Early thoughts on Rodgers

[Hand Shandy]

I wasn't sure if you got it.

 

I know you can be a bit slow sometimes...

[zigackly]

I wasn't sure if you got it.

 

I know you can be a bit slow sometimes...

 

[moof]

Piss off you trivial twat. It's not worth the subscription to neg you back, but you deserve it.

 

I guess it was worth it in the end, then? You utter whopper haha

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Good' date=' not great. Could have been luckier in a few games. Says the right things, doesn't slag the fans or players that are trying, so I say keep him.[/quote']

 

Holy fuck, somebody who isn't totally overreacting.

 

Burn him.

[HJohal]

It is very difficult to judge Rodgers at this stage purely because the club is still trying to turn around the squad finances from previous regimes - which unfortunately was compounded by Kenny & Commoli under FSG's watch. In an ideal world Maxi & Kuyt would have stayed another year and helped Rodgers with the transition process, however shifting the likes of Cole & Downing was impossible and hence this was not possible. Next summer the likes of Cole, Downing, Carroll, Spearing, Doni and the likely retirement of Carragher will release approx 400k per week in wages, how Rodgers invests this money in new players will determine how successful he is as a Liverpool manager.

[silverlining]

*sloshes petrol all over him*

[KopOut]

The progress which saw us finish 8th (having finished 6th the season before) with our lowest points total in the Premier League, and our worst home record in God knows how long?

 

That progress?

 

No, the progress that saw us lose Torres, Suarez to a ban for eight matches( which just about crippled the dressing room), a massive injury to Lucas with no obvious backup, Stevie G in and out of the team (ergo, we were rudderless on a consistant basis), the loss of Miereles (when a player wants to walk you can't stop him), AND YET, SOMEHOW, with the so-called shite of Henderson, Downing and Carroll, we won the Leage Cup, were within a hair's width of winning the FA Cup, and finished eighth in the Premiership.

 

That's the man, the shining light, that is one Kenneth Dalglish (with a lot of help from Steve Clark).

 

As I've posted in another thread: if we fail to improve on eighth this season, then that pretty much vindicates not only KK and Clarke, but Henderson Carroll and Downing as well, on account of them not taking part!!

 

Some people don't see the forest for the trees.

[KopOut]

It is very difficult to judge Rodgers at this stage purely because the club is still trying to turn around the squad finances from previous regimes - which unfortunately was compounded by Kenny & Commoli under FSG's watch. In an ideal world Maxi & Kuyt would have stayed another year and helped Rodgers with the transition process, however shifting the likes of Cole & Downing was impossible and hence this was not possible. Next summer the likes of Cole, Downing, Carroll, Spearing, Doni and the likely retirement of Carragher will release approx 400k per week in wages, how Rodgers invests this money in new players will determine how successful he is as a Liverpool manager.

 

Except that LFC isn't run like that. There's a transfer kitty. End Of. The owners want to make a profit, and that so called 400K will enrich their personal lives, NOT the managers transfer kitty.

 

Add to that, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

[G Richards]

This thread has taken an interesting turn over the last ten pages or so. I'm a little shocked that so many of our fans are ready to stick the boot in, since it is only just November. This is disconcerting.

 

We have had an awful few years since G&H took us to the brink. This has been compounded by several mistakes since, until finally the new owners put their own man in. We don't know yet if that will prove to be an inspired move, a disaster, or something in between. What we do know is that Rodgers is their man, so it is safe to assume he will get a fair crack of the whip in terms of time.

 

Rodgers should have started with a clean slate. He certainly did in my book. His immediate predecessor spent 100M+ and finished 8th. Fairness means we should also note the two cup finals, but the league showing was so poor that the owners acted and put their own man in. Rodgers has spent, but not nearly in that order of magnitude. It is possible that those days are gone, but we will have to wait and see. We are definitely a second tier club in terms of money we can spend... we are not poor, but we are not competing at the highest end either. So we have to be clever. And Carroll and Downing in particular were just not clever. Allen looks a cracking little player to me. Borini is too early to tell. Assaidi has a turn of pace and a trick, but at his price level he should be a squad man.

 

I think Rodgers we will finish around the same level as Kenny's team last season, only Rodgers will benefit from being the owner's man, and not having spent nearly as much as Kenny to arrive at that level. So in all likelihood he will continue on. And to my mind, rightly so. By that time all the young players he has been playing will be that much better to go into a subsequent campaign.

