according to?
So what does Rodgers have to do..
- Thread starter John McGovern
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Im not saying he has to achieve this but i think we'll win the league.
(i always think we'll win the league pre season)
(i always think we'll win the league pre season)
Top four's achievable anyway. With the right sales and signings we ought to be a safe bet for it.
If he gets top 4 he's a fucking genius.
I really don't fancy us for top 4 unless we sign a few unknowns who become brilliant.
I really don't fancy us for top 4 unless we sign a few unknowns who become brilliant.
We were on the way to top 4 at the end of 2011, if we keep some decent form going and sing 2 good players, getting to the champions league is very achievable.
It was on Skysports this evening.
Macca, I think that due to time constraints their hand was forced as Martinez also resisted. The appointment had to happen to give the new manager time to identify and get his targets in to strengthen the team.
Make Anfield a fortress again.
Finish higher than eigth.
Not get embroiled in off field controversies.
Give the better academy players minutes in all comps.
Finish higher than eigth.
Not get embroiled in off field controversies.
Give the better academy players minutes in all comps.
We were good for top 4 this season. Its the margins that were so thin and we ran out of luck.We dominated games and if only half of the balls that hit the bar and/post went it, it would have been an altogether different story.
Nice one. Happy with that.
I don't know whether you mean what does he need to do to please me? or FSG? or the fans? or to keep his job? or to get a job at a richer club? or what?
I think the best way he can impress me is to take the current squad, including loanees, and not go at it with a hatchet, but get them playing more consistently and effectively. I don't want him to spend loads on new players until he shows he can take the current ones to a higher level of performance. I don't know why I feel that way but I think it's because I want to be on his side and if he makes a mess of things in the transfer market without trying to work with what he has first I'll have a lot less patience for him.
He could greatly impress me by finding a way to effectively use one of our expensive or high-profile strugglers/flops whether it's Cole, Aqualani, Downing, Henderson or Carroll.
I think the best way he can impress me is to take the current squad, including loanees, and not go at it with a hatchet, but get them playing more consistently and effectively. I don't want him to spend loads on new players until he shows he can take the current ones to a higher level of performance. I don't know why I feel that way but I think it's because I want to be on his side and if he makes a mess of things in the transfer market without trying to work with what he has first I'll have a lot less patience for him.
He could greatly impress me by finding a way to effectively use one of our expensive or high-profile strugglers/flops whether it's Cole, Aqualani, Downing, Henderson or Carroll.
Hide and seek competition!
Too right. He needs selling.
Maybe you also think the squad we have now is actually capable of doing much better than it did last season. If so, I reckon you're spot on.
Very good read this:
Tony Barrett
With Brendan Rodgers set to be introduced as the new Liverpool manager at 10 o’clock this morning, The Times examines five key areas for the 39-year-old to address as he takes his first tentative steps in one of English football’s most testing jobs.
Come to terms with the new chain of command
Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Liverpool’s owner, is set to implement a strategy involving a sporting director but, at least in the short term, the role will be performed by an ensemble rather than an individual. Rodgers will be expected to work in tandem with a trio of technical, recruitment and administration specialists, but he will have the final say on transfers as the ultimate head of department. FSG sees this approach as the best way to ensure that a series of checks and balances are in place to prevent players being signed for fees that exceed their values. Rodgers has been able to appoint his own backroom staff, Colin Pascoe, Chris Davies and Glen Driscoll joining him from Swansea City — a trio of arrivals that will pave the way for Steve Clarke’s departure — but he will have no say over the more senior strategic appointments that will make up the football operations team.
Distance himself from the “man behind the new Barcelona” tag
If having your playing style compared to Barcelona was a blessing while manager of Swansea, it could be a curse at Liverpool. Expectation levels are rarely anything other than high at Anfield, so boosting them unnecessarily by being fêted as a purveyor of the kind of football associated with one of the greatest teams to grace the world game is likely to be a hindrance. Now is the time to nail a popular misconception, for reasons of self-preservation more than anything. Whereas Barcelona use possession to fuel their sense of adventure and allow them to hurt their opponents, Swansea under Rodgers monopolised it to exert control and stop their opponents from hurting them. Puncturing the myth may help to keep expectations in check and prevent Liverpool fans wondering what happened to the dazzling attacking football they thought they would be getting.
