgers has assembled his finest team yet ahead of Monday’s clash.
Howe has backed pal Brendan Rodgers to launch a title assault after claiming this season’s Liverpool team can be better than the side Luis Suarez led to the brink of glory.
“He’s building a new Liverpool team so I think this will be possibly the best Liverpool team that he’s put together,” said 37 year old Howe, who won Championship last season to get his side to the first tier of English football.
”I don’t think he needs any sympathy, certainly.”
”Why not [can’t it be better than the 2013-14 team]? He’s got really talented individuals and he’s had time, and longer to work with the players, so they’ll be more in tune to what he wants them to do.”
“He’s manager of Liverpool, I don’t think there’s too much sympathy to be flying around. He’s done a magnificent job. He did a magnificent job at Swansea, I think he’s doing a great job at Liverpool.”
“It’s a tough challenge, when you have so many clubs fighting for league titles and Champions League spots. I think he’s done very well.”
“The arrivals of Benteke, Firmino and James Milner suggest that, after building his reputation as a manager whose preference is for possession-based football, Rodgers wants Liverpool to be more direct.”
”He will play to the strengths of the players he has, that’s the key to success for any manager,” he said.
”You need to get the best out of the players you have. If you play a way that’s foreign to your players then it’s not going to work.”
”We have some very good footballers, so to get the best out of them, pumping long balls down the pitch isn’t going to help them. That’s the challenge for any manager, to play to the strength of the individuals.”
Bournemouth started their season with a 0-1 loss against Aston Villa and will be looking to give a good fight to strong Liverpool.