IT’S surprising to see Brendan Rodgers seemingly taking the hit from a large number of the supporters.
Whether that’s just on the internet or if it reflects the attitude of the majority of Kopites, that’s another matter. The fact remains that he’d been hired and it was said immediately that Liverpool needed to rebuild.
Things needed to start back up from the grassroots, which means trying to nurture young talent and maybe even sign players who show potential and develop them, perhaps in an Alex Ferguson-like way.
People always remember his famous stunt of throwing the class of ’91 in to the mix, which ironically enough, a former Liverpool great thought was his fellow Scotsman writing his suicide note.
“You’ll never win anything with kids.”
Ring a bell perhaps?
Well Alan Hansen was made to swallow his pride and words as Manchester United dominated the next two decades.
It wasn’t just Ferguson’s youth players like Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Butt, and the Neville brothers coming of age though. Ferguson bought numerous players and kept his faith in them. Some worked out, others didn’t quite. It took time though.
Liverpool already have a great in Luis Suarez; Philippe Coutinho seems to be showing all the right signs at the moment, Daniel Sturridge has done well – with a bit more time, they can be lethal.
Didier Drogba couldn’t score to save his life at first when he arrived at Chelsea. He went from that, to one of the deadliest forwards seen in recent times and that didn’t happen overnight.
Even in Alex Ferguson’s first season in charge, it took a while for United to fire and yes granted, they started doing so much quicker than the Liverpool players have under Rodgers.
A few things are major points of differences between the late ’80s and now.
Players were mentally tougher back then and they weren’t brought up in a mollycoddling culture where managers are expected to hold their hands across the goal line.
The players today seem to lose all knowledge of how to play the game unless they’re reminded every day. Things you’d learn in your local Sunday league training – just goes out of the window, and that seems to be the case with Liverpool players every week.
During a good spell, everyone seems to remember what they’re supposed to be doing.
Take that win against Tottenham for instance. Forget that the players managed to coax a few costly errors out of the North Londoner’s to win the game. Now think about their equaliser when Bale had just returned to the pitch after getting some treatment for a slight elbow to the head.
He crossed the ball in, despite two Liverpool defenders in front of him. How? No one closed him down.
It wasn’t a case of not going too near so he doesn’t get a chance to just nuzzle the ball away from you. There was room for both defenders to go a few yards closer and put a block in.
That’s not the most worrying thing about that goal though – perhaps the defenders didn’t have enough to get close to Bale or maybe they were avoiding a booking just before half-time in case they did catch the Welshman, which is fair enough.
Once the ball was crossed in, Vertonghen jumps at it with everything he’s got to offer, while his marker Glen Johnson, almost wheels away halfway through the run.
Someone like John Terry would’ve got his head in there, no matter what. All he cares about is the ball and his head alone, no one elses head, body, toes – none of it comes to mind for him. But Glen Johnson almost bends over and allows Vertonghen even some leverage to lean on and direct the header past Pepe Reina.
What is a manager’s role here? Tell his defender that he’s supposed to attack the ball and do everything he can to just get it away?
That’s Football 101 for a defender isn’t it?
Regarding the Southampton defeat, there’s been a whole debris of criticism piled on Rodgers for playing three midfielders.
It isn’t just three of them though. One of the more predominant features of Liverpool attacks have been the forwards up front doubling back as either wingers, which instantly adds at least one more midfielder to the mix, depending on which side of the flank’s at play.
Alternatively one of the forwards has always dropped back a bit in the centre of the pitch while one of the original three are running down the side.
Against Southampton, the players just weren’t alert enough to keep doing that, and that boils down to the attitude that’s been a characteristic of this season – some days the players turn up, others they don’t.
That’s something Rodgers can try and knock out of the players in a Ferguson-like manner. But even Fergie’s admitted that some players nowadays don’t care as much.
Back in the ’80s and ’90s, a manager at Liverpool could scream at the players and threaten they’d never play another game if they carried on like this. Not today.
Players have more power and options than ever before.
While it doesn’t mean Liverpool players are prima donnas, it does say a bit about how much the manager can and can’t do. Rodgers can keep pointing out where the players are going wrong. Then it’s up to the players to correct those mistakes.
