Brendan Rodgers: Liverpool are bigger club than Everton and embrace 'favourite tag'

Brendan Rodgers has reiterated that Liverpool are a 'big club'

BRENDAN RODGERS has locked horns with Everton manager Roberto Martinez and insisted Liverpool are happy to take on the mantel of derby favourites because they are a “big club.”

 

Martinez claimed this morning that the £290m Rodgers has spent during his tenure means Everton should go into Sunday’s 225th Merseyside derby as underdogs despite being above their rivals in the Premier League by a point and boasting a better run of form.

The comment saw Rodgers respond by claiming Liverpool are simply judged to a higher standard than their neighbours.

“We will always take the favourite tag,” said the Liverpool manager. “At Liverpool that is what you want. For us we are happy to take the favourite tag if people want to put that on us because we are Liverpool.

“There is no advantage or disadvantage if you are favourites. It just shows you’re a big club and that’s what we want to have here. There is no more or less pressure. It’s pressure we put on ourselves from within.

“That shows the club we are at and the level of expectancy here as opposed to another club. We are happy to live with that. We are at a club expected to do well.

“You lose games at a club like this and there is an investigation that is deep and the analysis is huge, but that is part of being at a prestigious club.

 

“Everton have done well. They are a point ahead and they have had a good start and we’ve had a ‘disaster’.”

Rodgers has never lost in his managerial career to Martinez, but heads into the fixture under mounting pressure with boos ringing around Anfield for the third time in four games following Thursday’s Europa League stalemate with FC Sion.

“There is a little frustration there and it something you have to take on the chin,” said Rodgers. “There is no more or less pressure than before.

 

Everton have not won the derby at home for five seasons

“It’s very simple. We have drawn a number of games we should have won but the reality is we are a couple of points off the top four and five off the top. We are calm and enjoying our work. Every win gives you confidence. We know we have the game to get goals. It’s a game we want to win.

“When you win games you have the support and when you lose there is disappointment. My worry is the club and for it to be the best it can be, but as manager you will always have critics and if you don’t win the level can increase.

“I also know there is great support and those who want us to do well are behind the team. It is also about perspective. Perspective keeps us calm.”