Toure hits out at ‘crazy’ talk on Rodgers’ future
Liverpool slumped to 10th in the Premier League after their seventh and most damaging defeat of the season at the home of arch-rivals Manchester United on Sunday.
Rodgers was hailed for taking Liverpool to within a whisker of the title last season, but he has come in for severe criticism of late.
Toure thinks the criticism of Rodgers has been harsh considering he was just two points short of guiding Liverpool to their first title in 24 years last season.
“It’s crazy to even talk about his future,” the Liverpool defender said.
“He’s a great manager and we all know that. Just look at how fantastic he did last season.”
Toure will forever be indebted to Rodgers for handing him an exit route from Manchester City, where he struggled to hold down a first-team place following a move from Arsenal.
He retains complete faith in Rodgers and says the rest of the squad support their manager too.
“We’re all behind him and we’re all trying to make things better,” Toure said.
“He’s a great manager. We all love him.
“He took me from City where I was not playing a lot and people were thinking ‘Kolo is gone’ and he gave me another chance by bringing me in to Liverpool and now I am playing at one of the best clubs in the world.
“We will all do our best to get him and the club out of this situation.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is set to return to the scene of his greatest triumph in Istanbul — but will be hoping to avoid another costly slip when coming up against Demba Ba and Besiktas in the last 32 of the Europa League.
The Reds, who failed to make it out of their Champions League group, were handed a return to the Ataturk Arena, where they famously won the European Cup under Rafa Benitez in 2005.
Jerzy Dudek, their goalkeeper on that occasion, al assisted with yesterday’s draw.
Celtic, meanwhile, were given a fearsome last-32 draw against Inter Milan, the club Jock Stein’s ‘Lisbon Lions’ famously beat in the 1967 European Cup final.
While Gerrard inspired the Liverpool comeback on their own historic night in Turkey, the former England captain will need no reminding of what happened the last time he faced former Chelsea frontman Ba, when he lost his footing to gift the Senegal striker the opening goal at Anfield in a 2-0 defeat in late April that proved so costly as the title dream faded.
Ba maintains Besiktas should not expect Liverpool’s current troubles to impact on their challenge come 2015.
“Liverpool are having some hard times now. They couldn’t get the results they desired and things are not going well for them (but) hard games are ahead of us,” he said.
Celtic boss Ronny Deila is confident his men will be up for the battle against another of Europe’s most famous names.
He said: “We are meeting a big opponent, but we always have a chance. Everything is possible.”
Tottenham will also face Italian opposition in the form of Fiorentina, while Everton were drawn against Swiss side Young Boys.
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