'We'll be calm but hungry at Wembley'

The national stadium is the venue for the Reds this afternoon, with Tim Sherwood's in-form team standing in the way of a first return to the showpiece for the club since May 2012.

Four victories on the road in the tournament this season - each by a single goal - have ensured Kopites can make the journey south in their thousands and strengthened the side's target of claiming a trophy.

Rodgers told his players at the outset of the campaign that delivering in cup competitions was a key objective - and semi-final elimination in the Capital One Cup has only fostered greater determination in the FA Cup.

The boss told Liverpoolfc.com: "We now arrive into our second semi-final of the season. This is a really prestigious competition and the game at Wembley sets it up perfectly for us.

"We know it will be a difficult game but this club is based around winning trophies and we want to do everything we can to turn what was a disappointing season at the beginning into what will hopefully be a successful season come the end.

"The players are very committed; our young players are very hungry and committed to achieving success. They are adapting to the ways of working.

"We have got some hungry players in there and some experienced players - the likes of Steven [Gerrard], who has won a lot of trophies in his career. The balance is great for us and hopefully we can go on and do that."

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Before their quarter-final replay against Blackburn Rovers earlier this month, Liverpool had suffered consecutive disappointments in the league at home to Manchester United and then at Arsenal.

They responded with a resolute display at Ewood Park, defending stubbornly to keep the Championship side at bay and then grabbing the winner with some more Philippe Coutinho magic.

"If you focus too much on the winning and solely talk about winning, it can put fear into players," said Rodgers, expanding on the mindset for tackling Villa.

"But the nature of our game is to control and dominate the ball, and for that you have to be calm in your mentality and technically good.

"That is something that obviously disappointed us in the two league games against Manchester United and Arsenal, but returned to our game against Blackburn and Newcastle.

"We know that possession in our game is important and in order to do that, you have to be calm. That's something that we'll be really focusing on for the weekend."

Since taking the managerial reins three years ago, Rodgers has experienced a starkly mixed record in games with the outfit from the Midlands.

At Anfield, Villa have inflicted two defeats and claimed a 2-2 draw; in meetings on the road, though, the Reds boast a perfect record of three victories.

He commented: "If I look at my time here, playing against Aston Villa at home it has not been so good. But away, we have dealt fairly comfortably with it and played really well. I suppose this will be like an away game.

"We're looking forward to it. It's a one-off game. We've got players that have got great experience of Wembley, we've also got really talented players that are looking forward to playing on the big stage and we've got experienced players.

"But we also respect that Aston Villa have got good players as well. These games are normally always tight and I'm sure that Sunday will be no different.

"In most games, Liverpool will go into it normally as favourites because of the sheer size of the club and the talent that we have. We're happy to accept that, but Aston Villa have been playing well.

"They have changed the shape of their team and [Christian] Benteke is a striker who is doing well at the moment, supported well by [Gabriel] Agbonlahor and their team is working well.

"They had a good result against Tottenham so that will give them confidence and they can maybe feel they can take their eye a little bit off the league, even though they'll probably have a bit of work to do in that.

"We're not being complacent in any way at all - we know it's a tough game and we'll be ready for a tough game."

Nobody at Liverpool is looking beyond the Villa semi-final, and rightly so.

But as he previewed the contest at Melwood before travelling to Wembley, Rodgers stressed once again just how crucial it would be for his youthful squad to experience a trophy triumph.

"It's going to be important for us, we can't underestimate it," the manager explained.

"When you're striving to be up there and competing, the confidence that it would give - for the players to be stood up on the podium and having won a trophy - they'll see that this is a place where you can win.

"In my two-and-a-half years here, the concentration in the first couple of years was to get towards the top four. After implementing the philosophy in the first year, we went on a great ride in the second year and brought the title down to the very last day.

"This year was about trying to consolidate that even though it was going to be really difficult because of everything that was going to happen at the club.

"This year was about focusing on the trophies and the cups; we reached one semi-final and we're now in another one, so we've shown the intent that we want to win.

"Over the last couple of years, the players have consistently been very good. The competition is now far greater than it has ever been in terms of teams competing.

"For us to win a trophy this year would really be a springboard for the development of the team, and that is something we're pushing very hard to do."