BRENDAN Rodgers remains as Liverpool manager then; granted a fourth season after this week’s Liverpool get-together with Tom Werner and Mike Gordon. Initial assurance for Rodgers came in the shape of a Merseyside venue for talks, instead of the Boston offices where Kenny Dalglish got whacked by his American paymasters. However, the mooted “comprehensive plan” agreed at the summit meeting — to ensure an improvement in Liverpool’s fortunes — has met principally with an outpouring of dismay, doom and sarcasm from the majority of Reds’ followers in pubs and on social media alike.
Seduced by the apparent prospect of Jurgen Klopp — and the more fanciful notion of luring Carlo Ancelotti — many of us were at best underwhelmed at the prospect of a new campaign under a man whose popularity has plummeted since the heady days of last spring.
As we now know, the more exotic German and Italian alternatives have a stated desire to take sabbaticals from their respective managerial careers. The lasting presence of two men (the former a far more obvious prospect) who acknowledge and respect the name Liverpool FC, means Rodgers will be under immediate pressure if results in the early part of August go awry.
My main concern at the manager’s stay of execution is that even with the perennial hope a new season brings, a latent dislike of Brendan Rodgers among the fan-base threatens to derail yet another campaign from the outset.
The well-worn words and clichés are ready to roll off caustic tongues: “What has he won?”, “He can’t organise a defence”, “He’s a fraud”. Some critical claims are more valid than others, and three seasons without a trophy is a bottom line that stands his critics in good stead. But the more personal attacks referencing his marital status and even the colour of his teeth are proof of a growing revulsion from many towards the man who occupies the Anfield hot-seat.
Considering the efforts of 2013-14, which saw Rodgers’ Liverpool, by the width of a cigarette paper, fall short of the league title we crave, it is remarkable how little goodwill remains towards a coach still in his formative years. The style of football, an avalanche of goals, accumulation of 84 points and a season that was consistently compelling from the start (not just in the midst of a remarkable 11 consecutive wins) has been widely dismissed as “all down to Suarez”.
Key components of Liverpool’s embittered, dysfunctional support are short memories, jerks of the knee, a willingness to dismiss achievement and attribute all to those who have departed, and all the while display a lack of generosity to those who remain.
That said, Rodgers undoubtedly made and repeated a series of errors last term; not least the loss of his attacking principals in the midst of a depressing autumn, and his persistence with Balotelli and/or Lambert in a rigid lone front role that rendered Liverpool impotent. Having found a revolutionary solution in the shape of the 3-4-3 system that brought about a run of results (10 wins and three draws in 13 league matches) which was comparable with the best of the previous year, he abandoned it too readily and reverted for the final push to the turgid set-up that put him under pressure in the first place.
A sense that the game was up in the wake of crushing league defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal, and that the dressing room accepted a Europa League fate all too soon, contributed to an appalling season conclusion that merely hardened the growing disapproval of the man responsible for morale.
There are many however numerous mitigating circumstances that explain the drop from a heartbreaking second in 2014 to an eventual sixth place finish in 2015. Not least among a plethora of valid excuses was the “replacement” of Suarez with a player (Mario Balotelli) Rodgers clearly didn’t want — even if he acceded to myth and played him too often — and the unforeseen injuries to Sturridge.
Not only did this halve Liverpool’s goals tally but also shrunk the options ahead for Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson who manfully carried what remained of an attacking threat.
In the emotional wake of the concluding 6-1 defeat at Stoke, I was as much in favour of a change as anyone. Presiding over a defeat like that off the back of capitulations at the hands of Hull and Crystal Palace turned me into a Rodgers agnostic. However, in the cold dispassionate light of day, there are good reasons for preserving the status quo. A carousel that has seen Benitez, H*****n, and Dalglish clear their desks has achieved nothing constructive, merely serving to empower an impatient fan-base with a thirst for blood at the first sign of weakness.
News that FSG, whatever their reasoning, had sanctioned for Rodgers a last throw of the dice coincided with me watching brief highlights of the epic 3-2 victory over Manchester City in April 2014. Watching this game again reminded me it wasn’t “all down to Suarez”. Of course, he played his part but he did so alongside remarkable, committed contributions from Sterling, Coutinho, Gerrard, Skrtel et al. This was a team effort watched from the technical area by a buoyant innovative young coach, applauded to the rafters by a vibrant exultant crowd. How things can change so quickly; almost in the blink of an eye, as football mirrors life.
