Brendan Rodgers

[alonso14]

There's some rose tinting though. Although we were great in the CL we still too often against the likes of West Ham too often to make consistent title challenges , even before city came along, and we didn't play the flowing football that we see now from the likes of Madrid, or saw previously from Valencia. We need a philosophy that can bridge the spending gap in the league, everything else can wait. With more willingness to spend money in the summer that may have been possible. I trust brendan to make it work more that I trust the rest of the off-field staff at the club.

not everything was great during the rafa period and it was under a different regime. the real question is what a coach like rafa benitez would produce under fenway who back their coaches and invest big into their teams whereas hicks/gillette only did that once. the rest of the time we had to struggle.

would the likes of dani alves, david silva and sergio aguero have gotten away because we couldnt pay afford the transfers ?

this isnt a rafa vs brendan debate as we need to get behind our manager. the game in madrid in 2 weeks will give us some answers.

[G]

I think he actually is injured - he was missing from the French squad as well so wasn't like he was just 'missing' from our match day squad.

I know he's injured, he tweeted it himself. I mean at the times when he isn't injured yet car crashes like Skrtel and Lovren with way more mistakes under their belt's are automatically ahead of him.

[Muddled]

not everything was great during the rafa period and it was under a different regime. the real question is what a coach like rafa benitez would produce under fenway who back their coaches and invest big into their teams whereas hicks/gillette only did that once. the rest of the time we had to struggle.

would the likes of dani alves, david silva and sergio aguero have gotten away because we couldnt pay afford the transfers ?

this isnt a rafa vs brendan debate as we need to get behind our manager. the game in madrid in 2 weeks will give us some answers.

To what question?

[Shaggy]

That's exactly how manutd fans are thinking right now. To a tee, if you pardon the pun.

Funny isn't it, cos they thought he was overrated when he was here.

[marcus50bucks]

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport...c-dont-7990098

Brendan says we don't need a defensive coach

Personally, I think Rodgers is chatting bollocks when he says he's not had the time on the training field this season to address the defensive issues. As he forgotten we only had one game a week for most of last season yet we were still shocking at the back? Instead of trying to make excuses, take responsibility and look at yourself and the coaching staff because that's where the problems lies ffs

[marcus50bucks]

Rodgers has blown his bonus

David Walsh Published: 26 October 2014

MAGINE you are the only breadwinner and three weeks before Christmas you receive an unexpected but substantial bonus. So in a spirit of kindness you speak to your partner, whose task it is to spend your disposable income.

“Remember we agreed that you could have £1,000 for what you need. I can now let you have £5,000. You don’t have to spend it all right away, but it’s there if you need it.”

What happens? The money is soon spent and because there wasn’t time to seriously consider what constituted value, bad decisions were made. Things you didn’t need but thought you wanted. This, as you will know, is the recent history of two football clubs, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.

Spurs were paid £85.3m for Gareth Bale, Liverpool received around £70m for Luis Suarez. At each club the transfer budget for the following season jumped from £40m-£50m to more than £100m. Neither of the clubs had time to do the preparation that would have enabled them to spend their windfalls wisely.

Bad decisions that cost a lot of money may also cost a football manager his job. Five months into the season, Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas was sacked. This is not to say that Villas-Boas chose the players who came to White Hart Lane that summer but it was his job that was on the line when the investment did not deliver an immediate return.

Now it is Brendan Rodgers about whom the questions are being asked. How could so much money make a team worse? Liverpool now look nothing like the team who thrilled us last season. Is this a temporary stalling in the rise of a promising young British coach or is his career spinning downwards in a way that might not be reversible?

Rodgers’ difficulty is that there is no easy solution. One accepts Liverpool are not as bad as their recent form suggests and they can certainly end the season in the top six. But that is no good if top six means fifth or sixth and just now that’s the best one can see for the team.

Consider the challenges facing Rodgers. He has spent £65m on defenders over the past 18 months but yesterday’s 0-0 draw against Hull was only their second clean sheet in 19 games. It is not just that — the defence has conceded 48 goals in its past 35 games and the £20m centre-back Dejan Lovren, signed from Southampton to bring leadership to the defence, has not adapted to the demands of his new club.

Rodgers’ difficulty in midfield is also the elephant in the room: Steven Gerrard. He has been a fine player for a very long time but is now slowing down to a point where it is impossible for him to be the leader the team needs him to be. When you are seen as the talisman, you have to be one of the team’s top performers every week. Gerrard is no longer even close to that.

Rodgers will continue to show faith because he has hitched his wagon to his captain and the deal is that they offer each other unstinting support. But this situation of the talisman’s diminishing powers cannot get better — it will get worse.

Then there is Mario Balotelli. It is not just that he no longer scores goals, or even that he has shown such little enthusiasm for doing good things at Liverpool. It’s like the striker has fallen out of love with the game and isn’t overjoyed at what he himself has become. You laughed at some of the madness that coloured his time at Manchester City but now he’s a young man who is more to be pitied than to be laughed at.

And if you do an inventory on Liverpool’s most expensive signings, the analysis is damning. Lovren, £20m, very expensive; Lazar Markovic, £20m, very expensive, Adam Lallana £25m, very expensive; Balotelli, £16m, a waste. Lovren, Markovic and Lallana might yet justify their enormous fees, but it’s unlikely they all will.

The jury is still out on Emre Can (£9.75m) and very much out on the 2013 signing Mamadou Sakho (£15m). Alberto Moreno (£12m) and Javier Manquillo (on loan from Atletico Madrid) have at times shown the potential that could make them strong Liverpool players of the future. Overall, however, the situation is close to bleak and if it is to be rescued then Daniel Sturridge must soon return from injury and his fellow England internationals Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson must rediscover their best form.

