BRENDAN Rodgers — just lay off him, yeah?
It’s a timeless one, isn’t it? Being fickle about a manager. Like the slag-off recidivists that we are, we love to lump it all at his door the very moment things look a little bit dodgy. Yet, as day follows night, you can trust the fan to turn on the boss at the first hint of frustration. The fan knows it’s wrong. He or she can’t be this stupid. Maybe it’s the sense of powerlessness. Or is it simply that the football machine is guilty of feeding the frenzy by relenting to the cycle of backing and then sacking managers within ever decreasing cycles?
Brendan Rodgers. About a month ago he was king of the mountain. Eight wins in 10. 12 in 16. Best managerial record in the world since Xmas. Something like that. Then that bloody solar eclipse happened and he can’t buy a break. Two league defeats. Big ‘uns it has to be conceded — to Manchester United and Arsenal — have seen him take the mightiest of perceived ‘from hero to zero’ tumbles.
Before that black day in mid-March when the sky darkened so briefly yet so ominously for Brendan he was surfing the crest of what felt like a mighty swell. He’d done the thing that makes folks sit up and really respect emerging managerial forces. He’d come back off the ropes and was swinging and punching kippers in all directions. He’d risen, fallen, and risen again. Looked into the abyss and gambled and twisted his way out of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOVaSica_j0
Rodgers did what Rodgers does better than anyone — he went back to the lab, trashed the place, disregarded all previously accepted rules and data and started experimenting again. He emerged with a team of monsters — a young attacking No.10 in Markovic stationed at left wing back, a Bambi-esque centre mid in Emre Can now a new type of marauding offensive defender, Henderson at wide defensive right, wide boy Raheem Sterling in at central striker, comedy keeper and perennial stayer (rather than goer) Simon Mignolet reborn as a ball punching, empty anything and everything, flying machine. All reinvented so that they, and the team, might perfectly orbit the genius of Brendan’s brain (golden) child, Philippe Coutinho.
The 3-4-3 worked and in the afterglow of what felt like a season-defining dispatching of Manchester City at Anfield in early March, the gallery was more than buying into Brendan Rodgers’ vision. Managers couldn’t work out a way round his new system — frustrated as it dumbfounded then routinely dismantled their hapless teams. Whispers were that champions City had Rodgers as their No.1 target to replace Pellegrini. Barcelona were keeping a watching brief. Every smart (arsed) journalist under the sun seemed to be tapping a nose towards Rodgers’ new revitalised LFC as next seasons ‘Champions elect’. They were calling it early.
So where did it all go so wrong? Two defeats later and the forums and phone-ins are posing questions about Brendan’s fitness for office. How can he keep his job now? Others have fallen for less. Success in the FA Cup can’t mask the flaws in the Rodgers set up. Whispers of dressing room mutiny and Melwood malcontent. The squad needs major surgery. Liverpool are miles behind rivals Arsenal and Man Utd. Blah blah. Relentless and predictable blah.
The problem for Brendan, and his ilk, is that football likes to draw a big conclusion. Every fucker wants to grandstand. It’s a shame that there are no spaces left for nuance. The answer to the question doesn’t always have to be ‘he’s the next Barca manager’ or ‘he should be sacked’. It can be, let’s look at the body of evidence as pieces of a puzzle. With this guy do we seem to have more right than wrong ones? What part has fate played? What might have happened with a better head wind? An injury less here, a faster settling in of a new signing there?
Trouble is, that the negative prophesies tend to self fulfil. The sackee instantly looks the loser and usually takes a while to rediscover his mojo, while the new era always feels fresh and replete with endless possibilities. Owners of the bigger ships vindicate the hatcheteers by granting wishes and providing the illusion that twisting — rather than sticking — will eventually be its own reward .
And, we all like a change. A new toy. New dreams to dream. It’s only natural. Doesn’t make us right though. Not when we’ve got a real catch in Brendan Rodgers. A Raheem Sterling or Jordan Ibe in managerial guise. He’s young, he’s raw, he’ll have dips in form, but ultimately he’s unbridled talent. A giant in the making. A near future world star. Let’s nourish, encourage , and back him.
