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Benitez offers Rodgers advice on Liverpool's struggles

Rafael Benitez guided Liverpool to a second-place finish in the Premier League in 2009 © Getty Images

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Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez says that Brendan Rodgers can only improve their fortunes if he looks to the future rather than dwelling on the past.

The club are 11th in the Premier League and in danger of Champions League elimination at the group stage after an inconsistent first three months of the season.

Rodgers guided the club to a runners-up finish last season, but has struggled to integrate a clutch of new arrivals into the squad after the departure of top scorer Luis Suarez, sold to Barcelona in July, or cope with the injury problems that have dogged England forward Daniel Sturridge.

Benitez, now in charge at Napoli but with his family living on Merseyside, was the last manager to lead Liverpool to second place, in 2009, but his team failed to progress and he left after they finished seventh the following season.

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He told Sky Sports News: "You have to have this experience and say: 'What can we do now?'

"We cannot change what happened so we have to think: 'What can we do for the future? How can we be in the same position?' So I think that's the only thing.

"When we finished second, I was really pleased because we had 86 points and it still was not enough and everyone went: 'Oh, you lost an opportunity'.

"So if you continue moaning about, 'Oh, we lost an opportunity', you will not be ready for the future. You have to concentrate on what you did well, what you did badly and then try to improve for the future, for the next one."

Benitez is out of contract at the end of the season with Napoli and has not been offered a new deal yet. He has a family home in the Wirral village of Caldy, around 12 miles outside Liverpool, and declared in April 2013 that he would return to Anfield to be Liverpool manager one day.

"I have one year left this year and the future you never know," he said. "But I am talking with the chairman, thinking about the future with Napoli and life and all the possibilities.

"Also my family is still here in England so we have to consider a lot of things. But the main thing for me is to concentrate on my job and do my best for the next game.

"Napoli is a team that is growing so we have to see how fast we can grow, and how fast we can improve things. It's a discussion that we have had in the past and we have in the future. I don't know how many months we will be talking about that, but obviously we will be talking about that.

"I want to win and do well this season and see where we are at the end. I have had conversations this year for a new contract with Napoli. I am really pleased there and happy. The chairman is supporting me all the time but in football you never know."

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