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Accepting reality will move LFC in right direction

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LFC KopONCE again I’m going to open the door here for people to have a right go at my loyalties for the club, and perhaps even my standards set as a Liverpool fan.

If that was going to bother me though, I wouldn’t be writing this so this one’s for the more pragmatic supporters who are well aware that we aren’t what we used to be as a club and as team.

Those all conquering sides of Shankly and Paisley are a thing of the past.

Back then Manchester United used to be jealous of us for being the first team from the north-west to clean up more or less everyone in our path. The shoe’s on the other foot now and has been for the last twenty odd years.

The last piece I wrote here got a fairly scathing reaction from certain people who perhaps don’t realise that football works in a much more complicated way than simply a manager who waves a magic wand – never mind, we all have our opinions.

But, watching an interview with Michael Owen a couple of days ago, shone a bit of light on the differences between the way Liverpool and Man United have managed their players, particularly youngsters behind the scenes.

That’s the most important part – behind the scenes. I’m sure every manager gets his players fired up in the dressing room before a game, or at least tries to do so anyway.

At United though, (and it’s not just on Michael Owen’s word that I’m saying this but other former Red Devils have said the same things more or less) there’s been a pragmatism about handling youngsters – giving them time and nurturing them.

At Liverpool it seems like if you’re a youngster but destined to be a top player from what you’ve shown so far, you’ll be thrust straight in to the limelight.

Brendan Rodgers has come out earlier and admitted that Raheem Sterling’s performances have dropped because he’s burnt out from being played more or less in every game at the beginning of this season.

Owen had the same thing. He’d played an awful lot of games already before he was even 20 – his words not mine.

At the same time, Ryan Giggs ended up playing a lot less during those tender years. The likes of him were eased in to the setup. Same with David Beckham and Paul Scholes.
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At Liverpool we seem to have a sort of desperation about us, ignoring the bigger picture and always trying to grab whatever we can to automatically take us back to the ‘good old days’.

Believe you me, that’d be the bees’ knees if it really did work like that, but it doesn’t.

Right now there are massive amounts of opinions flying about that Brendan Rodgers is the worst mistake Liverpool have made since letting Xabi Alonso go.

The same people probably think Kenny Dalglish should still have been in charge, because he got us to two cup finals. Firstly, a cup run doesn’t show improvement in a team. It’s just a day when the players either turn up or they don’t.

Last season we did, this season not so much.

Secondly, Dalglish was incredibly arrogant managerially and wouldn’t make any changes even when the game was blatantly calling out for one. Has everyone forgotten his tendency to only make a change in the last 10 minutes of the game, while we’re trailing by a goal or stuck in a 1-1 rut?

We need to accept reality. We aren’t what we used to be and the only way we can return to the good days is if we have consistency and then bring the right players in.

They won’t always set the stage on fire immediately on arrival but with time and with the right mentoring, they will.

Remember Lucas Leiva when he first came along? He was as ordinary as a pea. Now he gets injured and we have our head in our hands. It took a few years for it to get to that didn’t it?

I’m even going to go out on a limb here and say possibly get Owen involved in a role like that. He wants to mentor youngsters and he’s got experience at being one coming through the Melwood ranks.

We need to accept the reality that we are mediocre right now while acknowledging at the same time that we don’t want to remain so.

There’s a difference between doing that and thinking ‘we’re Liverpool and we should be winning everything. If it doesn’t happen, sack everyone.’

Currently the team is mid-table and middle everything under Rodgers.

But just because Rodgers remains calm after every game doesn’t mean he’s satisfied with draws and things like that.

Give him some time and at least allow him to set up a platform where the players are familiar with each other and really start gelling as a team.

That was never going to happen in his first season, which by the way, still isn’t over.
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Broadcast Journalist and Football writer.

Twitter handle @abhijan_barua

84 comments

  • Ben says:

    Amazingly biased nonsense. Where do you make up this rubbish ?