Never mind what happens next this season in the paltry number of games that remain. He nearly won the league with a team thats level had been sixth, seventh or eighth for going on five years. He got us playing again this season despite the twin traumas of Suarez’s desertion and Sturridge’s injury. It’s not his fault that the club bought him a Balotelli-shaped couch when he wanted the boat pushed out for an Alexis Sanchez model table lamp.
The lad Brendan knows what he’s doing. Let’s not be discussing his right to the Liverpool manager’s job. The boy’s good and will prove it next season. Don’t believe me? Just watch.
Read: Liverpool: To compete is to fail but never fail to compete
Read: Liverpool: Little more than a balanced investment portfolio?
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda-Photo
I’m all for giving Rodgers another year, at least. My bigger concern is the transfer committee/strategy he has to work under. It isn’t exactly working. They fucked up last summer and as result we’re very likely not to make top 4 making extremely hard to attract the right calibre of player.
Rodgers as manager is then in the firing line due to their failures and many fans don’t appreciate that situation. The article on directorate of football was very good the other day and goes some way to explain the situation behind the scenes.
The major links for this summer so far have been Milner and Ings. Whilst I don’t mind either player coming in Id be really disappointed if that was basically it. Are they gonna make the difference to get us into top 4 or title challenge??? I doubt it!
Managers live and die by their transfers and results. As far as I can make out we need, at the very least, a backup keeper, a centreback, a leftback, a central midfielder and at least one striker. This is what we need at a minimum.
Is FSG gonna hang Rodgers out to dry by scrimping on these positions or are we gonna target a few top quality players mixed with very good bargains???
Like the article earlier today said, every decision we now make should have the sole focus on winning the league.
I don’t think extremes in football are ever a good idea. People wanting him sacked are naive as more turmoil and a completely different vision for the club would mean more seasons of mediocrity in all likelihood. But I don’t think fans hailing him as the best thing since Shankly have helped either. The man has yet to achieve anything with Liverpool so until he wins something the fans calling him a genius are always going to look a bit daft.
I think we should give him time and support but not kid ourselves one way or the other; he’s got good points and bad points but it’s too early (and risky) to deem him a success or failure. Let’s just wait and see.
I think it’s all fine criticising people for being fickle but what about those who aren’t fickle and have just made their mind up about Rodgers?
I’m one of them. After the Crystal Palace loss and Ludogorets draw, I lost faith in him completely. Ironically, he picked up immediately afterwards, so now whenever we win I have to sit there and say ‘well I can’t fully celebrate as I turned my back on BR.’
Admittedly, there is the problem of there being no one out there to replace him that comes immediately to mind. Now, also, we have bigger struggles than the manager: players wanting to leave/contracts not being sorted out, attracting players through CL, the transfer committee etc, so I’m actually more inclined to back him right now than when we are doing well.
But it’s when we’re doing well that’s the problem. There’s always a lack of Plan B. When he changed to a back three, this was after months and months of struggling, so the heavy praise for an overdue change wasn’t really worthy. Even if he changes system occasionally, he usually sticks to just the one.
He is extremely arrogant. This whole ‘intensity’ and ‘philosophy’ business. We need wins. I see him as an entertainer not a winner; a choker. Deep down, I said I knew he’d lose the very must-win games: Manchester United and Arsenal, just like he did against Chelsea last season. Okay, Stevie G let him down both times and that’s not his fault.
I simply don’t see him ever winning anything. Always the nearly man. That could be great. We could play pretty football. But I’d prefer trophies. (His European track record so far is also just woeful).
Should he manage to overcome what looks like it will be Arsenal in the FA Cup final, my opinion of him will perhaps improve as he will have finally actually won something. But, for me, he is a man who will only ever get so far. It may sound harsh – and I wished I could be behind him I really do, as I love the club. But I’m just not a fan of his, unfortunately, and supporting the club will always have a bit of a bittersweet edge about it while he’s in charge for me.
I am a fan of Rodgers. However, I can’t blind myself to many of the valid points you make. Especially the question whether he’s a winner or not. On the face of evidence after almost 3 full seasons you’d have to agree he’s not. During his tenure he’s faced 3 must-win games that could see the club take a historic step – Chelsea at Anfield last season, Basel att Anfield in December and Man Utd last month. On all three occassions he was well and truly found out. In fact, we were never in any of those games. The team wasn’t to be recognised. It seems as he doesn’t have what it takes to win those games which is why I’m not very optimistic we’ll win the Cup even if we reach the final – Arsene will find him out again.
