Brendan Rodgers on talksport now.

[moof]

Well the fact that he gives an interview to talksport doesnt bode well, first strike for me.

 

Cut him some slack. He's only been here two minutes; you can't expect him to know the 'Dennis tooth approved media outlets' already, surely?

 

As long as he doesn't talk to the obvious then it's fine. Damn fools will use anything as a stick to beat him with.

[King Gheedorah]

Alcohol is a truth serum is it not?

[jackofdk]

The choice of media will be made by the comms department, not the manager.

[fowler9]

i hope he had to sign in upon entering Talksport HQ and put his name as Mr J Klopp

[The Guest]

All this talk of needing to make sure a better manager is lined up is fucking laughable. It's not the way the club operates and never has been. This Biscan character is just unhappy at who is in charge and would moan about whatever happened. If you care about the credibility of the club the fact is you can't go interviewing and putting the feelers out for managers while you still have one employed. Simply because characters like Dave fucking Whelan exist and the press find pretty much everything out.

 

Benitez had become unemployable and was running the club down. Yes on the basis of what he had achieved 4/5 years ago he had the reputation of a great manager. That wasn't the case when he was let go. He was fired on the basis that the club had lost faith in him. It was no surprise when we had finished 7th which was unacceptable. It wasn't all down to him mind but the performances of the team he had at his disposal should have been 4th. It was never a case of weighing up Hodgson and Benitez. It was looking at Benitez and deciding he was no longer good enough.

 

They then looked at managers and decided to hire Hodgson. This was obviously a mistake but that doesn't make the decision to sack Benitez a mistake also. He had to go and in my eyes we would have continued on a shocking downward spiral under him.

 

The same thing has happened under Kenny. We had a poor season. I would have given him another season myself but the results speak for themselves. We finished 8th and they decided it wasn't good enough so he's been let go. They then look for a manager. The day we as a club start attempting to employ managers while we already have a manager in charge is the day the club will just be another club.

[Gym Beglin]

OK, you're very upset and angry about Kenny. Understandable. And you are correct, you don't sack a manager and bring a worse one in.

 

That's what we did with Benitez and the disaster that was Hodgson. But Hodgson was a known quantity. NOBODY thought appointing him over Benitez was a good idea, and so it turned out. And while I rated Benitez (and Houllier before him) highly, Benitez did enough mad, stupid things in his last 18 months or so to at least be under threat of the sack. But clearly, not for a manager like Woy.

 

I never really had much hope that Kenny would work out as soon as I saw who he had decided to spend £80m on. He bought some very mediocre players for evry high prices, and continued to play themm despite stinking the place out. And it was always clear that he wasn't ever FSG's first choice, but their hand was forced by Woy, so they certainly didn't require much prodding to get rid of him after one poor season.

 

And it was poor. Fucking terrible at times, far worse than anything we had suffered under Benitez in the league. If his name wasn't Kenny Dalglish he would have gone and deservedly so.

 

Now, I thought - and still think - that the idea of sacking Kenny after just one season was pretty unthinkable, largely because if anyone deserved another chance, it was that man, but they disagreed and appointed Rodgers.

 

A huge gamble, I agree. And no, I don't think his record merits being our manager: I didn't think Swansea were anything special. But you cannot call it the same as replacing Benitez with Hodgson. They were both known quantities.

 

Rodgers (and to an extent the second coming of Kenny) were not. We cannot say for sure that Rodgers will be a success or a failure at Liverpool. We could with Hodgson.

 

I like the 'being rational' aspect of your post, and I think you are 99% of the time very rational when speaking about football, I like you *does knuckle rubbing on head thing with you*

 

I feel a bit different about it, not much, but a bit.

 

For starters, we should never have sacked Rafa. That much I do know, he had 5 years here and his 1 bad season should have been excused. Now, it's a benchmark, it's defined how we treat managers now because we did it to him. Hodgson and Kenny both got their marching orders because a lot of the fan base became cunts who wanted everything NOW. That said, Hodgson was/is a twat and should never have been appointed, and Kenny should never have been appointed either, so there are mitigating circumstances for the sackings, but here we are. If Rodgers has an awful first half to his season, then there will be calls for his head as well. Not from me, I hope, but I can't say for certain. I mean that in a rational way, if we see god-awful decisions and poor morale, and no indication of improvement, then I'll worry. But I dont expect to be feeling like that, I'm just saying in the very worst case scenario then I'm never going to say never.

 

I'm a bit sick of the normal managerial candidates getting the look-in for the same jobs, so I'm very much in favour of trying something different. Had Rodgers been called Ignacio Fuckinho and just led a newly promoted team to 11th in La Liga then people would be a bit more excited. He's suffering because he's British and we all think we know him oh so well. We don't. And I love that.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Have we kicked off yet ?

[alexjames]

I like the 'being rational' aspect of your post, and I think you are 99% of the time very rational when speaking about football, I like you *does knuckle rubbing on head thing with you*

 

I feel a bit different about it, not much, but a bit.

