THIS week Rob Gutmann hosts Andy Heaton, Paul Senior and Ian Salmon to discuss Brendan Rodgers re-emergence into public life for the first time since his sacking by Liverpool FC.
The lads analyse his comments from the ‘Sunday Supplement’ TV appearance and his spot as a co-presenter with Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports Monday Night Football.
Here are two links to the aforementioned shows.
Sunday Supplement: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3mwwvs
Rodgers MNF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2cK6AVD1T8
Was the ex-Liverpool manager disrespectful in any way over the two shows or was it more a case of getting himself back in front of peoples faces and into their consciousness after a fairly long break in football terms?
Did what Rodgers have to say have any substance, especially in regards to the often maligned transfer committee?
Rob, Ian, Andy and Paul discuss the potential impact that Alexis Sanchez might have had in a Liverpool shirt had he completed his expected move to Anfield, and at the other end of the scale, with Delle Ali now shining at Spurs with the Red’s having seemingly dropped the ball, is it reasonable to expect our transfer committee do more to back the manager of Liverpool Football Club, whoever he is?
And in a sliding doors, what if, moment, the lads discuss THAT Chelsea game, and debate who, ultimately was to blame.
Below is a free clip from todays show of Andy talking about the Chelsea game and how its been judged harshly in retrospect.
[audioplayer file=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/theanfieldwrap/UNWRAPPEDCLIP200116.mp3″]
Really glad yous done this podcast and covered the Rodgers statement, but think you may have left out an angle.
What was FSGs role in all this??
The transfer committee in my opinion does not work in its current guise but who is responsible for the policies it implements?
Rodgers made statements along the lines of the owners wanted to bring in young players and develop them. He also mentions the Balotelli thing about bringing in a £16mil player and turning him into a £50mil player.
Is that all FSG are interested in?? Making huge profit from players a lá Suarez and Sterling or do they actually wanna win the league??
With the constraints put on the manager it’s hard know.
As if Rodgers could develop players, it’s fairly difficult when they’re played a few times and discarded only to be played an discarded again usually not in their preferred position.
As for developing Balotelli, I think his ego got the better of him there.
Great show guys but when you talk about revisionism, I’m not having that Sakho’s pass for the ‘Gerrard slip’ was a “Dog of a pass.” He slipped after a bad/non-existent touch, on the turn, in plenty of space…
I don’t really think Rodgers comments shifting the blame to the transfer committee are valid. He got his fair share of players eg Lovren, Lallana, Allen, Borini, and none of them worked out.
If Brendo and the club pinned their hopes on Sanchez (who was clearly going to Arsenal) then all involved were deluded and displayed a complete lack of backup planning.
Ending up with Ballotelli (after having Remy in the bag… ‘failed medical’ my ass) and using him ineffectively complaining he can’t press, then buying the same style of striker for £32mil the following summer is a shambles.
He’ll always be remembered fondly for the 13/14 season run… but overall he’s a mid-table manager.
I cringed when he said ‘dog of a pass’ I mean really I even had to go back and watch that painful moment again to make sure my memory of the pass being 100% ok wasn’t mistaken. I think Mr Gibbons need to explain his view on that I think if he watches it again he will realise he made a mistake. Otherwise brilliant piece the hate for BR has been nothing short of disgraceful by our fans I’m glad you share my views on him.
Great podcast. Was sceptical about how it would go.
Agree 100% with everything said about the Chelsea game from 2013/14 I’ve had that argument too many times with people who just see the result.
Well done, a balanced appraisal.
Don’t like the Sakho line though. Don’t like Steven Gerrard’s post-rationalisation either. He’d have controlled that pass 99 times out of 100. Had he done so we’d have probably gone on to get the result we needed. That’s his tragedy and ours. It wasn’t Brendan Rodgers’ fault or Sakho’s or Mignolet’s.
Interesting discussion. I think one point that isn’t raised is that FSG had their fingers burnt with Kenny. They spent big to bring in the players he wanted and then when Rodgers came in, those players were shipped out at a loss since they didn’t suit his way of playing. I suspect FSG wanted to run the club more like West Brom where the managing director hired a succession of managers who played in a similar way and there wasn’t a huge turnover of players as managers came and went.
Also, one can imagine BR said he wanted Ashley Williams and the transfer committee reminded him of Borini and Allen (one was an obvious flop and the case for the other is not yet settled). Ultimately, I mean to say that BR’s track record with players he knows wasn’t especially compelling.
Excellent podcast fellas, one of the best you’ve done in all the time I’ve listened. I always look forward to Unwrapped.
One thing I don’t hear about that Chelsea game is the first half injury time, Martin Atkinson thought he was being smart by reacting to Chelsea’s time wasting by adding 3 mins on, he should have just blown up on 45:00
I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s anything that would tell me that giving BR full control of transfers would have worked, at all. I didn’t see the interview. Did he mention “his” signings that were woeful? He obviously got some very expensive players the HE wanted. No mention of them? How about his obvious lack of understanding of defense and players that can do a job back there?
As far as 13/14; BR had a lot of good players that STAYED HEALTHY, period. We bombed out of every competition and could focus on the league.
Great podcast. If one is already favorably inclined towards Rodgers, and is a match-going Red.
For the rest of us, not so much.
I’d really appreciate it if Andy Heaton (bless him for being, basically, the reason why TAW exists) did not put down anyone who disagrees with him on the 2nd game vs Chelsea in 13/14 as a ‘revisionist’ who “does his head in”. Especially if there’s nobody there who can have a proper go at arguing the contrary position (as there wasn’t).
This podcast needed Gareth Roberts. :-)