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The last two times Liverpool came close to winning the Premier League the club followed it up the relative high of near-success rather poorly. After finishing second in 2001-02, Gerard Houllier's side stumbled to fifth the next year. After finishing second in 2008-09, the ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett caught up with the club to undermine their follow up efforts.
This time around, the signs are much more positive for Liverpool building off their latest second place finish rather than again being haunted by it. Yet the past offers lessons in what the club must avoid if they are to improve on second, and Rodgers believes that key amongst them is avoiding any sense of complacency.
"There is certainly no complacency, I don't think we are that good yet," was Rodgers' blunt assessment of where his club stands today and of what they need to do over the summer transfer window to hold on to their unexpected gains of last season. "We can't take our eye off the ball as this is a very open league and it gets better every season."
Certainly Manchester United should pose a bigger threat under new manager Luis van Gaal, while Tottenham's signings from last summer should be improved after having had a year to settle in England. Meanwhile Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal don't appear likely to be going anywhere. Liverpool, though, at least do appear well placed.
Well placed to improve further under a manager who has shown he excels at improving those under his tutelage. Placed to improve by signing a few top players who before would have been more likely to go to United or Chelsea or even Spurs than a Liverpool side out of the Champions League. Yet none of that will mean a thing if they can't turn well placed into results.
"We need to draw the positives from this season and we need to add players that can come and improve us," said Rodgers. "We are hungry to succeed and we want to go one better next year."