    A cup run is not just who turns up on the day. We had to beat Chelsea Everton and City amongst others on our way to 2 cup finals

    And these comparisons to Lucas are old and wrong

    Where do you get off calling dalglish arrogant ? Have u seen Rodgers ???
    Rodgers is the most arrogant son of a bitch I have ever seen . He won’t drop hid little pet Allen even though he is totally useless

    A disgrace is what this article is .pure biased waffle.
    you should be ashamed of yourself

  • Richlang says:

    You really can’t start judging BR until he’s had time and money to bring in his own players. However, Borini and Allen haven’t lived up to the fees paid, and yet he sticks by them.

    • Niall says:

      55 million and a whole season. Brenda said judge us with 2 months to go…well it’s two months to go now..and it’s been a disaster and a embarrassment

    • David Tobin says:

      yes rich , and what does that tell you . it tells me
      1 .he is not a good judge of player
      2 .he is too arrogant to admit mistakes
      3 . he doesn’t learn from his mistakes

    • Chan says:

      26 mill for those 2 clowns and yet BR and his henchmen complains that he has no funds to bring his “own” players in ?

      God forbids that he actually brings in another pet of his, Williams.

  • Danoe says:

    Rodgers knows nothing simple.

    424 wrong tactics

    Best striker playing as no 10 and winger playing as striker, another wrong combination.

    Arrocious transfer deals Allen, Sahin and Borini, waste of money and didn’t imprve our squad. Again, what does Assaidi look like?

    Sold Adam and shipped out carrol without proper chance; also wanted to get rid of Hendo and now he won’t play him.

    Won’t accept blames and doesn’t seem to know how to organize a team to play as a unit.

    Rodgers is a poor manager and has been found out on many occassions.

    West Brom 3 Liv 0
    Oldham 3 Liv 2
    Swansea 3 Liv 1
    Stoke 3 Liv 1
    Aston Villa 3 Liv 1
    Suton 3 Liv 1
    West Brom 2 Liv 0
    Zenith 2 Liv 0

    These average have comfortably beaten LFC, yet we only beat 1 team in top 6.

  • Niall says:

    Your just making more silly excuses. Blame the previous manager to make brenda look better. It seems its all writers on this site do – it’s making excuses and pleading for more time

  • David Tobin says:

    Accepting reality ? Your the one not accepting reality

    reality is ~ we have a poor ,out of his depth manager and no amount of patience will change that .

    most fans have accepted reality , and we wont be going in right direction til a decent manager is in place

  • Tom says:

    Rodgers simply is not the right man to move us forward , and the sooner everyone realises that the quicker we can start again . Years in the wilderness if we keep BR

  • Martin Duffy says:

    I totally agree with. You You give him time and truly believe we have the right man patience consistency up the pool

  • liverbaby says:

    Madness ! It’s madness to give this clueless manager any more time .he will only waste more of our money and set us back further.

    And yes . Your standards should be higher. If mid table mediocrity is an acceptable performance, maybe it’s Everton you should be supporting. It’s no wonder we are not a major force anymore with such poor attitudes from some fans

    • Harvey says:

      My dear Mr. Baby, attitudes alone don’t work in the real world. Patience, practicality and being able to accept the reality are just as important. I dare you to appoint us a manager who you can GUARANTEE, GUARANTEE will get us back in the CL. Until then, @#%&*&%#@

      • StevieG says:

        Your the fool not accepting reality. LOL. U think a useless manager with no history of success .with not one trophy to his name. A fool that spends 15m on Joe Allen. U think this fool can return Liverpool to glory

        ….lol . Your the one not living in real world

      • red scouse says:

        What a stupid immature comment Harvey .no one can guarantee top 4 .but it’s pretty much guaranteed that we WONT ever get top 4 with this clown in charge

        • Harvey says:

          Maybe you are right! You’re the one with the crystal ball, who can see the future right? Why don’t you check your horoscope too while you’re at it. Go support Chelsea. They’ve got truckloads of money, change managers on a whim…u should be perfect for each other GO!

  • Mark Henry says:

    Brendan Rogers is the first Liverppool manager that I know who can bend over & swivels around and kiss his own butt,and believe me he’s teaching 50 percent of the squad to kiss his & some teammates aswell. I totally don’t feal this manager at all, & I’m not very happy that the owners are not saying anything about the dismal performances.The sooner they get rid the better

    • paulLFC says:

      Ass kissing is not really the kind of abilities we need in a Liverpool manager is it ?