 

For starters, we should never have sacked Rafa. That much I do know, he had 5 years here and his 1 bad season should have been excused. Now, it's a benchmark, it's defined how we treat managers now because we did it to him. Hodgson and Kenny both got their marching orders because a lot of the fan base became cunts who wanted everything NOW. That said, Hodgson was/is a twat and should never have been appointed, and Kenny should never have been appointed either, so there are mitigating circumstances for the sackings, but here we are. If Rodgers has an awful first half to his season, then there will be calls for his head as well. Not from me, I hope, but I can't say for certain. I mean that in a rational way, if we see god-awful decisions and poor morale, and no indication of improvement, then I'll worry. But I dont expect to be feeling like that, I'm just saying in the very worst case scenario then I'm never going to say never.

 

I'm a bit sick of the normal managerial candidates getting the look-in for the same jobs, so I'm very much in favour of trying something different. Had Rodgers been called Ignacio Fuckinho and just led a newly promoted team to 11th in La Liga then people would be a bit more excited. He's suffering because he's British and we all think we know him oh so well. We don't. And I love that.

 

Nah, Ignacio's wife would never move to England.

[redsoxs]

I'll make my judgement by his activity in the transfer market, until then.... i don't know how anyone can say anything!!

[stephen.archiba]

I think with the way the fixtures have panned out we will know by the end of September what way the land lies!!

[col06]

I think with the way the fixtures have panned out we will know by the end of September what way the land lies!!

 

So he's got a month to prove himself :eek:

[Coro]

He was fired on the basis that the club had lost faith in him.

 

The club's priority at that time was debt management.

 

You're being far too kind to the suits.

[xerxes]

So he's got a month to prove himself

 

He will need a good start.

 

Scholari, AVB, Ramos, Hodgson, none survived a poor season.Much will depend on how he positions himself.

 

The smart move may be to do very little in the transfer market this summer.The chances are that he can improve an underperforming squad simply by good coaching. If that happens it will be a good start, if it doesn't he can blame what he was given to work with.

 

The more he does in the transfer market, the more his judgement will be exposed, for better, or worse.

 

Most in his favour is inheriting the worst home record in half a century, improving on that, which should be easy, will reassure the home crowd and steady nerves.

[elvis]

He will need a good start.

 

Scholari, AVB, Ramos, Hodgson, none survived a poor season.Much will depend on how he positions himself.

 

The smart move may be to do very little in the transfer market this summer.The chances are that he can improve an underperforming squad simply by good coaching. If that happens it will be a good start, if it doesn't he can blame what he was given to work with.

 

The more he does in the transfer market, the more his judgement will be exposed, for better, or worse.

 

Most in his favour is inheriting the worst home record in half a century, improving on that, which should be easy, will reassure the home crowd and steady nerves.

 

Possibly if the manager is a coward without ambition , might have been a plan for Hodgson , but I dont see Brendan Rodgers that way.

[Whelan]

He will need a good start.

 

Scholari, AVB, Ramos, Hodgson, none survived a poor season.Much will depend on how he positions himself.

 

They all had very good starts! Chelsea were top of the league at the beginning, AVB again a good start, and Ramos won their only trophy (this century) in his first few months.

 

The other deluded fraud probably did get off to a good start for him.

[xerxes]

Possibly if the manager is a coward without ambition , might have been a plan for Hodgson , but I dont see Brendan Rodgers that way.

 

The dividing line between cowardice and foolishness tends to be defined by success or failure.

 

AVB was "brave" at Chelsea- and it cost him his job. Di Matteo last season, and KK by default in his first half season, coached improvement, because they couldn't do much else (as Harry did when he first joined Spurs).

 

This squad was, and is, capable of a 5th/6th finish. It is unlikely that FSG will finance signings that will improve on that (RVP? Tevez?No chance).So he may be cautious.

 

Your comments about Hodgson are misplaced. He too may have been better advised to sit tight. Poulsen and Konschesky did him no favours and were hostages to fortune.

 

As a fan, like you, I love new transfers in, they represent the hope of the unknown. Rodgers as manager will be acutely aware of the need to safeguard his position for long enough to enable him to do what he wants to do.

 

There is a strong argument that coaching improvement till Christmas, at which point he will have seen at first hand what the strengths and weaknesses of the team are is wise - not cowardly.

[xerxes]

They all had very good starts! Chelsea were top of the league at the beginning, AVB again a good start, and Ramos won their only trophy (this century) in his first few months. The other deluded fraud probably did get off to a good start for him.

 

With the others I was thinking more of how long they were given, rather than simply starts.

 

Rodgers does not have the credentials of the others and I think will need a good start. My prediction is that, despite a tough opening fixture run, he will do enough to reassure us all that he should be given a chance.

 

No new manager, whatever their pedigree, can survive a poor start for any length of time

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

You're being far too kind to the suits.

 

 

 

[Glen C]

My only worry with B-rod is his continual bigging up of carra. I really hope he's not thinking of playing him as a regular in the team ahead of agger and skrtel.

