Brendan Rodgers

[Pagnell]

What I quoted.

 

[allouso]

Some nice words from Phil McNulty regarding Rodgers and, in particular, Liverpool's brush with the title a few seasons back.

Agreed with it to be honest. Unfortunately the Liverpool job is one of the worst in world football and plenty of it is down to our fans. I can't think of any other fanbase that elevates managers (or some players) to god-like status like we do, which inevitably means that the fall is going to be a huge one. It wasn't that long ago that there were some pictures going around of Shankly giving his blessing to Rodgers, less than a few months after that everyone was lashing at Rodgers. The whole shenanigans surrounding Klopp's appointment are painfully hilarious too, as the guy is basically a legend now before having managed one single game, let's hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the ass.

It's all down to some long term frustration after not having won anything in so long. I'm disappointed to see that Rodgers's reputation got shot after everything that's happened. He is a good manager with some good qualities but he also has some glaring weaknesses that got exposed as time went on. 13/14 was just one of those seasons where everything seemed to go well; the competition was fairly week as United crumbled, Arsenal were still Arsenal-ish, Chelsea were rebuilding and City were fairly inconsistent. On top of that you had Suarez in the form of his life and everything seemed to just click. But saying that it was all down to Suarez is a huge disservice not just to Rodgers, but to the team itself. We shouldn't forget how good players like Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Gerrard, Skrtel, Henderson, Flanagan etc were. They all had stellar seasons and i think a lot of it was down to Rodgers. A lot of what he did that year just worked, whether it was switching to 3 at the back, 4 up front, playing the diamond or whatever, everything that he did seemed to work in our favor and he deserves credit for that.

Everything that's happened after THAT season was just a case of Rodgers failing to prove that he is a great manager. He was faced with almost the impossible task of losing his 2 standout players and following up on a hugely impressive domestic season whilst coping with the pressure of managing in the Champions League for the first time, all of which with a pretty demoralized squad. And if you believe the rumors he apparently had a ton of stuff to deal with off the pitch with his family. I think people (including me at times) underestimated just how difficult of a task that was, and I honestly believe that only a great manager would have been able to keep us competitive considering the circumstances. Rodgers couldn't, and for the first time in his Liverpool career he was under real pressure, so his lack of experience showed and he just crumbled. It was then that we started seeing him abandoning his preferred attacking style of play, changing so many desperate formation changes, putting players out of positions repeatedly, weird press conferences, patting himself on the back after any positive result etc

It's a shame. Looking at the overall picture, i think his time at Liverpool is a fair representation of where he stands as a manager: He is a decent, attack oriented manager with some nice ideas & good man management skills but on the other hand, he is inexperienced, unable to handle transfers properly and build a proper defense. These are all things that he could improve and he is still a baby in managerial terms, so i'm sure if he takes the positives out of his time and starts focusing on improving his mistakes that we will be hearing more from him in the coming years (and not just because he likes to talk about himself a lot). The Liverpool job is a tough one and can do horrible things to one's reputation (just look at Rafa), i don't see him getting a decent job in England any time soon so i hope he looks abroad to start rebuilding his reputation.

 

[JimJams]

One thing he should do is shut the fuck up about other clubs. The Spurs spend comment and the Southampton ambition remarks both came round to bite him in the arse and make him look a tit.

 

[Pagnell]

Yup, I remember thinking at the time those comments were a bit stupid and unnecessary, especially the one about Spurs and £100m. It's something he will learn from I would hope.

 

[johnnytodd]

I could never take a manager who had his nails done twice a month serious.

He also fell into the bitter trap like Rafa imo. Never as bad a manager as some make out, but he was never as good as HE thought he was.

 

[allouso]

One thing he should do is shut the fuck up about other clubs. The Spurs spend comment and the Southampton ambition remarks both came round to bite him in the arse and make him look a tit.

His Spurs comment was pretty stupid and arrogant but i honestly don't see anything wrong with what he said about Southampton.

Almost everyone that summer was mocking them for selling half their squad, including their own fans (hell, even Koeman seems to get in on it when he tweeted a picture of an empty playground) and right before our game against them he was asked what he thought on the manner. He merely said what everyone was thinking at the time, but the only reason it backfired hilariously is because we got shit very quickly and anything that he said was held against him.