We all know what happened next but only the harshest critics can blame the manager for Gerrard’s heart-rending slip. Mockery can easily be made of a subsequent narrative — aimed at the manager — that Liverpool went “gung-ho” in a game when a draw would suffice. Chelsea had just two shots on target and the defence was breached only when the captain fell over and when Liverpool were countered in a last desperate attempt to salvage a crucial point.
More recently, at the height of a run that threatened to return the Reds to the Champions League despite the terrors of autumn, Liverpool again destroyed City at Anfield this February with a display of attacking football that bore all the hallmarks of 2013-14. As we know now, that shaft of mid-season light faded to false dawn.
News that Rodgers is staying has accompanied talk of new arrivals on the pitch. Again supporters appear underwhelmed with apparent targets James Milner, Christian Benteke, Nathaniel Clyne, and Danny Ings. Let’s pessimistically assume that is the extent of business Liverpool plan to conclude this summer — and there is recent recruitment and investment history to suggest that might be our lot.
There is also the Sterling contract impasse to resolve, but we would hope that he either stays or is directly replaced with the full use of the fee received.
For the purposes of this exercise, I’m assuming, somewhat flippantly, that Sterling plays FIFA with Clyne, goes the gym with Danny Ings, is shit-scared of Benteke and finds “boring James Milner” riveting company. Raheem stays, if only to act as a human shield for Rodgers from a crowd that can’t make up its mind who to crucify first.
Then I started picking my team for Rodgers’ last hurrah. Slowly, I began to feel a sense of assurance and then excitement as an XI began to take shape. I thought about the flexibility of systems which can only be described as a Brendan forte. I imagined his favoured 4-4-2 diamond, his 4-3-3 and an adaptation of the 3-4-2-1 (or 3-4-3) that was eventually abandoned last season. Whatever the set-up, I was able to envisage many of the qualities missing last season — pace, mobility, commitment, verve and youth.
I’m presuming we revert, with the novel idea that we have actual strikers, to a front-foot attacking style that treats each game on its merits — to outscore the opposition by one goal at least. I’m accepting the defence has limitations but that it comes under less pressure because we’ve got more energy and better cover, we’re doing most of the attacking and conceding the odd goal doesn’t need to signal doomsday.
So here is my squad — of 11 August starters and candidates for three good changes from the bench.
Subs from: GK, Lovren, Wisdom, Lallana, Origi, Sturridge, Allen, Lucas, Ings, Markovic.
The above selection is based on the diamond — which Rodgers is thought to have bought for last year — but it’s just as easy to envisage a lightning front three of Sturridge, Sterling and Origi. Or, Benteke playing centrally with Sterling to the right, Sturridge hanging to the left. The midfield looks solid, full of running and better equipped to feed the front and protect the defence. If Sterling goes, a like-for-like replacement is essential with Theo Walcott mentioned in some circles.
Most of all, I believe in Rodgers to mould that group of 20 into an effective unit, whatever the formation on a given day, that plays at a tempo to suit — and rediscovers — an offensive mojo.
I can see Henderson emerging from the shadow always cast by Steven Gerrard; I can imagine Moreno, Can and Markovic scaling a second season learning curve, Milner adding thrust and a cool head, Origi adding much needed pace and running — with dynamic full backs filling the midfield space on the flanks a potential diamond leaves.
Whatever the personnel up front, whether it’s a returning Sturridge, the targeted Benteke (or someone else with an eye for goal), and a happier Sterling (or his replacement) then the corpse-like attack of last season must soon resemble just a bad dream.
A new season should always bring expectation, and August ought to be no different. I’m backing the manager because he’s the Liverpool manager and I think he’s a nice enough fella. As a club we’re trying to win an unfair game against the pulling power and spending might of the top four, and in Brendan Rodgers we have a man, who for all last season’s travails, has come closest to topping the lot in 25 years.
With Klopp lurking behind every corner, he might just throw caution to the wind and I think that’s the mindset that has served him best.
