Brendan Rodgers

[dww]

Brendan Rodgers' job safe for now but Liverpool owners plan for improvement

Ian Herbert CHIEF SPORTS WRITER Tuesday 02 June 2015

The Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, has been given the responsibility to restore the club’s fortunes next season after agreeing a substantial new plan which the owners are satisfied can re-establish Champions League status.

Rodgers went into his meeting with chairman Tom Werner and Fenway Sports Group president Michael Gordon secure in the knowledge that the volume of public discussion surrounding his future did not equate to his job being on the line. But there was an agreement in the two-hour meeting that the outcome of the 2014-15 campaign had not been good enough and Rodgers has signed up to plans which have been laid for an improvement. The discussions on the subject of first team football were said to have been “productive”.

Quite how radical those plans are remains unclear. It is also unclear whether the transfer committee which has sanctioned expensive signings will remain its current form. It is possible that the club’s head of recruitment, Dave Fallows, and Michael Edwards, the director of performance analysis, may carry the can for last season.

Their statistically driven approach to recruitment has been a key factor in a transfer market strategy which saw the club spend £110m last summer on players who have not materially improved the squad. Gordon, managing director Ian Ayre and Rodgers also make up the committee.

Possible changes to the way Liverpool go about the new season may also include the recruitment of an experienced individual to work alongside Rodgers. It could be argued that those in his own management team are acolytes and that he could be challenged more.

The pressure will certainly be on Rodgers like never before when the new campaign begins, as he finds himself required to take the club back into the top four.

The progress Liverpool have made in securing the services of James Milner have pointed to the security of the manager’s position. Milner, whose signing is likely to be announced after his Manchester City contact expires on 30 June, has been attracted on substantially lower wages than the £165,000 he was being offered at City. Though the central midfield role available after Steven Gerrard’s departure is attractive, he is likely to have wanted assurances about Rodgers’ continued presence at the club before entering into detailed contract discussions.

The signing of Burnley’s Danny Ings is now imminent. Liverpool will also try to sign Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke and Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne.

As well as the post-season review, Werner is also examining redevelopment work at Anfield and at the academy.

http://www.independe...t-10293201.html

I think the off field changes this summer are equally important as the purchases we make. Ideally we should recruit on that front before making any 'big' purchases such as Benteke.

[rodo]

Pascoe and Marsh inspire me as much as Neal and McMenemy

[Dalglish]

Pascoe and Marsh inspire me as much as Neal and McMenemy

i wonder if those two are part of the problem? Rodgers is surrounded by people who, to use a phrase he would no doubt use, "buy into his methods" meaning that he receives very little critical comment from the coaching staff. Someone as inexperienced as him who has won **** all needs someone around him to push him in the right direction from time to time.

Just a thought really. I'm trying to have thoughts to stop me thinking about Rodgers still being our manager.

[BobTheCharmer]

People knock Rodgers for changing tactics so often but surely if he's set up one way and its clearly not working during the match he's entitled to try and tweak it? I used to hate it when Rafa would not change, home to Fulham when we needed that win and it played out as a nil nil draw,he changed personnel but not system. Frustrating as ****. There were a number of games where this happened. However too many tweaks and the majority of thick footballers are unable to get what's going on. I think its a case of if you win you are a genius and you lose and you're an idiot.

As for Can at right back, do you really think Rodgers sees him as a permanent fixture there? Its out of lack of alternatives than choice. Johnson is finished and is obviously doesn't trust Manquillo. Bringing a youngster into the team when its struggling and one you don't yet feel confident in was too big a gamble. He trusts Can. On the flip side I also think it won't do Can too much harm playing the odd game there. Gerrard has in the past. He's a young player learning the game, if he has anything about him he will take the experiences gained this season and use them to kick on.

Without decent goalscorers in this league you struggle. With them they hide a host of sins. Basically if Rodgers can find a way of getting us scoring again the rest will look after itself. People rewriting history and saying we lost the league as we were too attacking seem to conveniently forget we wouldn't have be challenging in the first place without the gung ho attitude.

[Alex]

If somebody had a genuine interest I don't see how it would. We were officially for sale - Barclay's Capital were shopping us around all over the world.

Were we actually for sale? Or did Barclays just want to find someone to pay them the money they were owed. Club was the collateral. Or is it the same thing?

[Vermilion]

People knock Rodgers for changing tactics so often but surely if he's set up one way and its clearly not working during the match he's entitled to try and tweak it? I used to hate it when Rafa would not change, home to Fulham when we needed that win and it played out as a nil nil draw,he changed personnel but not system. Frustrating as ****. There were a number of games where this happened. However too many tweaks and the majority of thick footballers are unable to get what's going on. I think its a case of if you win you are a genius and you lose and you're an idiot.