Perhaps Rodgers could’ve picked a different central midfielder or adjusted the set-up against Southampton; but playing against a relegation threatened team, while you’re on the back of 3 straight victories – including a late comeback against Tottenham – and you lose 3-1?
For me, that one’s on the players.
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Comparing Rodgers to Ferguson is probably the biggest insult u can give to Ferguson. So I won’t hold that against u. But it’s preposterous.
Rodgers is out of his depth and is taking us nowhere
Writers like yourself and others have spent the whole season constantly making up lame excuses for him
In fact , you should not be called writers any more – Rodgers apologists is what u should be called. Only a very delusional person could think this fool who wasn’t good enough for Reading will bring success.
Rodgers has failed. Liverpool deserves better
Rafa and Kenny were both fired and the seasons that cost them their jobs were both better than this one. Go figure!
More excuses ? Liverpool fans r gettin a bad rep for just bleating excuse after excuse
Rogers I’d to blame not d players . The fool picked Allen in midfield.enough said
“You’ll never win anything with kids” Was said about Asenal and Wenger!
Just Kidding, But in Wengers case it’s true, lol
What FSG need to do, is get Mourinho! End of. Yes he wants a massive club, but with a bit of persuasion and £35m for a 3yr contract, he could make Liverpool a massive club once again! John W Henry, if he really wanted to get Liverpool back to the top, should do everything in his power to convince the special one that Liverpool are the special club! Every player at Liverpool would play ten times better for Mourinho, that is fact! If there’s Liverpool fans out there who would say “no way, we don’t want Jose” clearly do not want LFC to be a big club again! Best of all, it would annoy both Utd and Chelsea who are expecting at some point to have Mourinho at the helm! I don’t know why every Liverpool fan on the planet is not shouting at FSG to “get Mourinho” he loves Liverpool fans, he loves Gerrard, he would come with some persuasion, it’s not all about the money for him, a challenge and to prove he can do what no manager has done in over 20 years and win the premiership would be his driving force! CMON FSG, get the SPECIAL ONE!
Yes . 100% Damn right . It would put us back where we belong .
Jose would save liverpool , but FSG want to have a yes man like rodgers
“Get Mourinho”….You’re delusional…
While you’re at it lets get Christiano, Messi and Iniesta as well…and for good measure lets replace Glen Johnson with Lahm and also buy Sergio Ramos….
Good shout. Mourinho is possible – if we act now.but I doubt FSG will cough up the cash
It is the armchair fan who is calling for patience with Rodgers. They don’t seem to mind more years in the wilderness
Me and my mates who go to most games believe Rodgers is a mistake and needs to go. You won’t hear ‘there’s only one Brendan Rodgers” at the games any more. The last time was v zenit – about 30 or 40 tried – everyone looked at them and it lasted about 10 seconds
hahaha .your right Steve. No more singing Rodgers name anymore. People are wising up
Let’s give BR the benefit of doubt till end of the season. He once prophetically said he should be judge by the run ins matches and that’s what we {IMO} should do. Till then, “I dey siddon look” YNWA
Rodgers said – and I quote..
“judge us with 2 months ago” he said that in November
Well .it’s 2 months to go
Brendan .you have failed us miserably
its the players not rogers
Rodgers picks the players
While I accept that Rodgers isn’t excempt from blame this season I find it ludicrous that so called fans are looking for him to be sacked already.sure results against west brom,stoke,Southampton etc do set us back but there is no doubt that he is making progress.players on the periphery such as sterling,suso,wisdom etc give real cause for optimism.the style of play at times has been a vast improvement compared to last season under daglish were at times things were getting embarrassing of and on the pitch.the guy just needs FSG backing at the end of the season,notably in defence and achieving the impossible and replacing gerrard. Helping Rodgers do this will help us get a good deal closer to where we want to be than the knee jerk reaction of sacking a manager after less than a season because we havnt achieved CL.if that’s how you show your support maybe you’d be better changing to the blue of chelski.
there is NO progress .rodgers is embarrassing . last season with 2 cup finals and a trophy was not embarrassing
maybe if your happy with mid table and out of all cups in february youd be better changing to the blue of reading
there is no ‘kneejerk reactions ‘ rodgers is simply a joke .you are clueless
Rodgers spent more money NET than KK did
RODGERS OUT !!!
rubbish summer signings
rubbish tactically
rubbish results
worst season in 40 years
The defense is a shambles since Rodgers got his hands on it. Top international players like skrtel , agger and Johnson were all superb – but Rodgers naive system is leaving them exposed.
