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Former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers believes the Reds have a real chance of success in the Premier League this season due to their lack of European football. Liverpool failed to qualify for any continental action due to an eighth-place finish in the league and defeats in the finals of the Capital One Cup and Europa League. However, the Celtic manager feels a less hectic schedule could turn out to be a positive for Jurgen Klopp, who replaced Rodgers at Anfield in October. Rodgers almost led a Liverpool side without any continental commitments to the title in 2013-14, and when asked for his thoughts on the title race for the upcoming season, the Northern Irishman said on talkSPORT: "I think Liverpool have a chance this year. "Liverpool and Chelsea don't have European football and that's a huge advantage for you, where you can prepare your team for just the one game every week. "Of course, you'll have domestic cup games in between that, but I think Liverpool will have a good chance this year. "But it will be very competitive with the coaches that have come into the Premier League, that makes it exciting and I'm sure it'll be a fantastic season." Rodgers was also quizzed about the future of striker Mario Balotelli, who he signed for Liverpool in the summer of 2014 from AC Milan. Klopp says the Italian has no future on Merseyside and Rodgers also feels he should move on in order to fulfil his potential. "I think for any player they will want to play," he added. "And if you're not in the plan of a manager then of course you want game time as a player. "Hopefully he can find a home and settle and get back to using his talents because he is a big talent." Rodgers' Celtic suffered an embarrassing 1-0 defeat on Tuesday night to part-time Gibraltar side Lincoln Red Imps in the Champions League second qualifying round. However, despite the loss in his first competitive fixture, Rodgers remains upbeat about his side's hopes of turning the tie around. "It was a mixture of everything really," Rodgers said. "It was one where playing on the AstroTurf pitch wasn't ideal. It was up to the mid-thirties in temperatures but still we dominated the game. We failed to take chances and obviously they had one sort of clearance up the pitch that bounced awkwardly off the AstroTurf and their guy goes in and scores. "It's obviously disappointing but I think, over the course of these qualifying rounds, the second leg for us at Parkhead is going to be very important."
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