  • Jean says:

    I believe he needs more time to mould the team to how he wants it.
    I think he will be good for us in the future and just needs the time to get it right.
    I’m sick of our Chelsea mentality of firing managers at will. Its disgraceful really.
    Stick by him and we will come right.
    I’m in no way saying I’m happy where we are as a club. But reality is that’s where we should be. If we can finish 6th then that’s spot on where I wanted us to finish this term. And that was aiming high.

    • fotheringham says:

      We don’t fire managers at will . We have been very patient when we get a good manager…but Rodgers is not good

      Did u want Hodgson given longer too ? Maybe we should ask him back

  • Harvey says:

    Yes…because you people are all living in the past and looking for an overnight solution to the problem. I won’t b surprised if you do that in real life too.

    • StevieG says:

      There is no over night solution u dope . But bulls*it brenda is not and never will be the solution

      It will take years to get back to the top. So the sooner we dump this 2nd div manager and get a real one the better

      RODGERS OUT !!

      • Reedy says:

        Brilliant analysis, goodness me, apart from poor purchases and poor choices over the last 20 years, the constant changing of managers is not going to yield success. Give the guy a chance. We need to build for the future in a way that creats sustainable success or at least gives us a chance of doing so. Were you calling for Rafa out in 2010, for Roy out in 2011, for Dalglish out last summer – bet you were and this makes anti supporters of your ilk just as culpable for our lack of recent success as managers and people on the board. Rodgers has made mistakes and will make more but has also shown promise, enough to be given a couple of years to see what he can do. Support your team rather than being an anti supporting, keyboard warrior! The same goes for many of the commenters on this site.

  • red scouse says:

    Very stupid and condescending article. You don’t think fans realize how far away we are ?

    Fans are not stupid , but I think u are . Your the one expecting success from this disappointing manager. Most of us fans expect failure which is why we don’t want him

    No . This author is the one not in touch with reality
    Wake up and smell the coffee .we will always be mediocre with this manager !!

  • Danoe says:

    No one is looking for an overnight solution. But we expect to see players who will come in and improve our squad. LFC is a global brand and can attract players from across the world. But the manager is barely able to look beyond his nos when making purchases.

    His obsession with the idealism of wanting his own rubish style to work rather than following the guaranteed template for success will be his biggest undoing.

    As Kenny said, u can’t re-invent what’s already there.

  • Rob says:

    I bet none of you Rodgers out brigade ever go to the match. There is real progress being made as judged from my seat, the people around me and the people in the pubs before the match. However some of the comments in the article are laughable. The fact that we rush youngsters into the team is completely inaccurate. We’ve been crying out for more youngsters to be brought through for years. Also, Owen as a coach? Behave. We’ve got Fowler who’ll do a better job than Owen and he gives a shit about the club.

  • Craig says:

    Wasn’t that long ago that we were in a terrible state as a club, massive debts, overpaid players and no plan.
    We are now in a season were we have managed our debts, gotten rid of the underperforming big earners and we have a style of play that once the right players come in will devistate teams.
    We have been s@@t since Rafa left. i wanted Kenny to be the man but he was far more out of his depth that BR. 35 mill for Carrol?? What was he thinking???
    We will now loose about 25 mill on him, if we sold allen now we would get 10 mill back easy.
    BR may come across as arrogant and up his own arse, but isn’t mourinho, ferguson and wenger?( please save me the “but they have won things BR hasn’t gag”
    They have been given time to apply their system. Only hard work and dedication will bring the glory days back, no quick fixes.
    This guy brought Swansea into the PL and finished 11th in his debut season, with next to no funds, hows about you show the man some respect.

    • paulLFC says:

      Respect is earned .Rodgers has done nothing to earn respect.

      He has talked bull and wasted our money. He inherited a good team in Swansea. Even Swansea fans will tell u – they have Martinez to thank not Rodgers.

      12th place finish is ok , but not deserving of a job like Liverpool

      He has had amazingly good luck with no important injuries and the incredible firm of Suarez

      No.this guy us a loser. An egotistical fool without the ability to back it up

      • Chan says:

        He is a good at PR and BS though, having manage to convince those Yanks to give him the job.

        At least they have something in common, good at talking but not in delivering.