Constantly picking the totally useless Allen is yet more bad management
Rodgers is 100% to blame. He is out of his depth
Spot on
Yous ain’t fans back your manager i hope ye’s eat your words come on brendan ….ynwa
Did you back Roy Hodgson too ?
Did you want Hodgson given more time ?
Hypocrite !!!
Oh look – another piece trying to make excuses for Brendans shortcomings
There is absolutely no doubt that this is the worst Liverpool team in many generations with big problems that need to be fixed before we can win anything or finish in the top 4 again. For me most of the problems probably aren’t BR’s fault. They have come from the early exit of previous managers and the very poor running of the club for a number of years by the owners and senior management teams.
The question now is if BR is the right man to fix our problems?
He has put some of the clubs self-inflicted striker problems behind us recently. But he has other pressing issues like a lack of a central midfield quality combined with and a lack of depth and experience in the squad. Should BR solve these massive problems with very little money before next season new potentially bigger hurdles are on the horizon. Carra is off and the press believe the keeper and the rest of the central defence are as well. If they are half right it will take a monumental effort just to stand still. If on top of that Suarez goes as well we are almost guaranteed to go backwards with BR in charge.
Its not that he is a bad manager its just that winning things at Liverpool with the current owners and expectant fans is almost impossible unless you are one of the best managers around. And unfortunately he isn’t… yet.
Sensible and true comment .well said
I think it’s unfair to blame BR in our predicament and he’s been made a scape goat by many on here. Our problems started way back 5 years ago and you all expect Liverpool to rise up the ladder in one season . Hicks and Gillette left the club in a mess and part the reason Rafa left was because they wouldn’t give him additional funds when we were maybe one quality player away from winning the title. The debt, the subsequent court mess and poor manager signings have taken its toll and you all expect FsG and BR to fix things in one season, c’mon guys get real.
Changing managers after one season is not going to fix inks and those calling Mourihno are deluded. It’s easy to say let’s get him and certain players but fact is without champions league players won’t come unless you pay them big bucks which we don’t have. We don’t have a wealthy sheik to pay stupid money . Also Mourinho would want an open cheque book anyway. It’s amazing how many players rate certain managers when most have a blank cheque to buy players.
I think some think running a club or a side is like playing fifa13, well it’s not. You just can’t go out and buy anyone.
We spent 100 million pounds last year and it got us a crappy cup and fa cup final but who cares we still haven’t finished any higher and we also played like shite last year. For most of the second half of the year we were like a ship without a rudder and played some bad football.
At least this year we have dominated games, already scored more goals than last year and unearthed a few good young players.
Stop calling for people to be sacked, we should be united as the best supporters in the world. Let’s not become like Chelsea.
Come on let’s get behind BR and the boys.
Duh . Rodgers has been made a scapegoat ???are u mad ??? Don’t u understand football ?? Rodgers buys the player. Rodgers trains them. Rodgers chooses tactics . Rodgers picks team.
Of course Rodgers is ti blame
Open your eyes
Crappy cup and fa cup final ? Who cares ??!
Are u mad ????
It’s a lot better than this pathetic losing season
Liverpool is about winning trophies. And Kenny did it
This fool Rodgers will never win anything
II’m afraid Rodgers will go into the Liverpool annals as a embarrassing failure like Roy hidgson before him. Simply not Liverpool standards
Hodgson will be remembered more fondly because he didn’t last as long
the Rodgers era ? When will the fOkin nightmare end ???!??????
Hopefully real soon
Liverpool owners have shown tremendous restraint not sacking Rodgers so far. If any manager in our history deserved the sack it would certainly be Rodgers
Rodgers is a good manager, he is just young and nieve. And needs to shut his mouth more and let his team do their talking on the pitch as every time he praises team and says how far we have come and where he hopes us to push on and go for this or that position in league, we end up not showing in the next game and getting turned over.
