Shortly after his appointment, Brendan Rodgers promised that for as long as he is the manager of Liverpool FC he will fight for the club. He has since talked about how he intends to instil a style of play similar to the one he was rightly congratulated for whilst at Swansea. He’s correctly said this will take time in order to stop fans from getting over excited about our chances this year. But at the same time he’s talked about how strong the group of players at Liverpool are. How, since his arrival, he’s been impressed with the squad at his disposal. And how tactically he knows how we can improve. But although he talks calmly, eloquently and with a steely determination, I wish he would just stop talking. The same goes for the players and the owners.
I know the media plays a massive part in football nowadays, with reporters writing about anything and everything on a daily basis. But I wish the people at Liverpool Football Club would stop coming out with promises about what they’re going to do, backing their opinions up with facts and statistics about why the future is rosy, when the proof isn’t in the pudding so to speak.
During pre-season we heard Joe Cole talk about how he wants to be remembered as a success at Liverpool. He pointed out that he had a lot to prove to Kopites. And he predicted he would do just that this season. Well so far, both times Cole has played a game he’s gone off injured. Thanks for the words of encouragement Joe.
He’s not the only one.
According to Jonjo Shelvey, the arrival of Joe Allen has raised everyone’s game. Training has never been so competitive. I’m not saying Allen’s arrival hasn’t been positive – it’s fair to say he’s been one of our best players in the opening games. But this competition for places hasn’t resulted in, well, results.
Enrique was also keen to wow us by declaring that he would like to play as many games as Carragher for Liverpool and be remembered in a similar way by the fans. Maybe he should concentrate on playing, learn to stand on the goal line rather than behind it at corners, try to block crosses and start eradicating the defensive errors he made last season before he worries about becoming a Liverpool legend.
Last week fans were given peace of mind by Skrtel when he assured us that the club can handle a long run in the Europa League. How about handling the Premier League first? So far we’ve lost two games (badly) and drawn a game, albeit against Manchester City, which we should have won. And our performances against Hearts in the aforementioned Europa League left a lot to be desired.
Even the youngsters have got in on the act, telling us how they just need to be patient and wait for their chance to impress. Well be patient, wait and try to get the manager’s attention in training rather than via an interview.
Liverpool supporters were then treated to the open letter from John W Henry, where he reiterated FSG’s commitment to making Liverpool successful again and attempted to pacify concerns about the club’s transfer policy. This came a day after the club sold Adam and loaned out both Carroll and Spearing without replacing them.
Forgive me for coming across as negative but am I the only person who wishes they would all shut up? Am I the only supporter who wants the players to do their talking on the pitch and the management to stop making the club look stupid? I’m sick of hearing and reading about what the team is going to do, only to see them come up short.
The result against West Brom acts as a stark reminder of the task facing the club and it should have deterred the players from talking themselves up. It was a woeful start to the campaign, which followed an average pre-season. I know the team easily dispatched Bayer Leverkeusen, but prior to facing us they hadn’t enjoyed the best results either. We failed to win any of the friendly games we participated in during our tour of America yet we were meant to believe our pre-season had been a success and would stand the team in good stead.
I’m not going to give Rodgers too much stick. I like the guy. He brings an exciting style. And he’s facing a mammoth task in turning our fortunes around. But that is exactly why, personally, I would never have sacked Kenny Dalglish. Because he faced the same mammoth task a year ago and he deserved longer. I don’t like that fact that we’ve had 4 managers in three years. The club needs stability. And I believe we had that stability under Dalglish’s stewardship. I know our league form last year wasn’t up to scratch but we got to two cup finals, won one and would have won the other one but for a better header from Carroll or barring a wonder save from Cech (you decide which.) Also, our style of play last year was not too dissimilar to the style that Rodgers is trying to implement, although admittedly he puts more focus on pressing and winning the ball back. But attacking football, good passing and keeping possession were all elements on display during Kenny’s reign. We were simply missing a top class striker to turn many of those draws, and even defeats, into wins. Remember the Arsenal game where we outplayed them, only to lose 2-1 courtesy of a Van Persie brace? I know Kenny took a lot of stick for some of the players he brought in and maybe that, coupled with the PR disaster surrounding the Suarez situation, cost him. But let’s be honest, without Champions League football or the lure of inflated salaries it’s difficult to attract the top players. Unfortunately Liverpool are unable to offer either. If we look at Manchester City, they signed players such as Emmanuel Adebayor and paid him £160,000 a week to get where they are now. Only once they had qualified for the Champions League could they bring in players like Aguero, Silva and Nasri.