Do not judge Liverpool on their eighth-place finish
If the relative merits of the Liverpool squad were assessed solely on them finishing eighth in last season’s Barclays Premier League (17 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur), Rodgers would be forgiven for determining to rip it up and start again. But the bigger picture shows that Liverpool won more than 50 per cent of their matches in all competitions and suffered some misfortune — including a season-ending injury to Lucas Leiva, the Brazil midfielder — that prevented that particular statistic being healthier. Rodgers appears prepared to accept that not everything is in need of a shake-up, having made it clear that he will offer every player a clean slate, including Alberto Aquilani and Joe Cole, who are set to return from season-long loan spells. The squad Rodgers is inheriting may not be perfect, but there is more than enough evidence to suggest that it is better than their league form suggests.
Recalibrate the midfield
Only Barcelona, Manchester City and Bayern Munich had a superior pass completion rate than Swansea last season. This remarkable statistic was largely because of the ability of Leon Britton and Joe Allen to control the game in midfield with short passes that went sideways and backwards more often than forward. Liverpool do not have an abundance of midfield players in this mould. The natural instincts of Steven Gerrard, Charlie Adam and Jonjo Shelvey are to force the play either with driving runs or long, ambitious passes. Only if such impulses are curbed will Rodgers be able to impose his style on his new team.
Embrace the Anfield crowd, don’t fear them
Depending on who you listen to, the Liverpool fans are either too indulgent, impossible to please or both. Rafael Benítez and Kenny Dalglish, it was claimed, were given too much support, Roy Hodgson not enough. Revisionism has decreed that Hodgson was never given a chance, even though the man himself thanked those who would eventually turn on him for the positive reception they afforded him at his first game as manager. The chants for Dalglish to take his place began only once results, performances and style of football fell well below an acceptable standard. Rodgers is not Benítez and nor is he Dalglish, and he does not have legendary status, but, like Hodgson, he will be given two things by the Kop — a warm welcome and total backing. They want to see good football, which Rodgers has proved he can deliver, and they want good results. Should the former Swansea manager provide both, he will be taken to their hearts. Should he provide neither, he will be given the thumbs-down.
Tony Barrett
With Brendan Rodgers set to be introduced as the new Liverpool manager at 10 o’clock this morning, The Times examines five key areas for the 39-year-old to address as he takes his first tentative steps in one of English football’s most testing jobs.
Come to terms with the new chain of command
Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Liverpool’s owner, is set to implement a strategy involving a sporting director but, at least in the short term, the role will be performed by an ensemble rather than an individual. Rodgers will be expected to work in tandem with a trio of technical, recruitment and administration specialists, but he will have the final say on transfers as the ultimate head of department. FSG sees this approach as the best way to ensure that a series of checks and balances are in place to prevent players being signed for fees that exceed their values. Rodgers has been able to appoint his own backroom staff, Colin Pascoe, Chris Davies and Glen Driscoll joining him from Swansea City — a trio of arrivals that will pave the way for Steve Clarke’s departure — but he will have no say over the more senior strategic appointments that will make up the football operations team.
Distance himself from the “man behind the new Barcelona” tag
If having your playing style compared to Barcelona was a blessing while manager of Swansea, it could be a curse at Liverpool. Expectation levels are rarely anything other than high at Anfield, so boosting them unnecessarily by being fêted as a purveyor of the kind of football associated with one of the greatest teams to grace the world game is likely to be a hindrance. Now is the time to nail a popular misconception, for reasons of self-preservation more than anything. Whereas Barcelona use possession to fuel their sense of adventure and allow them to hurt their opponents, Swansea under Rodgers monopolised it to exert control and stop their opponents from hurting them. Puncturing the myth may help to keep expectations in check and prevent Liverpool fans wondering what happened to the dazzling attacking football they thought they would be getting.
Do not judge Liverpool on their eighth-place finish
If the relative merits of the Liverpool squad were assessed solely on them finishing eighth in last season’s Barclays Premier League (17 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur), Rodgers would be forgiven for determining to rip it up and start again. But the bigger picture shows that Liverpool won more than 50 per cent of their matches in all competitions and suffered some misfortune — including a season-ending injury to Lucas Leiva, the Brazil midfielder — that prevented that particular statistic being healthier. Rodgers appears prepared to accept that not everything is in need of a shake-up, having made it clear that he will offer every player a clean slate, including Alberto Aquilani and Joe Cole, who are set to return from season-long loan spells. The squad Rodgers is inheriting may not be perfect, but there is more than enough evidence to suggest that it is better than their league form suggests.
