BRENDAN Rodgers hasn’t been in charge of Liverpool for too long but instantly he’s made a good impression (to me anyway) by telling his inherited players that they need to give 100% for the Liverpool cause in each and every game they feature.
Although, I understand, that players can have a bad game which can result in a bad performance, in general finding the inspiration and the willingness to give it your all whilst you’re on the pitch shouldn’t be a problem when you’re wearing the Liverpool jersey.
A lot of the players that make up our team are not Liverpool fans, and maybe they don’t understand the passion that the fans have when it comes to important games, derbies, and the famous Anfield European cup nights, but when you’re being paid the high sums which they are, giving your all on the pitch should be a minimum requirement.
We’ve all seen over the years the lung busting runs from Steven Gerrard, the never give up attitude of Jamie Carragher and these performances should inspire the rest of the squad to follow suit and go above and beyond in each game to try and inspire a good result and a good performance to match.
A number of times last season I heard Dalglish talking about how no player is bigger than the club, and every player should be inspired and proud to wear the Liverpool kit week in, week out but sometimes I think this message got lost when players didn’t play to the high standards as expected and they still found themselves in the team each week – as other players played superbly well in a game only to find themselves on the bench the week after. In the modern game rotation is important as you want to keep players fit and fresh and approach each game without niggling injuries or tiredness but when a player plays well they should be rewarded with a place in the starting line-up.
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One of the big messages Brendan Rodgers can send out now is in the transfer market. We know that he’s after Sigurdsson, and I think it’ll be a good signing, but he needs to bring in players not only with quality but with desire and the passion to improve as a player and improve the team and I hope that he makes good judgements in the upcoming months before the start of next season.
Around the world Liverpool is known as a massive football club with a prestigious history and playing for such a great team should be seen as an honour and not a chore where they can put in mediocre performances. One thing which did disappoint was the loss of Dirk Kuyt. He is a player that epitomises the attitude players should have when playing for Liverpool. We all know he had an engine that could keep going throughout games and even when he found himself out of favour he still put in a great shift every time he got the chance.
I fully believe that without Kuyt last season we may not have won the Carling Cup and hopefully Brendan Rodgers will be able to find another Kuyt – although it’ll be a tough job for him.
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with due respect to dirk diggler, big on passion, big engine however how does a chicken run with its head chopped off? ignoring most compliments about most players, DK going to turkey will be the last pay cheque he receives. if his passion was football motivated he would of returned to feyenoord and complimented his experiences to youth development. thats why chickens and turkeys have so much in common.
furthermore. do not interpret the above as saying DK is a dead duck.
i honestly believe all players should be paid on a commission basis, a retainer + bonus ( say 10000 pnd ) depicted by their ambitions to win/lose or draw. a system of home win x 3.5, home draw x 1.5, home loss x 0, away win x 4, away draw x 2 , away loss -0.5.
i would love to see how much fire there is in the bellies of these professionals.