Now that Rodgers is here I obviously hope he can turn things around but he’ll quickly realise that 3-0 defeats go down a lot worse at Liverpool than they did at Swansea. And that’s exactly why he, the players and the owners need to stop delivering false promises. Every time they talk about what they’re going to do, they only turn the spotlight on themselves when they fail. Of course they have to give interviews, it’s part of their job. But how about they use those interviews to apologise for the way things are instead of trying to convince us that things aren’t that bad?
Liverpool once had one of the most outspoken managers ever in Bill Shankly. But he only became a legend because he backed the things he said up and turned the club around. So until the people who are at the club now can back up the things they say, maybe they should stay quiet.
its not Rodgers fault …but i must point the finger to FSG – yes John Henry over the open letter he done to the fans he said there was some errors when he took over and bought us from them other clowns (Tom and Jerry) they may of spent last summer …when King Kenny was in charge …but i feel they have Not Trusted Rodgers with any Kitty ..Which Ment he had to sell to buy …any player we went for in the Transfer …Spurs was Hijacking Our Players Wonder who The mole is in Liverpool Feeding Spurs ?
The thing about FSG which is correct is, They have taken the debt away which was something like £20 million in interest alone.
they have got the wages right down to a reasonable level by off loading players that were getting on a bit and paid massive amounts.
They have brought some younger ones in on much better contracts.
the City game was a real eye opener, We played well and there was a real positive vibe, Then the transfer window closed and we didn’t sign a 29 year old midfielder, Arsenal played well, We played below par, and suddenly we are in trouble.
Come on give the club a bit of time. Remember how close we were to folding a couple of years ago
Most of the talking you are referring to was done pre-season when there is no football – do you want the clubs official website to publish nothing?! You seem to be another King Kenny muppet who couldn’t see that ifleft in charge much longer he’d have destroyed us – had we given Rodgers the same money as Kenny I’m sure he wouldn’t have put Carroll, Downing & Adam on his wishlist – he realised within weeks of taking over these players don’t have the character to play for Liverpool, kenny spent over £60m on!
And you, yourself David, seem to be a BRogers’ muppet also. The only blemish on KK’s team last season was ….not scoring enough goals to win matches. Otherwise they played attractive attcking soccer. No-one will take that away from them. For your info, Liverpool had +50 shots at goal more than ManU.
Let’s just stop being emotional about the problems that we are in. Theses problems will only be solved with sober minds.
As you point out the media needs something to write about on a daily basis. During the close season the number of made up stories peddled out is without substance is amazing. Put that into context with a journalist asking a player for a comment. If a player/manager/owner said ‘no comment’ etc that would be interpreted as being negative and journalist would write something along the lines of Skrtel doesn’t fancy Liverpool’s chances this season etc.
Best thing to do is to ignore thse comments – they’re worthless.
I agree david. We have to be patient
GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT – -FSG have got the message now lets START BEING POSITIVE – BRENDAN IS THE MAN
I wish BR had £113m to spend on players, Imagine that team???. Hold your nerve reds as the man know’s what he is doing, 100%!!!!!
You are indeed a different mould of supporters from the ones I’ve seen so far. You criticise one aspect of the club that people rarely talk about. Even you admit that the media is in full blast in writing about ‘anything and everything’.
So there, that is the reason for their promises. If the players and manager actually ‘shut up’ as per your request, the media will start coming up with headlines like, “Players choose to keep silent over chances”, “BR not optimistic over team”, “Problem brewing in the dressing room”.
How would the players feel if BR kept quiet when asked about his opinion regarding the team he inherited. Or worse, he says it is bad.
FSG’s open letter shows that they are actually attempting to communicate with the fans. Remember our previous owners?
You ask them to apologize for the way things are? They are probably as clueless as we are, maybe except for the players. A manager’s job isn’t as simple as you think. Maybe they see the players performing exceptionally well in training, which explains the their confidence and hopeful promises. But in the actual match, the cards just don’t fall the way we want.
Remember Lucas? The guy that Rafa plays day in day out despite our complaints and obvious terrible plays. Rafa probably saw something none of us fans see during training. All he could do was just wait for the training to manifest in the real match.
But i do agree with you on the issue of stability. Under Kenny, we played well, albeit unlucky and lacking the finish, but we controlled the game (much like what BR is doing so far). If FSG had kept Kenny, we would be able to see that team that has controlled so many games being polished up even more. But now, we are back to square one and hopefully BR’s fine-tuning will be quicker than Kenny’s.
