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Brendan Rodgers

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Actually many of us thought balotelli was that Shit. It's not a surprise at all.

Glen - I didn't like him, but really did not think he was that shit - I mean he was Italy's main striker so thought he may have something to offer. Should have known better - apart from Zola - most Italian players seem to play like they got all the time in the world to make that next pass.
 
... many times when Ming passes the ball out to his defenders, only for them to pass it straight back (today, weirdly, almost as if they were trying to make it as difficult as they could for him), until either he belted it forwards to no one in particular, or one of the defenders finally decided to pass it forwards, usually to no one in particular.

Really annoys me when I see this. It's as if the centrebacks (and they're the main culprits since the fullbacks are pushed up) can't wait to see Mig cost us a goal by getting robbed or blocked, so they keep dumping him the ball as late as they can and watch him try to kick it out with an opponent in his face. We see this every game, I can only assume they're being encouraged to do so, or at the very least, Rodgers and his staff doesn't see it as a problem. Fine, we could do that now and then if we have a plan behind it, but we take it to ridiculous extremes and like you said, it usually results in a cheap turnover of possession. Ball lost, time wasted, defenders' nerves jangled, and energy needlessly expended as players who've trotted further upfield have to scramble back to defend.
 
No, I know that. That's what I mean about doing it PROPERLY instead of in the robotic fashion it's become of late. It doesn't do anything when, slowly, slowly, it's passed about at the back until the final ball back to Mingolet forces him, under pressure from a forward, has to belt the ball up without looking. THAT doesn't do anything but give the ball away. I know what we did last season,


There was an instance where it happened yesterday, we passed it between Skrtel, Lovren and the keeper about a dozen times while looking very vulnerable and unconvinving. Eventually Mignolet pinged it about 30-40 yards to the wing straight to their player. Gary Neville said on the commentary, "all that risk for that".
 
It's quite obvious from Rodgers post match comments that he recognizes the lack of rhythm in the side currently. So I wouldn't say he was asleep at the wheel or unaware of the need for improvement.

I can't say that it's particularly surprising the inconsistency given the level of changes and injury disruption in the previous few months. To be sitting fifth after losing our best player and having our best striker sidelined is a commendation for his powers of motivation.

I think he has good players and they will get a rhythm to go with the tenacity they've shown in keeping going when things aren't plain sailing. I'm sure they'll all be looking to put on a good show against Real Madrid. What better fixture to show your skills?
 
It'll settle down. Henry and Co really have to back him in January and next summer, and he really needs to make the right signings, but I think he'll succeed. In the short term the mentality of the players needs to recover - they've all been jaded since the end of last season - and the defence, obviously, has to be strengthened. The first step to doing that is to choose the players and stick with them. Either work to improve Mignolet or dump him pronto, don't let this uncertainty fester, and the same with the back four - pick them and work with them. Cut out as much of the doubt as possible. Then build them up. Organise them. We're drifting back to the same problems as with Roy Evans' side, when the sight of a ball going out for a corner filled you with fear. But I do believe Rodgers can coach that. It's not that difficult. Allardyce can do it. And he's a damned idiot.


This is something I hadn't considered - that there is an almighty hangover from last season affecting a lot of the players - a combination of missing out on the title, having a poor World Cup (where applicable) or just having played in the World Cup, and being deflated following Suarez leaving.
 
Our first run of poor form for a season and a half and already the reason is Rodgers? You can hear the whetstones being prepped for knife sharpening already. We don't 'need to talk about Rodgers', we need to be understanding of the fact that he has lost his best player, he has lost his second best player through injury, and he is only just getting his midfield engine back from injury. He's also trying to bed in several new players at once. At one time, a back four that had never played together. None of them. Rodgers hasn't gone from being one of the best young managers in the game over the last 18 months to somebody to be poked at by people on the internet. Does he do what every manager does and makes mistakes of judgement? Yes, of course. Does that warrant the 'was it just Suarez' talk? Not in my view. Rodgers knows what he's doing. He knew it last season and he knows it this season.
 