He deserves his chance to put things right and he deserves the backing of the fans in the ground. Whether he gets that remains to be seen. To begin with, sadly, he’s likely to be on his own.
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda
Obviously, as the top 4 strengthen for the real Europe (not the third rate Europa, that we didn’t even really qualify for by virtue), we have no chance of top 4, or even competing for it.
Feel free to tickle your arse with a feather and bang on about our ancient history if it makes you feel better.
Rodgers and FSGs “project” has gone to plan and the “transformation” is complete. We are a red version of Everton but with four times the revenues.
I can’t wait for next season. To end.
Agree completely. This is one of the worst TAW player articles I have ever read
Well said, no chance of top 4 again under FSG and BR…BR and FSG out..
Whatever you think about Brendan lads, we might as well support him when the new season starts and least give the team half a chance. They’ve got a much better chance with the fans on side. If, as the season develops, we’re still shite then we can vent our anger and hope for a managerial change. As it stands though, we’re best served to back Brendan for now.
“To begin with, sadly, he’s likely to be on his own”. Given Pascoe’s exit rather prescient words.
That fucking slip, how things could have been so different but for a stud slipping on a blade is sodding grass..!
Very well written and positive piece. Hopefully with a few things going our way we can really push on…
Be interesting to see who they have lined up to replace Pascoe / Marsh..
I love your optimism Mike. Forget these miserable bastards. They’ve thrown you to wolves just as quickly as they stopped kissing Brendan’s arse and calling him their Messiah. Give the bloke a chance for God’s sake. One disappointing the season he’s had. I’ve never had such an enjoyable time as the 2013/14 season. Of course I wish we’d won it but I’ll never forget the memories Brendan helped to give me. I’d rather have another wild outside shot at the title with Rodgers in charge than have Rafa as manager and finish third or fourth every season. We’re not Arsenal for fuck sake. I would have liked Klopp yes but he’s not coming so stop fucking crying and support the boys, the team and the manager.
You forget many never kissed BRs arse and are the ones who felt he should never have been hired…. Watford, Reading, No trophies, little premiership experience, no European experience. You know, the little minor things that qualify a manager..
So you mean to tell me Paule that you were sat in the ground or in a pub or in your house after the Man City game at home, after Old Trafford away and/or before that fateful Chelsea game questioning his track record and his lack of European experience. Not a chance. Give the bloke another season. If he fails then he’ll have to go but slagging him off will only add to the chances of him failing. We as Liverpool fans are getting too bitter and it’s a very ugly sight. I personally think that we’ll sign a decent striker in the summer, Sterling will play a blinder in order to get his move, Coutinho will shine and we’ll start playing like the tricky reds of 2013.14 again. We’ll get 4th.
Couldn’t agree more Damon. Make us dream, and he did.
Cheers Gooseh
“If the owners want me to go, I’ll…. get rid of Marsh and Pascoe to save my own arse.”
Leadership.
Odd read. We did not ‘destroy’ Man City by any definition of the word; we won through 2 worldies from distance (as we never broke down their defence) and Aguero fluffed his lines. It was a good win. But not a demolition job.
Also, you must be just about the only person excited about what Benteke would do in a Rodgers side (if he can’t make Balotelli work he won’t make Benteke).
I’m in two minds about Rodgers. If there’s no one better available it makes sense to keep him. But he needs to Stop. Playing. Players. Out. Of. Position. They don’t like it. We don’t like it. But opposition teams LOVE it.
It think Liverpool should look at a Brazillian striker named Jonathas that plays for Elche in spain, he looks faster, more mobile and a better dribbler that Benteke, but with similar strength and aerial ability…they call him the new Diego Costa. He is 26 and scored about 11 goals last year for them, check him out…at the link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbl6Bokp7Rw
Our fan base is infected with a cancer of bitterness that belongs across the park. Shankly was right to close the curtains, because once that darkness is allowed inside, takes hold, and reaches into the corners, it is very difficult to eradicate. I think it’s great that TAW is at least trying to bring in some light. Please keep it up.
Superb piece. Don’t get the hatred myself. Far too many fickle fans out there. Best thing everyone can do as supporters is support the team next season regardless of whether u want Rodgers out otherwise what’s the point.
