Brendan Rodgers

[Alex]

Seen a few rumbles at Rodgers wasting money in the transfer market. So with that in mind I thought I would have a think about his hits and misses

Hits
Sturridge - Clear success. Looking to be one of the best forwards in the league until he got injured
Coutinho - Same as Sturridge. Made an instant impact and looked great until the injury has set him back
Mignolet - Better shot stopper than Reina and a clear upgrade. Looked shaky from time to time but thats to be expected
Toure - Great bit of business getting him on a free. While he might not put the best performances in. He is a winner and thats what we lacked.
Sakho - Absolute beast. May still be taking time to adjust to the league. But its obvious he is a good player and looks like he might even be a bit of a bargain

Misses
Assaidi - Never played, didnt look like Rodgers fancied him. Found his level at Stoke I think.
Sahin - LOL
Moses - See Sahin. Doesnt look like he can be bothered. But that might be down to him not being our player

Undecided
Allen - Start of his LFC career was great. Our best passer. But really dipped off after 10 games and only now is starting to regain something of his form. Dont know if he will be around for any length of time though
Aspas - Injury set him back, but when he has come on he looked lost. Hopefully goal will improve his confidence.
Borini - Was brought to make an impact IMO and didnt. After a brilliant season with Roma he stuttered. Injury obviously did a number on his devolopemt. Hopefully this season at Sunderland can see him turn into a useful squad member for us going forward.
Alberto - Young and still learning. Shows flashes of brilliance. But not often enough at the moment
Ilori - I know nothing about him other than he is fast and sounds more cockney than most Londoners.
Yesil - Ruptured ACL. Young.
Cissoko - Thought he was terrible at first when he came back from that injury. Looks useful but not much else at the moment.



So in summery we have a lot of players who suffer injuries and stutter in the start of their careers with us. But other than that Rodgers seems to be doing OK, but not brilliant.

Thoughts?

[Reece]

Seen a few rumbles at Rodgers wasting money in the transfer market. So with that in mind I thought I would have a think about his hits and misses

Hits
Sturridge - Clear success. Looking to be one of the best forwards in the league until he got injured
Coutinho - Same as Sturridge. Made an instant impact and looked great until the injury has set him back
Mignolet - Better shot stopper than Reina and a clear upgrade. Looked shaky from time to time but thats to be expected
Toure - Great bit of business getting him on a free. While he might not put the best performances in. He is a winner and thats what we lacked.
Sakho - Absolute beast. May still be taking time to adjust to the league. But its obvious he is a good player and looks like he might even be a bit of a bargain

Misses
Assaidi - Never played, didnt look like Rodgers fancied him. Found his level at Stoke I think.
Sahin - LOL
Moses - See Sahin. Doesnt look like he can be bothered. But that might be down to him not being our player

Undecided
Allen - Start of his LFC career was great. Our best passer. But really dipped off after 10 games and only now is starting to regain something of his form. Dont know if he will be around for any length of time though
Aspas - Injury set him back, but when he has come on he looked lost. Hopefully goal will improve his confidence.
Borini - Was brought to make an impact IMO and didnt. After a brilliant season with Roma he stuttered. Injury obviously did a number on his devolopemt. Hopefully this season at Sunderland can see him turn into a useful squad member for us going forward.
Alberto - Young and still learning. Shows flashes of brilliance. But not often enough at the moment
Ilori - I know nothing about him other than he is fast and sounds more cockney than most Londoners.
Yesil - Broken leg. Young.
Cissoko - Thought he was terrible at first when he came back from that injury. Looks useful but not much else at the moment.



So in summery we have a lot of players who suffer injuries and stutter in the start of their careers with us. But other than that Rodgers seems to be doing OK, but not brilliant.

Thoughts?

Yesil's injury was an ACL rupture not a broken leg.

[Muddled]

Perhaps cut and paste the chat in the LFC Twitter thread, Alex?

The weatherman, the elephantman, the elrichioman and I have gone slightly off-topic.

[Muddled]

Rodgers has tried to get players in to the squad that possess the attributes he wants on the pitch. He's done this on a relatively limited budget whilst trying to add depth. Rodgers has an extremely young squad that will be growing together ...and this has been done as he has got rid of the dross and trimmed the wage bill.