Rodgers' interview with Senor Ballbag:

What is left of the Brendan Rodgers of 2 years ago, what has changed in just over a couple of years?

Experience, the experiences of managing a worldwide football club, a better manager by working here at Liverpool and I look back over those two years since I arrived and hopefully my qualities have improved and I have become better.

- Are you ahead of schedule in terms of what you wanted to do at Liverpool since you first arrived? You almost won the league last season.
Yes, I was brought in here to restore Liverpool to what it had been, a club challenging for the title and obviously playing Champions League football. I signed a 3-year deal with the plan that in the third year we would be challenging for the title and that came a year early. The natural progress of the team has been halted in some way in the summer with Luis Suarez leaving and lots of new players coming in. It’s an exciting time at Liverpool with lots of young players coming in but if we are going to get better, we are going to take the short term hit at the moment knowing that in the long term the club will be better for it.

- Does the long term plan make sense when you lose your main star after two years after having said that you have a three year plan. Doesn’t that mean you have to start all over again?
Well I think in terms of very good co-ordination with the owners here, I think one of the biggest things in modern football is strategy. Of course the managers sometimes are not part of a team’s strategy. My job here, for however long it may be is to leave the club in a better way than it was when I first came in and that’s still my job. That and helping to develop players. The changes that are happening at the club, with things like the new stadium, are really exciting. We can bring about those sort of changes because of the Champions League and because of the money we bring into the club and the training ground is also changing and this all part of the strategy and for me. I’m not worried about me, I’m worried about Liverpool, I worry to work well for the club for however long that is.

- As part of the process of becoming a manager you went to Spain. What was the idea behind that? What did you do there?

I spent a lot of time in Spain and Holland. I was enthused by clubs that had the link and the association from the base through to the top, I also love the Spanish way of football, the domination and control of the ball. I spent a lot of time travelling, went to various clubs. I spent time in Seville looking at the club’s development of young players and to Barcelona, Valencia and obviously to Madrid. Those were the main clubs that I went to look at, and then of course going to lots of games, I enjoy going out to Villareal, a beautiful little place, wonderful club that has done really great for a number of years now.

- You’ve got an amazing mixture of those people you have great admiration for including Alex Ferguson, who wrote to you at some point, Pep Guardiola who you have said you admire and Jose Mourinho who you actually worked with. How do you manage to sustain to have such strong feelings about three such managers that have such diverse approaches to the game?

Its funny but I have never met Pep, I was due to fly out to spend a few days with him when he was at Barcelona but my trip was cancelled because of the ash cloud. It meant my four day trip had to be moved. Eventually I didn’t get the chance to meet him because he’s a wonderful coach and I know, even without meeting or knowing him, that he is a wonderful man.

- What do you get from him?
His love and passion of football, his great principles and ideas and the confidence he gives to people. I’ve admired him from the outside looking in, at the courage he has showed to play the modern game.

- Your style as well. You seem to have taken a bit from here, a bit from there and developed your own ideas as well. But a lot of the style comes from there as well, doesn’t it?

Yes, pretty much the Spanish influence, not just from Guardiola, but a fusion of the European giants. For me, Spain, Holland and the British mentality put together can be hard to beat. So my feeling was always to make a fusion between them, and with time to coach, the key of everything is to improve and making the player happy, its not really about me or what’s on my CV of course. At the end of the day people will measure me for what I have done, but for me the journey is more important than the end.

- So how did it work with José?

It was a wonderful experience, I learned. José was a great planner and a good man to me as a young coach. He gave me responsibility, and the pressure of working with the big players when I was just 30 years of age, and I will always be grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to coach the reserve team and be near him, and the first team.

- You will always have some doubts and plenty of ups and downs in management. Have you ever consulted Jose in one of those situations?