He comes across as a fairly decent guy though his favoring of some players and almost bullying of others is worrysome.
Even though I cannot see him take this club any further I’m not in the sack-him camp just yet. I think, however, if a credible alternative presented itself I believe FSG should at the least consider doing business.
You include 3 “must win” games, but there were countless others you could have put forward. Not least of which was the Man City game last season. Because the race is always going to be tight no matter what our goalpost, we are going to come up against a lot of “must win” scenarios. Mourinho blew several “must win” games last season, which is why they went into the game against us with virtually no hope of winning the title.
But everyone chalked up Chelsea’s season without a proper striker as a “transitional” one. I think it would have been more realistic for us to view this one under a similar lens. They main difference is that Chelsea were always going to go all out to get their transfer targets. The question remains – will Rodgers be allowed to do the same or will we see more additions to Willian, Mkritaritan(?), Salah, Konplyanka, Dempsey, Siggurdson, etc.
I’d like to see two big transfers, one of which is Lacazette. Then call it a summer. We’ve got the depth, but we need the quality.
“season without a proper striker” – it hacks me off so much that people buy into this line.
They had Ba, Torres and Eto’o, all of whom are damn good strikers. If they didn’t fit into Mourinho’s system, that’s his fault. If they couldn’t get the best out of them, that’s his fault. If he couldn’t think of a workaround, with the rest of the squad he had, that’s his fault.
Compare to Brendan, who is *far* closer this year to ‘not having a proper striker’. It took time, but he did those things. How did Mourinho get round it? Bought someone else’s ‘proper striker’.
I know which manager I’d rather have.
U r right, same conclusions if he were so good has so much acumen why so much time coming up with a new system . anyone can by trial n error. teams playing wide like manu or other teams that shuld not be given much space will always enjoy the 3 4 3 systen I am not a fan of sakho but just ask why he captained France and what his performance same for lovren .. yet their performances for lFC
couldn’t have said it better myself – I lost all faith after West Ham earlier this season if i’m being honest.
He doesn’t have what it takes to be a winner, and is soo arrogant i just want to punch him in the face.
Forget the FA Cup – it is f*cking laughable that fans think we might win it – have a day off people. If we do get to the final and face Arseanl they will spank us again – that is guaranteed as BR has no idea how to beat the top teams. Last season was a fluke as we were relatively an unknown quantity and surprised everyone. But as a one trick pony we have been found out, and BR refuses (or IMO does not have the ability) to adapt, certainly in game.
He’s a charlatan, and no run of 10 wins out of 12 against shite opposition, and must be said we robbed a couple of teams with lucky results, is going to change my mind about him. He is incompetent IMO, and is a mid table manager, no more than that. He cannot attract players to the club, nor can he retain them either – Sterling and Hendo are both off this summer, and i don’t blame them at all.
Rodgers OUT
Barcelona had one of the most successful teams ever a few years ago. Can you inform me what their plan B was?
Name me the best manager in the world and I’ll tell you he won’t win games in Europe without strikers.
Jesus Christ this some scary thread.
“I can’t celebrate a win cos I gave up on Rodgers after Palace away”
People are actually doing this. Mike Nevin had a similar divvy on his timeline the other day. He thougth we were all a bunch of twats for daring to sing we’re gonna win the league last season cos it was highly unlikely and we’d just look like gobshytes as we
Didn’t win it in the end.
Divvys.
It’s the same set of Lads who can’t stand Rodgers. Who’s constant moaning about his poxy press conference’s is only paradoxically matched by their moans about comparisons with Shankley (cos he was well known for understated coyness in his dealings with the press)
These are the same shower too thick too see that he actually didn’t sign Balotelli and that the real achievement is to get a 5th place payroll to 2nd.
It’s the same gang of lads who refused to clap Rafa off in his last home game.
The same gang of lads who thought we needed a ‘steady hand’ in Hodgy.
The same gang of lads who tut tut when we didn’t sign a defensive midfielder this summer yet couldn’t wait to dump Rafa ‘I like a holding midfielder so I do’ Benitez.
