AFTER what can only be described as a hard fought, gratifying win for Liverpool FC against Tottenham on Sunday, it would be difficult not to envision a late surge from the red men of Merseyside for a Champions League place.
However, haven’t we seen this before somewhere? Didn’t a lot of Liverpool supporters feel at the start of this season that we could genuinely challenge for the top four and get back in the Champions League?
There was an air of optimism at the start of the season that a new style of play and a relatively young, ambitious manager could possibly be what Liverpool needed to force their way back into their rightful position amongst Europe’s elite. Unfortunately, too often this season, Liverpool’s good results have been bought to a sudden halt with a staggeringly bad result, often against so called lesser opposition.
The games against Manchester United (where we were the better side in the second-half), Manchester City and Arsenal illustrated that we could comfortably stand toe to toe with the Premier Leagues best were overshadowed by losses to West Bromwich Albion twice, Aston Villa and Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup. I can’t help but feel that this could be another false dawn for Liverpool where we beat Spurs by playing with guile and determination then go back to being our inconsistent best with mediocre draws against Southampton and Aston Villa.
Call me a pessimist but I’ve seen this many times before and have always seen the optimism drain away after another underwhelming performance against a “lesser” side, so as much as I want Liverpool to progress I feel they won’t yet and that is because they have yet to address the single biggest problem of this campaign: Brendan Rodgers’ style of management.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think Rodgers has many endearing qualities, he’s good with the media, he’s an advocate of the Barcelona style of playing and he’s made some good signings. Unfortunately I feel he lacks the necessary qualities we need in a manager to really progress as a club and the major issues I have outlined below:
1. Experience.
Rodgers isn’t lacking in management experience exactly, but he is lacking in big club management experience. Having managed Watford then Reading, and subsequently being sacked by the latter, then going into management with Swansea can hardly be called big club experience. Regardless of Rodgers’ success at Swansea, I feel he hasn’t had enough experience to handle the pressure that comes from managing a big club like Liverpool.
2. Selection
All too often this year I personally have been disappointed when looking at a team sheet and seeing the likes of Downing, Henderson, Allen and Borini starting games. Now admittedly Downing and Henderson have improved within recent weeks but even with the improvement they have to be firmly slotted into the average category alongside Joe Allen and Fabio Borini.
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Some of the blame here can be attributed to Kenny Dalglish and Damian Comolli splurging astronomical fees on average players and Rodgers having to make do, but remember, Rodgers picks the team and he chooses where players play. To be constantly choosing Downing, Henderson and Borini when they aren’t playing well is not good management in my eyes.
Another problem is the defensive selections that Rodgers seems to favour. I’m all for sentimentality but playing Carragher over the 6’6” Coates (regardless of Coates performance at Oldham) just seems like an attempt to curry favour with the fans when the smarter move would be playing the tall Uruguayan international in an attempt to make him integral to the team. Skrtel and Agger would also benefit from some competition from Coates.
3. In-game Management
This is where Rodgers really falls down in my opinion. During games he seems to wait for the game to slip away before making changes to shape or personnel in order to influence the outcome.
The successful managers in the league aren’t afraid to change personnel at half-time if the game isn’t going to plan and Rodgers too often seems to be content that the team will turn the result around before he needs to make changes. Sometimes the team needs help and guidance during a match and they need a manager who is reactive in a positive way, Rodgers has shown consistently this season that he actually prefers to take off certain players during the game, much to the annoyance of the fans, leaving Liverpool’s creative lifeline stifled.
It was only through Lloris’s clanger on Sunday that Liverpool turned the game round and this was after Coutinho was hauled off severing Suarez’s supply. Goodness knows how the game would have turned out had Spurs not had such a shocker in the second-half and this win can certainly not be attributed to Rodgers’ in game management.
4. Transfers
£10 million for Fabio Borini. £15 million for Joe Allen. Enough said. Seriously, I wish that I could heap praise on these players but unfortunately Borini has been so eye wateringly poor in front of goal and Joe Allen’s inability to pass forward has only highlighted Rodgers’ ineptitude in the transfer market.
People also point to the Andy Carroll loan deal as one that wasn’t really Rodgers’ fault, but he was the one who wanted the player out and also wanted to replace him with a forward who hasn’t exactly been prolific at Spurs this year. All this points to a bad eye in the market, and although he signed Sturridge and Coutinho, I fear we are in for another Benitez style summer of one great player bought, alongside three awful ones.
Of course this is only an opinion and I truly hope Rodgers can push the team on from here to try and snatch a Champions League place. However at the risk of sounding harsh, I feel that this could yet be another false dawn and Brendan Rodgers isn’t the right man at the helm therefore we would be better off with the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Jurgen Klopp or Diego Simeone in order to forge a new dynamic at Liverpool FC. Agree?
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You said it..you’re a pessimist. If you can’t see the progress or Rodgers’ quality as a manager and only care if he’s managed a “big club” before (your own use of quotes by the way)..then I posit you don’t know as much about football as you seem to think.
If you can see ‘progress’ then you are delusional
Yeah progress? Barcelona and whisky nose are sh*****g themselves scared of Brenda!
In the main I am sympathetic to your view BUT I do disagree with your views on Henderson and Downing.
