Chelsea defender John Terry has heaped praise on Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, who was an assistant manager at Chelsea for a few years before deciding to go down the managerial route himself. Rodgers was one of the assistant managers at the club during the regime of José Mourinho. He has later managed clubs like Reading and Swansea. Following an impressive debut season in the Premier league with Swansea, Rodgers was given the opportunity to manage the five-time European champions Liverpool.

Rodgers has had a difficult time at Anfield since he has had to rebuild the team. They were initially expected to challenge for a top four spot, but they are looking likely to miss out on the Champions league football once again. However, the team has certainly made progress since the days of Kenny Dalglish, when they finished the season in the eighth position – their lowest in recent decades. Now, the team are just a few places below the top contenders like Arsenal and Chelsea. Even though they remain six points behind Merseyside rivals Everton going into the weekend’s match, Terry has said that he expects Liverpool to be strong from next season.

The club have made several high-profile signings like Daniel Sturridge and Joe Allen since the arrival of Rodgers.

“I know Brendan very well. He is a great manager and was brilliant for me and the other players. I can only speak highly of him. There were many ways he helped me. When Jose was there he was always around. A couple of times I was left out of the side or injured and he’d pull me to one side. At the time it was something nobody had ever done and it just goes to show his man-management and how well he’s doing and how well he’ll do in the future,” said Terry.