The Reds saw their slim top-four hopes all but extinguished in Tuesday night's defeat at Hull as a testing campaign looks set to finish with little more than a whimper.
While manager Rodgers believes his side's mid-season rally has cost them in recent weeks he will have been alarmed by the lack of desire on show at the KC Stadium, where they were upstaged by struggling Hull in every department.
He said: "The challenge for next year is to build a team that can get through the rough waters as well and that is going to be critical for us.
"We've got a lot of fantastic players but when it is tough we have to get through that and if we want to make a challenge like we did last year, that is what we have to do.
"The challenge for me until the end of pre-season is to rebuild a group that can get through
The players here have given their best to meet that challenge but we have to refocus again and look to improve the squad."
