James Milner has named the ‘great coach’ he would’ve liked to have worked with for longer during his career.
The 38-year-old joined the Reds as a free agent from Manchester City in the summer of 2015 while Brendan Rodgers was in charge at Anfield.
Our former No. 7 would play under the Norther Irishman for just four months, however, before he was sacked and replaced by Jurgen Klopp.
Milner would go on to win it all during his time at Merseyside but he’s admitted he wishes he’d had more time under the stewardship of the current Celtic boss.
“Brendan, like Sir Bobby [Robson], I was unfortunate not to work with him for longer,” the Brighton midfielder told Jeff Stelling’s ‘Football’s Greatest’ podcast (via Rousing The Kop). “Great coach, great manager. I liked him a lot for the time that I was with him. Then Jurgen comes in and we didn’t play a slow style under Brendan, it was just the personality of the manager and the standards he wanted.
“I remember the first game was Spurs away and the tempo of the game was just like out of this world, both teams were going at it and the level was just 100%. The training was a lot longer, a lot harder, players were getting injured while they adapted to it but he had to get what his expectations were down early.”
Rodgers went agonisingly close to winning the Premier League with Liverpool during the 2013/14 campaign only to fall short to Manchester City during the final weeks of the season.
The 50-year-old had unbelievable players to call upon during his time at the club, including Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, and Daniel Sturridge, and played exciting, attacking football.
Ultimately, however, the former Swansea boss didn’t do enough to keep his job after three years on Merseyside and when Klopp came in he brought the glory days back to the club.
A number of players, including Milner himself, have thrived under the watchful eye of Klopp and Co. so we don’t think the Yorkshireman will be too frustrated that Rodgers was replaced shortly after his move to Liverpool.