There is clearly a strategy that we as a football club are following to ensure success for a significant period of time, none of this flash in the pan malarkey. We're not going to get it right everytime, but as long as the 'hits' outweigh the 'misses' then it's not a problem.

[Rich]

To be honest the last thing we've needed this season is a £15m striker sitting on the bench.

We tried for a couple of attacking midfielders and failed, we tried for a better fullback and failed there too.

We took a punt (on Aspas and Toure), a couple of gambles (on Ilori and Alberto) in the summer but we also acted decisively to land Mignolet and Sakho - both outstanding talents who have already made significant contributions to the team.

Unlike occasions in our past I genuinely believe that the management structure clearly knows the flaws in the first 11 and squad and is actively recruiting. If anything, my biggest gripe, is the shoehorning of Gerrard into a role which (IMO) will be to the detriment to the team in the medium term.

[The_weatherman]

Here we are then. Overall I'm very pleased with Rodgers but I'm not convinced by this committee. I don't know how much input he has or the scouts for that matter but I get the feeling this committee is just a way for other personel to get to participate in the transfer acticity.

Signings like Ilori don't make sense to me now, Alberto looks like he'll make it but I do question why he was bought now. I think we are at that stage where we have to concentrate on improving the eighteen players we have for the match squad.

The money that went on Ilori and Alberto could have secured a top left back for example. I'm also not sure that there will be much difference in Ilori and players like Wisdom, Kelly, Flanagan and Robinson who come through the academy.

[The_weatherman]

To be honest the last thing we've needed this season is a £15m striker sitting on the bench.

We tried for a couple of attacking midfielders and failed, we tried for a better fullback and failed there too.

We took a punt (on Aspas and Toure), a couple of gambles (on Ilori and Alberto) in the summer but we also acted decisively to land Mignolet and Sakho - both outstanding talents who have already made significant contributions to the team.

Unlike occasions in our past I genuinely believe that the management structure clearly knows the flaws in the first 11 and squad and is actively recruiting. If anything, my biggest gripe, is the shoehorning of Gerrard into a role which (IMO) will be to the detriment to the team in the medium term.

I would have preferred to land Rodgers' primary left back target than getting players like Ilori and Alberto to be honest.

[dww]

I tend to agree but at the same time a lot of the recruitment at United during their glory years looked odd at the time but paid off later on. You have to make good deals when you see them even if they might not pay off right now.

I think you have to assume that we couldn't find a top left back who would come or we could afford. I think it would have been worth pushing the boat out but it has to be for the right player.

[calvoboy]

Seen a few rumbles at Rodgers wasting money in the transfer market. So with that in mind I thought I would have a think about his hits and misses

Hits
Sturridge - Clear success. Looking to be one of the best forwards in the league until he got injured
Coutinho - Same as Sturridge. Made an instant impact and looked great until the injury has set him back
Mignolet - Better shot stopper than Reina and a clear upgrade. Looked shaky from time to time but thats to be expected
Toure - Great bit of business getting him on a free. While he might not put the best performances in. He is a winner and thats what we lacked.
Sakho - Absolute beast. May still be taking time to adjust to the league. But its obvious he is a good player and looks like he might even be a bit of a bargain

Misses
Assaidi - Never played, didnt look like Rodgers fancied him. Found his level at Stoke I think.
Sahin - LOL
Moses - See Sahin. Doesnt look like he can be bothered. But that might be down to him not being our player

Undecided
Allen - Start of his LFC career was great. Our best passer. But really dipped off after 10 games and only now is starting to regain something of his form. Dont know if he will be around for any length of time though
Aspas - Injury set him back, but when he has come on he looked lost. Hopefully goal will improve his confidence.
Borini - Was brought to make an impact IMO and didnt. After a brilliant season with Roma he stuttered. Injury obviously did a number on his devolopemt. Hopefully this season at Sunderland can see him turn into a useful squad member for us going forward.
Alberto - Young and still learning. Shows flashes of brilliance. But not often enough at the moment
Ilori - I know nothing about him other than he is fast and sounds more cockney than most Londoners.
Yesil - Ruptured ACL. Young.
Cissoko - Thought he was terrible at first when he came back from that injury. Looks useful but not much else at the moment.

So in summery we have a lot of players who suffer injuries and stutter in the start of their careers with us. But other than that Rodgers seems to be doing OK, but not brilliant.