He’s our manager – we get behind him & the players. If results don’t improve then he’s out – he knows it, we know it & FSG certainly know it!
Let’s get behind the lads & see what happens.
Off on a tangent though, the issue is not a rookie manager learning his trade at one of the biggest clubs in world football, the crime is for the people that threw him into that cauldron & left him with the wrong tools for the job!
The knives for FSG are sharpened but the drawer is closed…for the time being!
Angelo Dundee had a maxim: (in sport) no advantage is too small to be not worth taking.
Angelo Dundee knew stuff.
This maxim underpins the work of Clive Woodward & Dave Braylesford. They seek improvement everywhere. Because improvement is aggregated, every improvement, however minuscule, matters.
Elite sport is all about fine margins. If an athlete / team / club seeks a competitive advantage, nothing can be overlooked.
Rodgers needs the club to be better in all areas. He can’t do it alone.
If we had, say, someone like Cortese, famed for his borderline obsessive attention to detail whilst at Southampton (& publicly appreciated by players and fans before and after his departure), I honestly believe that could prove the most important bit of recruitment LFC make this summer.
The failings of the current regime – the pitch at Anfield /
contract renewals / negotiations with player targets – suggest a level of ineptitude &/or an inability to cope with the pressure of running an elite club. Angelo Dundee would never have stood for it. And not should we.
The failings of the current regime – the pitch at Anfield /
contract renewals / negotiations with player targets – suggest a level of ineptitude &/or an inability to cope with the pressure of running an elite club.
The pitch issue isn’t going to be fixed until the main stand is done. They’ve already stated as such. No sense in doing it now and chance it getting wrecked soon after it goes in.
I know nothing about this, but I doubt they’ve exhausted every opportunity. I want the sort of obsessive madman in who won’t accept this cannot be fixed in 3 days, let alone 3 months, gets a helicopter squadron to fly in a drop in pitch, installs a massive hydroponic rig, & makes the building contractors wear hover boots.
Oh we can dream…
What’s with all the bitching about the quality of the articles lately? I may not always agree with the writers but I appreciate the time and effort they put in, it’s free to read and if you don’t like it then don’t bother.
I’ve got over my post Stoke knee jerk and think Rodgers does deserve the opportunity to make amends, as Dave Elliott says above, it’s about getting behind the team.
And great read Mr Nevin, not with you yet on Benteke but enjoyed the piece all the same.
Funny that you should mention watching highlights from the City game, Mike. Watched the highlights on YouTube of the Dortmund friendly and the Tottenham win with Balotelli in the diamond and thought back to how positive everything felt going into a new season for the first time in ages. Was great all that. Should of known it would all default back to shit. Fans, players, owners and a manager who all swing from one extreme to the other. A club of complete mad heads.
I honestly believed we’d cracked it and what’s more I managed to get complacent again going into the United game once we’d played our way back into the shake up. Never been so sure we’d beat them only for the wheels to fall off again. Had my eye wiped twice in one season.
I’ll give Brendan this: he seems to have a resilience about him to survive his low moments that serial trophy winners Houllier, Benitez and Dalglish didn’t have. At the end the season before the one just gone I wouldn’t have traded the fella in for anyone and now the best of us are somewhat apathetic to him. The worst of us have decided to hate him for irrelevant reasons and I hope he shoves it up their arses from the first game of the season. He’ll need to because if he wobbles again the atmosphere could turn truly toxic and he’ll have ran out of lives.
I’ve said this before but I’ve always wondered what the conversations surrounding him would b like if we’d have finished 2013/14 with a few more points to win the big one. You’d like to think it’d be more respectful but I’m not so sure when it comes to most of our support anymore.
I’ve been getting slaughtered for so long in social media, it’s refreshing to see I’m not alone in thinking Rodgers is not some sort of buffoon. Yes, he made many mistakes, but he has also done so much right.
I don’t think it is wise to judge him without taking in the loss of both Suarez and Sturridge. Since the arrival of the second S of the SAS, Rodgers has shown that he can succeed as long as he had at least one S. Both the 10 game ban and the period before Sturridge got Hodged on England duty were marked by strong records with the sort of aggressive football we once associated with Rodgers.