    • paulLFC says:

      …and no funds ?? Kop on .he spent more money NET than king Kenny did

      He spent 54 million. Get your facts right

      • Craig says:

        The funds bit was refering to swansea £6.5 first season compared to Kennys £35 net and only finished 3 places behind.( the milk cup is hardly worth shouting about is it)

        Who shall we get in then, as i hear alot of critisism but no solutions.

        Its easy to sit on the couch shouting the odds,but any well informed fan can see the work being done this season both on the pitch and off.

        Roy hodgson inherrited a good team with liverpool, how did he do?

        I will back BR and whatever team he builds as i think he has the hunger to win things with us.

        If you believe he’s out of his depth then explain why, and provide details of how you would improve us or go back to champ manager and win the cl with
        Tranmere for the 6 th time

    • Chan says:

      Craig, we have a common thought, all managers that have been here since Rafa had been S*** especially KD.

      We all knew that LFC is no longer a force we used to be and that is no thanks to a long list of inept people such as Moores, Parry, The 2 Cowboys and ESPECIALLY Kenny “35 mill for a one season wonder ” Dalglish. We knew that BR would have a job to do and frankly we did not expect him to win the league or challange for top 4 in his first season.

      However seeing him deliver one of our worst season in living memory, watching him spews out non sense especially after every bad game and his tactical ineptness, that we cannot accept.

      Its very, clear, BR is not fit for the job and its no wonder our top player such as Suarez might be thinking of playing elsewhere with BR around.

    • Geoff says:

      Rodgers is sh!t. The man is a arrogant fool who has done nothing except buy rubbish payers and talk bull

    • fotheringham says:

      Delusional fool. Go play FIFA .it’s the only way a Rodgers team will achieve anything

  • Denis D says:

    The truth of the matter is that our club needs some huge/major investment in the playing staff/players at club. When our club was great in the past and United were jealous of us, the club had 2/3 class,quality players competing for every position. And every player was kept on their toes as if a player in first team slacked or was injured or suspended. The person who came in to replace him was as good as him or better and would make it his lfes work to stay in team and not be on bench again. We had class,quality competition for places.

    Same thing Manchester United now have and have had over the last 20 odd years , something we do not have as we have a pathetically weak side.

    And either the owners sell up and move on or they back B Rodgers heavily with £90-£100M in the summer to get our club back amongst the elite. And if we are to keep hold of our Talisman L Suarez. Club needs strong competitive squad if we are ever going to compete and challenge United again consistently year in year out for every trophy.

    Over the years : Bayern Munich, Man City, PSG, Chelsea, Real Madrid over last three seasons have spent idiculous amounts of millins to get back to where they are today amonsgt the elite in wold football again. Our club does not need to spend over £320M over three seasons. But we need one huge budget to get club back amonsgt the elite, then after that. Year by year we can attract a marquee signing. (£20M + Player)

    The owners need to give B Rodgers £90M to bring in 11 players this summer, he has already shipped out 11 players since he joined in summer( Adams, Aquilani, Aurelio,Bellamy, Carroll,Cole,Doni, Kuyt, Rodriguez, Spearing and Wilson) Yet three of the players are only out on loan.

    But Rodgers has only been able to replace 5 players(Assaidi,Allen,Borini,Coutinho and Sturridge) yet 11 went out of club. So thats 6 players the squad is currently short of.

    And Rodgers needs to ship out these 4 players who are not good enough to be at club: And the three loan players should be shipped out also:

    1: GK: B JONES 2: RB: Flanagan 3:CB: Coates 4:FD: Borini

    Three loaned out players: 5: CB: Wilson 6:DM: Spearing 7:FD: Carroll

    And as the loyal great servant J Carragher is hanging up his boots at end of season, that would mean 8 players should be leaving this summer. 8+ 6 = 14 players.

    But Rodgers needs to bring in 11 players once he ships out the 8 players i have mentioned above:

    And these are the 11 players needed for our club to take step forward again and compete against the elite sides in europe again: Buy bring class,quality competition amongst squad, so everyone player in club is kept on their toes always and they play to their maximum every time they put on the red shirt. As over last Five season Incomplacency has crept into side, as the class,quality competition for places is very low at club. And the squad for the last five years has been very weak/poor to say the least.

