Lawro: ‘Forget About Top 4 Finish’. Realist or Naive?

AFTER almost three rumour-bonanza filled weeks, the press conjuring up stories from thin air as the owners kept their managerial talks secret or ‘public’ if you’re Mark Lawrenson; we finally have our man in Brendan Rodgers.

It’s safe to say that it feels like a long, long time ago since Kenny’s dismissal 18 days ago, but in all actuality it hasn’t taken the club too long to appoint Brendan Rodgers in context to the pivotal point in the clubs overhaul.

Would we have favoured a knee-jerk reaction from the owners and a man installed at the helm immediately or the owners to bide their time, accumulate opinions and speak to each potential manager thoroughly before making a decision? The latter sounds much more like common sense to me.

These 18 days have seemed liked an age when you’re constantly surrounded by Twitter, Sky Sports News, rumour websites and all the newspapers. But in reality, it’s the end of the season and players aren’t at the training ground training each day, as a result Werner and Henry were more than entitled to deliberate meticulously to find the right man. I, for one, am excited by the influence Rodgers’ tactics can have on this Liverpool team in the coming years but I know man who isn’t too keen on the way things have gone on.

Mark Lawrenson has been in the press saying things that he is becoming renowned for. Let’s take a look what Lawrenson said in full in his interview last week:

‘I know Liverpool’s owners are going about the search for a new manager the American way, but they’ve got it wrong. I can’t believe they are doing it so publicly. They have basically let everyone know who is on their ­short-list and who they want to interview. That might be the way they do things in America, but this is England and we do things differently. They must have had misgivings about Kenny Dalglish for some weeks before they sacked him and yet they didn’t line up a replacement. The club are at a crossroads and I would argue they are even further off finishing in the top four now than they were at the start of last season.’

‘The big five of Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham will all strengthen and it’s going to be hard for Liverpool to catch them up. If anything, they are going backwards, not forwards. I look at next season and I think the best they can hope to finish is sixth – don’t forget they’re also in the Europa League and playing Thursday-Sunday affects the dynamic of the team. Looking longer term, they aren’t going to be able to attract the best players if they are not in the Champions League and they are going to have to either decide to build a new stadium or refurbish Anfield – both of which will cost a lot of money.’

Do I think Lawro is right that we’re going backwards and all we’re capable of is sixth place? In a word, no. Fair enough, we finished 8^th in league last season which isn’t good enough for Liverpool FC’s standards, even Kenny admitted that after last season concluded. The problem was our performances probably deserved to be rewarded a lot more. The constant failing to take chances and hitting the woodwork, missing penalties which we’ve heard about a hundred times (one hundred and one now) are to blame and once Brendan has communicated with his players his philosophy and strategies, I think we can hope to see some instant signs of improvement but I don’t think anyone expects it’s going to be an overnight job.
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Brendan and the owners seem to have a project in mind as he told the press this morning about adopting his philosophy on the Liverpool team will take time. He said: ‘The principles of your game depend on the players but certainly that’s a vision that I would hopefully over the next few years (implement). It certainly won’t happen in game one because there are different types of players here. But over time, that’s the ideology – to play that way.’

Rodgers went on to speaking about the Champions League; something which Lawro thinks is out of our grasp. ‘It’s an aim for every manager at a top club. That’s the Holy Grail, but also, in time, we want to be challenging for the title. For me, and it’s not going to be straight away because that’s not realistic, winning the title is something we want to achieve. It’s not just aiming for fourth place. The Champions League is fantastic and that’s where this club wants to be. It’s going to be a process and ultimately, hopefully, that will take us up towards the top of the league and challenging. That’s where this club belongs.’ These are exactly the types of things us fans want to hear from our new manager, and I believe with the project in mind and the right funds and acquisitions; this appointment could be the catalyst for Liverpool Football Club to begin to show their true potential once again.

If Lawro thinks Liverpool will struggle to attract the best players because of a lack of Champions League then he is mistaken. You only have to look to the sheer quality of Luis Suarez who still signed for Liverpool in January of last year and we weren’t in the competition. We are Liverpool Football Club and our aspirations haven’t diminished. We know we should be performing better but the fact of the matter is the league form over the past four years hasn’t been good enough, not since we came second in the league in 2008/09 and even that year we should have won the league.

Fair comment from Lawro that United, City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs will all strengthen, but if Rodgers can implement his excellent short, intricate passing philosophy and strategy (which in theory could be a relatively unassuming task, along with a few minor adjustments and signings; of which he said he hopes make two/four signings for next season) then we can harbour hope that we may finish in the top four come the end of the 2012/13 season.

Another thing Lawro fails to realise is that these talks have not been ‘public’. Not once have Liverpool Football Club released a statement with the title: ‘Here is our 12-list candidate for the manager’s job – have a read’ or anything even related to the then vacant managers job. It was down to the fact that Roberto Martinez’s boss, Dave Whelan, had been on Sky Sports News almost every other day on the phone keeping everyone in the country up-to-speed and using these tactics to attempt to rush Liverpool into a decision. The way the owners have operated with this manager appointment has been exactly how Liverpool FC should conduct themselves within the media spotlight.

Yet this ‘Liverpool Way’ phrase has become somewhat of an adage nowadays as it is something I read a lot of on Twitter, which in itself is something of an irony as Twitter is the fuel for some fans to demand answers and generally be over-impatient about the workings of the club. The letter from the ‘Spirit of Shankly’ encapsulated this idea and conveyed everything that is wrong with the mind-set of some of today’s supporters. Yes, we want answers. Does that mean sending a strongly worded letter to the owners to fill us and everyone else in on the mechanisms of the club and their strategies for the future? Not in a million years would I ever consider that an option.

Do I think Lawro is talking sense? No, and I’m sure Messrs John W. Henry, Tom Werner and Brendan Rodgers would think the same way. Let’s get behind the new manager from day one; if we do that we’ll see the results on the pitch sooner rather than later.

Lawro interview source here

Comments appreciated!

You can follow me on Twitter – @m1cklfc

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