And it’s the same gang of lads who compel a great red like Rob Gutmann to write what should be be most obvious piece posted on this site since its inception.
So yeah in case your wondering, I think Rodgers has made some awful mistakes & could do with winning the cup to push this group on but unless Pep has had enough of Bavaria and fancies a mansion in Caldy then I’m more than happy to back him to deliver.
Cod he’s fucking mustard.
WTRWWAW..
I get so frustrated with the present day supporters who expect instant results. Liverpool has never been a club that turned on their managers until now. Rogers was very unlucky to miss out on our first title and it wasn’t his fault Gerrard has to take some responsibility along with Suarez and the injury prone Sturridge. This season Rodgers also couldn’t have expected Suarez to leave and Sturridge yet again to be missing for the whole season and useless when he returned. The player he brought in where to be honest future prospects shoved into the limelight, and a flaky keeper in the mix we haven’t done badly.
His big problem the transfer target, he seems not to knw the type of player he needs, favours quantity hoping to win lottery, so many player bought, more flops, the defensive problem remains the same, lFC difficulty to cope with aerial threat, see the way the defenders are shaking when a corner r free kick and above most the tactical versatility cn,t play the same system n playing players out of position which dampen their natural qualities
Very unlucky?? He lacks experience the nous for high tension matches, u can,t go playing the tactics with teams like chelsea . by the way has lfc beaten any team where mourino manager?? what has its performance when it faced the top teams, The fact is suarez contributed enormously to LFC success last seasoned. BR good manager then without suarz and buying so many players should have been doing better with one year added expereiced in the premier league n with lFC
To be fair Suarez leaving was the one thing he (and we) should have expected as it was an absolute certainty. Betting everything on injury prone Sturridge was always a massive risk.
If Liverpool’s directors had not sacked Phil Taylor, we’d never have gotten Bill Shankly. Rodgers is a naive young manager. Can a club as big as LFC afford to watch him ply his trade?
Until now? What’s all this about? Souness destroyed what was left of Kenny’s mess. Evans was useless, he lost support very quickly. Ged was forever talking about “5 year plans”, Rafa lost the dressing room before the fans, Roy was shit, Kenny had half a good season then took us back years in one awful season. Rodgers is 3 years in and has us about the level he took over, but on a hugely reduced wage bill, even if he (and the TC) has spunked massive money on squad level players.
For a quarter of a century the club has been rotting away, resting on the 70s and 80s success. The problem we have now is there are two oil clubs that have bought seats at the top table, plus Man Utd who have done an incredible amount right, and Arsenal not that far behind as their stadium is paid off. We’re also looking at two London clubs following Arsenal’s model.
Money buys success, we waste a lot of it. Even in the 80s the club was able to buy the best players while others looked on with envious eyes. The tables have turned, LFC may never get anywhere near being a force again.
The wage bill has actually increased under Rodgers !! Source the LFC accounts
Great article. Agree with everything.
World of football and culture today in general is far too short term. Rodgers is a great young manager and will prove that to be the case for years to come.
People seem to overlook that financially best we should hope for is 5th. Last year he rose ours and other’s expectations and that seems to be the yardstick when it really shouldn’t.
Fingers crossed we get a quick, aggressive finisher in next season who can press, a commanding ball winning centre mid and a Clyne type right full back. Competition for Mignolet and all this season’s signings hopefully improving next year and I think we’ll be top 4 material again!
This extremely defeatist attitude using Tomkins’ financial model is not on. The idea that the clubs with bigger wage structures and bigger XI spending finish higher than the others, is based on the hypothesis that the rich clubs actually use that money to spend on the better players and larger squads.
Despite all their bigger stadium revenue, have Arsenal and United really signed so many better players in the last few years, are their players so much better than us that we should be this far behind them at this stage of the season? No. Clearly the Tomkins’ model is undermined by the fact that Arsenal whom are not as rich as either City or United are currently 2nd in the table.
Tomkins’ theory predicts the general trend but not specific variations. Specific variations can and will occur when the richer teams spend badly and manage themselves badly. City, Arsenal and United have not performed extremely well this season. They have all gone through big patches of poor form and left a lot of slack behind in the League table accumulation of points. Basically this has been the weakest League in years.
