Re-born in the USA: Reds Go On Tour

PRE-SEASON is always a strange time of year, and pre-season tours are sometimes even more strange for fans to take in and comprehend. For Liverpool this year, the sight of a new manager, of players having returned from loan spells, of players with uncertain futures and even of players coming back from serious injuries will all be there for fans to see as the club sets out on its North American tour. What should the club’s aims be for that tour? What should we be trying to achieve?

Of course, there are plenty of people who will tell you not to read too much into performances or results, because the matches are often like glorified practice matches. They will also point to years where Liverpool have had great results in pre-season and gone on to bomb straight out of the league title race within two months of the new season starting. And then there are people who will tell you that winning is a state of mind, a mentality even and the quicker you get into the habit of winning games, the better placed you will be for the season ahead.

The clearest aim for Liverpool on their North American tour is not about building relationships between the players. It’s not a new squad (although if recent press coverage is accurate, there may be one or two new faces heading to the USA), and the players already know each other pretty well. They understand the personalities in the squad, relationships are well established and there’s not really much to be gained from the tour in terms of ‘team bonding’.

This tour is significant because it’s the first real opportunity for our new manager to spend time with the group of players, and to transmit his ideas. One of the most important things Brendan Rodgers said on his first day as Liverpool manager was that he wasn’t here to “train players”; he was here to “educate players”. He said:

“I like to educate players. You train dogs, I like to educate players both on and off the field.”
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That quote is a very revealing insight into how Rodgers wants to work, and how he operates as a manager. Part of the attraction of the Rodgers appointment, both to the board and to the fans, was the clear indication that Rodgers had a preferred way of playing, a very clear idea around systems and tactics that he wanted to implement at Liverpool. He talked about attractive, possession-based football, and said that it would take time for players to understand what he was trying to achieve and how he wanted them to play.

The club’s trip to America is Rodgers’ chance to start that process of educating the players, of showing them how he wants Liverpool to play, how he wants the team to set up and how he is proposing to bring everything together.

It’s vital that the players also realize that this is their chance to impress the new manager, to show that they want to take advantage of a clean slate and be part of what Rodgers is trying to create at Liverpool. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Joe Cole and others striving hard to demonstrate that they can play a role for the manager this season, and even the more established players will want to listen carefully and closely to what the manager is trying to convey.

If the team can get a few wins on the pitch, that’s a bonus. It’s far more important that the players pin back their ears, and take notice of where the club is going and exactly how the manager plans to get there. It’s the start of a new era, and the quicker the team buys in to the ideas and philosophy of that new era, the greater chance we have of starting the new season with some momentum and a few results under our belt.

Find me on twitter @rossco1981

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