Swansea boss insists Liverpool must keep faith with Brendan Rodgers
Swansea boss Garry Monk goes up against Brendan Rodgers on Monday urging Liverpool to keep faith with his old friend and former boss.
Rodgers steered Swansea into the top flight in 2011, when Monk was club captain at the Liberty Stadium, and the two share a close bond.
Monk revealed he has already spoken to Rodgers this week to ask if the Swans can use Liverpool's training facilities ahead of their FA Cup third round clash with Tranmere.
"We have Liverpool and then Tranmere away in the cup," Monk said.
"After we play QPR on New Year's Day we travel straight to Liverpool for the Tranmere game and I asked Brendan if we can use the facilities there.
"He said yes - but it depends on the result! He is a great guy, a fantastic manager and a person I look up to.
"We chat regularly about football and everything. What he has done in his career is something I aspire to in mine. He was at Reading, Watford and here, and within a couple of years he was managing Liverpool.
"He is an inspiration to someone like myself and one of the most mentally strong people I know."
Liverpool are down in ninth spot - one place and three points adrift of Swansea - and Rodgers' acumen in the transfer market has been seriously questioned with many of his signings failing to make a positive impression.
But Monk insists Rodgers - boosted by four points from the last two games against Arsenal and Burnley - is the right man for the job.
"He is seven points off a top four spot and the perfect man for that job," Monk said.
"Every manager will go through difficult moments - I know I will - and he is coming through it. He is producing good results and the team are playing a lot better.
"My friendship with him will always be there but I want to beat him and he wants to beat me. My job is to do the best for my players and that is what I will be doing."
Monk has overseen Swansea's best start to a Premier League campaign with 28 points from 18 games and has silenced the pre-season doubters who felt the rookie manager would prove to be out of his depth.
And after back-to-back festive victories the 35-year-old is clearly looking up rather than down the table and has urged his players to "hunt the teams" above them.
"I felt that when I took this job at the start of the season that I needed a plan to put on the pitch," Monk said.
"A lot of people would doubt myself, the squad and what we could achieve, and a lot had us down as relegation favorites.
"Having that plan has helped me and helped the team, I have a long-term plan but in the short term I need to get results and we are getting them.
"The 40-point mark secures the club and we are in a very good position. It is about creating expectation without getting carried away and I said to the players in the build-up to this period that I don't want to be that team looking over their shoulder as we have in the past.
"We have to be mindful of what's below us but I want them to hunt the teams in front and have that mentality going into games."