Yet Brendan Rodgers has managed this team so poorly at the start of the season and in the summer with flopped senior player transfers like Balotelli, Lallana and Lovren that LFC we’re playing so badly that we were in no position at all to exploit the slack left behind by these richer clubs. For a club in our financial situation we have to be even smarter with transfers and get even more value for money with our signings. Benitez I don’t think spent over 20 million on a single player and acquired a lot of the club’s top players for small fees (Torres 20m, Mascherano 18m, Alonso 10m, Reina 6m, Benayoun 5m etc).
But it seems to me nowadays that LFC is even more profligate and wasteful in the transfer market despite the fact that we can only afford to be doubly as smart than our rivals due to fewer resources.
have Arsenal/Man Utd signed better players in the last few years? Is that a serious question?
I think you’ll find that most of the EPL teams have signed better players than BR; Borrini, Lambert, Balotelli, Allen, Lovren, etc.
It is no coincidence that our best players were not signed by him (e.g Hendo, Sterling, Skyrtel). No, BR has guaranteed mediocrity for LFC for years to come thanks to his ineptitude in the transfer market, his arrogant nature, and his continuous inane drivel he gives to the cameras week in week out. As a result, I now cringe whenever I hear the word “oooootstanding” and banned it form my household. I absolutely despise Brenda for destroying this once great club.
Brenda! Yeah, that’s a good one. Call him a woman, that’s the worst thing possible, that. Jesus.
This is why PT’s model is a good indicator-mistakes in the TM are global, as are successes. No one ever gets it right all the time, or wrong. Look at Newcastle’s buys a few seasons ago, or west hams this season. Had we bought some of those players then or now, we would have been a lot stronger. Its the way things go down, its fairly random, as is life.
Tim, I’m not sure how to say this nicely, but you’re the problem. The club needs supporters and I’m not sure what you are? Baring Benitez, which LFC manager has done a better job in their first years having come into the squad with so little (recall that Downing and A.C. being some of their main attacking weapons). Come to think of it, what managers in the Premiere League would you prefer to have? Van Gaal? Allardyce? We have one of the top young managers in world football, who has repeatedly pulled off tactical magic tricks to get the team to fight above their weight and you seem “unconvinced”. As a young manager, imagine how good he will become when he is “experienced”. At least you have the good grace to not celebrate too hard when the team is playing the best football in the Premiere League (as they have done for the better part of the past two seasons). Most fans like you act as though you unfair and unhelpful criticism, when things are going badly, is the reason for our success.
I’m not having this nonsense that 2 defeats have made the fickle fan base turn on Rodgers. It’s like you’re completely forgetting the dreadful start to the season and the humiliations in Europe. That sowed the seeds for the anti-Rodgers sentiment and the losses to the big top 4 rivals in the last 2 League matches just resurfaced those long harbored sentiments. This is not a knee-jerk reaction.
Essentially after his extremely poor start to the season by LFC standards, Rodgers took the last throw of the dice with the 3-5-2 to turn our season around. He did have somewhat success in regaining us momentum and improving our defensive performances in an unprecedented manner BUT essentially what he was doing was trying to clean up the mess he created for himself in the first place. Rodgers dug himself the hole and he was trying to get out of it.
Like the Conservatives did with the economy, they crashed the car with their austerity and are now asking for electoral rewards for its’ recent slight improvement. After crashing the car, Rodgers looked like he was going to get all the repair work done as we raced towards the top 4 on that winning run. But the fact is that at the last hurdles he failed against Arsenal and United. Now it is quite unlikely LFC won’t make top 4 although we all continuously hope. Rodgers wasn’t doing us a favour by getting the team on that winning run. He was doing himself a favour and trying to repay for his failures at the start of the season. Sadly it seems he has also failed to repay that debt as we are still top 4 outsiders.
And there is a fear that I have that this season, these level of performances are our natural level under Rodgers. I fear that 2013/2014 was an anomaly based on Suarez’s superb form and fitness providing the X factor. Obviously Rodgers had to build the team around Suarez and build it he did in an excellent way. But the point is with Rodgers’ transfer record, where is he going to find another Suarez? He has not recruited one single marquee European-level player since coming here except maybe Balotelli who has his personal problems.
