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Should ‘Plan B’ Serve To Make ‘Plan A’ More Effective At LFC?

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Brendan Rodgers & Suso of Liverpool FCBRENDAN Rodgers has a philosophy that he is commonly known for now: he wants his team to play a certain way, his way.

Liverpool FC have always been a team that ingrained the motto “Pass and Move” into any player who put on the famous red shirt. For a long time we have needed a manager to come in and get us playing football again; exciting, mouth-watering football, the likes of which we hadn’t seen for years.

The closest to it was the all-out attack served up by Roy Evans in the mid 90’s. Fowler, Collymore, McManaman, Berger all scoring goals for fun but with a defence that had the likes of an aging Mark Wright, an unfit Neil Ruddock and an injury prone John Scales in front of the Super Mario-addicted David James. Then came Houllier with his brand of defensive, stubborn football that got results but would have you watching from a hospital bed more often than not with shot nerves.

Rafa came in and sometimes set up to not lose a game rather than win it, which is all well and good, but when it doesn’t work it would leave you so frustrated you’d have pieces of hair in your hands from tearing it out. Hodgson and Dalglish, it seemed, just had eleven players on the pitch in the hope something happened. It happened for ‘the King’ in cup competitions, but league form was atrocious.

Carroll and Downing were bought to be on the pitch at the same time; Downing crossing for the big man to convert, but on more than one occasion Carroll would drift out to the left wing leaving no one in the box and invariably end up being subbed off for Downing. The two hardly ever seemed to be on the pitch at the same time. The Hodgson era has nearly been completely wiped from my mind, but I still wake up sometimes at night with cold sweats before remembering he is the England boss now, breathing a sigh of relief and rolling over.

Rodgers himself said “if plan A doesn’t work, plan B is to make a change to make plan A more effective”. Barcelona have no plan B, so why should Liverpool? A team built up to truly believe that control of the ball and movement off it determines the results and the style of play we all want to see. I don’t like the whole ‘tiki-taka’ saying that seems to have become cool in certain quarters, but the fact Rodgers wants to turn us into another “bastion of invincibility”, as Shankly once said, is fine with me.
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Barcelona are a one off; a team of such brilliantly talented individuals that it makes it near impossible to copy their ethos man for man, but think of Liverpool in the years to come as Barcelona-lite. There are signs this season that, under Rodgers, the players are warming and growing to his way of playing, which is getting the best form out of Luis Suarez for one thing.

To play for Rodgers is to have faith in your own abilities whilst trusting your team mates to do the same. People raised eyebrows when Andy Carroll was allowed to leave for West Ham, but he is nowhere near technically gifted enough to warrant a place in this team. Are we to believe that if we are behind in a game we should just abandon everything and go long to the big man? We are not Stoke, and never will be, especially under Rodgers.

Rodgers’ plan A is to get the team playing so well that the opposition is exhausted into defeat, to bully and batter teams into submission by pressure and passing alone. The “6 second rule” is something borrowed from Barcelona, and you see it in the players; if they lose the ball they work hard to get it back and go again. This is where the plan starts to look all the more menacing.

Players like Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson all have the ability to hound and harass the opposition into making a mistake and give the ball back. Suarez and Sterling have been doing it from the front all season. It is imperative that every player closes the nearest man to him immediately, pressuring them to panic and play the ball before they’re allowed to become composed.

Rodgers might have appeared naive in announcing to the world his plans for the team, but in reality it’s a measure of how confident the man is in his own ability as a manager and the trust he has in those who play for him.

Long may it continue.

You can follow Liam on twitter @Jolly_Conductor
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61 comments

  • Slick says:

    – Keep The Faith Roger’s Renaissance YNWA J4T96 –

  • red says:

    Why keep promoting the CAUSE of LFC disastrous session ???? Any cure for this tiki taka poisoning ????

    You want Barcelona-lite ??? Then look at Arsenal. Seven trophy-less years. This tiki taka experiment must be stopped now.

    • Red you seem like you don’t understand that this season is a transitional one, that Rodgers has the uneasy ad unenviable task of righting the many wrongs that previous managers have laden the squad with.

      Did you expect any manager to just waltz in and throw together a surge of results that fire us to the top of the league?

      Patience is the word every single Liverpool fan need to grasp hold of tightly, if you cannot see the progress in the style of play corresponding with us putting away the so called “lesser” teams (something we have LONG struggled with) then you need to really question why you watch Liverpool at all.