“I have absolutely no sympathy for Southampton,” said Rodgers, whose team kick off their campaign against the depleted Saints tomorrow.

“They have a choice as a club. They don’t have to sell. They had that choice. Maybe Southampton’s objectives have changed. They were on course to be a Champions League club, I believe, but, obviously, that has changed.

“I suppose Liverpool have taken three players, but Arsenal have taken a player, Man United have taken a player and there might be one or two others. It’s just football. It’s just the way it works. We were after a certain type of player that fits the profile and the mould of the way we play. So, I don’t have sympathy, no.”

Nothing wrong with that, it was just about the only time he was being blunt.

 

[Pagnell]

Nothing wrong with that, it was just about the only time he was being blunt.

I don't really agree. The premise was fine, after all Southampton didn't have to sell and we were simply doing what football clubs do, namely buying players we had identified from another club. But his manner was wrong and was bound to set backs up. He could have conveyed the same message with sensible language, he went further and made it almost personal with the extreme phrases like "absolutely no sympathy".

 

[allouso]

I always assumed it's that he was asked if he had any sympathy for them? I'm not sure if there's a link for that press conference somewhere but i assumed that since he mentioned sympathy twice that this is was he was asked.

 

[JaseTheVillain]

Feeling stupid yet, Pags?

 

[kopite]

Agreed with it to be honest. Unfortunately the Liverpool job is one of the worst in world football and plenty of it is down to our fans. I can't think of any other fanbase that elevates managers (or some players) to god-like status like we do, which inevitably means that the fall is going to be a huge one. It wasn't that long ago that there were some pictures going around of Shankly giving his blessing to Rodgers, less than a few months after that everyone was lashing at Rodgers. The whole shenanigans surrounding Klopp's appointment are painfully hilarious too, as the guy is basically a legend now before having managed one single game, let's hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the ass.

It's all down to some long term frustration after not having won anything in so long. I'm disappointed to see that Rodgers's reputation got shot after everything that's happened. He is a good manager with some good qualities but he also has some glaring weaknesses that got exposed as time went on. 13/14 was just one of those seasons where everything seemed to go well; the competition was fairly week as United crumbled, Arsenal were still Arsenal-ish, Chelsea were rebuilding and City were fairly inconsistent. On top of that you had Suarez in the form of his life and everything seemed to just click. But saying that it was all down to Suarez is a huge disservice not just to Rodgers, but to the team itself. We shouldn't forget how good players like Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Gerrard, Skrtel, Henderson, Flanagan etc were. They all had stellar seasons and i think a lot of it was down to Rodgers. A lot of what he did that year just worked, whether it was switching to 3 at the back, 4 up front, playing the diamond or whatever, everything that he did seemed to work in our favor and he deserves credit for that.

Everything that's happened after THAT season was just a case of Rodgers failing to prove that he is a great manager. He was faced with almost the impossible task of losing his 2 standout players and following up on a hugely impressive domestic season whilst coping with the pressure of managing in the Champions League for the first time, all of which with a pretty demoralized squad. And if you believe the rumors he apparently had a ton of stuff to deal with off the pitch with his family. I think people (including me at times) underestimated just how difficult of a task that was, and I honestly believe that only a great manager would have been able to keep us competitive considering the circumstances. Rodgers couldn't, and for the first time in his Liverpool career he was under real pressure, so his lack of experience showed and he just crumbled. It was then that we started seeing him abandoning his preferred attacking style of play, changing so many desperate formation changes, putting players out of positions repeatedly, weird press conferences, patting himself on the back after any positive result etc

It's a shame. Looking at the overall picture, i think his time at Liverpool is a fair representation of where he stands as a manager: He is a decent, attack oriented manager with some nice ideas & good man management skills but on the other hand, he is inexperienced, unable to handle transfers properly and build a proper defense. These are all things that he could improve and he is still a baby in managerial terms, so i'm sure if he takes the positives out of his time and starts focusing on improving his mistakes that we will be hearing more from him in the coming years (and not just because he likes to talk about himself a lot). The Liverpool job is a tough one and can do horrible things to one's reputation (just look at Rafa), i don't see him getting a decent job in England any time soon so i hope he looks abroad to start rebuilding his reputation.

Top post, completely agree with everything in that. People going on about Suarez was the reason why we went close to the title...Kenny had Suarez for 18 months and Rodgers had him in his first season and we were miles away from champions league spots let alone the league.