I am happy to continue on the Rodgers’ journey as I don’t see to many better replacements out there at the moment whom I fancy. But my support will be quite conditioned by his summer transfers. If he shows he has learned and succeeds in recruiting 1 or 2 proper marquee players, then he gets my buy in. Otherwise I don’t think I can endure another painful season of failure.
Eh Gibbons. Prove it. If he fucks up the FA cup you owe me a shandy.
(That’s the drink not the hand variety! )
Good article. Can we have the poll on whether we want him changed in the summer, or not, please?
And, just one more thing, can we have another one on whether we would like him replaced by Rafa Benitez – the two times UEFA manager of the year who’s still cracking it and will be available on a free in the summer?
Brendan could win something for us, too early to say, I suppose. Great site lads. Enjoy it loads.
I don’t like to change managers, I wanted Rafa to stay, for Kenny to stay and I now I want Brendan to stay (The Hodge can fuck off). The reason is that each manager takes time to build teams and at LFC it takes a lot longer because they have been so badly run and money is wasted on the ‘wrong’ sort of players because there has and still is a tendency to fuck around in the transfer market, this means we end up with players that are octaganol pegs in round holes.
At the same time we have started to develop good young players at the Academy and once again when a young player comes through they may no be the perfect fit; so we need a manager to make the best of what we have and this above anything else seems to be Brendans strength.
This is not to say i agree with this model, i don’t. I would like a Rafa type manager to buy all players, they have to justify why they want a player and how they fit into the team but the decision on a player should rest with them and their backroom staff. The FSG directorate model seperates the buying from the coach which in the case of Brendan may not be a bad thing because the players he has bought, Borini, Allen, Lovren, Lallana etc have been over priced. Likewise Brendan did not want Sakho or Balotelli and this means that the players imposed do not get a fair crack. On the other hand the Directorate have wasted money on some bizzare players, Aspas being the classic example.
The reason i want to stick with Brendan now is because he is probably the best manager LFC are going to get based on the FSG Directorate above them, they basically want a young coach that they can boss around, its FSG’s club and they want to decide. Hopefully, Brendan will win things and gain experience at which point he will then fuck off to a bigger club that allows him to have greater influence and FSG will look for the next Brendan Rodgers
I don’t think sacking Rodgers this summer is an absolute necessity. Unless a manager like Klopp was willing to take the job, in which case an upgrade is common sense.
But this hype about Rodgers that he’s the next big thing is just typical Premier League hyperbole. His record against the big 4 – 5 wins in 27, two of them against Moyes – and his ineptitude in Europe against tactically astute teams should set anyone’s alarm bells ringing about his quality.
He isn’t a bad manager, but that doesn’t mean he is good enough. One more year, yeah okay. But stop trying to hype him up to be more than he is when the facts show otherwise.
Why do people try to turn those who dislike Rodgers into “fickle” fans who have no patience? or that they dislike him because of his fake tan and teeth? Why simplify it like this?
My own view on it, those who dislike him do so intuitively, based on the mixed messages, some behavior patterns he’s been giving from day one of his tenure.
His self-aggrandising is pathetic. His unwillingness to take responsibility, to simply say “I got it wrong, it’s my responsibility, I’m working to get this right as soon as possible”, and on the other hand, to own every success, is quite revolting. His decisions sometimes smack of a sabotage rather than simple stupidity or inability to see things as they are or should be, or sort them out.
You can make people tolerate him as long as he is having a good run, but they will never truly like him. Not least because he is not a winning material. Very limited manager, maybe not a bad coach, which I personally start to doubt seeing our team struggles to put 5 passes together in most games, even though his mantra is possession, and it’s his 3rd year coming to the end.
JUST HOW MANY YEARS are you prepared to give him to finally learn on the job? Do you realise that as soon as he does learn, he’ll happily go to City or Arsenal provided they make him a nice offer?
He is a Hodgson mark 2. in my book.
I am all for a young manager. But it has to be someone who will not make his decisions out of his own narrow purposes or petulance, but always for the good of the club. Let them be not always right. But Genuine, all I am asking for.