The pair have performed very well and certainly much much better than Allen and Borini
Disagree with about most of this Coates is shocking and will never be good enough. Carragher would die for the cause in and around the penalty area he isn’t out strenghtened often is the best organiser of the bunch. On making subs earlier you must of forgot about when he subbed suso off after half an hour for henderson because we were losing the midfield battle. He made another at half time too. Borini had hasn’t had a fair crack as a striker an probably wont get the chance, the jury’s out on what allen can bring to the table. But I think he is the right man for the job
No . the jury is IN on Allen , a long time ago . He is a useless wimp !!!
Liverpool didn’t have Sturridge or Courtinho at the start of the year and Downing wasn’t playing as good as he is now.
Who let the Manure fan write on here?
All manure fans want Rodgers to stay
Get the fat irish barman out.
‘In Br We Trust’, u go support Everton if you enjoy mid-table mediocrity!
When you said you where a pessimist and wrote about Downing, Hendo etc and playing players out of form (allen was our best player for the first few months, Borini never got going an go injured), i stopped reading.
‘allen was our best player’ lol lol lol.
Kop on lad. Ur making yourself look silly
Allen has been average throught – go to Specsavers immediately.
Borini did get going – 16 games 16 poor performances.
Allen 40 games probably 38 poor performances
This is the worst write-up I have ever seen. You must be severely myopic.
What a lazy article! Very poor journalism
What a lazy comment. Very poor reviewing
And what’s been your intelligent input Stevieg??exactly there ain’t been none! You obviously ain’t very clued up on how the game works!
And how lazy is your analysis Laura? Let me guess, youre blonde!
Let me guess ur ugly, go n cry into ya x box pad loser
Mmm, i like it when you get angry, so hot!! Mmmmmmmm
Who writes this rubbish? Clearly someone who spends too much time on championship manager.
You little or no knowledge of football or the team. Run along son.
The article is correct, we are NOT Swansea. Get this in ur head, 41 major trophies, NOT Swansea. Kapiche?
This is bizarre. Maybe you should be the manager?
Yes . I bet the author wouldn’t waste 15m on a 13 year old Welsh wimp
Good article .well balanced. I can’t argue with any of it
I sympathize totally . I was always an optimist before this season ,but it’s difficult to be optimistic when we have a manager who is clearly not up to the task
A manager will always be judged on his signings ad much as his results ,- sturridge and coutinho look good. But his summer signings are horrendous.Allen is probably the worst players I’ve seen in a liverpool shirt in years and Borini is a waste too.
Unfortunately I don’t think Rodgers will succeed especially as he isn’t man enough to admit his mistakes and dump his flops
you could do with some perspective .do u remember how poor lucas,crouch,cara,durk, wer at the start of the pool career ?you hav to give people a chance.football players are not static models they can learn.as for B.R.give him a chance.how does writing articles like this help anything?.i can understand your pessimist veiw because of the bi-polar few years we have been on but give the boys a chance do u support liverpool or critic the team you know you cant be both
We are Liverpool not Blackpool . Did you want players like poulsen , konchesky , meijer, Dundee and many others given lots of time ?
What are we ? A place where rubbish players are given 100 games to bed in ?
Did you want hodgson given lots more time too ? If not you are a hypocrite
Perspective ? We have two of the worlds best players , fit and on form all season . He inherited a squad that got to 2 major cup finals , and he has spent 50 million net.
???? All that plus more and we didn’t beat 1 good team until March 10th
Ak, you need perspective, did we win 41 major trophies as a club by sitting on our hands and accepting mediocrity? You know nothing, Liverpool is all about winning trophies.
Rodgers has got all the big European juggernauts running scared with his great eye for talent and superior coaching that makes Barca look like Stoke! His hunger to win and motivational skills put others in the shade, they run through brick walls, eat the bricks raw and then sh** them out! Hee hee!!!
It’s very rare that I say this on here but…good article mate – all true and correct
Spot on – take Suares out and we left with an average overated team who lack pace physicallity and creativity. Borini,Henderson,Allen,Sterling,Downing,Shelvey,Wisdom,Robinson average at best.We so accustomed to seeing them play poorly that when there’s a slight improvement the talk is of how they are starting tocome good.Point is contributions from them or stand out performances have been rare. In context can they then consistently perform and take us into the top 4 outplaying any of the top teams players – not a chance – don’t be fooled we are lacking in quality and without Suares we would be relegated.
A decent fair assessment . Not like some of the blinkered biased articles on this site
I think this is as good as we are going to get under Rodgers. Beating the rubbish teams easy but not good enough to beat top teams. If we stick with Rodgers it’s 5th or 6 th again next year. He had shown he doesn’t have the knowhow or tactical acumen to beat good sides regularly
Fare article. Rogers needs to be wiser now. I guess it’s also a learning process for him. He needs to dump Borini and may be even Allen. He has to buy a bit taller and more powerful players. Our training regime has to combine both ball playing and physic especially during the off season. The off season must be grueling enough to condition the players. This will enable them to change their game if need be. Run your opponent rugged and play with intensity. The faster we are the better we become at breaking down opponents and also catch them off guard.