Unfortunately his European record was horrible. Everything from formations and line ups (especially the must win game against Basel) showed he wasn't ready for the big stage.

Last season was tough but even still we finished the season so badly and injuries to Sturridge and Suarez leaving doesn't excuse that woeful Stoke game. Plus Stevie's last game at Anfield was dire...we got well beaten but the whole occasion of goodbye Stevie masked how bad we were.

Plus the signings and that defence!! Thus season it wasn't looking too bad on paper but the performances were bad and it just did not look as if they were going to get better.

I think Rodgers can build his name up again. Hodgson did at Albion and became England manager. If Newcastle stay crap and Sherwood gets the job, those are ideal jobs for him.

I'm still made up that Jurgen Klopp is our manager but jeez the ott reaction is setting us up for a fall. The lad got a real tough first 8 games which can go badly. I just hope he really focuses on the defence...we need to stop conceding especially the ones our defenders create. Make us tough to beat and work out our best team to play his style.

 

[JaseTheVillain]

To be fair, I wouldn't mind Rodgers if/when Sherwood gets sacked. Can finally settle the question of Lambert Vs Rodgers based on how shit we are.

 

[dubzerino]

To be fair, I wouldn't mind Rodgers if/when Sherwood gets sacked. Can finally settle the question of Lambert Vs Rodgers based on how shit we are.

A good old fashioned shit off!

 

[dubzerino]

I could never take a manager who had his nails done twice a month serious.

He also fell into the bitter trap like Rafa imo. Never as bad a manager as some make out, but he was never as good as HE thought he was.

I hear he also had twice weekly bush trimmings. Not my cup of tea.

 

[G-Dragon]

Pundit for Bein Sports now - will bring a lot of character!

 

[SALTIRE]

Pundit for Bein Sports now - will bring a lot of character!

He sure will. The Yanks will love him

 

[Christian Slater]

There isn't many people I could think of that are worse suited to punditry than Rodgers. He's inarticulate, has an embarrassing lexicon, and has a quiet, dour tone.

 

[SALTIRE]

Hardly inarticulate tbh. He's not as monosyllabic as many of them. He'll become a Bein lege just like Hudson.

 

[Christian Slater]

Hardly inarticulate tbh. He's not as monosyllabic as many of them. He'll become a Bein lege just like Hudson.

Please, all he ever says is 'character' and 'disappointing.' He was that clichéd he became a meme.

 

[johnnytodd]

utter bellend

 

[Stevencc]

Hardly inarticulate tbh. He's not as monosyllabic as many of them. He'll become a Bein lege just like Hudson.

How dare you compare a master of his craft like Hudson to an absolute chancer like Rodgers?

 

[SALTIRE]

How dare you compare a master of his craft like Hudson to an absolute chancer like Rodgers?

Hudson is the endgame for Rodgers, he'll get there I have no doubt about that.

 

[merseyboyred]

I'd call Rodgers many things but inarticulate isn't one of them. Because a few words were picked up on doesn't make him so!

 

[Christian Slater]

It's his over reliance on the same words that make it the case.

 

[Pagnell]

Rodgers back to Swansea? He's got to be an improvement on Gary Monk at the moment with 1 win in his last 8.

 

[Whitechapel]

Monk was always going to be found out eventually, will Rodgers' now inflated ego take a lower-mid table team?

 

[allouso]

Monk was always going to be found out eventually, will Rodgers' now inflated ego take a lower-mid table team?

He doesn't have many choices really, unless Chelsea hire him!

 

[ArmchairDiehard]

Monk was always going to be found out eventually, will Rodgers' now inflated ego take a lower-mid table team?

I thought that at the weekend. The longer this bad run goes on for Swansea, the more likely this becomes.

 

[Pagnell]

I'd be interested to hear Abertawe's opinion on this. The sun shone out of Monk's arse a few months back, I wonder if he would accept Rodgers if it were to happen?

 

[JimJams]

Can't see why they'd get rid of Monk at all. A run of poor results and they're 13th. Not really sack worthy stuff imo. If it continues to Christmas then maybe.

 

[smat]

Can't see why they'd get rid of Monk at all. A run of poor results and they're 13th. Not really sack worthy stuff imo. If it continues to Christmas then maybe.

They won't sack him now, but if their form continues they might have to act or go down.