      Beating the bigger clubs will come with experience.

      • stevieG says:

        Nonsense , there wasnt a lot wrong with the team last year , 2 cup finals and just a poor run at end of season messed up league position

        Rodgers is not ‘righting the wrongs’ he is making even more wrongs . His summer signings are dreadful , and his inability to win against any decent team shows his tactical inability

        • Not a lot wrong last year? Don’t let two cup finals (winning one embarrassingly on penalties against a team a division below us and losing the other to a ‘big team’) paper over the cracks. It was a terrible season where expensive signings didn’t perform.

          Making even more wrongs? Correct me if i’m wrong, but we played both City and United off the park at Anfield and were unlucky in both not to win. 2nd half at OT we were fantastic, there’s only Arsenal who battered us this season.

          I don’t get this massive anti-Rodgers behaviour, Rafa wasn’t approached, he manages Chelsea now, move on.

      • red says:

        What TRANSITIONAL session are you talking about ??? From last session above-average LFC (thanks KK for 1 trophy, 2 finals) to below-average LFC for current session, huh ???

        Stop inventing reasons of failure for both BR and FSG.

      • TaintlessRed says:

        Liam, I think part of the issue is that Rodgers’ poor team selections and tactics have been directly responsible for poor results, just as his first 3 signings have added very little to the immediate strength of the team.
        Allen and Borini may, and should, improve but BR eulogised that he would have paid a great deal more for Allen than the £15m we did pay. It’s only reasonable to doubt someone who makes such a statement.
        Beating the bigger sides doesn’t just come with experience. We had a good record against big sides under Kenny, partly because astute team selections helped us defeat superior squads (eg the two wins at Stamford Bridge or the win at the Etihad). Rodgers is regularly out thought by opposition managers, and the teams we have beaten we should be ashamed of if we hadn’t beaten them. Rodgers has shown an ability to change a game by substitutions, and personally I’m pleased to see an LFC manager make early subs rather than waiting till the 66th minute all the time, but these half-time subs have had to be made as Rodgers has too often picked the wrong starting line up and/or formation.
        Getting a result at Old Trafford is hard enough, but when you play an out of sorts Allen out of position as the most advanced midfielder your simply asking for trouble.
        Despite my doubts and disappointments with BRs first season I don’t believe we should be sacking him mid-season. The time to best reflect on the season is when it is over – but Brendan needs to make better decisions than he has been doing so far and stop making small club comments like stating a 0-0 draw at Swansea is never 2 points dropped, when for Liverpool FC it is always 2 points dropped.

    • Snake Plissken says:

      Barcelona have one of the all-time greats who scores virtually a goal a game (Messi). This is where Brenda’s ‘philosophy’ is deeply flawed!

  • Marco says:

    Only a fool doesnt have a Plan B or Plan C – makes us predictable , thats why we cant beat the top teams

  • Moose says:

    One great performance at home to Norwich ( norwich were cr@p) , Now some people think he is a genius ! lol

    A week b4 the fool picks Allen v Man U , 3 weeks b4 we were outplayed and overrun by Villa at home , Villa !!!!!
    2 weeks ago We were 2nd best in every department to Stoke .

    Typical foolish fans , getting carried away by 1 impressive performance . Rodgers inherited very good squad , and has spent 42 million . I think ANY other manager would have done a lot lot better

    • You’re the second person to say he inherited a very good squad.

      I would love to hear your reasoning behind such a statement.

      • moose says:

        Cant believe any fan would even ask that ,are you that uneducated you dont know ?

        Fine , ill be brief . Great goalkeeper . The best defense in the WHOLE league bar none , including excellent back ups like Kelly , Carra , Coates , Robinson

        Lucas and Gerrard (still fantastic ) . i know Downing n Henderson were overpriced but they r still decent premier players . OK adam is poor . decent midfield back up in Spearing, Kuyt , Maxi

        The best striker in the whole league , plus Carroll who was starting to find good form . Plus a whole host of great kids ready as back up , sterling ,shelvey,suso etc etc . oh plus Aquilani

        That squad was one 20m top striker away from being great and maybe a replacement for adam. What did Rodgers do ? Threw 15m down the toilet on Allen ! disgraceful

        people like u are so two-faced . No way were u slagging Kenny off last year , but now u are just so you can make Rodgers look better . This time next year u will be slagging Rodgers and saying how wonderful the next man is . Two-faced !

