WELL, the midweek result against Swansea stung a fair bit.
Not only was this a lesson in football from the current manager’s former side, it was also a reminder of how urgently Liverpool need to master the art of passing and retaining the lion’s share of possession, along with quick and free flowing movement to stretch defences to their limits.
That’s more or less what Swansea did on Wednesday night. They were fearless and almost made it look like they were the home team at Anfield – that’s something they managed last year as well during the 0-0 draw in front of the Kopites.
Their wingers were quick and full of ideas to either draw the Liverpool defenders out of their comfort zone and create spaces for their team-mates to exploit, or provide exceptional service from the flanks for the forwards to try and take advantage of.
Gerrard Houllier has now come out in support of Brendan Rodgers, saying the Irishman needs time to inflict the same quality he managed to don Swansea with.
While, the Frenchman’s absolutely right in saying Rodgers needs time, he’s also being slightly unrealistic regarding the time scale he suggests.
Two years may be a bit too much to expect from Fenway, although at the risk of drawing a lot of angry replies to this post, I will say they got the decision to fire Kenny Dalglish spot-on.
Some of the effects of Dalglish’s decisions are still haunting the club. Jordan Henderson, for a start, just doesn’t belong at Anfield. He has been below poor throughout his tenure and has yet to show any signs of turning in to the player Dalglish promised he’d seen in him.
Then again, Rodgers may be guiding the club in the right direction, albeit at a slower pace. But he’s made a couple of blunders as well.
Letting Dirk Kuyt leave, banking on Fabio Borini setting the stage on fire, and showing Andy Carroll the door while also depending on a transfer of Clint Dempsey – which as we all saw towards the end of August, fell through.
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Even if the American had been brought in, there was, and never will be, any guarantee he’d have done well. Carroll meanwhile, had begun to find his feet. His winner against Everton in the FA Cup semi-final, as well as nearly pulling the club back on level terms with Chelsea in the final, are a testament to that.
Furthermore, he had a decent few appearances for England at Euro 2012. Of course his detractors will say letting him go was right since he’s been injured for West Ham, but Liverpool couldn’t have predicted the future at the time of letting him go.
Rodgers has come out to the media and said he hasn’t got enough resources, which is painstakingly true. So bring Carroll back in January. Give the lad a chance.
This talk of him not fitting in to Rodgers’ system is just an excuse. Currently none of the players seem to be taking to Rodgers’ style very well. Apart from a few decent results here and there, there’s still a lot of work to be done with whoever’s playing at Anfield.
Give the Geordie a chance to get himself acquainted with that style as well, instead of writing him off repeatedly.
Otherwise, even when Borini does return, it’s going to be a lot of pressure on him to duplicate the standard of performances displayed by Luis Suarez, in terms of giving opposition defenders once nightmare after another.
Don’t be surprised if the Italian buckles under it and doesn’t meet the expectations.
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There is only one bit of this that I disagree with, I would have kept KD. The rest is spot on! Since KD is gone, BR must be given a chance … but so should AC9 have been!!
12th in table , same points as wigan , all his signings look rubbish . pretty passing is going nowhere . how low can rodgers take us ?
Matty, i got bad news for you. Your hero KD, was responsible for this mess we are in now, including us being manage by an inexperience nobody whose only claim to fame is the overuse of the word “Philosophy” and writing 180 page dossiers that does not include actually how to win games.
However he is still better than KD as BR did not claim inside out knowledge of LFC and a football walking encyclopedia. Tell me how many fools do you know that pays 20 mill for a non scoring/assist 28 year old winger, 35 mill for a striker who had just half a season at the top flight and another 20 mill for a midfield potential?
My point is yes, BR is a dufus and unfit even to be our groundsman let alone our manager but please do not forget who brought us this mess in the first place, other than those 2 cowboys.
i think you are way too harsh on kenny , i remember his 1st stint in charge , he was great then
i agree the money was wasted , but i wouldn’t be surprised if that was comolli not kenny . kenny as a manager and nice man shouldered the blame . but we really dont know who was to blame
Why oh why oh why does everyone infer the way Swansea play as Rodgers style!!!