…another popular misconception: Brendan’s brand of football.
AIMLESS PASSING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK has always been his brand of football. Last season we had a player who would turn the tables at you if you didn’t give him the ball quickly enough, if a young player got too carried away with his dribbling and then missed a target when he was there waiting for a killer pass, he would get a right bollocking. it was HIS brand of football. This season it’s all Lallana type of football. As in, I’ll look nice on the ball, no matter what happens to the team.
I’m not bothered by his odd make over, unfortunate marital issues or his incessant media appearances. All I want is for Liverpool FC to win trophies, the manager is immaterial. It is nice to actually like and respect the manager, but in the end in matters not.
I am prepared to see how things go with the guy but I lost my confidence in him watching the wretched performance at Newcastle. As an older supporter I have had a few uncomfortable away matches, the 1-5 at Villa sticks in the memory, but I’ve never felt so abject sitting among the Geordies watching my team put on a despicable display with nothing, absolutely nothing coming from our ‘management’ team. To have to suffer supporters of a nothing club laughing at Liverpool was something I never thought I would experience. That was when my faith in Rodgers disappeared. I doubt he can erase that experience from my memory; I doubt he can prevent a repeat.
I believe he’ll be a good manager one day, only he has to climb down a peg or two as a result of some abject failures along the way. Perhaps he’ll be given 2 more years at LFC, or perhaps he’ll get the boot midway through next season if were lolling about in mid table again.
RDB , Klopp or someone of that ilk could come in and shake things up, perhaps their presence alone will inspire the existing players or encourage others to join, who may not otherwise be interested with BR at the helm(et).
Its all unknown, unpredictable, if it was obvious, then we’d all be pools millionaires.
Personally, i find BR a bit of a bell Whiff, and that affects my intuitive impulses surrounding him, but that may be down to his personality. Mourinho is a good coach but a complete tool, so who knows.
Id give BR another half a season to show, and unless we are looking like a force to be reckoned with by then, it would be time to bring in someone with a bit more charisma and pull on the world stage.
Good article. Interesting comments. Sadly this all takes a back seat to Rob, pink jacket and all, Up Town Funking his way around Bold St.
IS this you Brendan? The lads have done well to get you writing for the TAW ! Its best to results do the talking..or better still achieving something after £250 million gross investment in 6 windows .
No ‘Zak’, Rob Gutmann wrote this. You can tell that by simply looking at the top the page and seeing a) Rob b) Rob’s name. When Brendan writes for TAW we’ll be the first to let you know.
Zak, you do understand Rodgers works under a “directorate of football”??
Read the article the other day and it may give you a bit more understanding.
Brilliantly titled piece especially when waxing lyrical about Rodgers.
“……but ultimately he’s unbridled talent. A giant in the making. A near future world star”
Wow…………just Wow!!!
As always a well thought out piece on TAW that gets you thinking. Sometimes you can over analyse anything, your brain out logics itself and you need to trust gut instinct. I love LFC and the Hodge is the only manager I ever truly wanted sacked. When taking all the inputs in the round over the last few seasons my gut is telling me Rodgers deserves at least one more season.
For every amazing run there is a woeful european exit, for every blossoming young player there is a poor transferee. i buy into Tomkins theory big style and reality is biting us all really hard at the moment we are at best the fifth biggest club in England , we do not have the cash or geographical location to guarantee we can be better than that. So given those constraints Rodgers is just about in credit.
Ultimately the quality of our football will determine if he goes or stays and whilst he hasn’t hit the peaks of last year, the 3-4-3 response was impressive. I am with Neil though forget trying to get top 4 , balls out for 1st place or bust that should be our mission. We haven’t won that fecking thing in way too long, shake it up bring in top attacking talent and nail it.
Liverpool are the 5th RICHEST in the Premier League. They are the 2nd biggest, NOT 5th biggest. Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea are richer, not bigger.
Got anything to back that up? I’m not calling you out, just interested in what the data is because when I’m abroad, I don’t see the locals wearing LFC, they’re wearing Barca, the two Mancs and Chelsea these days.