 

We should not judge this manager a failure yet. He has been dealt a poor hand (certainly for a Liverpool manager). But there are enough signs there for me to be hopeful.

 

Keep the faith.

[Judge]

This thread has taken an interesting turn over the last ten pages or so. I'm a little shocked that so many of our fans are ready to stick the boot in, since it is only just November. This is disconcerting.

 

We have had an awful few years since G&H took us to the brink. This has been compounded by several mistakes since, until finally the new owners put their own man in. We don't know yet if that will prove to be an inspired move, a disaster, or something in between. What we do know is that Rodgers is their man, so it is safe to assume he will get a fair crack of the whip in terms of time.

 

Rodgers should have started with a clean slate. He certainly did in my book. His immediate predecessor spent 100M+ and finished 8th. Fairness means we should also note the two cup finals, but the league showing was so poor that the owners acted and put their own man in. Rodgers has spent, but not nearly in that order of magnitude. It is possible that those days are gone, but we will have to wait and see. We are definitely a second tier club in terms of money we can spend... we are not poor, but we are not competing at the highest end either. So we have to be clever. And Carroll and Downing in particular were just not clever. Allen looks a cracking little player to me. Borini is too early to tell. Assaidi has a turn of pace and a trick, but at his price level he should be a squad man.

 

I think Rodgers we will finish around the same level as Kenny's team last season, only Rodgers will benefit from being the owner's man, and not having spent nearly as much as Kenny to arrive at that level. So in all likelihood he will continue on. And to my mind, rightly so. By that time all the young players he has been playing will be that much better to go into a subsequent campaign.

 

We should not judge this manager a failure yet. He has been dealt a poor hand (certainly for a Liverpool manager). But there are enough signs there for me to be hopeful.

 

Keep the faith.

 

Some sanity among all the mongery. Thanks!

[zigackly]

His immediate predecessor spent 100M+ and finished 8th.

 

That's interesting to see from you, because I've always thought you were a fair man, but perhaps you can answer me this; that 100M+ which you say that Kenny spent - since the owners have made no secret of the fact we will only spend what we earn - where do you think it all came from?

 

And carrying on from that thought ... how much has Rodgers spent relative to Kenny? And are the performances that much better?

 

It's ok, I don't really expect an answer. Just something to think about.

[xerxes]

He has been dealt a poor hand (certainly for a Liverpool manager).

 

Inheriting a team including Reina, Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Suarez, Sterling and the eighth most expensive player in the history of World Football, Andy Carroll, combined with a £29m summer spend is hardly a poor hand.

[Section_31]

Inheriting a team including Reina, Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Suarez, Sterling and the eighth most expensive player in the history of World Football, Andy Carroll, combined with a £29m summer spend is hardly a poor hand.

 

An out of form Reina, ageing Gerrard, Sterling is 17 and Carroll is shite.

[Kevin D]

An out of form Reina, ageing Gerrard, Sterling is 17 and Carroll is shite.

 

Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts - Edward Murrow.

[Unrighteous]

My only agenda is winning.

 

For the third time, no I would not need more than 5 months got get my ideas across, if I did it would probably be because they were shite ideas in the first place and if I saw players struggling to come top terms with my ideas i would have a preagmatic approach to the games where results outweighed everything else.

 

I'm currently managing no one because I'm not looking to manage a team, if I did I would most likely be way ahead of Rodgers in the queue for the Liverpool job.

 

Do you have any more questions before I'm out for a few pints.

 

[Unrighteous]

Inheriting a team including Reina, Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Suarez, Sterling and the eighth most expensive player in the history of World Football, Andy Carroll, combined with a £29m summer spend is hardly a poor hand.

 

Err... That hardly looks like a starting XI... let alone a squad...

[xerxes]

Err... That hardly looks like a starting XI... let alone a squad...

 

The clue was in the word "including".

 

It's a very good start.

[Anubis]

I'm currently managing no one because I'm not looking to manage a team, if I did I would most likely be way ahead of Rodgers in the queue for the Liverpool job.

 

Do you have any more questions before I'm out for a few pints.

 

[TheHowieLama]

It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing! -

Ed Norton

[Bobby Hundreds]

In 1993 from the comfort of my bedroom on premier manager for the Amiga I got woking to the premier league. Credentials. My opinion on Rodgers is he makes me very nervous I've no idea if he's going to be superb or utter shite, he comes across like he's been there and done that but the fact is he hasn't so his talk of death by football seems very hollow. A few months is absolutely no time to solidify an opinion on him, I'm more than prepared to give him time but I think he's on a hiding to nowhere with our owners and his mediocre back room staff.

