BRENDAN Rodgers vented his frustration at Liverpool’s fringe players last night as his side endured a nightmare Halloween display at Anfield, when former club Swansea City came back to haunt him.
The League Cup holders (now in its ‘Capital One’ guise) were dismantled by Swansea on their own patch as Rodgers’ former team gave his current one a lesson in calculated, vibrant attacks which ultimately led to a 3-1 victory.
Liverpool’s starting XI was much changed from the one that began the game at Goodison on Sunday, with opportunities handed to those now deemed as ‘fringe’ players. Whether these opportunities are genuine, rather than forced, due to the squad’s current lack of depth is a contentious issue around Anfield.
An opportunity it was nevertheless, and one which yet again bypassed Joe Cole, who was dragged off at half-time, then singled out by Rodgers after the final whistle for failing to make the most of his time on the pitch.
“Joe had an opportunity. The club have invested an astronomical amount of money on a player who is talented.
“Obviously he has been back fit now for a couple of weeks and the opportunities have been limited for Joe but then you’ve got to seize the opportunity.
“I thought it was difficult for him just like it was for the team in the first half. We were too slow. It wasn’t what I’d want and expect from a team that we’re trying to set up to be dynamic so I think it was a difficult night for him.”
Keen to emphasise the point of opportunities being given, Rodgers included:
“We’ve got a very small squad and a thin squad and like what I’ve done in the other games I’ve rotated players, looked at young players and fringe players and given people the opportunity to come into the Premier League team.
“[We’ve] given players the opportunity to come in and shine and that is all you can do, it then becomes quite easy [to judge players] but the problem is that your squad is even thinner. I can’t keep playing Steven Gerrard, and Luis Suarez is our only striker.”
Is Rodgers right to bemoan the current squad depth, whilst also shunting responsibility onto those players who should be fighting for a first XI place? Or is the former Swans boss equally, if not more culpable, for the current squad size at Anfield? Have you say below…
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The transfer window is getting close, so I expect to hear this statement from many managers.
Why in heaven’s name put him in the side? He’s a total and complete nonentity who runs like a man in his seventies. Kick him out ASAP.
Cole is only there to collect his final payday and he can’t be blamed for that. It’s the fool that originally gave him the contract that is responsible. Rodgers, for me anyway, can’t be blamed as a squad is built over more than one transfer window and that’s all he’s had. That leves us with FSG and I’ll be withholding judgement on them until 1st of February.
but Rodgers picks the team does he not. Why play him then and Rodgers also let some really important player leave didn’t he?
The biggest question is, is Rodgers actually in charge or is he just a patsy?
Yes, Rodgers picks the team. Every player has to be given a chance and when Cole wasn’t good enough, he was withdrawn early. If you’re saying that he shouldn’t even be given a chance, would you say Rodgers shouldn’t give Sterling or Wisdom a chance either? By the way, who was the very inportant player that Rodgers left go?
carroll kuyt bellamy maxi aquilani adam
@ Bob.
Bellamy, Maxi and Aquilani all wanted to leave for personal reasons. No point holding players that didn’t want to be around. Adam!!!???…….we won’t even go there.
Carroll is a p*ss poor man’s Drogba.
Kuyt was good in his day but was no longer a guaranteed first team player.
cole should be paid off and told to f**k off , id rather pacheco or adordjan given a game .
rodgers can be partially to blame , he had damn all money but the 29m he did spend was wasted . he buys allen assaidi and borini – all of whom look average at best , and he allows players like kuyt , carroll , maxi and bellamy to leave . a manager will be judged on his transfers – so far its not good
Why is Rodgers venting in public? Keep it behind closed doors and put a positive spin on it by saying we can focus on climbing up the league table starting with a win on Sunday.
He knows that most LFC fans arent a huge admire of Joe Cole and that he is on over £4m a year which needs to be got ridden off but dont stoke the fire by singling him out as the only bad performer.
Football is a team game and its upto the other 10 players to give Cole the boost and gee him up to get the best out of him.
It also wouldn’t be unfair to say that Gerrard has been very poor (crap actually) in more the 1 game this season, but I don’t see Rodgers tearing him a new one. Why?
Rodgers is politically very clever playing up to the fans, but that will only work for so long. When the fans feel their intelligence is being insulted he will lose them very quickly, then his time will be up, and I feel that’s only just around the corner.
you don’t play him often so what do you expect BR ?
Money is needed and it’s that simple
in other words – new owners , and quickly
Rodgers is talking about Cole to cover up hs own mess.He is not a good coach and evrybody have seen that. 10 points in 9 matches,eliminated from league cup.what on earth was he thinkn when he sold Aquilani,pursued big Andy out and others but kept finished,washed and inefficient joe cole who recieves 90000Pds a week.Rogers pls leave us in peace in january.we dont want fancy football, we need goals.you are inefficient.
18 games gone , i keep hearing the words ‘ building ‘ and ‘ improvement ‘ . well i haven’t seen any . rodgers signings are poor ,and we dont have the quality to play his brand of football
All I ever read on here is fools spouthing ‘new owners!’, ‘new manager!’, ‘new players!’ or new something else. They need to realise that just by changing things every three months it doesn’t mean it’ll make it ok.
and sitting back patiently while another season or two slips by , doesnt necessarily mean its going to be ok either
so … by your rationale – if its not working , leave things alone for a few years ?
i hope your not in business , with that ethos
all i ever see on here is fools spouting ‘ patience ‘ , we are building ‘ , ‘ have faith ‘
moron ! go spread your pompous apathetic nonsense somewhere else
Im sure you are starting to realise Rodgers is a very good salesman or a politician.Im a Swans fan and in your programme “Being Liverpool ” he is saying all the same things he said with us, very rehearsed. He claims to have invented our style of play, all lies. Roberto Martinez started it 5 years ago, he tweaked it but it was in place A criticism of us last year was that we did not score goals and i sense you are struggling to score also. It is disappointing that he is coming out in the media and praising You as fans to deflect the attention. He has tried to reinvent the wheel at Reading, he lasted 6 months
swap you rodgers for laudrup
ps . any chance on a refund for allen ?
i would like van der vaart cauz he is a player with good tehncique.except for aquilani,we dont have a good player for set pieces.gerrard shots with power but in corner kicks we have problems.i would like english talent from ROY if possible and my say on all Liverpool fans: GET BEHIND ROY.LETS GIVE HIM A CHANCE