        • moose says:

          And the reason why you lavish praise on current manager while slagging of previous ? Because u think thats what makes a ‘real’ fan . You think if you get behind the current regime ,no matter how rubbish they are , it makes you look like a ‘real’ fan

          In a year you will be saying what a great job new manager is doing fixing Rodgers mess

        • I’ll try to address all your points as I see them.

          Great goalkeeper? Reina has been out of form for a while now, so within your first point its debatable, but i’ll carry on.

          Best defence? So Skrtels one good season has fooled you. Agger is our best defender, Skrtel has been average this season, Carragher is reay to move on, Coates otally untried, Kelly too injury prone and Robinson has played nowhere near enough to be classed as a first team member.

          Lucas and Gerrard i have no qualms with. Downing was atrocious, Henderson was played in the wrong position so looked poor and had the confidence DRAINED from his body, only now under Rodgers is he getting back to his own style of play. Spearing was so good he got sent to Bolton, Maxi left through not playing (a scandalous decision by KD as he would have been perfect for BR).

          Carroll finding good form? Wow. Win a few headers did he? Sterling played a few minutes, Suso hadn’t even been seen near the first team, and i cannot believe you mentioned Aquilani, a player who never wanted to be here from day one.

          One 20m striker away from being great? You seem to have mistaken real life for Football Manager. If Rodgers had spent 20m on a striker you think we’d be top 2 now?

          I don’t know why you think i’m being two faced for daring to show support for a manager who wants to play the game in the right way? I didn’t agree with a lot Dalglish did last year and certainly not Hodgson before him, I want what is best for my club, no one wanted the Liverpool job, because our fans have the most unrealistic expectations ever. Remembe Martinez meeting Henry in Boston? Rodgers took the job cos he WANTS to make a difference at a once big club. It’s 2013, we’re not the force we used to be, once most people realise that, then we’d be better off tenfold.

          Rodgers is here to stay, once you understand that you might enjoy supporting the club again.

        • Freddie says:

          Liam , you talk rubbish , i could pick holes in all of it , but your so blindly biased in favor of the muppet we call BR i wont bother

        • Zanzibar says:

          You went full retard, man. Never go full retard.

        • TaintlessRed says:

          Carroll was and is utter rubbish. Kenny and Commolli are culpable for the worst signing in our history. For £35m we could have bought an Aguero or Falcao quality player. Adam another awful purchase. Downing is playing well at the moment but doesn’t offer enough of a goal threat and still isn’t a £20m signing. Kenny was awful in front of the media with cringe worthy interviews and was so desperate to prove his signings weren’t a waste he continually played them when they should have been benched. Henderson was always picked despite Kuyt being far better forcing Dirk out before Kenny was sacked and robbing us of a player who would have helped a lot in the 1st half of the season. BR, although has been equally hit and miss with his signings, at least eventually benches them as he has done with Allen and Borini.
          We don’t have the best defence in the UK. Agger is quality (despite some mistakes) but Skrtle is still error prone, dives in too much and has cost us many, many points this season.
          There was an excellent article on ‘this is Anfield’ recently, where if you compare where we were versus the best team we’ve had in the last 20 years (Rafas 08/09 team) at the same stage after 22 games (ie prior to Norwich victory) we’d scored virtually the same number of goals (36 vs 35) but conceded twice as much. Twice! 14 vs. 28. W’ed scored 10 more than at the same stage versus last year (and this is before the Norwich game).
          I agree that Rodgers has made too many mistakes in not utilising his team well (playing Allen as a no. 10 vs ManU, not playing Coates or a 3rd centre back vs Stoke etc. etc.), but trying to make out Carroll was a decent purchase or that we have a better team than we actually do is unrealistic.
          Whether you agree with Liam or not, Liam was completely consistent in his viewpoint as expressed in his articles so name calling him as two-faced is utterly ridiculous.

        • Moose says:

          Your missing my point taintless about being two-faced . Last season there was very very few people slagging Kenny . Not many on the phone lines , and very few negative articles on sites like this . Also most fans were crying out for Carroll to get a long run in the team , not in and out like he was . Thats the truth .

          My point is , Now the same people who supported Kenny and probably made constant excuses for Kenny are now demonising him and some of the players just to make Rodgers look better .

          I have no problem with Liams opinion at all , what annoys me is people like Liam and many others support the manager no matter what , because they see only the positives and think thats how fans should behave , there is no way these fans were demonising kenny a year ago , but now they are . Thats two-faced IMO

          And in a year or 2 these same people will be slagging Rodgers ,while praising the new guys efforts blindly .