I can see Benteke working alongside Sterling, perhaps, but I’d much rather see someone in a Suarez/Aguero mold of modern striker. Lacazette would have been ideal, but we fairly pissed away that opportunity – I don’t see us dropping a giant bag of money like United did for Di Maria.
Nevertheless, I share the cautious optimism that we can return to the fast, intense, technical football once we drop Balotelli, Lambert, and Borini from the realms of possible selection. They all seem like good guys, but we are built around the Coutinho/Sturridge axis, and that seems entirely right in my mind.
I’ve always thought Aguero is the closest Suarez out there. I’ve also read an interview with him stating he loves LFC and Anfield is his favourite ground and all that blah. Let’s wave 20m, Sterling and a big bag of wages in front of his and Man City’s faces and see what happens. There’s ambition – we shouldn’t be afraid to ask.
He was saying the same things about LFC when he was 18 and Rafa wanted him. Unfortunately that football genius Parry said at £8m he was too expensive, If only Rafa had got Aguero, Silva, Alves and Simao to name but a few he really wanted but was denied.
DELUDED, actually no, beyond DELUDED!!! Embaressing
What, because the worst they can do is say “NO”?!
I’m not suggesting for one minute it is likely to happen but I’m more than with my rights to ask “why not try?”.
If we have 32m to splurge on Benteke, Raheem and their combined potential wages, why not have the bare balls to stick a bid in? Or are we accepting that we aren’t sat at the big table any more?
As i said, beyond deluded.
1.Manchester City has been a much much much bigger club for the last 4-5 years
2.Liverpool have incentive based contracts on how players perform, Milner is on 120 000 and is the clubs best paid player. Aguero is on 250 000 a week.
3.Why on earth would Aguero want to join Liverpool??? and dont give me the crap about history because its bullcrap sadly.
4.How much do you think Aguero would cost??? Something like 60-65 million £?? When have we ever spent more than 35 million on a player and even then it was when we got 50 million for Torres.
5.If Manchester City made Aguero available which they will never do, what in your mind makes you think we are the only club in the world that would try to sign him? Absolute delusions!!!!! Real Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Juventus, PSG, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, Manchester United would all be ahead of us…
6.NOT in a million years will we sign a player of Aguero’s worth, when we signed Suarez he was playing for Ajax and nobody wanted to touch him with a 10 feet pole due to his biting ban!!
7.You need to get your self checked, Aguero my ass!!!!
It think Liverpool should look at a Brazillian striker named Jonathas that plays for Elche in spain, he looks faster, more mobile and a better dribbler that Benteke, but with similar strength and aerial ability…they call him the new Diego Costa. He is 26 and scored about 11 goals last year for them, check him out…at the link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbl6Bokp7Rw
Good read. I have seen the view that Rodgers didn’t get the best out of Balotelli
, thus Benteke will follow suit. In my opinion, totally different styles. Balotelli needs a manager who says, ” Mario you are the best player in the (your) world, go express yourself, free role and don’t track back”. The guy has great skill if the whole team revolves around him. Ask him to lead the line, high energy press and help the team away to Basel in the rain, forget it. The lad is and will never be a Liverpool player.
I see Benteke frightening the life out of defences, ask any defence in the prem who they would rather play against and all would say Mario. We are a soft touch, so what we throw a few crosses in and put teams on the back foot. I see him as Costa, obviously not as good, but to fight and keep the CB’s busy.
your squad is shite! and you should feel bad……..
Last year it was expectation in our hearts. This year it’s hope (with more than a little dread.)
I seem to be alone in thinking that Rodgers got his arse well and truly kicked in Boston. Whether his jettisoning the lead guitarist and bass player is his way of saying ‘it wasn’t my fault’ or FSGs way of changing the management without changing the manager is anybody’s guess. The three reputed targets for Pascoe’s job could conceivably step up at any time if Brendan’s ego rebels at FSG basically gelding him, pending Christmad and a huge Chrimbo present for the disappointed fans. We shall see. By October, BRs fate will be sealed.
Earlier speculation that FSG don’t care about the CL are way off the mark. They certainly don’t care about LFC, but they care about their investment. A top 4 club with a new stadium and effective management will get a good price. A riven 6th placer without a bloody clue will see little or no return on investment. Simple.