Recalibrate the midfield
Only Barcelona, Manchester City and Bayern Munich had a superior pass completion rate than Swansea last season. This remarkable statistic was largely because of the ability of Leon Britton and Joe Allen to control the game in midfield with short passes that went sideways and backwards more often than forward. Liverpool do not have an abundance of midfield players in this mould. The natural instincts of Steven Gerrard, Charlie Adam and Jonjo Shelvey are to force the play either with driving runs or long, ambitious passes. Only if such impulses are curbed will Rodgers be able to impose his style on his new team.
Embrace the Anfield crowd, don’t fear them
Depending on who you listen to, the Liverpool fans are either too indulgent, impossible to please or both. Rafael Benítez and Kenny Dalglish, it was claimed, were given too much support, Roy Hodgson not enough. Revisionism has decreed that Hodgson was never given a chance, even though the man himself thanked those who would eventually turn on him for the positive reception they afforded him at his first game as manager. The chants for Dalglish to take his place began only once results, performances and style of football fell well below an acceptable standard. Rodgers is not Benítez and nor is he Dalglish, and he does not have legendary status, but, like Hodgson, he will be given two things by the Kop — a warm welcome and total backing. They want to see good football, which Rodgers has proved he can deliver, and they want good results. Should the former Swansea manager provide both, he will be taken to their hearts. Should he provide neither, he will be given the thumbs-down.
I think I have the last dying embers of that hope somewhere inside me, yes Jules. I know we don't have a single great winger but otherwise I think the club has a lot of options in terms of playing staff. I think that somewhere out there is probably a manager capable of turning last season's squad (+loanees) into a top four outfit - but I don't yet believe that Rodgers is that manager.
Picking a Top 4/6/8 finish isn’t really a good gauge on things, cos we could be in it up to our necks for 99% of the year, lose a game and drop 3 places on the final day or some shit.
A better way to judge it is on points. We finished last season with 52 points (oh, and by the way you’ll note I’m not talking about the Cup competitions here, and there’s a reason for that – I don’t give a fucking shit about them. The novelty of winning the Carling Cup lasted for about 3 minutes, and the FA Cup can suck it’s own balls too for all I care) so, the league; I want an improvement on 52 points.
There can be little wins along the way in terms of improvements in how he gets players to play, the signings he makes coming good, who he fucking bins off, and the way we actually go about playing, but at the end of the day he should be judged on what we do over 38 games.
I want a marked improvement on 52 points.
A better way to judge it is on points. We finished last season with 52 points (oh, and by the way you’ll note I’m not talking about the Cup competitions here, and there’s a reason for that – I don’t give a fucking shit about them. The novelty of winning the Carling Cup lasted for about 3 minutes, and the FA Cup can suck it’s own balls too for all I care) so, the league; I want an improvement on 52 points.
There can be little wins along the way in terms of improvements in how he gets players to play, the signings he makes coming good, who he fucking bins off, and the way we actually go about playing, but at the end of the day he should be judged on what we do over 38 games.
I want a marked improvement on 52 points.
I've only read one page and given up. Anything less than 4th will be a disappointment for me.
All this rubbish about teams that are better than us is annoying.
If one of us had said Newcastle would finish 2/3 spots ahead of this last season in the summer people would have laughed.
No reason to believe with the players we have that we cannot make top 4. If nothing else this season proved no team is capable of holding onto 3rd and 4th.
3 months in Arsenal looked dead and buried. 3 months to go Spurs looked to have it sewn up.
We can and we will get 4th under the new management or it will be a disappointing season cups or no cups.
We need CL footy.
All this rubbish about teams that are better than us is annoying.
If one of us had said Newcastle would finish 2/3 spots ahead of this last season in the summer people would have laughed.
No reason to believe with the players we have that we cannot make top 4. If nothing else this season proved no team is capable of holding onto 3rd and 4th.
3 months in Arsenal looked dead and buried. 3 months to go Spurs looked to have it sewn up.
We can and we will get 4th under the new management or it will be a disappointing season cups or no cups.
We need CL footy.
J
John McGovern
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He would get that renewal today if it happened at 10am.
Agreed completely, I think that's the crux of it, it wasn't so much the finish but the points lost, he needs (for me) to turn draws into wins, defeats into draws. Things were marginal last season, I always maintained that. I don't think we were always unlucky, alot of the time we were all huff and puff, trying to bludgeon our way towards goal after conceding one. We need to change the patience of the play and we need to start creating more by engineering moves and creating openings and stop all this shite with just hitting the ball into the box and hoping it lands at the feet of the one player that's usually in there. The whole approach needs to change, it's not about how many shots we had or how many times we hit the post, it's how many clear cut opportunities we start to create. If we can address that we will improve.
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