    These 11 players would change the whole dimension to club/squad and every player would bring their class and qualities to take us more competitive against the elite sides in world and the normal sides:

    Five Defensive players: Cost £25M-£30M
    1: GK: M Vorm(29) Of Swansea for £2-£4M to compete and Cover Pepe for NO 1 Position
    2: CB: A Williams(28) Of Swansea for £7-£10M to compete with Skrtel
    3:CB: A Pearce(24) Of Reading on Free Transfer to compete with Agger.
    4:LB: A Cissokho(25) Of Valencia for £4-£7M to compete with Enrique.
    5:DM: E Capoue(DM) Of Toulouse for £6-£9M to compete with Lucas

    Six Attacking players: Cost:£37M-54M
    6: CM: De Guzman(25) Of Villareal for £4-£7M to compete with Allen, Gerrard and Henderson.
    7:AM: C Eriksen(21) Of Ajax for £10-£15M to compete with Coutinho and Suso for the AM Postion at club.
    8: RW / RWF: J Montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia in Mexico for £4-£6M to compete with Assaidi and Sterling.
    9: LW / LWF: D Capel(25) Of Sporting Clube De Portugal/Sporting Lisbon for £4-£6M to compete with Downing.
    10: LW /LWF: B Arfa(25) Of Newcastle in swap deal with A Carroll(23) And £10M to compete with hopefully Capel and Downing. (Three pacey,quick left footed wingers)
    11: C Benteke(22) Of A Villa for £15-£20M to compete with Sturridge and Suarez and to offer club/squad a Plan B in attack.

    Those 11 players would cost owners a £1M more than what K Dalglish was allowed to spend on 4 average English players( Adams,Carroll,Downing And Henderson).

    This is not Fantasy football, we used to compete with Manchester United every season for every trophy back in the 80’s, But now in the last five seasons we have been competing with the likes of Everton, Newcastle, Stoke and Fulham for a top 6-10 position within the league. I agree with 80% of the article, but the main problem with our club is some serious investment in the playing staff is needed. And the right type of calibre, class, player needs to be brought to the club. And all the average /dead wood players we still have at club or on club books need to be shipped out as soon as possible. We no longer need to bring in the average hardworking players. And the players brought in with class, quality, must be dedicated,motivated and hungry annd willing to fight/battle/graft to do the club,team, fans justice every time they put the red shirt on in order to get club back to the top again.

    And those 11 players would all bring more class,quality that we have lacking and missing for decades now to the club and increase the class and quality competition for places.

    • Chan says:

      For a man who spent a combined 26 mill for 2 crappy players in Allen and Borini, no he should be sack and not given a penny more.

      • Craig says:

        Borini has been injured for large chunks of the season, and allen has been played as a dm out of position. 26 million that we can recoup 20 of if we sell. Tell me, how much will we get back for the combined total of Kennys buys?

        • redrum says:

          Another Rodgers apologizer here I see talking rubbish

          Borini .16 games 16 awful performances .how many should he get .? 50 ? 100 ? We will be in championship if we keep giving rubbish players loads of time

          Allen has not been out if position. Nonsense.
          We will be lucky to get 3million each or them
          Sahin already gone was misused and a waste
          And assaidi is a joke. More waste

    • Craig says:

      Well said mate, but i dont see them giving BR that kind of money after Kennys spending record.

    • redrum says:

      Denis. Nice ideas there .but wake up lad.
      FSG are here for our money not the glory of LFC.
      There will be NO major outlay

      And if there is some money then Rodgers shouldn’t be trusted to spend it

      • Craig says:

        Glory = money in football, so fsg will have to speculate to acumilate

      • Denis D says:

        The owners need to spend or sell up, its that simple. we are not competing with the two Manchester Clubs, we are not competing with Chelsea, Tottenham or Arsenal at moment,

        We are competing with Everton, Newcastle, Stoke and Fulham for a top 6-10 place every season now, ask yourself is that good enough for the biggest and best football clun in ENGLAND.

        We do not have to do a chelsea every season and spend: £120M a season, but we have to do it once to get us back amongst at to their level.