[redsoxs]

My only worry with B-rod is his continual bigging up of carra. I really hope he's not thinking of playing him as a regular in the team ahead of agger and skrtel.

 

Carra diid well towards the end of the season, shame I couldn't say same the same about Skrtel.... In reality Carra will only get few games unless agger (mr Glass) shows his face. It up to Coates to oust Carra, if the Lad is up to it? which he wasn't last season. So yes, i expect Carra to get games this season :(

[Gym Beglin]

No new manager, whatever their pedigree, can survive a poor start for any length of time

 

I agree, though only in extreme circumstances.

 

The crux of it is this...where SHOULD we be in 6 months time? Are those expectations valid? In 95% of cases, probably not, probably way too much is being expected.

 

My idea of improvement, in the first 6 months, would be to weed out the players he thinks the club can work with, and bring in those he would like to work with, and also to start implementing a playing system across ALL levels of teams within the club, and bring in a sense of direction, hope, and excitement to the playing staff. Note that i haven't even mentioned winning a game yet!

 

I cant even imagine how hard it is going to be get the players all onboard with this and making it work. But it will revolve around two main principles at least, and they are to WORK VERY HARD during games, and to BE INTELLIGENT on the field.

 

The whole Barcelona/Bilbao system of closing down is not fluke, and it's not just hard work, there is obviously a science to it, knowing when to do it, knowing how far up to chase, and knowing that it's upto you to cover if you see that the chasing player is leaving a massive hole. There WILL be problems, there will be bedding-down problems, players will forget they should be at A and not B and suddenly we're a goal down because a player left a hole somewhere and then Pepe didnt get close to saving it, again.

 

We're going to have to take a few defeats on the chin, just like Swansea did. But the difference, hopefully, will be amount of goals we can score compared to Swansea. Hopefully we can cushion the impact of a goal by scoring two.

 

For all Swansea's hard work and intelligence, there were still times where it all just fell apart.

4-0 loss vs Man City

4-1 loss vs Chelsea

3-1 loss vs Norwich

4-2 loss vs Blackburn

3-2 loss vs Norwich

3-1 loss vs Spurs

3-0 loss vs QPR

3-1 loss vs Shrewsbury

 

Just by way of example.

And that's a worry, it CAN all fall to bits if you concede a goal and you panic. But I accept that, I can accept failure as long as we're working towards something. What I can't accept is failure and just treading water, with no plan, with no vision, and that's what fucked me off about Kenny's reign, we just seemed to be existing.

 

Let's have some bollocks and try something eh? So what if it fails a bit, fuck it, we KNOW it's the right way to go, Spain and Barca and Chile and Bilbao have blazed the trail, it's time we got on board and started the process. It may not even be Rodgers that finishes the project, I hope he does and believe he will, but it may not.

[Get Carter]

I dont understand how you can judge him by his transfers! Surely the time to judge him is how the players perform on the field! The players buying into his philosophy how much confidence he instills in the players. The biggest problem last season was Downing and Henderson for example had no aura about them. They always looked terrified of actually being on the pitch yet they had been bought for big money so should have an attitude of I am here I am ready this is my stage, yet you have someone like Kuyt for example who wasn't as blessed as a footballer but at no stage looked like he didn't think he was good enough or believed in his ability no matter how poor a game he was having maybe its the dutch in him but for me I think that a player especially a new signing having an aura and a confidence about him comes from the manager telling him he's the bollox, telling him exactly what he expects of him.

[xerxes]

My only worry with B-rod is his continual bigging up of carra. I really hope he's not thinking of playing him as a regular in the team ahead of agger and skrtel.

 

I think that is political.

 

Rodgers fails the "show us your medals" test in the dressing room, therefore getting the two most influential people at the club, Carra and Gerrrard onside, will be pivotal to his early success.

 

Agger, if fit, must be a certainty to play regularly under Rodgers.

[Gym Beglin]

I think that is political.

 

Rodgers fails the "show us your medals" test in the dressing room, therefore getting the two most influential people at the club, Carra and Gerrrard onside, will be pivotal to his early success.

 

Agger, if fit, must be a certainty to play regularly under Rodgers.

 

Yep, Carra is the in-road to making the squad behave. He's a general and he's got coaching interests, so it's little wonder that he's being treated as a general by Rodgers, he may end up on his coaching staff soon. I dont think Carra is going to believe he should be playing too many games. He sat on the BBC pundit sofa for the Euro's, and even he has to acknowledge that that sofa isn't a place for young men.

 

That said, in the right system, with the right support, there's no reason he cant fill in in that position and do well. Pellegrino did well for Rafa at Valencia and had largely the same limitations as Carragher. Likewise Puyol for Barca and Spain, he's no Agger or Thiago Silva.

[John McClane]

I believe JC knows his time is coming to an end. Taking the expert role on ITV almost proves it. Look at the other pundits, all former players. I imagine its easy cash for him to watch games and give opinions.

 

Agree with the point that BR is only being political, besides he has just entered the greatest club in the land, and he is in the drivers seat, best to keep everyone on board.