After reading many of the comments on here about people who are apparently in the ‘know’ and obvious candidates for some of the top European jobs this summer it is obvious that we simply don’t know. Don’t know what the situation was in the summer with Suarez. Don’t know what the situation is with the transfer committee. Don’t know why Rodger’s never changed the system when it was apparent it wasn’t working and result’s weren’t as they should be. Speculation is of course what football is partly about.
However when it comes to looking at specifics we can’t possibly give a plausible explanation without knowing a little more than an opinion or what ‘you’ feel the manager should have done. If all these negative points about Brendan were true then surely the owners (shrewd businessmen who will have ultimately built business’ up making tough decisions) would have seen this ‘daylight robbery’ manager for who he is and got shut already?
Give the man a break. Was we expecting the club to pull up tree’s in Europe? Neil’s article suggest’s we concentrate on the league and everything else plays second fiddle. However what about this season; Rodgers comes out in August with a statement saying PL only this year lads. That wouldn’t have gone down well would it?
It’s a difficult job but someone has to do it!
I had more to write but my missus is moaning…
It’s frightening isn’t it? Who shot who? Who’s in the firing line next?
I’ve seen the Tomkins article.It makes it sound as though we should apologise for getting above our station.We don’t have the money.So,who’s got it?
No,I’d blame David Moores.Then again I think that Ian Ayre has something to do with it.Running around getting all that sponsorship money and frittering it away on useless transfers.But what about the Director of the Academy?Developing young players who never get a chance? But the Director of Scouting? Does he ever watch the academy players?
Then again the Director of Football socks and boots has a lot to answer for;never mind the Director of Pitch condition.And the Director of Performance excellence?
Hold on a minute.I’m beginning to see where Ian Ayre’s sponsorship money is going.So it might not be his fault after all.
No it’s all down to Rodgers.The others are all doing a fantastic job.
You know when you have an organisation like this you finish up with a collective of political blame shifters.It’s never about what they do right it’s more about a culture of blame for things going wrong and pointing fingers at those further down the line.The chain of command becomes a self preserving bastion.And the easiest target carries the blame.
I do have experience of this and have ripped these kind of hierarchies to shreds and started again to the benefit of the organisation I was working with.
Somebody once said that football is a very simple game.But it was organised by men with a grasp of the very simple.You had John Smith as Chairman,Peter Robinson as Company Secretary and Bill Shankly as Manager.And Shankly had a very simple organisation to support him but they were men with great understanding and integrity and a common aim without personal egos.
Oh I could go on,but the point is I guess…..too many cooks.
The recurrimgvqiestion about Rodgers’ failure to change systems earliercis easy answer. Sturridge was not sidelined for 6 months after the Spurs game with a broken ankle. He had a series of smaller injuries one after the other, and on three occasions was days away from returning only to be struck down with yet another injury that delayed his return. So Rodgers didn’t change the system because until December he thought he was literally days away from being able to reimplement it. When it finally twigged that Sturridge wasn’t coming back any time soon, he made the change.
I know you want to defend Rodgers, I fully understand it, but not on everything.
My tuppence worth on it is that Rodgers believed in that system as it is his default system. Its the one he used in his first season. Its the one he used for the first part of his second season. Its the one he used at the start of this season. He believes in it. Its his system. It’s what he used at Swansea, with some tweaks. It doesnt seem to work. But it’s his system.
I expect we’ll see it at the start of next season too.
One pertinent question would be to ask Swansea fans what they think of him as the ones I know are fairly massively divided on him too.
The only way to judge Rodgers is on the facts at the end of the season, CL qualification & an FA Cup opportunity and the 2 yrs previous.
So far we have won nothing and haven’t been close under Rodgers, spent £220M on 25 players with 3 successful, now whether he is responsible for buys he is part of the process.
But its pointless firing him without a “better” replacement. The replacement needs to have a record in delivering success against teams with bigger budgets because we are the 5th richest team and want Top4 .
I can think of 2 teams who have done that in recent history Athletic Madrid and Dormund but will the managers come ….
So its probable BR will be LFC manager in Sept
I hope he can do it next season too, every season we don’t get in the CL is gonna make it more difficult the season after
This season he’d probably have to say he fucked up the first half of the season and that’s gonna cost us. He’s gotta get it right next season, in transfers and on the pitch, from the get go. If he can’t do it next season then FSG will surely find someone else