BRENDAN Rodgers has a lot to prove.
We are floundering in the Premier League in our worst start in living memory, and Brendan’s philosophy is either taking too long to implement or not working.
Brendan, unlike Kenny before him, likes the media and the attention it brings. He’s articulate, doesn’t get too flustered, and talks more like an MBA graduate than a Premier League manager (clearly some of the reasons why FSG like him).
The media lap this up, but it cannot detract from our league position and following the Villa debacle Rodgers must be feeling the pressure.
Like every new manager before him whose had difficulties, Rodgers says he needs time. He’s had 6 months and one transfer window to get his team playing his way. This isn’t long. Improving existing players does take time. Embedding a system of play does take time. But the better coaches need less time, and while they are implementing their changes they at least meet the minimum requirements & expectations for the job. 12th position after 17 games is clearly below expectations.
Brendan’s strength should be his coaching. He’s coached for 20 years, he likes to tell us, but he’s been a manager for only four, with a solitary year in the Premier League, and no titles. FSG knew this when they hired him and must have expected mistakes along the way.
I’m a believer that you judge a team, and a manager, at the end of a season (unless you’re the inept Mr. Hodgson) but judging by the season so far, Brendan will need to improve results fast to save his job. Coaching does take time, improving our international revenues takes time and so does redeveloping Anfield. How do you make a difference when you are quickly running out of time in the middle of a season? Well, you buy well in January. Easier said than done. But is Brendan Rodgers a good judge of a player?
Players who’ve left & reasons why:
Adam: Too slow, poor tackler, too many hollywood passes.
Amoo: Lacked awareness and end product to go with his pace.
Aquilani: Unsure why a string of managers didn’t give him a chance. Rumours of not settling denounced by the player. Juve & Milan didn’t think he was good enough for their midfield even at a knock down price. High salary and Rodgers wanted Allen to play regularly.
Aurelio: Injury record.
Bellamy: Wanted to end his career at home town club.
Darby: Technical and positional deficiencies. Club had better young options for rightback (namely Kelly, Flanagan & Wisdom).
Eccleston: Struggled to consistently find space and score goals against better opposition.
Kuyt: Fed up of being benched in place of Henderson (especially cup finals), wanted a change.
Maxi: Wanted to end his career at home town club.
Silva: Not sure why, I thought he had a lot of raw talent. Has been injured all-season at Barnsley with a hamstring injury.
Carroll (loan): Awful scoring record, poor movement and flexibility, inconsistent technique, slow and can’t run in behind defences. Didn’t fit with Rodgers’ style of play.
Spearing (loan): Mediocre technique, lack of pace, lack of height for defensive midfield. Didn’t want to leave permanently.
Wilson (loan): Loaned to gain experience. Indications he’s still valued at the club but is behind Agger, Skrtel, Coates, Carragher and possibly Kelly and Wisdom as well.
Overall Assessment of Sales: B
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I feel the players Brendan let go were the right decisions. Carroll and Spearing are only loans but it’s fairly clear Brendan wants to move them on soon. Clearly there were mistakes made in terms of getting the right number of new signings in to replace those who left (especially Kuyt, Maxi & Bellamy who brought goals from midfield) but that’s a separate question. We’ve taken large losses on failed players, but this again is not down to Rodgers. Downing and Henderson may also have left if Rodgers had got his way. I’d only question letting Aquilani and Silva go as they weren’t given enough of an opportunity, but I wouldn’t question it strongly.
Players who were bought and how they’ve done:
Allen: I made a longer post on this recently. From a bright-ish start (replacing Lucas when he was injured) Allen has struggled to impose himself in our team either defensively or offensively. Even putting aside the limitations of his stature and playing out of position, he needs to show a wider range of passing and be more incisive with distribution.
Borini: Strengths are his athletic ability, pace, good movement & works very hard for the team. Weaknesses are that he’s struggled to score and when in goal-scoring positions, has shown a lack of guile (often blasting the ball when a side foot or dink over a diving keeper would have been better) and hasn’t fully understood the requirements of playing wide in a front 3. Before his injury he lost his place in the first 11, and so Rodgers has also acknowledged his disappointing performances so far.
Assaidi: Bought out of left field, apparently under the noses of Ajax! Some good performances in the Europa League, but deemed not good enough for the Premier League squad, sometimes not even making the bench in a side virtually devoid of goals.
Sahin (loan): Quality player who has had some very good performances alongside some mediocre offerings. Still coming to terms with pace and power of Premier League, and needs to be more dynamic in his play, particular with Lucas back, as he is unlikely to play in his preferred deep lying midfield position.
In addition, Rodgers wanted Sigurdsson and Dempsey but didn’t get them because of money and FSG not fully trusting their manager. Both have done okay at Tottenham but nothing special – they’ve had plenty of minutes but struggled to make decisive impacts or score goals.
