Rickie Lambert opens up on pre-season "mistake" which cost him Liverpool career

Former Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert has revealed the big “mistake” at the beginning of his time at Anfield which derailed his career at the club.

A boyhood fan of the Reds, Lambert joined the club in the summer of 2014 after netting 117 goals in five seasons for Southampton, helping to fire them from League One into comfortable mid-table Premier League finishes.

Lambert, then aged 32, had netted 28 Premier League goals across two seasons at the Saints but he was unable to replicate that form at Liverpool, where he scored just three goals in 36 outings.

Indeed, Lambert – who scored three goals for England across 11 caps – left Anfield after just one season to join West Bromwich Albion, netting just five goals in 45 appearances after leaving the Merseyside giants.

Now, the former striker – who retired from playing in 2017 – has spoken about how a decision before the start of that season ended up being costly for him.

“My first pre-season, this is one of the biggest mistakes I ever made," Lambert told the Straight From the Off podcast. "[Brendan] Rodgers gave me, Stevie [Gerrard] and the lads at England, I think it was five weeks off, so we would come back a lot later than everyone else.

"But I went on holiday with the missus and kids, and then I went back, because I wanted to be in the best shape possible playing for Liverpool.

“So I literally had two weeks off and then came back with the first group at Liverpool. And that was a massive mistake. Pretty early on I was thinking ‘f***ing hell’. I could feel it in my legs. I needed the break. It was a stupid mistake.

“I was 32 as well. The year before at Southampton I could start to feel a slight difference, my little yard of pace. Then at Liverpool I just felt leggy, I just didn’t have the energy and the attitude that I was in.

“But I was still raring to go, couldn’t wait for the season to start and thought I was going to hit the ground running, score, do what I’d always done and be a success.”

Lambert revealed Rodgers pulled him aside just five months into his Liverpool career to tell him Crystal Palace were interested in signing him and that he should consider moving on.

He rejected the opportunity, instead choosing to stay and fight for his place, but eventually left the club at the end of that season.

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