[xerxes]

I think he's on a hiding to nowhere with our owners and his mediocre back room staff.

 

Refusing to work with a DOF looks foolish when you only have one years experience as a PL manager. FSG were foolish too for not making KK a non-exec director with responsibility to advise on football matters.

 

Good people want the best teams around them.

[G Richards]

That's interesting to see from you, because I've always thought you were a fair man, but perhaps you can answer me this; that 100M+ which you say that Kenny spent - since the owners have made no secret of the fact we will only spend what we earn - where do you think it all came from?

 

And carrying on from that thought ... how much has Rodgers spent relative to Kenny? And are the performances that much better?

 

It's ok, I don't really expect an answer. Just something to think about.

 

If I had my choice Kenny would have stayed on. It was criminal what happened to him. I wish I didn't write the 100M thing, as of course Kenny lost a 50M striker and so on in order to generate a lot of the money to spend. The main point about Kenny for me is that he was not the owner's man. He did exceptionally well when he took over from Hodgson, such that he was offered a permanent deal. I never really thought he was their man, but they went along with it because the signs were so promising.

 

My point about Rodgers is that compared to Kenny, he is the man the owners went out and chose. So that buys him time. It seems out of order to me that fans should be weighing in too heavily against him, especially as he is a new man at a new club, and it is far too soon to make hasty judgments. At the least we should all acknowledge he didn't get another goalscorer, which he clearly had in mind, and then in addition to that we should allow time for what he is trying to do to emerge.

 

I don't want to get stuck on Kenny, Rafa, or any of our other previous managers who are dragged into the fray when we are doing battle on these message boards!

 

We have Rodgers. There are some legitimate concerns... leaky defence... not as many goals as we would have hoped - to name but two. But it is far too soon to go overboard on the deficiencies. (I'm certainly not saying that's what you are doing, but I am noticing quite a few fans doing that on the last 10 pages or so).

 

It is time to keep the faith. It is time to support the manager and his emerging team. It is a fresh start. Let's see what emerges. To my mind he has two years to show progress. My best guess is that he will achieve approximately what Kenny did in the league last season, and then he will go on to build higher.

 

We will see though. My main point is wait... and support.

[G Richards]

Inheriting a team including Reina, Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Suarez, Sterling and the eighth most expensive player in the history of World Football, Andy Carroll, combined with a £29m summer spend is hardly a poor hand.

 

Please note the phrase... 'for a Liverpool manager'.

 

Of course Rodgers has some considerable talent at his disposal. And we look to have an exciting crop of youngsters coming through. So all is not doom and gloom.

 

So, for 'dealt a poor hand' read - the squad is not deep enough; his starting point is a team that finished 8th in the league; he didn't get the much needed goalscorer he wanted to sign; and while we are not totally skint by any means, the manager does not appear to be able to spend in the manner that previous Liverpool managers were able to spend (this last point is arguable, as he is new to the position, so we need to see what he is allowed to do in future windows).

 

So don't hear me overstate the case. There are plenty of plus points he inherited. But let's not overlook where we were when he started.

[G Richards]

Refusing to work with a DOF looks foolish when you only have one years experience as a PL manager. FSG were foolish too for not making KK a non-exec director with responsibility to advise on football matters.

 

Good people want the best teams around them.

 

I'm not sure about my facts, but my impression is that the owners would have wanted to keep Kenny around in a footballing role as you describe or similar, only Kenny did not want to do that, since he was sacked as manager.

 

I don't know why I have that impression. Perhaps others more knowledgeable than me may be able to shed some light.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I'm not sure about my facts, but my impression is that the owners would have wanted to keep Kenny around in a footballing role as you describe or similar, only Kenny did not want to do that, since he was sacked as manager.

 

I don't know why I have that impression. Perhaps others more knowledgeable than me may be able to shed some light.

 

I think you're right. Henry said Kenny had agreed to move aside when a younger bright new thing came along but Paul dalglish alluded to the fact that was before Kenny was given a 3 year contract. I think Kenny was quite rightly pissed off. He'd walk over broken glass for the club I'm not sure the owners are his favourite people though, not that he'd critise them.