Thoughts?

I reckon you've got to put Assaidi and Borini in the same category, whether that's a "wait and see when they come back from loan" or a miss. And whilst I'm happy with Mignolet as our keeper I wouldn't say he is an upgrade on Reina. I'd count him as about on a par, with different strengths and weaknesses, but for much less wages. Still counts as a hit.

Otherwise that's a fair assessment. At this stage Aspas, Cissokho and Alberto have got some work to do to prove their worth.

[wiw]

I would have preferred to land Rodgers' primary left back target than getting players like Ilori and Alberto to be honest.

But by all accounts we tried and failed to get Moreno, so got Cissokho instead. Same thing happened with Willian/Costa and Moses. I don't think it's a money issue, as I said above I think the money is there if and when the right player comes along. We are just only signing the right players when they are available. If we don't land them we've filled a hole in the squad and moved on. That's not to say we aren't still in for a wide forward and left back still.

[RedReet]

I reckon you've got to put Assaidi and Borini in the same category, whether that's a "wait and see when they come back from loan" or a miss. And whilst I'm happy with Mignolet as our keeper I wouldn't say he is an upgrade on Reina. I'd count him as about on a par, with different strengths and weaknesses, but for much less wages. Still counts as a hit.

Otherwise that's a fair assessment. At this stage Aspas, Cissokho and Alberto have got some work to do to prove their worth.

Worst case scenario with Assaidi is we make a small profit, so I can't really see that as a failure.

Borini will prove a lot more costly IMO and will be shipped back to Italy before too long at a substantial loss.

[BigChief]

Rodgers has tried to get players in to the squad that possess the attributes he wants on the pitch. He's done this on a relatively limited budget whilst trying to add depth. Rodgers has an extremely young squad that will be growing together ...and this has been done as he has got rid of the dross and trimmed the wage bill.

There is clearly a strategy that we as a football club are following to ensure success for a significant period of time, none of this flash in the pan malarkey. We're not going to get it right everytime, but as long as the 'hits' outweigh the 'misses' then it's not a problem.

For this reason Allen just makes the Hit category. Gerrard's enforced absence perfectly highlighted why. Toure is borderline, just making Hit as he helped out early in the season. Gone off the boil now.

[Chazza]

Brendan Rodgers has challenged Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling to enhance Liverpool's Champions League claims by bringing more goals to the team.

Liverpool are the second highest goalscorers in the Premier League this season, thanks in the main to the remarkable form of 22-goal Luis Suárez. The Uruguay international and Daniel Sturridge are responsible for 32 of Liverpool's 51 league goals so far.

The Liverpool manager is understandably content with his team's quality in front of goal but, with his midfield supporting cast of Coutinho, Sterling and Jordan Henderson providing a combined six league goals, he concedes there is room for improvement. "The responsibility has always been the team but we always want more," said Rodgers.

"When you play in those attacking positions it's your job to create and score goals. A player with their quality will say they want more goals and obviously I will demand more goals from them. We have also been the top scorers over the last calendar year, so I still think we have enough of a goal threat but in order for Raheem to develop and improve he needs to create and score more.

"I think Coutinho will get more too. I look at him as a [Luka] Modric type. And when you look at Modric over four years at Tottenham he got 13 goals [in the league] but his influence was massive and Coutinho is of that type. He will naturally get more goals but he is a wonderful player for us, he is a key who opens up many things in a game."

Rodgers insists there is no pressure on the players to alter their game, however. He added: "There's no doubt they will want to improve it but I don't want to put pressure on to do that. They know what their job is. If you put too much pressure on a creative player it can stifle them and can affect their overall performance."

Suárez believes this season has shown Liverpool are worthy of a return to the Champions League, having failed to qualify since 2009. The striker said: "We know that in the last two years we haven't demonstrated that Liverpool can play in the Champions League. Now we are playing very well and we have the level to play in the Champions League. We have really good players and if we continue at this level, we can do it."

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/14/liverpool-brendan-rodgers-coutinho-sterling-champions-league-luis-suarez?CMP=twt_gu

[Gibbo]

I think the Sahin problem was more down to Brendan than the player.

To this day it's the only thing I think that in the long run Brendan has got wrong.

Besides that he's top top draw.

[Mark79]

That was down to Sahin's attitude wasn't it? He refused to adapt his game or something?