THERE were times last season when I found myself repeatedly losing patience with Brendan Rodgers.
I wasn’t one of those that was caught up in his expertly-worded first press conference last year, when he succeeded Kenny as Liverpool manager, nor was I one of those that lapped up the post-match excuses about how excellent and awesome we were in defeat.
I also saw through the slightly embarrassing ‘fly-on-the-wall’ documentary that Rodgers seemed more than happy to take the lead in, in the first months of last season but thankfully, I don’t believe I was the only one.
Having waited so long for any kind of lasting success and then coming so close under Rafa Benitez, the past three Liverpool managers have all had it hard but both Hodgson and Kenny were rightly let go after making huge mistakes in the transfer market and then tragically under-performing in the league.
In many ways, the only reason Rodgers was able to see out the season with relatively little pressure from the board and fans was because of the slight attacking and points improvement over the previous year.
But it has to be made clear that finishing 6th was not an achievement, not for this club. It was a minor improvement and only the tiniest bit of ‘progress’ but no more than that. At the same time, finishing 5th this season will not be acceptable either; this season the target needs to be 4th – at least – or nothing.
Which is why I believe that after a seasons’ grace as Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodger’s work really starts now. Not in August but now – during the transfer window. Because if we don’t bring in the right amount and quality of reinforcements before the 2013-14 Premier League season kicks off then we may well find ourselves in the market for a new manager too.
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The attacking elements of our side looked very healthy toward the end of last season and even if Suarez leaves, the funds available from his transfer should mean we’re well-equipped to add a couple of quality players to the talents of Sturridge and Coutinho.
With some strengthening in midfield and a slight overhaul of the defence we could go into next season looking like a dark-horse but they have to be the right players.
Throughout the final months of last season names such as Eriksson, Papadopoulos and others kept on popping up – genuine quality with youth and a combination of experience and low enough transfer fees on their sides but as things stand our first two signings appear to be about to arrive in the form of Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve seen little of Alberto and the first time I watched Aspas was after seeing that we were linked to him.
The one thing on their side at the moment is the relatively small fees and the fact that they’re both Spanish and it’s a rare thing to find a bad Spanish player moving to these shores these days.
For the majority of last season we were told that Rodgers needed a season to get his house in order and a few transfer windows before we are able to fairly judge his ability to coach at a massive club and while I’m not for a minute suggesting we should immediately judge him on any signings he makes, I think those players he does sign will go a long way to moulding our fortunes for the season to come and, in turn, the current Liverpool manager’s future.
Choose wisely, Brendan.
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Yes it’s time for Rodgers to step up & show he’s the manager for Liverpool,imo he is here to stay & grow again this season,it’s been a sharp learning curve,he’s coped well as a younger manager,I’m looking forward to champions league football again !
You wont see it with Rodgers as manager
A manager who has never won a trophy or managed a big club before should not gave been given more time than Kenny who had won nearly everything
imo Rodgers is making the squad worse , and he himself is tactically naive and is found out everytime we play a top side. He doesn’t deserve the patience he has been shown.
On top of all that Rodgers is a bottler, absolutely no doubt.
I don’t understand why the fans and club were not concerned about how poor we looked against the top teams, or how we crumbled or struggled against any side who were up for it?….It just seems to me that Rodgers is being given more respect than previous managers, and I for one don’t understand why.
Btw author .we finished 7th not 6th
Time to judge? I have seen enough. this transfer window is the chance to strengthen the team and replace Suarez with quality in mf and strikers. no one player can replace him but we can effectivly replace contribuition. what BR is doing is creating more problems. New goalkeeper, new defense etc. We sell a great keeper and he goes to barca. Skertel, ends up playing for a CL club….replaced with nobodies. Why cant he keep things simple? Too many changes at once will put the club firmly in mid table. Amateur manager learning his trade. Supporters? In for another terrible season
I’ve seen enough , I think he is awful , not up to Liverpool standards . Like to see him gone before xmas
Dont trust Rodgers , I lost any faith I had in him ages ago . Wish he would go and take his pet wimps Allen Borini and Assadie with him
itz very unfortunate dat benitez has signed for napoli. Liverpool is in for anoda disastrous season.
You Guys don’t have a clue. Give Rodgers time, he is turning Liverpool in a direction we all want the team to go. Not just up the top of the table and challenging, but playing attractive offensive football. The way we finished the league was great, since January very good football and good results. Now by no means the finished product but getting there. I agree Suarez wanting to go and pep possibly leaving it now makes the progress a little different. Now lets be real someone at Liverpool needs to go speak to Suarez and his agent and make it clear if you want to leave you need to write a transfer request and have it in by the end of June the latest or we will not sell you until at-least January, if he goes we want time to get the players in from the money gained and here in time for preseason. All in all Rodgers is a great manager, some of you so called Liverpool fans are well basically idiots who are living in a time long gone. Football has changed and Liverpool is changing a little later than was needed but we are. Give him time look at other clubs, how long was it until Ferguson won at the manx not the first 2 years. So get a grip be open to his ideas and lets get behind him and our team….
Blah blah blah.
The usual idiotic bull.
‘ur mot real supporter if u don’t love our inept manager’
‘our manager is great’ (even though he is clueless)
YOU are the idiot . some of our so called fans like yourself need to get a clue and stop following blindly like the sheep u are
Somebody don’t have a clue, how is Rodgers a great manager?…can you provide facts or at least circumstantial evidence as to why he is “a great manager”, or is it as I suspect… fanboy talk?.
Ferguson had already won a euro cup with Aberdeen and broke the stranglehold in Scotland of Rangers and Celtic., Rodgers has won nothing, so even that argument doesn’t have much weight to it.