  • fotheringham says:

    ridiculously silly Rodgers asskissing article . “Beating the bigger clubs will com with experience ” u say . Bull . Even QPR and Bradford have beaten big clubs , have they got more experience ? Rodgers is out of his depth , a few decent wins against poor teams wont change that

    • Some of us just prefer to see the glass as half full rather than half empty. Out of his depth? You’ve mistaken my comment about experience too.

      • Freddie says:

        There is no glass . There is fiction or reality . Reality is that apart from few impressive performances against average sides , LFC have not been very good this season

  • Bill says:

    Too many idiots or children posting here. If Red, Marco, Stevie G (can’t believe he calls himself that) and Moose don’t like it Cross the park they have plenty of spare seats, and think they are top 4. Clowns.

    • Freddie says:

      Too many blind fools posting here , if you like mid table average football so much , you go across the park . ill support LFC til i die but i wont back an inept manager

    • simon says:

      Insulting people because you dont agree with their views Bill ? Thats a bit idiotic and childish dont you think ?

    • stevieG says:

      I am stevie G , just dont tell that idiot manager of mine what i said , he has a bit of an ego problem

  • Freddie, i’m here all night, pick away.

  • red says:

    @Liam McClintock:

    LFC problems: #1 LFC is a real BIG CLUB with billionaire owner + HUGE INT’L fan bases + great history. But now FSG turns LFC into training ground for both manager and player.

    LFC problems: #2 Wrong approach by BR. Well, tiki taka is fine if you have the personnel to do it RIGHT. See current Barcelona squad. World class players in every department. Or look at current Arsenal squad vs Arsenal ‘invincible’ squad. Same Arsene Wenger, same approach but different players.

    LFC problems: #3 Inability to adapt / no Plan B by BR. One classical example, look at second half tactical changes by Rafa during Istanbul final. It won us a CL !!!! BR is a dinosour.

    For other LFC problems and solution, see my previous comments. I’m here not for trolling or monopolize the space.

    • Forgive me, but you haven’t answered my question.

      What manager can we attract and what signings can we make to rectify this, was my original question.

      • red says:

        I do not believe in trolling, if you are a troll please do not respond to my comments. I fully expect adult-to-adult conversation regarding to our beloved LFC. Your excellent command of English should have no problem understand my poor broken English.

        • I wrote the article – I am just trying to respond to comments fairly.

          I’ve asked you twice now who you think would be a better man for the job, but you’ve ducked the question both times.

          P.s Your English is better than you give yourself credit for, i’d really like you to answer my question.

      • simon says:

        I have to agree with Red . Dont have time for debate , but plenty of managers would come here and plenty of players if we had good manager ( Sneidjer for starters ) . Anyone who spends 15m on a totally useless wimp like Joe Allen needs a lobotomy

  • ben says:

    Liam don’t waste your time with these idiots they just moan, they never have a solution, just complaints,they sad and short sighted,they will never listen to what you have to say.

  • Gary says:

    This article makes out Rodgers is the best manager since 1990 . WTF ? Are you for real ?

    He has signed total sh*te
    We are 7th , and out of 1 cup already
    Failed to beat 1 quality team
    His possesion sideways football mostly bores
    He has a win percentage ratio worse than Hodgson
    He seeminly has no clue how to change a game

    Forget all the hype & bull – look at the facts – 7th with the worst win ratio of any manager in 40 years . Gave Liverpool their worst start in 54 years

    ??? what are you on ???

    • Goodness me, where to begin here? Have you even read the article?

      Sack him – in fact, lets just dissolve the club shall we?

      Do you want a football manager type scenario where before every game we save it and if we lose we quit and load back up?

  • begby says:

    liverpool fans used to be practical and smart , not any more . now i see fools going on about rodgers because of one good win . he has done nothing , he has won nothing , with his poor record so far , we should leave the accolades until he does something to deserve it .

      • begby says:

        you criticise every manager from 1995 onwards , and praise the man with the worst record of all of them ! shocking

        • I didn’t criticize Evans, Houllier or Benitez. Hodgson yes and Dalglish at times.

          Are we just to abandon the manager then and get someone else in and start again? He’s been here 6 months. 6 months!!