As for Can at right back, do you really think Rodgers sees him as a permanent fixture there? Its out of lack of alternatives than choice. Johnson is finished and is obviously doesn't trust Manquillo. Bringing a youngster into the team when its struggling and one you don't yet feel confident in was too big a gamble. He trusts Can. On the flip side I also think it won't do Can too much harm playing the odd game there. Gerrard has in the past. He's a young player learning the game, if he has anything about him he will take the experiences gained this season and use them to kick on.

Without decent goalscorers in this league you struggle. With them they hide a host of sins. Basically if Rodgers can find a way of getting us scoring again the rest will look after itself. People rewriting history and saying we lost the league as we were too attacking seem to conveniently forget we wouldn't have be challenging in the first place without the gung ho attitude.

Agree with a lot of that, but the last bit, you don't know that for sure Bob.

[5europeancups]

A decision has now been taken and to be honest it is probably a fair decision.

Liverpool came close to winning the league a year ago playing the most exciting brand of football that we have played for years.

Who can forget the first half against Arsenal, victories over united and Tootenham, all those hammerings on mid table mediocrity.

Yes Suarez and a fit Sturridge were a big part of that success, but there was more to it than that.

Last season was deeply disappointing and to be honest if a better option was available I too was seriously thinking about replacing Brendan, but I would have felt slightly guilty about doing so given his success the year before.

He made some signings which with hindsight proved to be disastrous.

Lambert and Ballotelli have been really disappointing. I dont know enough about the technical side of the game to say why, but some blame must fall on the coaches for failing to get the best out of players.

THe problem about football is that it is a confidence game. What happened to Doctro Peeters this year?

One thing is certain. the Sterling siuation did not help. Suarez moaned and groaned but he always put in a great shift on the pitch. Sterling has been a key player and he quite franky looked like he didnt care. His attitude is a big reason why Liverpool failed to qualify for the Champs League.

My reading of the new situation is clear. Brendan is now on a trial period. He will be fairly supported with the ability to bring in new players to replace Gerrard(Kovacic) and Sterling(...), more cmpetition for Mignolet who is just not good enough and of course extra firepower.

I actually think that our defenders arent so bad but they are just not playing in the optimal system to bring out their best abilities.

Look at where we are at the end of the year. If there is no obvious sign of improvement then its Goodbye Mr Rodgers hello Mr Klopp.

[Lecter]

Aren't we currently valued just shy of $1b now?

EDIT: Forbes have us at $982m. Whilst $1.5b might be stretching it a touch, with the increased capacity, who knows.

Forbes always massively over-value clubs

Seem to recall them valuing us at $700 million when Twit & **** owned us

Bottomline is you are only worth what somebody is willing to pay

[red g]

Forbes always massively over-value clubs

Seem to recall them valuing us at $700 million when Twit & **** owned us

Bottomline is you are only worth what somebody is willing to pay

Benteke likes this

[marcus50bucks]

Very good post from a guy on rawk

I have just read the news in the Guardian. Story can be found here.

On balance, I am pleased that FSG has decided to back the manager. God knows, I have been frustrated with him and his choices this season, but I instinctively dislike the knee-jerk opinions of the modern media, and so have tended to set aside my own impatience as something created by too much reading.

I think it is right that our manager is given more time to make progress. Rationally, I know where we are as a club and the challenges that face us in this football era. Three seasons is not enough to make us perennial contenders on or off the pitch. If the baying mob consider this 'settling for mediocrity' then I accept the label, whilst privately laughing at their sense of entitlement. In my youth, I had my over-developed sense of entitlement satisfied almost every season. I feel for those who have never had that, and can't see that it will never return in the same manner while the structure of football remains 'the money takes it all'.

Having said that, I've been very troubled by the manner of defeats and decisions made this season. Accepting that my knowledge of football is not great, some of the choices in rotation and use of young players have been baffling. Some decisions, in my view, that Rodgers has made have bordered on cowardly, but perhaps are better characterised as inexperienced and over-pressured. He has lost my trust, but I am willing to continue my support in the hope that he will grow through this awful time and realise that he must stick to whatever principles he has and drive on. If his principles are wrong, so be it. But don't chop and change, don't play young players out of position all the time, and don't bend. If you're going to go down, go down doing what you believe in. More than likely, you will succeed.

My lack of trust comes from not actually knowing what his principles are. I loved the manner in which he had us playing last season, not just for the success, but because it was Liverpool through and through. This season, I have had no idea what he wants to achieve, who he is as a manager. Are we to be a Swansea, 'death-by-football' team - which I would personally hate, as the biggest gripes I have are the pointless passing in front of our goal before anything happens and the twenty-minute delay every time we have a throw-in whilst we try and find the 'perfect' throw - or the free-flowing, madcap, go get-'em-tiger of last season, which I loved despite having to take shares in a blood-pressure pharmaceutical factory. Whatever it is Brendan, for ****'s sake please believe in it and stick to it.

