Brendan Rodgers rules out taking Manchester United job and insists Louis van Gaal is not to blame for woes

Louis van Gaal has seen off another possible successor.

Sam Allardyce may have crossed a major barrier when he took over the Sunderland job having previously been at charge at rivals Newcastle, but the chances of a former Liverpool manager ever taking over at Old Trafford, or vice versa, is remote. Jose Mourinho may feel that that he is in pole position for the United job if and when Van Gaal leaves, but one of his former assistants, and Liverpool's most recent manager, has now ruled himself out of the running. Brendan Rodgers is likely to return to football management at some stage, but speaking to Talksport this morning, he was blunt about the chances of him ever parking in the manager's spot at Old Trafford.

"I think when you manage Liverpool that Manchester United job is gone."

Rodgers was sacked by Liverpool in October after a poor run of results and a summer spending spree that failed to generate the results the club were hoping for. The Antrim native has sympathy for the Dutchman's current position with Liverpool's great rivals, and feels the players must take a huge share of the blame.

"There is no way that Louis is sending out his team to have so few shots on target. This is a guy that has been around along time, he built the Ajax team in 1995 that was attacking with possession. He went to Barcelona and Bayern Munich and they were all attacking. "I think it's a lot to do with the players. Do they have the players to excite like before. That's a big part to do with it as well. "This is a guy who's been at the top of his game for a long long time and it's difficult for him and he'll have known what it's like coming to England. "

https://twitter.com/lfchero/status/692220760581107713 Liverpool last night booked their place in the Capitol One Cup final, three months after Jurgen Klopp took over. Rodgers failed to win any silverware, or get to a final, in his tenure at Anfield while Klopp is now 90 minutes away form ending Liverpool's current barren spell. The Irishman turned 43 yesterday, and so failed to see the club overcome Stoke in the semi-final second leg tie on penalties.

"It was my birthday yesterday and I went for a quite meal and by the time I got back in I'd obviously seen the score and it's brilliant for the boys and we were so close last year playing a Chelsea team and to go the extra step is brilliant for the club.

Rodgers is also hopeful that his biggest summer signing, Christian Benteke, who was a second half substitute in last night's win, can still have a future for Liverpool, despite failing to start in the last number of games.

"I think he will have a future. With Christian, Jurgen is taking time with him, everything is short-termism, you have to get to 20 goals in the first season. He tried to sign him for Dortmund, so he knows he's good player. "I think it is going to take Christian a bit of time. I took him in because we were short of goals."