Overall Assessment of Buys: D –
None of Rodgers’ signings have yet been successes and it seems we did well not to get the two other signings he wanted. Borini and Allen are still young, and should improve, but when you pay double digit £millions for a player they need to be able to have an impact immediately!
Brendan has no experience in the high end of the transfer market, no experience (despite what he says) of working with top players and little knowledge of other league’s transfer opportunities. I accept that we can’t afford a certain price of player, and that other available quality additions won’t consider us because of our league standing and inexperienced manager.
These I can accept so I’m not placing my hopes too high for January. But there are still players out there that we can afford and can help our floundering team. The problem is that on the evidence so far I’m not sure I trust Brendan to find them!
Rodgers was insistent when he was hired that he wouldn’t work with a football director, leading to Pep Segura eventually leaving due to a lack of promotion opportunities. We have been stung previously with the appointment of Comolli, however if ever a man needed an experienced football man around him it would be the inexperienced Rodgers. At the moment though, I’m looking forward to January with as much trepidation as excitement.
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The question is irrelevant, he’s the manager, he gets to make the final decision.
Top comment!
King Kenny made some GREAT signings, only one name stands out.
Andy Carroll
31 January 2011
35,000,000
Newcastle United
Luis Suarez
31 January 2011
22,700,000
Ajax
Stewart Downing
July 15 2011
20,000,000
Aston Villa
Jordan Henderson
9 June 2011
16,000,000
Sunderland
Charlie Adam
July 2011
7,500,000
Blackpool
Sebastien Coates
30 August 2011
7,000,000
Nacional
Jose Enrique
12 August 2011
6,000,000
Newcastle United
H targets much on players whom he worked with them before and this reads to favouritsm amongst the squad .we need a driving midfielder and a striker.. goals first possesion last
No he can’t is the simple answer, and will waste whatever pittance fellow incompetents FSG provide him with (if any).
id rather FSG gave him no money , save it for next manager
yes , dont let brendan have the dosh
Hopefully he’ll be sacked in the Summer and gets breplaced by Rafa or Van Gaal, if not then it’s more misery for Reds until he does get sacked.
Haha give the bloke a break he’s doing ok with what he has… Depleted squad hardly any cash we are playing far better football an he is honest. You would welcome rafa back ? Boring football was poor to watch he had some success was that down to him or the old gerrard that was magnificent and carried us. And as for transfer he had few success and about 50 failures
its rubbish boring backwards passing football , epitomised by that welsh wally in midfield
It bores me too , it will turn away many kids from supporting Liverpool
spot on ste
Hahaha. Rafa? Your kidding me. During his time at Liverpool he was second only to Chelsea in spending money on players (that shouldve got us a title), he tried to sell Alonso and then replace him with Barry, then he sold Alonso and bought a 4 month injured Aqua for $20m. Yes he got us CL and FA Cup many thanks to Gerrard (I thought we were very lucky to win both). Finished 5th in his 1st season and then 7th in his last, then went to a CL and title winning Inter and was sacked in 6 months.
your a troll with your idiotic nonsensical comments
How are they idiotic when they are all true? Tell me, please. Your comment has no proof what so ever, I’m not defending BR quite frankly I’m getting sick of him and his post match comments but I’m trying to point out the mess Rafa left us in, where it all began.
Nice photo of Brenda there with Joe Allen, the Welsh Paul Stewart.
Very unfair on Stewart . Stewart actually scored 3 goals , Allen contributes NOTHING
All that sleight Brendan Rogers will one day eat your words. LFC have by far one of the best possession records and when we have decent attacking midfielders like Arda Turan and decent forwards then we will be a real force. brendan is young as is the team. I know we want imediate success but that will not happen how about denying teh opposition the ball and having the creativity to destroy opposition. It will happen just watch!
here we go again zzzzzzzz . Another fool banging on about possession . who gives a fk ? Dont you morons get it ? Its about scoring goals – Not boring possession
What a plonker .
yep shut up fool
Be patient. He will deliver. KD was experienced and he had a strong Director of Football, yet dt didnt stop them from ruining L4 and creating d problem Rogers now has to contend with. So hav a little patience mixed with faith and u’ll see. He will come good.
Nonsense Rodgers should be doing a lot better with the players he has .
And theres that stupid word again ‘faith’ . Why ? Why have faith in someone that has no history of success ? Or do people like u actually believe the bullsh*t he feeds u ? Grow up
rubbish . Rodgers is making us worse , the longer he stays – the worse we get
Of course he can’t but whoever is going to believe it?
ive said it before but – I wouldn’t trust Rodgers with my beer money . Whatever about Kenny paying too much for his players _. Rodgers buys are criminal .