Rodgers has always been comfortable explaining the nature of what he is attempting to do at Liverpool. Once he came up with what seemed a clever metaphor to better describe how he was going about things. “I always say that a squad is like a good meal. I’m not a great cook but a good meal takes a wee bit of time and also, to make a good meal you need good ingredients.”

Allow us to mix the metaphor just a little. If we imagine Rodgers as the chef in this world of Liverpool football club, you will agree that he’s got a big job between now and the end of the season. Because with all his new and expensive ingredients he has produced what can only be described as a dog’s dinner of a team. Whether or not he can rescue it will be one of the season’s more compelling stories.

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/sport/article1475567.ece

[danperkins]

[alonso14]

Is that the same David Walsh who exposed the myth of lance Armstrong ?

[danperkins]

Think so yup

[alonso14]

That bit about Gerrard and Rodgers offering each other unwavering support is quite incendiary. The word deal doesn't sound right.

[Red_Polo]

The words 'misleading' or even 'made up' sound more likely to be on the money.

[danperkins]

The are looking for some kind of story. They are desperate for Balotelli to fail, do something crazy & for their to be chaos at LFC.

[muddym2002]

Rodgers has blown his bonus

David Walsh Published: 26 October 2014

MAGINE you are the only breadwinner and three weeks before Christmas you receive an unexpected but substantial bonus. So in a spirit of kindness you speak to your partner, whose task it is to spend your disposable income.

“Remember we agreed that you could have £1,000 for what you need. I can now let you have £5,000. You don’t have to spend it all right away, but it’s there if you need it.”

What happens? The money is soon spent and because there wasn’t time to seriously consider what constituted value, bad decisions were made. Things you didn’t need but thought you wanted. This, as you will know, is the recent history of two football clubs, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.

Spurs were paid £85.3m for Gareth Bale, Liverpool received around £70m for Luis Suarez. At each club the transfer budget for the following season jumped from £40m-£50m to more than £100m. Neither of the clubs had time to do the preparation that would have enabled them to spend their windfalls wisely.

Bad decisions that cost a lot of money may also cost a football manager his job. Five months into the season, Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas was sacked. This is not to say that Villas-Boas chose the players who came to White Hart Lane that summer but it was his job that was on the line when the investment did not deliver an immediate return.

Now it is Brendan Rodgers about whom the questions are being asked. How could so much money make a team worse? Liverpool now look nothing like the team who thrilled us last season. Is this a temporary stalling in the rise of a promising young British coach or is his career spinning downwards in a way that might not be reversible?

Rodgers’ difficulty is that there is no easy solution. One accepts Liverpool are not as bad as their recent form suggests and they can certainly end the season in the top six. But that is no good if top six means fifth or sixth and just now that’s the best one can see for the team.

Consider the challenges facing Rodgers. He has spent £65m on defenders over the past 18 months but yesterday’s 0-0 draw against Hull was only their second clean sheet in 19 games. It is not just that — the defence has conceded 48 goals in its past 35 games and the £20m centre-back Dejan Lovren, signed from Southampton to bring leadership to the defence, has not adapted to the demands of his new club.

Rodgers’ difficulty in midfield is also the elephant in the room: Steven Gerrard. He has been a fine player for a very long time but is now slowing down to a point where it is impossible for him to be the leader the team needs him to be. When you are seen as the talisman, you have to be one of the team’s top performers every week. Gerrard is no longer even close to that.

Rodgers will continue to show faith because he has hitched his wagon to his captain and the deal is that they offer each other unstinting support. But this situation of the talisman’s diminishing powers cannot get better — it will get worse.

Then there is Mario Balotelli. It is not just that he no longer scores goals, or even that he has shown such little enthusiasm for doing good things at Liverpool. It’s like the striker has fallen out of love with the game and isn’t overjoyed at what he himself has become. You laughed at some of the madness that coloured his time at Manchester City but now he’s a young man who is more to be pitied than to be laughed at.

And if you do an inventory on Liverpool’s most expensive signings, the analysis is damning. Lovren, £20m, very expensive; Lazar Markovic, £20m, very expensive, Adam Lallana £25m, very expensive; Balotelli, £16m, a waste. Lovren, Markovic and Lallana might yet justify their enormous fees, but it’s unlikely they all will.

The jury is still out on Emre Can (£9.75m) and very much out on the 2013 signing Mamadou Sakho (£15m). Alberto Moreno (£12m) and Javier Manquillo (on loan from Atletico Madrid) have at times shown the potential that could make them strong Liverpool players of the future. Overall, however, the situation is close to bleak and if it is to be rescued then Daniel Sturridge must soon return from injury and his fellow England internationals Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson must rediscover their best form.

Rodgers has always been comfortable explaining the nature of what he is attempting to do at Liverpool. Once he came up with what seemed a clever metaphor to better describe how he was going about things. “I always say that a squad is like a good meal. I’m not a great cook but a good meal takes a wee bit of time and also, to make a good meal you need good ingredients.”

Allow us to mix the metaphor just a little. If we imagine Rodgers as the chef in this world of Liverpool football club, you will agree that he’s got a big job between now and the end of the season. Because with all his new and expensive ingredients he has produced what can only be described as a dog’s dinner of a team. Whether or not he can rescue it will be one of the season’s more compelling stories.

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/sport/article1475567.ece

[ChrisDR1968]

Yes the midfield is below form and the centre of defence (all £50 million of it including the goalkeeper) are average to poor but the real elephant in the room is the 4 strikers currently in the squad.

Three are useless and the one good one is made of glass.

I've no idea how Rodgers can solve that between now and the end of the season.

[RichC]

The words 'misleading' or even 'made up' sound more likely to be on the money.