Rodgers sees Liverpool on the up

Motherwell striker Henrik Ojamaa is suspended for their final SPL game at Fir Park this season, against Ross County.

The Estonian will miss the visit of Ross County on Sunday after being sent off in the 4-3 defeat against Inverness last weekend.

Otherwise, manager Stuart McCall has the luxury of a full squad to choose from, including SPFA player of the year Michael Higdon, who is in the squad despite his brush with the authorities earlier this week.

County have lost midfielder Rocco Quinn to a broken nose while Stuart Kettlewell and Mark Fotheringham have been added to Derek Adams' squad.

Earlier in the week Sam Morrow left the club and County are understood to be running the rule over a number of new recruits, including Moldovan international defender Petru Racu, who was recently on trail at Ipswich Town.

County's slim hopes of bringing European football to Dingwall next season could be over by the time this match kicks off, as Adams conceded.

"It is not in our hands," he said."All we can do is watch Saturday's results and take it from there. The European challenge might be over by the time we play.

"Dundee United have to win at Caley Thistle and St Johnstone have to lose against Celtic. It will become clearer before we go into Sunday's game."

The former Sheffield United and Rotherham midfielder has attracted interest from Rangers and other clubs, and McCall has now confirmed he will move on this summer after two years at the club.

McCall said: "Nicky Law will move on. I didn't think I would be able to get him to come to Scotland because he had really good offers financially in England, but he came. We have had offers and we rejected them.

"He has loved his football and loved his time. When Nicky moves on he will go with our best wishes because he has been a joy to coach and given great moments to the supporters."

Law will join Darren Randolph in exiting, with the goalkeeper expected to sign for Birmingham.

McCall said: "He has not signed a pre-contract at Birmingham. I know there is interest there, as there is from a lot of clubs.

"He has been an outstanding servant and he certainly deserves his move. We will all miss Darren and he will go with everyone's best wishes because he is a model pro."

McCall has not given up hope of re-signing Michael Higdon and he does not expect the PFA Scotland player of the year to move to another Scottish club. But he has potentially lucrative options elsewhere.

McCall said: "He has loved his time here. He has different agents putting stuff in his head. It's all maybes.

"And Michael is new to that. He had a really good agent and unfortunately his agent has gone to a job in a club and can no longer be his agent. So I think he has got a lot of people trying to get him a deal and that has probably mixed his head up.

"We have given him our best offer, which is a good offer, and he appreciates that. But when you have got four or five agents telling you he can treble or quadruple it, then you have got to listen. But it comes to a stage where you have got to make a decision."

The striker was arrested on suspicion of assault hours after collecting his award on Sunday night but was not charged, and McCall hopes the focus will now be on his achievement.

McCall said: "First and foremost he was absolutely humbled to win the award and it's an award you don't actually know you're getting until it's read out.

"I think emotion-wise, and drinking all the coffee and shandy that he had, obviously didn't help.

"He was slightly embarrassed the day after because of events later on, which nobody really knows the full story of what happened.

"He felt he had let a few people down but he had been there with his family, his dad, his brother-in-law and friends, and it was a real emotional night for him.

"When that blows over, which hopefully it has done now, he has still been player of the season and he was voted that by the players, and he is very proud of that.

"We have all been in scrapes before and you learn from it. He is certainly not a night-clubber, he doesn't go out partying. He maybe just got caught up in something which he shouldn't have done but I think the majority of us have been there.

"Unfortunately he spent a night (in the cells) sobering up. But it's over now and he is looking forward to the last few games and hopefully scoring a few more goals."

Meanwhile, McCall did not rule out the possibility of James McFadden extending his short-term deal.

"I think James will wait and look at his options," McCall said.

"He has been linked with Celtic and will wait to see what's happening there. There is no definite that he won't be staying but it's certainly no definite that he will."

McFadden himself is waiting until the season ends before focusing on his future, with Motherwell still to wrap up second place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League ahead of Sunday's visit of Ross County.

The 30-year-old said: "I've not got anything to decide. I will play the two games and see what happens after that.

"I've not had any offers. I would consider (an offer from Motherwell) but I need to get the season finished and enjoy the summer and see what happens.

"I've not got any expectations or aims on where I want to be. The main aim was to come back and play games every week, get to the end of the season and take it from there.

"I've got my family here and it would be nice to be based here but that's my job, I play football, and you could be moving away somewhere you never expected."

McCall has players lined up should more of his out-of-contract players depart.

"I have had lots of people saying they would like to come here," he said.

"But until we get feedback from our current players we can't really say yes to them."

Ferguson's 27-year reign, which will end in retirement this summer, has delivered 13 league titles to Old Trafford.

Their success this season was their 20th, taking them further past Liverpool's previous record of 18 and achieving the Scot's primary aim all those years ago of 'knocking Liverpool off their perch'.

But with Ferguson out of the picture and David Moyes, who as Everton manager failed to record a league victory at United, Anfield, Manchester City or Arsenal in 11 years, taking over there is a sense there may be a dip in the Red Devils' success.

And while Rodgers would not predict what effect Moyes would have he wants his side to be in a position to take advantage should United - or any of their closest rivals - experience a drop-off.

"It (United) has been a machine which has been working for over 25 years," said the Reds boss.

"Sir Alex has really put his identity on the club and that has led to success.

"It will take David time to go in and assess everything but it is a club as stable as any in the world and it is ready-made for him.

"There is no doubt he (Ferguson) will be a big miss there because he has been there so many years and been part of the furniture, making the club what it is today.

"But (how they react to the change) is up to the rest of the clubs.

"The spending powers of the teams up there will always make it close.

"I can only think of Liverpool - I've a big enough job here to get us moving on but I think next year we can do that.

"My focus is to try to close the gap. We are bridging that gap slowly this year but hopefully we will take a bigger stride next year.

"But the reality is very simple: we are 30 points behind the leaders and 12 points behind fourth place so we have a lot of work to do here.

"We know it is a long road but we don't like being second-best and being behind.

"We don't start the season aiming to finish fourth. The aim is always to win the title.

"A club of this status that is the ultimate objective - but you have to be realistic."

Progress has been made in Rodgers' first season in charge but his team are still too inconsistent to sustain a top-four challenge.

He admits they were never likely to make the leap back into Champions League qualification immediately after his arrival but having put systems of play and ways of operating behind the scenes he is more optimistic about next season.

Much will depend, however, on his success in the transfer market.

He will not have a massive amount at his disposal - probably about ?20million, which is what he spent on Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho in January, plus any cash generated from sales.

Then it is about picking the players who have the right qualities to for a top-four push.

"I am very hopeful with what I have seen with the (current squad's) mentality and it is our job in the summer to get the right types of characters to build that winning mentality and turn a lot of our draws into victories which I believe will push us into the top four next year," he added.

"It is where we want to be. The history of this club dictates that but this season was about putting that base in place.

"Young players have got an opportunity to play and I've seen development in the players but we are here to win.

"Next year can be a big year for us if we can add the right type of mentalities to the group and make sure we become more consistent next year.

"The realism is in the earlier part of the season we got two consecutive wins in the Premier League for the first time in over a year.

"That is something you have to put into perspective.

"My biggest aim was to try to improve the consistency of the group but if we are going to make the jump into the next phase we have to improve again.

"It is always the aim to finish top - every big club will go in with that ambition - but we know it is a process to arrive there.

"We are confident next year we can make those steps to keep the progress moving on."

Liverpool's friendly against Ajax Cape Town on May 21 has been cancelled after the South African Premier Soccer League ruled it could not be played during their season.