12 good paragraphs then you lost me at the “I would never have sacked Kenny Dalglish. ”
After wasting £100m how could you trust him with more?
For me we have owners that have not got a clue and are making it up as they go along.
Very worrying times
Right now its wait till January time and play allthe youth strikers.
I just want the players to step up their game,lets give BR a chance,and keep supporting our club, lets keep our fingers cross ,Morgan,Gerald and Joe cole can make a good temporary striker, i keep imagining Cole hitting the goals.YNWA
” I promised you a miracle,belief is a beauty thing”
good artictle and pretty true. Not sure about BR though. He started the whole carrol saga by stating that he wouldnt fit his style of play before he had even joined up with the squad-just shut up and sell him then, we would have been paid more for him if other teams think you want him-as it is we got nothing for him this season. Next he signed a clause with swansea not to try and buy any players for a year and buys allen after 3 attempts. Fulham have now made a complaint against us for tapping up dempsey. finally to allow carrol to leave without a replacement is his fault and no one elses-hes the MANAGER. As for the ppl who complain about kenny, this year we may be envious of finishing 8th come the end of the season plus 2 cup finals. I wish him luck and hope he improves on his performance up to now.
I reckon KK was dismissed because of the squad he built with Commoli and the squad he selected for matches.
However obtained (the sale of Torres, etc..) we had plenty of money to spend. But – for example – instead of invoking Mata’s £23 million release clause (Chelsea purchased him AFTER the clause expired) – we spend nearly that much on Downing – a disastrous purchase. We passed on Cissokho at left back for Enrique for similar wages / cost. Adam. Henderson. The list is staggeringly extensive.
Add in dubious squad selection – Carroll, Maxi, Kuyt sitting in favor of Downing on his off-side, Henderson wide instead of central, on and on – and his dismissal was almost obligatory for the good of the club. Almost as if KK had a British bias, though I’d really prefer not to believe it.
Following Henry & co passed on obvious managerial choices – Benitez (though we now know why – Benitez’ head would have exploded given these transfer restrictions!).
Then we have this transfer period – full of hyperbole. It’s an age old refrain, “The club is performing poorly and appears in dire straights. But its not our fault – we inherited massive problems. So TRUST us – we will fix everything. But it will take time…”
Riiiiight. And the check’s in the mail…
Br talks well but so far doesnt seem to have installed much class and style into the team.people critsed kenny’s spending but while BR hasnt spent much mainly on players he has had dealings with.of the two allen has fitted in well so far but borini is out of his depth and not showing much promise.it was BR who allowed carroll and others to depart before replacements were signed.time will tellkenny had part of one season to get us in the top four.BR has i believe 4 years.
I wish we would all stop moaning and complaining! Yes, we made a monumental mistake by not signing another striker, but it is not all bad, Borini will come good. If Sterlin – 17 – can perform the way he ha been then I beileve the other young strikers in the team who are as good will fill the gap until January. I choose to look at our display aganst citeh as the benchmark and not the WBA or Arsenal games. I see the team gettingh better as the season progresses and not worse. The team will come good, they need our support. Let’s be positive, I have no doubt we will finish higher than 8th, maybe not top four but all true fans know it will take time for BR’s ideas to gel! YNWA!
“Borini will come good.” Has looked hopelessly outclassed so far…
FSG last year did the fast track British big spending way to get back to the Top 4, but the British they placed in charged failed. So it is no wonder FSG resorted to go with the old fashioned American way of building a dynasty with a strong young squad nucleus which will be fitted out with marquee players later with an eye on the long term. It works.
Ya. Shankly was outspoken & backed his words with success. He also won th e league in his first season, & Won his first game 4-0 right? C’mon, give BR a break.
sorry but that’s a very bad article.what do u expect them to do when interviewed? tell the interviewers to GTFO?
Great article.. players need to be more in tune with supporters they are further and further distancing themselves from us with their cars and wealth so surely they should know talking bollocks will continue this trend.
Nothing is more frustrating than watching our team play poorly and certain players appearing to not even try and then the next day read an article with them saying things like they want to be a legend, etc etc.
As for Kenny Dalglish he was ( in my opinion ) pushed out by FSG because he s undying love for all things liverpool was deemed not media friendly or politically correct. Since when did anything Liverpool be it the striking dockers or resistance to Thatchers policies care about outside views or perceptions, we always believe in ourselves thats what makes us unique.
Good luck Brendan YNWA