Brendan Rodgers orders troops to toughen up

Brendan Rodgers has ordered his ailing Liverpool team to toughen up if they are to mount a serious challenge for a return to the UEFA Champions League next season.

The Reds saw their slim top-four hopes all but extinguished in Tuesday night’s defeat at Hull as a testing campaign looks set to finish with little more than a whimper.

While manager Rodgers believes his side’s mid-season rally has cost them in recent weeks he will have been alarmed by the lack of desire on show at the KC Stadium, where they were upstaged by struggling Hull in every department.