Rodgers outlines tour benefitshttp://www.lfctour.com/news/rodgers-outlines-tour-benefitsBrendan Rodgers could not hide his excitement at the prospect of embarking on Liverpool's pre-season tour of North America when he spoke to Liverpoolfc.com just before the squad departed from John Lennon Airport earlier this afternoon.
Rodgers and his team will spend two weeks stateside preparing for clashes against Toronto FC in Canada on July 21, AS Roma at Fenway Park on July 25, and Tottenham in Baltimore on July 28.
And the manager explained how he was looking forward to touching down in Boston and building on what he believes has already proved to be a positive and productive pre-season at Melwood.
"We've had a real good couple of weeks work at home and obviously when you travel abroad, especially to great countries like America and Canada, you find out different things about the group," said the manager.
"We're really looking forward to the sun - we had a bit of rain this morning in Liverpool! The whole group - the players, the staff - is looking forward to it."
A selection of youngsters joined Rodgers and his squad as they left Liverpool for the three-game tour and the manager revealed how he will use the trip to the US to analyse every player in his squad.
"It's a great pre-season for me because I get to look at the younger players and the senior players," said Rodgers. "So they all feel there's hope right through the club."I've also got some of the staff from the Academy coming with me. I feel it's important that they understand how I work, on and off the field, because when we come back, it all becomes really, really busy and you're getting into your focus for the games.
"So it's a great integration for the players and the staff and we will enjoy it and work hard which is important."
Liverpool will set up base at Harvard Univeristy when they arrive in the states. The university boasts fine training facilities including full-size indoor running tracks and three Olympic pools.
"I think Harvard University is one of the most renowned and historic universities in the world," explained Rodgers. "So for us it's a real privilege to go there and do our work.
"But the most important thing is our mentality. First and foremost, the objective is to go and work and work hard. And secondly it's to bring the great name of Liverpool to other supporters over in that part of the world. Most importantly, we're there to work and work hard."
Rodgers' first game as Liverpool manager will come against Toronto on July 21 and whilst the boss is excited to finally take up position in the Reds dug-out, he insists that results aren't everything in pre-season.
"When you're a player, a coach or a manager, you never want to lose any game that you play," he said. "But I certainly won't be losing sleep over it.
"Of course we haven't got the majority of our squad and some of the core players within our group here but the most important thing at the minute is that we're getting players up to speed.
"Our objective is the first pre-season game. We want to get that underway and then conentrate on the first league game which is on the 18th and that's when we'll look to be ready."