No not really, I think when you are a manager you will speak to other managers but of course you always look to find different ways to find solutions. He’s a friend of mine and its slightly different now because we are both so engrossed in our roles and our jobs that we don’t get the chance to speak so much now.
- With Ferguson you got a letter from him when you were sacked at Reading.

Yes he wrote to me there. He’s done that with a lot of managers that were either out of work or sacked. He was a symbol of I suppose the managers' union. I obviously highly respect Alex in what he has done in transforming Manchester United as a club, but there are many people and managers I have a big admiration for. I look at David Moyes and the incredible job he did at Everton although he didn’t win a trophy. People might look at me in the next number of years and if I win some trophies they might say that’s a success, but I believe my success was the 15 years before that, leading up to that, my success and my journey as a manager and working with young players. That’s what I deem as my success.

- When you arrived to Liverpool, you spoke first of possession football, but the team plays the counter often. Is it correct to say you came with ideas and you develop your ideas on the players you have? Or was always the plan?

Yes, the frame of the philosophy was in place so people know how I work when they hire me, what they will get. The first six months was about finding the ways to get the principles over. We were in the Europa League and at the time it was difficult - I was brought in to implement my style of football which was creative, attacking, football, but also to win. But it takes a little time because it’s a more expansive game based around movement and creativity, and lack of fear.
After five or six months then the players started to connect and we bought in two more players in Coutinho and Sturridge and allowed the team to grow even more. As a result the last 18 months we have been on a magic carpet ride of development but we still have a lot of growth to make. Like I say, the natural progression of the team, probably in the summer, has been challenged. Some teams can keep a squad and then add one or two players. We obviously lost a world class player but our challenge now is to progress -it will be slow but steady and that will always be the best way to get to where we want to.

- What did you do for Luis Suarez?

I enjoyed every minute of working with him, a great man. He had some issues around the field, but I cannot commend Luis highly enough. Everyday of his life he came in here, and prepared himself as you would expect a top player to, his focus, his love of football, the way he worked hard everyday of his life, how he rested at the right times and how he prepared his body. He was magical, a magical player and as I said, a really good guy.

- You don’t see him failing at Barcelona?

No he will succeed, he’s a big player and he will be a big success at Barcelona. I developed the team around him, when I came to here, and moved Andy Carroll. I built my team around Luis, and when I came I would hear people say about his finishing but in my two seasons he got 30 goals in the first, 31 in the second. So we helped improve his game and he also helped our team.

- Real Madrid, in the Champions' League. Have you found out their weaknesses already and what you can do?

They are as strong a team now as they have been for many years. They have everything, big experience, big players, speed, technique, they have a fantastic team and a great manager in Ancelotti, a good man who works with players and who is a good person, And they are the reigning champions as well and they will want to defend their title.

- And what a challenge to face a team that can counter attack or now play inside and pass the ball as well as they can?

Yes they have amazing talents all over the field, and as you say they have the technique to play in small spaces and when the space opens up there is no one better on the counter attack because in Ronaldo and Bale, they have two players that could be in the Olympic 100 metres final.
- Cristiano, is he a reference to you and to players in what he does?

He’s an amazing player, his evolution over the last few years into becoming a goal scorer has been incredible, of course he is a player that you have to focus on but the team as a whole is incredible. You have Modric, Kroos, wonderful technicians who can play short, long. I’m also a big admirer of Sergio Ramos since his young days at Sevilla where he came through the system before making a move and then making to over 100 caps for Spain. It’s an incredible achievement and he is fast and he is strong and he has personality. I like him a lot.

- Where will you be in five years' time?
I don’t know, I hope one day to work in Spain, I’ve studied Spanish, but I need to improve. I’ll probably improve when I work in the country one day. For most people, when they travel to a country their language becomes better. I speak to the Spanish players that we have in Spanish. I’m only 41 which is very young and there are lots of things I want to achieve here at Liverpool, its an incredible club and I hope to be managing here for another 20 odd years. One day hopefully it can take me to Spain and I can experience a wonderful country, culture and as I said, some wonderful football club.

