Not been forgiven since cancelling those concerts at Croke ParkI'm glad we didn't get you started on that wanker Garth Crooks.
Blood Red: Liverpool FC's Melwood snoopers are a serious problem
Team leaks are ruining Liverpool's element of surprise
Brendan Rodgers at Melwood
It arrived just like clockwork on Friday afternoon.
Twenty hours before Liverpool’s Premier League showdown with West Ham at Anfield, Brendan Rodgers’ starting XI came through in a text message from a fan. By then it was already available on social media sites.
Week after week the same thing has been happening. Week after week the information has been spot on. It’s not guesswork. Back in mid-December, Rodgers made some sweeping changes ahead of the trip to Old Trafford.
VIEW GALLERY
He opted to drop goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, bring in Brad Jones and change the formation to 3-4-2-1. Rodgers went with Raheem Sterling as the central striker after Rickie Lambert had played there against Basel five days earlier. Alberto Moreno, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana came in for Jose Enrique, Lucas Leiva and Lambert.
Yet there was no element of surprise when the team sheets landed an hour before kick-off against Manchester United. On the eve of the game Rodgers’ team was already out there in the public domain.
It’s something Rodgers is acutely aware of and it’s a source of great frustration for the manager. It doesn’t happen at any other top Premier League club.
There is no mole in the Liverpool camp who is giving his pals confidential information from team meetings the day before matches.
Liverpool know exactly where it’s coming from and currently there is precious little they can do to stop it.
The fact is Melwood isn’t just open to the elements, it’s open to virtually anyone who is determined enough to catch a glimpse of Rodgers putting his players through their paces. It’s a snoopers paradise.
Most Premier League training complexes are in a private and secure environment away from prying eyes. Liverpool don’t have that luxury.
The reason the team keeps getting out is because of those onlookers who use an assortment of bins, cars or ladders to be able to peer over the Melwood walls.
The players know who is playing the day before a game when Rodgers asks them to work on the team shape. The XI with the same coloured bibs for the session are the ones who have got the nod. Within minutes that information is being tweeted around the globe.
Liverpool even had an issue earlier this season where someone was filming the set-piece routines they were working on.
Rodgers has tried to get around the problem. Earlier in the campaign there were times when the Reds trained at Anfield instead in a bid for some privacy. However, the problem is that the playing surface there is so poor. It’s being ripped up and relaid this summer but training on it the day before a game at the moment just isn’t feasible.
Liverpool do have an indoor facility at Melwood but it’s small and unsuitable for the kind of work Rodgers wants to do.
Of course it’s nothing new. There were issues with the team leaking out under Kenny Dalglish.
But with the growth of social media it’s now spreading like wildfire and inquisitive fans are handing opposition teams a significant advantage.
Pearce sacked at Forest; Dougie Freedman takes over.
That's fast! He's been there like a few months only?
Freedman is hardly gonna make things better, look at the state of Bolton
Exactly. It was daft to appoint Pearce in the first place as it is obvious he's a shite manager but to replace him with the equally useless Freedman is a sideways step.
It's kinda football related random shite, so here we go!
He should be more embarrassed by that haircut.
The facial hair isn't exactly something to be proud of either.
Fuck you. Exotic women love my golden locks.Says ginger boy!!!!
Fuck you. Exotic women love my golden locks.
That explains it. When Mrs Athens first met me, she couldn't understand a word I was saying. The accent must have made me appear all mysterious.Besides.... it's yer Noron Irish accent they like you sexy beast.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/liverpool-fc-owners-told-jordan-8585956Liverpool FC owners told me Jordan Henderson was a mistake, says Damien Comolli
Sacked director of football rounds on Reds owners once again
- 12:21, 5 February 2015
- By Ian Doyle
Liverpool FC's Jordan Henderson and Damien Comolli
Damien Comolli has again slammed Liverpool FC owners Fenway Sports Group – and claimed they regarded the signing of Jordan Henderson as a “massive mistake”.
Comolli was sacked by FSG just 18 months after being appointed in November 2010 as first director of football strategy and later director of football.
The Frenchman was in charge of player recruitment and pushed through the big-money signings of Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing and Henderson.
A poor season in 2011-12 ended with Dalglish sacked, after which successor Brendan Rodgers soon moved on Carroll and Downing and came close to allowing Henderson to leave.
The midfielder, though, is now vice-captain and is expected to take over the armband full-time once Steven Gerrard departs in the summer – prompting Comolli to defend his recruitment policy at Anfield.
“When I left Liverpool, the owners told me Henderson was a massive mistake,” he said.
“Now he’s turned out to be the next Liverpool captain and he’s a regular in every game.”
Comolli added: “I don’t think I have to justify whether Carroll was a good decision or a bad decision. Look at it as a whole.
“When people talk to me nowadays about Liverpool, they say what a fantastic job you did in bringing players like Luis Suarez and Jordan Henderson to the club.
“The issue I have got is when a group of owners approach somebody like me and say we want to invest for the long term, we want you to sign young players, we want you to put together a squad which has a future for the next three to five years, we want you to work with the academy and we start to do all this and after a few months or a few years they say: ‘Sorry, it’s not working out’.
“You cannot say you have to focus on the future and at the same time say the young players are not ready to compete at the top level.”