        • begby says:

          so was hodgson ,both have virtually identical records . better starting again after 6 months than wasting 2 years

          you did criticise houllier and benitezs style of play . some , no .. sorry , a lot of rodgers football has been coma inducing so far

  • Really? Coma inducing? I’m sorry but that’s just not true at all.

    • begby says:

      they have played some nice football the last month , when allen has been left out .
      before that it was slow backwards sideways pass pass pass backwards sideways negative football . really boring stuff

      • Ozred says:

        Agree. We’ve been good over the last months particularly when Allen hasn’t played. Not that Henderson is a star, we may well have taken the points or at least a point against united had Henderson started ahead of Allen.

  • Matt says:

    Good article Liam, I believe Rodgers philosophy is starting to take place and we are gaining ground to the top. I was happy to see Gerrard say at the awards night recnently that’s Rodgers style of football is working and he is happy with the teams progress, which just shows he believes in his philosophy.
    It’s funny how some fans are saying we’re playing slow boring negative football when since December we have scored 23 goals only second behind Manure on 26. We’ve had a lot of great performances this season some of which we were unlucky not win let alone draw. We are 7th only 7 points behind Spurs in 4th spot and with 15 games to go it is top 4 is very possible. Also the Saurez/Sturridge combination seems to be working well and it can only get better.
    Once again good article Liam and keep the faith in Rodgers. YNWA

    • Ozred says:

      Agreed. It was a slow start which is disappointing though not entirely surprising given the complete overhaul of how the players were being asked to play. The last month has shown improvement though we must get a win against arsenal and or city to Put some of the doubt at bay.

      Plenty of things I wish were done different although the end of the year will tell a far better picture of Rogers ability to take us back to the top.

    • David Tobin says:

      If you read what people said . They said it was boring before Allen got dropped , which is true . Last 5 or6 we played attacking football

      • Matt says:

        And I agree to that, Allen does slow us down but some fans are saying we have only played one decent game and that was Norwich, I’m talking about both Mancs games at Anfield both Norwich games QPR, Sunderland and so on.

  • Jack says:

    Rodgers lack of plan b is silly and is one of the reasons why i think rodgers has and will fail . All managers must change and adapt their systems to counter act other teams formations . An unwillingness to this is silly

    Liverpool bored the pants of me all season until Allen was dropped ,then we played some nice stuff , he slows all our tacks down by taking too many touched then he passes backwards

  • Hugh Yao says:

    liam, you have my sympathies. i dunno why but this site attracts plenty of kneejerks craving instant/overnight success. they want this manager, they want that player. they want, no demand, that the owners pump in gazillions. they deify king kenny and would have brendan shot and quartered if they could. but they didnt realise that kenny was part of the management that squandered FSG’s millions in their first year of ownership. now that FSG is more prudent with the money, they want them out. they slag brendan for signing allen, they forgot that kenny signed henderson who was considered useless. one year later henderson is beginning to show what he can offer. i agree that allen is pretty lightweight but i think the manager is still finding the right balance for the team, and he only had these players to work with. kneejerks here tell you not to read too much into the norwich victory, but i say the norwich victory shows how liverpool can click. it was the perfect game to try out the suarez-sturridge partnership and boy was that a revelation. but nothing is ever good enough for the kneejerks. they sit in their armchairs and bleat all day long. why can’t they just stand behind the team for once? i do believe that we are learning from mistakes and that we will hit a good run towards the end of the season to get us into top 4. because i stand behind my team, and i keep the faith. YNWA.

  • Thomas says:

    I think the over-reaction to a few victories is crazy . We haven’t beaten anybody remotely good , so the time for kissing Rodgers backside is a long way off

    Just seems like Liverpool fans – One or two defeats its ‘OMG sack the manager’ and one or two wins its ‘Rodgers is wondeful , everything is great’ , both are nonsensical and immature reactions

  • David Tobin says:

    All this waffle of whether you like Rodgers or not doesn’t matter , if you ‘have faith ‘ or not doesn’t matter , if you like his football or not doesn’t matter !!!

    Only thing that really matters for Liverpool FC is results , and they have been generally disappointing

  • @Moose – I’ve only currently started writing for L4L recently, but if I was last year you’d have seen me writing about the things you’ve spoke about.

    Dalglish is a legend of this club but some of the performances an decisions he made last year were baffling, none more so than T Shirtgate, but it’s all in the past, and along with the squad we should be looking to the future.

  • The Dude Abides says:

    What a difference a year makes!

    Faith is not just a George Michael song.

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