- I have to ask you, is there another Spanish player coming in the next few months, December, January?
No.
 
I do think there's a sense of progress in the bigger picture. We all know the flaws and issues that need addressing, but longterm I think the squad is in good shape, whether that's so we can continue to build towards a league winning squad (let's not forget, last season came out the blue), or whether that's to leave the squad in healthy shape for Rodgers' eventual successor, should it not work out. Either way, I do think we're gradually building well, we just need to rethink and refind the balance. We have good attacking players, that doesn't suddenly disappear because we tighten up at the back, we're still capable of being devastating on the break too.

I'm not sure what everyone's thoughts were on Gerrard yesterday, but I thought he looked better pushed further forward. He played some great long and short passes and still looked a threat in the final third, both with the pass he laid off for one chance which should have ended in a goal, or the lovely footwork for his chance he steered just wide. He looked better anyway and I don't think we looked as vulnerable through the centre, it wasn't perfect, but it was *better*, we still look a mess though when teams get to the byline against us, or if they get a setpiece. It's simple stuff, the marking is almost non-existent, and that's the coach.
 
Our first run of poor form for a season and a half and already the reason is Rodgers? You can hear the whetstones being prepped for knife sharpening already. We don't 'need to talk about Rodgers', we need to be understanding of the fact that he has lost his best player, he has lost his second best player through injury, and he is only just getting his midfield engine back from injury. He's also trying to bed in several new players at once. At one time, a back four that had never played together. None of them. Rodgers hasn't gone from being one of the best young managers in the game over the last 18 months to somebody to be poked at by people on the internet. Does he do what every manager does and makes mistakes of judgement? Yes, of course. Does that warrant the 'was it just Suarez' talk? Not in my view. Rodgers knows what he's doing. He knew it last season and he knows it this season.

Excellent post.
 
I realize that opinions are like arseholes etc - everyone has one. What constantly astounds me is the overwhelming, blinkered perception of many that their own personal opinion is fact.

Some posters continue to persist with the concept that Johnson is a liability and therefore Rodgers is a fool to play him. The fact that many recognize he's one of our best if not our best fullback is grist for the mill in their minds. It bothers me little and I'm happy for them to continue in this blinded notion, steadily building in cyclonic rage that Rodgers doesn't see it their way.

The Reina one was well addressed by Hansern. One of our best keeper's in years for a while but terrible when we let him go and certainly no improvement on Ming.

Gerrard?? Well that just beggars belief. The astonishing increase in stability for our midfield when Stevie moved back at halftime was obvious for all except the agenda driven. He's there on merit and calms an otherwise young group. There's better DM's out there for sure .....I guess all four of them would probably give their left nut to play for us.

Mario is an interesting one and I think the wrong approach was taken - despite it being in keeping with the stated belief of most on here. We signed a "big name" which many here claimed we had to do rather than someone who would replace some of the qualities that departed with Suarez. I still think Rodgers was talked into that signing for the very reason many on here were screaming for it.

The one area he's certainly culpable is the defense. Many of us have mentioned it - Ryan has posted on it extensively. I'm not sure why he hasn't been able to sort it though my suspicion is it rests largely between the sticks. A keeper who commands the area would give them more confidence - but that's just my opinion which may be wrong. I do think he needs to accept his failings in this area, swallow his pride and find a good defensive coach.

Obviously he's got decisions to make - like any manager.....and he'll be judged on them. The Grim Reaper is hardly knocking on the door yet though - suggesting otherwise is sensationalist bollox.
 
I realize that opinions are like arseholes

Yeah, everyone has seen mine.

I think some people have forgot how shit we were a couple of years ago and how ace we were last season.

Even as bad as we are now, all of us would have been well happy to be fifth and about to play Real Madrid before Rodgers came in. The fact that it seems bad shows he's set the bar higher.
 
