Brendan Rodgers

[frank the tank]

Good post frank, hit the issue on the head. Lots of reasons to be optimistic, but also quite a few to keep our hairs turning grey(er).

i agree completely......it really is up in the air. I suppose my general point was that none of us know what restrictions the manager is working under.

For me, if the club were 100% open and honest about the strategy of the club, it would make any hiccups along the way a little bit more palatable.....we could all buy into the whole thing - that this team will peak in 4 years or whatever.... that would be great.

Because that isn't a bad strategy - have a team and squad that is going to get better and better and peak in say 3 or 4 seasons time. When Henderson is a 28 year old with the best part of 10 seasons experience and he can bully midfields. Coutinho and Sterling in their mid-20s both aiming to be one of the best players in europe. Sakho as a defensive general.......and the likes of Ibe, Origi, Markovic etc all getting better and better as well. Coinciding with the stadium extension bringing in extra revenue and we are then in a position where we can just add one top player a year to really get better. Like Arsenal have done with Ozil and Sanchez. That strategy for me is something that i am really happy to buy into as a fan.....

[Muddled]

I mean Sherwood has got the best out of Benteke lately whilst the previous numbnut didn't even play him sometimes.

It's curious how he got the best out of Adebayor too. Maybe there is a coincidence in the situations or maybe it's down to his tactics.

[Chris]

its a good point, and the same could also apply to brendan with us last year.

you could have had any half decent mid table manager, then add suarez, a fit and flying sturridge, a willing sterling, etc.

Nah, its bollocks and trying to discredit him for last season is a load of ****. Hodgson had Torres, Gerrard, Dirk etc and had us 4 points above the relegation zone. Kenny had Suarez and we finished 8th while barely scoring a goal.

[baitman]

Nah, its bollocks and trying to discredit him for last season is a load of ****. Hodgson had Torres, Gerrard, Dirk etc and had us 4 points above the relegation zone. Kenny had Suarez and we finished 8th while barely scoring a goal.

yeh, suarez only thrived due to the tactical nouse of brendan [hallowed be his name/blessings be upon him]

suarez has certainly been on the phone to brendan on a regular basis, judging by his latest form.

[Mello]

I think the people who are shouting for Klopp or Benitez to come into the club need to consider the overall remit of the manager. I love Benitez as a manager but would he be the guy to bring through Ibe, Rossiter et al? Or would he just buy physically strong players and base his team around that. Alonso and Masherano were young players when Rafa brought them to the club - as was Torres - but they weren't really players that needed developing. He didn't really bring through anyone from the youth team and make them a star. Rafa's counter to that would be that he changed the whole club and put the proper youth structure in place - the same one that got us 5.5m for Shelvey and brought Sterling to the club.

The big love-in for Klopp from some quarters is interesting as well. It is almost as if his name is just mystical and people want to believe something that isn't there. In reality his Dortmund team did great in the champions league a few years ago however i would ask this: take any manager in the premier league - a random mid-table manager. Say Alan Pardew or Tim Sherwood (I've picked the two biggest knobs on the circuit to make my point!) and gave them a team that contained Lewandowski, Goetze, Reus, Hummels, Gundogan and Subotic. I genuinely think that they would make a good fist of german domestic football......and they might even get to a CL final as well. If Klopp was the man that brought all those guys through then it changes things but i'm not sure he was.

Becoming a club where we develop players only to have to sell the ones that actually become elite is not a path to the success we want. It's a path to becoming a club like Ajax. A shadow of its former self. Only at least they can still compete in their league. So if that's the remit of our manager then that's the problem. We need to bring in players that don't need as much development. And I would argue that Rafa would bring in players like Ibe and Rossiter. He tried to bring in players like Kelly, Insua, Spearing, Babel, etc. They just didn't pan out, as might be the case with those players.

[baitman]

Becoming a club where we develop players only to have to sell the ones that actually become elite is not a path to the success we want. It's a path to becoming a club like Ajax. A shadow of its former self. Only at least they can still compete in their league. So if that's the remit of our manager then that's the problem...

maybe fsg want to stabilize using this version ^ [like aresenal when building the stadium] then when we have a better position of youth development and matchday money we get to splurge like we just dont care.