        The 11 players i mentioned would cost our club £84-£90M . And that is 11 players, those 11 players would cost less than what chelsea spent on 4 of Chelsea’s attacking players: Mata £25M, Ramirez £22M, Hazard £32M and Oscar £25M. That is combined total of £104M and that total does not include Cahill, Torres, BA, Marin, Moses, Azpilicueta.

        The owners need to back B Rodgers well this summer, not next summer as every season the clubs that have better squads than us and are doing better than us in league every season are always strengthening. But with class or world class signings.

        We have to fit that gap, but whereas chelsea spent £56M on Oscar and Hazard, that £56M could/ would bring our club 6 class, quality attacking players: Arfa ,Benteke, Capel, De Guzman, Eriksen and Montero. And those 6 players would all cause problems to any side in europe. They would cause problems to the small sides and the elite sides.

        Its not amount having just the money to spend, its how you use the money that is why i think H Redknapp is an awesome manager and best at getting right player for right team at bargain prices and he made Tottenham the side they are today with his smart spending over the years and if Levy had of backed him with the striker he had craved for his last two seasons when he was there. Then i think they would be title contenders year in year out.

        But we need owners to back Rodgers with £85-£90M this summer.

        And then those 11 players should be brought to club. In Vorm, Williams, Pearce, De Guzman, Arfa and Benteke there is 6 players who know the premiership inside out and would not need to adjust to premiership just adjust to the ambition and status of our club and to bring more class quality competition to side.

        In Capoue you hae young mobile quick physical strong no nonsense Tough tackling defensive midfielder who will love the battles and get stuck in no problem. He is in mascherano, sissoko and Essien Mould defensive midfielder. He would and should adapt nicely

        In Capel and Montero you hae two fast pacey quick skillful wingers who are devastating one vs one against fullbacks and who stretch teams at will and have excellent delivery into the box and score the odd goals from wing. They both have pace and speed to burn with trickery and they both hug touch line and keep teams pegged back. These two whilst in Spain like Navas, were the wingers who regularly troubled Ramos, Arbeloa,Alves, Marcelo and Abidal whenever they came against them.

        And In Eriksen, you have a class player with the potential to be world class, he is sheer quality but he is only player out of the 11 i mentioned may struggle to adapt to the physicality and speed of league due to his small frame and he has only played in dutch league. Which is 5th best league in world.

        But if Oscar, Mata, Silva, Modric adapted to the league well if he has fight and hunger in him then he will succeed. And its that simple, owners need to give rodgers £85-£90M to bring in those players this summer. As King S G has one or two more years of good football in him, we can’t expect him to play every game next season and if we had better quality players competing with him for his place he would be rested alot more and not over used.

  • saif says:

    Rogers is a joke manager . Sack now please

  • simon says:

    Only when we accept that Rodgers is not up to it can Liverpool move forward

  • Calvin_Diggs says:

    The sad thing about these message board trolls, is that outside of wanting Rodgers out they offer no solutions. When Skrtel made the backpass to give the City the win I suppose that was Rodgers fault as well. He wasn’t given a lot to spend and for the most part this season the players just weren’t good enough except for Gerrard and Suarez. KD could never get the best put of the same players that he signed, Hendo, Downing and Carroll and yet Rodgers has made 2 out of 3 better players since he took over. Get your head out of the sand, no world class manager is going to jump at taking over this current LFC squad. Rebuilding means it will take 2 years at least to get back to the top 4, so stop whining and support the club or go support someone else.

    • Craig says:

      At last somebody who see’s the bigger picture and not just spouting off their deluded opinion with no solutions.

      Nice comment mate, we need more fans like you on here.

      Even when we win their still not happy, we are gonna finish higher than last season so why the negativity?, a few errors but improving on the whole.

      What ever happened to “with hope in your heart and you’ll never walk alone”

    • Geoff says:

      What a load of bull excuses . Do you understand football at all ?

      Go back to playing on your Xbox . You haven’t a clue.

      You go support someone else you dumb kiddy

    • Geoff says:

      Totally clueless. Go back to your Xbox . U haven’t a clue

      • Craig says:

        Another pearl of wisdom from geoff. You should write a article with your analytical breakdowns and in depth footballing knowledge. Its not the 80’s no more you blert

  • mario says:

    BR is the worst manager liverpool had along with the current England manager.

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