Liverpool defender Andy Robertson has told talkSPORT Man City were a ‘class apart’ last season, but insists the Reds will come again this term as they look to compete for trophies again.
It was a tough campaign for Jurgen Klopp’s side, as they finished fifth in the Premier League and a huge 22 points adrift of the champions.
“City were a class apart from the whole league last season – we weren’t anywhere close to that,” Robertson told talkSPORT in an exclusive interview with Jim White.
“Obviously the last four, five seasons, we have been the team that has pushed them, we’ve been the team that has tried to compete with them, but this season they won it all. They won the treble and rightly so, they were the best team in Europe by a country mile and deserve all the plaudits they are going to get – but we can’t concentrate on other teams.
“We were below the standards we have set for ourselves and we have been punished for it, and it is up to us to try and get back to that and if we do, I believe we can be successful again.”
And it appears Klopp was hard at work to correct the trajectory before last season even ended, to give the team their best chance of recovering ahead of the new campaign.
“That message started six to eight weeks before the end of the season when we changed stuff and we were always looking to the next season,” Robertson added.
“The message already started, but the pre-season will be a big one. We have to get it right in terms of fitness and everything like that and get ourselves as ready as we can and tactically I’m sure we will be doing a lot of work as well to try and make us a better team and a team than can compete for the trophies we want to compete for.”