[ntto]

Becoming a club where we develop players only to have to sell the ones that actually become elite is not a path to the success we want. It's a path to becoming a club like Ajax. A shadow of its former self. Only at least they can still compete in their league. So if that's the remit of our manager then that's the problem. We need to bring in players that don't need as much development. And I would argue that Rafa would bring in players like Ibe and Rossiter. He tried to bring in players like Kelly, Insua, Spearing, Babel, etc. They just didn't pan out, as might be the case with those players.

I keep reading this and hearing this that this is our model and its not true

We sold Suarez because a club met his contractual release clause. That's as simple as it gets.

The previous year we refused to sell him just like everybody has come out to say we aren't going to be forced to sell Sterling.

I for one think FSG in particular have done brilliantly here (even with big John wondering what they were smoking at Arsenal)

[frank the tank]

I keep reading this and hearing this that this is our model and its not true

We sold Suarez because a club met his contractual release clause. That's as simple as it gets.

The previous year we refused to sell him just like everybody has come out to say we aren't going to be forced to sell Sterling.

I for one think FSG in particular have done brilliantly here (even with big John wondering what they were smoking at Arsenal)

i agree completely.

Arsenal seems to be the model that we are looking to replicate. They sold players that didn't want to buy in to their medium term project - players like Fabregas, Adebayor, Kolo Toure, VanPersie, Clichy and Nasri. Those 6 players brought in circa £130m in transfer fees and they have reinvested wisely.

They havent been afraid to cash in on players that don't fully buy into their football club and reinvest in players that do. I wonder will LFC be as brave with Sterling???

And now they now have a group of players like Wilshere, Ramsay, Koscielny, Oxlade, Walcott, Gibbs that could all peak at around the same time and have supplemented that with good signings like Carzola, Ozil and Alexi Sanchez and are in a position to really kick on.

[Kenneth]

Apart from Ozil, who's wank.

[frank the tank]

Apart from Ozil, who's wank.

They are at the stage where they can take a punt on someone like him at £42m because if it doesn't work out then they have Carzola, Oxlade et al.

Also, i think he is a very good player, is already better for them this season and i reckon will continue to improve next season....

[Kenneth]

The difference between us and them is that they have a manager who knows what he's doing and trust him to do it.

And they've got more money of course.

I'm not saying brendan isn't competent, but he doesn't have a clear plan both in terms of signings and on the pitch too. And all he had is potential, he's never actually achieved anything in the game. I still think we should be looking at other options.

[Exiled_red]

I keep reading this and hearing this that this is our model and its not true

We sold Suarez because a club met his contractual release clause. That's as simple as it gets.

The previous year we refused to sell him just like everybody has come out to say we aren't going to be forced to sell Sterling.

I for one think FSG in particular have done brilliantly here (even with big John wondering what they were smoking at Arsenal)

It's not a model that we choose to work to but it is a reality of football. If a top player e.g. Suarez wants to move to a club like Barcelona, it is almost certainly going to happen sooner or later. If the player wants to leave you have to let him go at some point, you just try and control the terms on which it happens, be that by making him wait a year, selling him before his contract runs out, or doing everything you can to get the top price.

[Marvel]

Every player has a price. United sold Ronaldo for stupid money to real Madrid and theyre not a selling club. Suarez wanted to go and we got very good money for him. I'm not sure it was invested well enough but with the amount of young players we bought its going to take time to see that investment realised.

I'm not as fussed about selling players even great ones as long as what comes in strengthens the team and doesn't weaken it. If man city are dumb enough to offer us £50m for sterling we should take it.

[Alex]

Every player has a price. United sold Ronaldo for stupid money to real Madrid and theyre not a selling club. Suarez wanted to go and we got very good money for him. I'm not sure it was invested well enough but with the amount of young players we bought its going to take time to see that investment realised.

I'm not as fussed about selling players even great ones as long as what comes in strengthens the team and doesn't weaken it. If man city are dumb enough to offer us £50m for sterling we should take it.

I agree here. If someone wants gone, bin them off. The biggest trouble this year is that we didnt get stronger. We stood still. Everyone around us improved apart from City. But they won the league last year.

[Marvel]

I agree here. If someone wants gone, bin them off. The biggest trouble this year is that we didnt get stronger. We stood still. Everyone around us improved apart from City. But they won the league last year.

The problem with this season is that our experienced purchases didn't deliver at all so we ended up relying on young lads with no experience of our league and it went to ****. Lallana, Lambert, balotelli and lovren have all been terrible for one reason or another.

Then the emphasis shifted onto Can, markovic, Moreno who have all struggled at times but they will be much better next season. Can we say the same about the other buys from last season.