Swansea played that way for 3 years before Rodgers arrived.
True, the way we played complemented the way he wanted to play, but Martinez started it.
With Martinez we attacked well but didn’t defend, Sousa came in and made our defence better, then Rodgers came in and gave us something in between. But possession football was played throughout.
Prior coming to us, he had a short stint at Reading, from where he was sacked. Why? Because he went into a team that did not have the players who could play the style he wanted but he made them play that way regardless.
He would do better to make the best use of the players available and slowly move towards the style he wants as the personnel arrived.
It remains to be seen if he has the ability to coach players to play the way he wants, his only success has been when he inherited a squad that could do just that.
all true + he has shown an inability to change it when its not going well . he sticks with joe allen , who is not good . and he is totally wasting gerrard by playing him too deep .
ive been one of them who said patience and give him a chance . well the patience is wearing thin , no more excuses brendan , no more chances .
get winning or get out
You are right Peter, BR is just good at inheriting stuff. LFC played this kind of game long before BR was even born. I think that guy who introduced this style to LFC was called Bill or something.
Last i heard he did really well when he was in charge.
The only thing I can agree on is that Henderson should be out, following Brendan Rodgers ASAP. He has totally destroyed LFC and the moral that Kenny Dalglish brought to the players and fans. I predicted that Swansea would demolish us, and Rodgers played the 3rd team!!!! Leave the guys like Gerrard and Suarez on the bench when this was our way into Europe, with only 3 games to play to the final. Dirk Kuyt was one of the greatest players and he just let him go. Andy Carroll was playing well, an international player and he does not want him , STUPIDIY. As for Jon Jo Shelvy who can not score a goal from 2 yards what a waste of space. Gerrard needs to be back in the the role he knows and plays so well feeding Suarez and Suarez does the same to a real player that will put the ball in the back of the net,Gerrard. Why destroy a team that was working 2 cup finals and winning one is not a bad season. Man U did not get any silverware last season????????????And Kenny did not do enough, The jubilation on his face when they scored was enough to motivate any player. Bring Kenny back and send Rodgers back to the bump on the side of England, Wales.
yes all true
I agrees with everything except the part on Kenny. He was the main reason we are in this mess today. 110 mill spent to win the league cup and finished 8th?
The one who should be back is Rafa and definitely not KD.
I agree that BR needs to string a run of good results and stop making excuses. However, calling for his head now n even more stupidly calling for KD is er… plain stupid. Whether we like it or not, our squad is weaker than it was last season. BR has done well to showcase the potential of the young players in 3 months, something KD couldn’t/wouldn’t do in 18 months. We all knew bringing in an inexperienced manager had its risks n disadvantages but after too much fluctuations n stagnation over the years, we all (or at least) agreed we need a fresh start. BR is making a mistakes but who doesn’t? his subs have bn poor and midfied combos haven’t worked out well also. It is fair n justifiable to criticize his performance but hasty n rash to criticize his ability n competence jUst yet. I agree that keeping Carroll beats having only 1 senior striker, but looking at the bigger picture, everyone without a blind bias for KD can see that Carroll is not liverpool standard. It’s not a case of fitting it. He’s largely average and is more liability than asset. Irritating hw ppl point to 3-4 matches at the end of last season as proof that ”he was finally coming good” Many will point at Borini but while the jury is still very much out on him, at least he still chases (not jogs) after defenders. controls the ball with 2 seconds and touches less than Carroll. You could accuse me of disliking Carroll, but thats not the case. I’m more pissed at ppl who can’t see that he will never be good enough for a Liverpool club that wants to improve.
Don’t get me wrong. We need a poacher but definitely not Carroll. A quality playmaker and poacher should be priority in the next transfer window.
Jury is out on Rodgers, Borini, and Assaidi but it is too early for a verdict.
no sorry the jury is in –
rodgers – fail , not competent
allen , borini , assaidi – nowhere near good enough
yesil – give him benefit of doubt because of age
sahin – still awaiting verdict
FSG – fail ,should be arrested for crimes against this football club