Allen is an embarrassment for LFC . 11m for Borini who is never Liverpool class . 3m for Assadi who is never premier league class . Whatever Sahin cost was a waste too , even Yesil looks poor for 1m
No – Rodgers is incompetent , his transfers have shown that , and judging by the rumours – More average players like Sturridge are on their way . Rodgers should be sacked before he wastes our money
I agree . I also think time is of the essence . The longer we give Rodgers – the bigger the mess the next guy will have to fix
The more players he buys – the more rubbish the next guy has to shift (at a big loss )
FSG need to hire a director of football to sign players or preferably sack Rodgers
agreed , the next manager will have a bloody hard job flogging rodgers buys
$35m on Carroll
$20m on Downing
$16m on Hendo
All rubbish players KD did a lot worse than BR so far. I agree Allen way over price for a non goal scoring mid, but ill wait until next summer to make judgements on BR.
wat rubbish huyton ur speakin,even pep guardiola or jose mourinho can’t do much given the squad Liverpool has…
We have top class players all over the pitch , with Spurs and Arse doing so poorly , its disgraceful we are not a lot higher
Realistically we have at best the 6th best squad at this point. 12th isn’t good enough. New philosophy and teAm of baby’s contributes to this but regardless, 12th isn’t good enough
No we should not trust BR -He has been a huge disappointment since taking over . He is clueless with transfers and should resign
No of course that idiot Rodgers cant be trusted . He should pay us back the money himself for Joe Allen .
Sack him now , it will save us a fortune later
Trust Rodgers ? The writer doesnt and neither will any sane fan
Come on guys,get real.If we go on changing managers at the rate of two a season no sensible manager will come here.Face facts we have got to earn a top four place,it is not a god given right.Give the manager the backing as Liverpool fans have always done.
We will never earn top 4 unless we get a decent manager ! Obvious isnt it ?
Then what decent manager? Please make suggestions.
You have asked that before i have seen , it has been answered by many on many articles . There is no need to keep asking . General consensus is anybody , i d go along with that too
Excellent article. All signings to this point have looked ordinary and lazy given that 25m was dropped on two players he previously coached. Nearly 3 if sigurdson had signed.
Sturridge is a couple of tiers above these guys and I think will fit well however it’s still top dollar for a player who can’t currently get a game.
You are also spot on in that our performances to date have been well below expectations. And right again when saying a new manager needs until the end of the season to be fully judged.
Holding my breath and hoping for the best.
Thanks Ozred. Sturridge has his weaknesses as a player but he’s a lot better than what we have at the moment and can play anywhere along the front 3. One thing he is though is a natural finisher, 12 months ago everyone was lauding him to the high heavens and he hasn’t suddenly turned into a bad player just cos he hasn’t been able to make the Chelski starting 11.
do we want a player of his character ( or lack of one ) ????
why do some fans need 12 months to see , what other fans see clearly after 3 to 6 months > that Rodgers is out of his depth and not up to the job of managing a top club
Sturridge is another expensive mistake which we will regret just like ALL his other purchases
if you spend 15m on joe allen you should be sectioned not trusted with more
might as well give it away
Blame fsg for the whole trash. They don’t unrest and football…let’s face van Gaul would have saved the situation but the red necks decide to go br. We are used to winning trophies… But here we are today struggling at the middle of the possessing the balls but not finding the net.
Rodgers is a disgrace to LFC – he has turned us into a laughing stock . my man u work colleagues tell me they laugh every time they look at league table
. Manc fans are the only ones getting enjoyment out of Rodgers tenure
Rodgers IS a disgrace as are any fans who STILL back him . I mean its like they want us to get worse
What a bunch of whinning little sooks.
Whinge… Rogers fault we lost
Whinge… We won but it’s Rogers fault we didn’t win by more
Whinge… We won be we were lucky because Rogers tried to loose it for us
Whinge… We’ve unearthed 3 x quality teenagers but it’s no thanks to Rogers
It’s like listening to a grade of preps.
Well said ozred.
What an ugly unintelligent troll u are , you know fk all about football
whinge … we lost but it was refs fault
whinge .. we dominated possesion but just couldn’t finish ( who cares , goals is what matter)
whinge … if we had some luck we would be top 4
whinge .. rodgers has been left rubbish squad ( lol yea right )
whinge .. the refs are all against us
whinge .. but rodgers unearthed kids ( no he didnt , all were developed by rafa , idiot rodgers only used them cos the fool left squad short ) in fact ALL the excellent youth is down to rafa or kenny
listening to your pathetic excuses every week IS like listening to a classroom of babies
always excuses , excuses and more excuses
Grow up
Haha. The kids were developed by rafa…. Rogers has had 20 times the imput into these kids than what raf had.
Bad luck, refs, I can’t remember saying that u tool so get your room in order.
Rubbish squad… Didnt say that either but whatever suits your argument. He was left with the 6th best squad in the cOuntry. Only an idiot would argue we have q better squad than man u man c chels arsen or tottenham…
The rest of your points also not brought up by me so go and get a job u blonk.
Well said by me
I agree well said ozred
Your right Tommo , too many excuses and whingers making excuses for the incompetent Rodgers
well said tommo