I ****ing love Brendan, he's a genius
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...o-fitness.html
That pikslikker Laudrup is playing mind games.Comment
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Oops wrong threadComment
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pikslikker
sgu.dave of mutilation
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Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers shows his ruthless streak as he reveals why Pepe Reina left Anfield
It was over dinner that Brendan Rodgers decided to break the news to Pepe Reina. He was going to sign another goalkeeper: a serious challenger to the Spaniard’s previously undisputed status at Liverpool, someone who would question, after eight years and 285 appearances, whether he was first choice.
That man would be the Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who duly arrived for £8 million.
“It wasn’t anything underhand,” the Liverpool manager said. “It was looking into his eye and telling him he was a very good keeper but in order to be the best he can be and for us to be the best, I need to bring in another one who would be equal number one. He accepted that at the time, that was something he felt was needed also.”
On reflection, however, this was not something Reina could stomach. The opportunity came for him to link up again with Rafael Benítez and he joined Napoli on a season-long loan. “That’s something he wanted to do,” Rodgers said. “Obviously here at the club we then have to consider the wages, as there is a financial implication too. So it was deemed through both parties that it was best for him to move on. As I said, I was comfortable enough to let it happen. He wanted to go and play, you have to consider that, it is World Cup year as well. He wanted to be a number one somewhere.”
It was a brave decision: Reina was experienced and popular, and changing goalkeeper did not seem an immediate priority for Liverpool. Yet the decision has been spectacularly vindicated: Liverpool travel to Swansea City on Monday having won their first three league matches without conceding a goal.
“When I came here, there were a number of decisions I needed to make,” Rodgers explained. “I just felt I had to go with my feeling of what I think a winning team is made up of, which is hunger and quality. I made some decisions last year that might not have deemed to be the correct ones but with Simon, it was one where Pepe has obviously been here for a few years and done well.
“We did everything we could to support him to be the best he could be. There was no rush for me to move Pepe out but I felt he needed competition so I had to bring in someone.”
So far Mignolet, 25, and a Belgian international, has been outstanding. “I’d seen him over the last few years, he’s adapted to the Premier League. He is a brilliant shot-stopper,” Rodgers said. “John Achterberg, our Dutch goalkeeping coach, has been monitoring him for years.
“You see his presence, he is good with his feet, that is important, it is one of the big things I look for in my goalkeeper — the way he deals with the ball so when we have the ball we have 11 players not 10 outfield players and a goalkeeper. So he’s comfortable with the ball at his feet, he makes saves and again I go back, he had the hunger to succeed. He was going to come from a really good club in Sunderland and prove he could be the number one goalkeeper here.”
Rodgers has followed that philosophy of providing competition for his established stars all over the pitch, signing – for example – Kolo Toure, Mamadou Sakho and Tiago Ilori to challenge Daniel Agger and, in particular, Martin Skrtel. There has been a need, he says, to provide a challenge to some players who simply expected to play.
“That is what drives you on," Rodgers explained. “If you are in a workplace and you know someone else is very good at their job and can challenge you and make you try to be the best you can be. Otherwise you get too comfortable.
“I won’t wait six months to tell them what I know now. I’m not going to go around the houses with them.
“Players might not always like what you are telling them, but I have found that they always appreciate you to be honest with them.”
That approach requires not just belief and honesty but a ruthless streak. “I don’t think you can be a manager or a coach at the top level if you are always a nice guy,” Rodgers said. “Maybe I’m different. But I don’t see players as individuals with any great status. I don’t see them as superstars who earn big money and live in big houses. I see them as people.
“Ninety-nine per cent of the time the best players are being told only the things they want to hear. Because of that, they never hear the kind of things that will do them good.”
With Luis Suarez nearing the end of his suspension, and with Daniel Sturridge in such impressive form as a main striker, will Rodgers have to manage their desire to be the ‘main man’?
“Neither of them will be the main man,” he said. “This is based around a team. People were talking about Suarez being a one-man team last year, I kept saying we’re not and if you look at the numbers clearly we are not. We want top players.
“This is a club where players get told where to play. We don’t mollycoddle them, they are expected to come in and do a job. If they want to be the superstar, if they want to be the individual, they can go elsewhere.”Comment
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Good article that, he comes across really, really well.Comment
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Good article but I can't agree with this.
“he is good with his feet, that is important, it is one of the big things I look for in my goalkeeper — the way he deals with the ball so when we have the ball we have 11 players not 10 outfield players and a goalkeeper. So he’s comfortable with the ball at his feet,Stop the cyberhate
from now on I will skip talking about our finances. That is a promise and will save myself from looking like a 
Susan Black
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Think he's decent with his feet but not to Pepe's level.Are we winning?Comment
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I think BR said it to breed some confidence. We can all see that it reality Mignolet has some weaknesses which include distribution, catching and playing with his feet. At this stage of his development it would've served no benefit to highlight them though.Originally posted by Arn View Post
Brendan isn't practicing his own mantra of telling it as it is and I'm glad he's not in this instanceComment
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I think Pepe was getting too old for the job, i would have loved him to stay but if we wanted clean sheets we had to sign MignoletDo the Sturridge!
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Pepe is 31. Hardly too old for a goalie.Originally posted by Madridred View PostAre we winning?Comment
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IIRC that article doesn't square with Reina's version.Comment
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It doesn't marry up at all, tbh I'd find it quite hard to believe we'd done a deal with Rafa and Napoli with Pepe not knowing anything about it.
Hope he does well over there for them but he's not going to play for us again and we've moved onComment
your too kind Norbs
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