The main problem at club is lack of squad class, depth, experience and quality. And the owners need to innvest heavily in playing staff (£95-£110M) is needed.
Man City, Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton and Newcastle have all got better stronger squads than us. That is why over the last 5 seasons we have finished between 5-8 place.
We have not been in champions league for 5 years now and that is because we have had pathetically weak squads over the last five years and we keep selling or class, world class players and replacing them with Average Hard working players instead.`
And in the summer all them teams will strengthen again, B Rodgers has shipped out 12 players since he joined our club ( Adams, Aquilani, Aurelio, Bellamy, Carroll, Cole, Doni, Kuyt, Ngoo, Rodriguez, Spearing and Wilson). 4 are loanees though.
But Rodgers has only been able to replace 5 players: Allen, Assaidi, Borini, Coutinho and Sturridge.
There is still 3-5 players who should have been brought in to cover the hole the other 7 players who were shipped out have left within squad.
But B Rodgers needs to ship out 6 more dead wood average hard working players in the summer:
1: GK : B Jones 2: CB: Coates 3: RB: Flanagan
4: DM: Spearing 5: FD: Borini 6: FD: Carroll
Then in the summer the owners should give B Rodgers £95-£110M to bring in Ten/10 players to change whole dimension of squad and get club back competing against the elite. Nine/9 Good class quality players and one Marquee world class signing.
And Here are the 10 players that should be brought to our club this number and with these players we will be able to mount serious champions league challenge:
1: GK: M Vorm(29) Of Swansea For £2-£4M to compete and Cover Reina
2: CB: A Williams(28) Of Swansea for £7-£9M 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(24) Of Toulouse for £6-£10M to compete and Cover LUCAS
Five Attacking players:
6: RW / RWF: J Montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia in Mexico for £3-£6M to compete with Assaidi and Sterling next season
7: LW / LWF: D Capel(25) Of Sporting Clube De Portugal should be brought for £4-£7M to compete with Downing.
8: LWF /LW: B Arfa(25) Of Newcastle should brought in swap deal with A Carroll(23) and £10M to compte with Capel and Downing, then club would have three quick left footed pacey wingers competing with one another.
9: AM: MARQUEE SIGNING: Isco(20) Of Malaga for £14-£18M to compete with Coutinho and Suso in a
free role in front of central midfielders and off the Striker in side.
10: FD: C Benteke(22) Of A Villa for £15-£18M to compete with Sturridge and Suarez, to bring club/squad different option in attack a Plan B when Plan A may not be working out for us.
These 10 players would get club back amongst elite and competing for top 4 every year, it will also keep every player on their toes and at their best level week in week out and the incomplacency our club/players have had over last five years would be eradicated because of the quality competition waiting to get their chance to get in team and stay in team.
No Player would be safe for benching and the INCOMPLACENCY Within side would no longer happen.
These 10 players would cost our club less than what Chelsea spent on these 4 players: Torres, Mata, Hazard and Oscar. Than What Man United spent on these 5 players: Rooney, Van Persie, Nani, Young and Valencia. Than what Man City spent on these 4 players: Tevez, Aguero, Nasri and Silva.
Those ten players would strengthen squad dramatically and would bring 2/3 class, quality players competing and battling for one position and it would take our club back to the top again.
And our club do not have do a chelsea, Psg, Man City , Bayern Munich and spend over £250m+ over two seasons to get back to top. Our club just needs owners to dip in their pockets huge once but the right players need to be brought to club.
Then if these players were brought to club this summer, after we get back in champions league reckoning the every season a Marquee signing could be brought to club.
This is not Fantasy football thought, in last five seasons how far off points have we been of united? And they are our biggest rivals in english football, the only problem is while they are still at top of league and fighting for league year in year out. we are now struggling to get in top 5 every year.
And some huge investment in the playing staff/squad this summer if we are to close the gap on United, City and Chelsea. City, United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle and Tottenham all have much better squads than us and they will all strengthen in summer. Our club needs a huge influx of players going outwards and a huge influx of players coming inwards.
And then with those ten players mentioned our club would be able to kick on and compete at the top of the league again from start of season all the way through until the end of season. Consistency is needed to win league and to do that, we need good class quality powerful squad with depth within it.
You lost me after the first sentence. That simply isn’t true