FSG have also lost some of my trust, as it's not entirely clear any more that they want us to have the success they brought to the Red Sox. I don't know what their plan is either, but for now they have my support too. By sticking with Brendan, I feel more comfortable that they understand what stability brings, and that their end of season review - which is clearly not going to be shared with us, the supporters, for whatever inscrutable reasons - has been thorough and provided detailed conclusions up which they will act decisively. Keeping Brendan is a good move, in my view, because radical change will inevitably bring radical instability, and there is no manager out there aside from Rafa who I would trust to get the club right. All the rest would suffer from the same horror show we as supporters have served up for Rodgers this season, probably even more so.

The players I am more sanguine about. I think we did pretty well last transfer window, and that our young players will be much better in their second season. Returning to my theme above, I consider we did them no favours by the constant chopping and changing of their roles - as a leader myself, I believe strongly in getting new people to excel in their correct role before challenging them with instability. Indeed, the first rule of change management is to ensure people can mentally cope with the change around them by giving them some sense of their role and allowing them to achieve in it. Setting people up to fail, when all around them is also crashing, will cause psychological crises, especially in youngsters in the early twenties. This is my biggest criticism of Rodgers' management - bearing in mind he's young too, at least in managerial terms - and it is why, in my opinion, the wheels finally fell off badly in the last third of the season. There's a point in a crisis where people just give up through confusion and psychological weariness.

The commitment to stability, after a period of holiday, will do everyone a power of good. However, I would expect Rodgers to meet with each player now, apologise for his indecision and mistakes, and agree a way forward that they can embrace. In a few weeks time, if that air is cleared now, they will reassemble full of fight and clarity for the new season. It's not easy, but it is liberating - I've done it myself after a calamitous year of my own mistakes, and my teams (business not sports) have always appreciated the frankness and honesty. They also however, want direction with the humility - people want leaders, however flawed, to lead with decisiveness. I hope Brendan has that in him.

Finally, the fans I have less hope for. I am disappointed by some of what I have read on this site and heard from people elsewhere. We are all influenced by the media, of course, and our own disappointments. The saddest thing is that we turn on each other, and I hope that tidal wave of resentment on either side flows back from whence it came. The joy of being a Liverpool supporter, for me at least, has always been the tight knit sense of community - that we belong to something, together, that is greater than football, that our city and people represent, and that the club represents through sport. It's a privilege that we should enjoy whatever league our club plays in, however well we do.

I hope that process of healing will be helped by great success this coming season, and that Rodgers and the players that wear the red shirt will show us marvellous things once again. But I hope we re-unite as supporters too, and support our manager and team through whatever comes, storm or dawn.

[DannyMan2006]

Bottom line for me is Rodgers had better start the season with a style, formation & set of players capable of getting results. I don't want another summer where we bring in the wrong sort of players.

TBH I don't care who we sign as long as they are players Rodgers wants and sees a place for them in the starting XI. I accept we needed some squad players up top, but after that the players he signs need to be walking into that first team.

[vlahka]

Bottom line for me is Rodgers had better start the season with a style, formation & set of players capable of getting results. I don't want another summer where we bring in the wrong sort of players.

TBH I don't care who we sign as long as they are players Rodgers wants and sees a place for them in the starting XI. I accept we needed some squad players up top, but after that the players he signs need to be walking into that first team.

One could say the same thing is happening again if we look at the strongly linked players. I'll wait till the end of the transfer season before giving a solid guess where we will come, but for the moment I say 5th, possibly 4th if we fluke it. This new season I'm not arsed about any more. The team will go and do whatever and Rodgers will do the same rubbish mistakes hes done every season. The only thing I'm looking forward to are more quotes from him.

[Lecter]

Bottom line for me is Rodgers had better start the season with a style, formation & set of players capable of getting results. I don't want another summer where we bring in the wrong sort of players.

TBH I don't care who we sign as long as they are players Rodgers wants and sees a place for them in the starting XI. I accept we needed some squad players up top, but after that the players he signs need to be walking into that first team.

If we sign the players Rodgers wants then the season will be a complete ****ing ****fest

[Fierce]

Very good post from a guy on rawk

That is a good post

I agree with the majority, although I did want Klopp to replace Rodgers





This ****ing whopper though

Our football club will always have my support, but I can't suddenly change my view of Rodgers just because he's still here. I won't be supporting the manager, I'll see each game as one less that he'll be in charge. He's lost the fans and unless he finds another SaS sharpish he'll be ****ed next season.

Won't be supporting the manager!!

[Saveloy]

That is a good post

I cringed a bit at that rawk post. I agreed with some of it but the bit where he says "as a leader myself, (business not sports) "

And how are the reasons FSG won't share their end of season review with the fans 'inscrutable'? Of course they shouldn't.

And the idea that Brendan should sit down individually with each player and personally apologise for his mistakes and indecision? Really?