That's not even what Suarez said. Suarez was quite right when he said we were better team when he was here, but he was also here when we were shit. The whole thing has been improved upon hugely by BR.
 
I still don't think people are trying to address the crucial point. Nobody would dispute that his record since he came in is excellent, and that our current position is perfectly acceptable. The debate should be about what the underlying conditions mean for the future. Can he get the team defending to a minimum standard? There's been no progress on that front , and this is his third season. If it doesn't happen soon it will probably cost us a CL place.

If it doesn't happen this season then will it next season? Ever?

There's no point just pretending this issue doesn't exist because it hasn't cost us yet.
 
Totally accept that he still hasn't sorted the defence out and that it's beyond time to fix it. We need better coaching staff in that area and I hope his ego isn't blocking that from happening. That said I still reckon I'd much rather persevere with his plan than look elsewhere.
 
He did cross my mind but he's hardly likely to step down from a decent German management role at this stage in his career (and especially with Rodgers in the for the long haul here).

It'd work right now for both parties with Carra.
 
He did cross my mind but he's hardly likely to step down from a decent German management role at this stage in his career (and especially with Rodgers in the for the long haul here).

It'd work right now for both parties with Carra.
German management?
 
I'd like to find out if there's any managers in here please ?

By managers, I mean managing a team of people in your current or previous jobs.

Anyone ?
 
Some posters continue to persist with the concept that Johnson is a liability and therefore Rodgers is a fool to play him. The fact that many recognize he's one of our best if not our best fullback is grist for the mill in their minds. It bothers me little and I'm happy for them to continue in this blinded notion, steadily building in cyclonic rage that Rodgers doesn't see it their way.


I'm not really sure who this is aimed at, but as one of his biggest critics on here, the timing seems odd, given he just put in a good performance at the weekend and rightfully got the plaudits for it. He's also in most peoples teams for this evening. He's in mine, he was my top three against QPR, because he deserved it thoroughly. When he plays well he gets the credit, but he'd been poor for a good 18 months and has been pretty inconsistent and capable of regular lapses and mistakes throughout his career, it's not a myth, it's not bias, it's something he's now fairly renowned for with the fans and the press - for never quite hitting the heights and consistency he had the potential to reach.

He's always been a good player, he's had questionable moments as a defender and inconsistencies as the great attacking fullback he's professed to be. Look at the stats, look at our record with him in our defense, look at his assists and goals scored over the last few years, he always falls somewhere in the middle ground. Not tight enough defensively, not decisive enough as an attacker, but he gives us good balance because he carries the play and he is a very good technician. I think that's fair, he's not as good as he could have been.

As for him being our best fullback, well he hasn't had competition for a long long time. His competition has been a perma crock in Kelly (who's now gone), Flanagan (who's young and now injured), Enrique (who's been out for ages and more or less held his own at left back for a couple of years), and now two kids who look like they *could* be our future. So at, what(?), 30 years of age, a full fledged international who's played for two top European sides, I'd be worried if he wasn't our best fullback, but it's not really much of a reflection on him, as much as a signal of our, until recently, lack of real competition.

Hopefully now we have depth he can used a bit more selectively and we'll get the best of him, but don't try to rewrite history, it's not the murmurings of few disgruntled dullards "who don't get it", I'm not sure what the Rodgers point is worth either when it comes to his decision in picking him, given we've probably got the worst defense we've had since 1998.
 
Just ignore him. He loves Johnson.

The rest of the world just don't watch the games
 
I love Wizzy, but the Johnson debate just makes me laugh, he's more or less renowned for being a nearly man, I don't know why people persist with making him out to be the real deal. He can be, but nowhere near often enough.
 
He's as good a spotter of brilliant defenders as Stevie Wonder driving a Panzer tank in Stalingrad trying to pinpoint a sniper.
 
He's been dealt a cruel hand losing Suarez and Sturridge but has bought poorly overall. That useless piece of shite in goal, over 30m for two centre halves who are struggling. Then there's Balotelli.....
 
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