Ha ha ha ha. Rodgers ? Great manager ???
Unbelievable ! How can people be so stupid . ‘ Rodgers great manager’ ha ha ha ha ha
Brendon Rodgers 1st season = epic fail
2nd season = ????
My money is on him sacked by New year
Managers should be judged for everything they do . Rodgers doesnt deserve s free pass for a whole year , after all we all judged Hodgson after a couple of months
I could see back in October that Rodgers was a poor manager. Judging by his awful signings , his poor tactics and team selections and his persistence in playing the totally rubbish Allen.
His constant stream of bull and rubbish excuses put me off him too
We should have sacked him then . Now we are lumbered with a bad manager for probably 18 months instead of half a season
Playing allen you say?
Was that not because lucas was injured?
If we do get a new manager will you be wanting him sacked after 1 season even if he improves on the season before?say 1 position but almost doubles the total of prem goals?
You lot can only see 1 move ahead, so fickle.
Has Rodgers not improved in signings and style of play over the season.
Is joe allen to blame for all our defeats as he was the only br signing to play at the begining of the season?
Has br not given the youth a chance and improved every dalglesh signing other than carroll?
And please try to answer my questions rather than giving me your usual uninteligent drivel
We have had to get a transfer committee in to deal with transfers, get a grip, why are you so determined to hang onto a manager who has been awful so far and has no evidence to prove he can do any better?. We are not even in the Europa, I think you need to get a grip and start using your brain to form your own opinions, instead of parroting the manager. Superfan.
Behave lad, the transfer commite was brought in because of kd’s awful buys that br has improved over the season. Your acting like we finished top four last season. We finished 8th with an experienced manager in kd, but i suppose he would have gotten us top for with carroll and downing???? We would have finished 12 th with kd incharge. Br is a better manager imo as he had to deal with all kd’s sh1t buys and still improved on the season prior. You dont sack a manager after 1 season. Who will replace him? And if you say rafa your a nob cos even he struggled with chelseas superstars
Talking total bolloc . Rafa struggled ? Ha ha ha . He won more in 6 months at Chelsea than Rodgers has won in his entire life !!!
Rodgers is useless and only naive sheep think otherwise. Learn to think for yourself rather than what fsg tell you
Only one spouting unintelligent drivel is you Mr v
Yea he really excelled by taking a cl winning team and winning the europa league, rodgers has never had a team like that so how could he?
I asked questions above and as yet there still unanswered . Just the usual anything other than the facts, kd was to blame for last season not br, this is the season to judge him. Or shall we bring back rafa and kd ????
Br improved the team last seasonFACT
br improved our position FACT
BR IMPROVED KD’s buys FACT
br has us playing better footy FACT
Consistancy comes with stability not changing managers like the wind.
do you even realise what the word FACT means ? … i thought not
of the four ‘facts’ you mentioned … only one is actually a fact .the rest are your rather uneducated limited opinion . br did improved our position but also suffered early cup exits so thats hardly really something to shout about
consistency comes from having a good manager and good players not stability . reading and wigan were stable but got relegated . chelsea are not but still continue to win trophies every year … so your argument is nonsense
judging by your embarrassing defence of rodgers , i would think you were also very upset when we sacked roy hodgson too ?…. people like you dont seem to understand that its not time and patience that brings success – its intelligent decision making and a good manager …. and we certainly dont have them at the moment
Ok bob, so henderson, downing and enrique were better last season? The stats back up my so called “uneducated limited opinion” go on the lfc website and compare those players mentioned. Not to mention suarez. We scored Almost twice as many goals in pl as last season, does that not equal better football?
Do you go into a new season thinking about cup runs?
Your view imo is extremely narrow minded. You think a manager can just turn around an 8th placed team in 1 season and get them in cl?
Name the last 1 to do that.
Kd or rafa didn’t have to cut the wage bill and had bags of cash to spend on players, but they both made huge mistakes in the transfer market. But it seems that only br is subjected to your critisism.
I’m not niave in the slightest, but if you believe that a new manager will instill consistancy in a team that is renound for its inconsistancy in 1 season you are the niave one. These things take time and i for one can see the improvements and the team is playing some brilliant attacking football( just go and watch the first man city game again) we tore them to shreads with borini , allen, shelvey, wisdom and sterling .
Maybe if you give the man a break he will suprise you
rodgers has spent nearly the same NET as kenny and twice as much as hodgson….and also has made huge mistakes in the transfer market
last summer I gave rodgers a break and surprised me with his incompetence. never has such a huge club straddled itself with such a poor manager before
We have mate his name was kenny dalglesh( as much as it pains me to say, he never should have returned)
I wanted rafa back too, but it wasn’t to be. But sacking br now would be a mistake as he is starting to build a good team, and if the rumours of mkhytan and alberto are true, we will be full of creativity and goals next season. Lets hope the defence improves and who knows where we will finish
sacking rodgers is the only way our club can ever move forward. I’m hoping he is gone by christmas
Well if he is sacked then so be it, but maybe we should give him a break untill then and maybe he will suprise us all
Why wait ? Rodgers has been pathetic . Thats a fact . Things won’t improve
I too found myself really thinking if Rodgers was the right choice, but I say for the sake of this great club lets get behind him even for 1season, next season. YNWA
The time to start judging Rogers was the second he started work , nd he has been dissapointing since day one
With Suarez likely to leave, and more new signings coming in, the excuses are already in place for next season, if we have another poor season. I just hope this management team prove me wrong and stop talking and start doing.
we should give him dis season to proove himself.i blv in liverpool.we should support liverrpollfc. As for suarez he can go,we will survive