'Top players will come because they want to play for an attacking team'
Regardless of how this season's title race ends, the Liverpool boss knows there is still work to do with his side
David Walsh Published: 4 May 2014
EARLY on Friday afternoon while Jose Mourinho lamented Eden Hazard’s ability to play the team game and Ryan Giggs mourned the brilliant reputation of Louis Van Gaal and Arsène Wenger told us that he hoped Uefa’s financial cops would catch all those big-spending robbers, Brendan Rodgers smiled on all who smiled. He has loved this season, and he can’t wait for next.
That two-nil defeat by Chelsea seemed like an eternity away for, by Friday, Rodgers and the team had moved on. Crystal Palace tomorrow evening, Champions League next season and when he said: “We’re in a position that nobody expected,” it would have been impolite and probably incorrect to disagree.
It felt like Rodgers, whose team are surely destined to miss out on the Premier League title after the defeat by Chelsea at Anfield seven days ago and Manchester City’s victory at Goodison Park last night, had spent the week hooked up to an intravenous drip full of optimism. There was so much to be pleased about, so why get upset? But, after the game Brendan, you hadn’t been overly generous to Chelsea and their manager.
He accepted that perhaps he had lacked a certain graciousness. “Probably I was a wee bit frustrated. I don’t regret entirely what I said but I am big enough to respect Jose as a man and a manager. He’s a great man. It was never personal. I have huge appreciation for how he works his team. I was probably a little bit frustrated after losing,” said the Liverpool manager.
Rodgers has been a manager for just five seasons and is only 41 years old. This challenge is still so fresh to him that even the routine of speaking to journalists doesn't seem like a chore. He said that he had watched the Chelsea game twice and found that although there had been much in the Liverpool performance that was very good, they just couldn't get that breakthrough.
He was asked if confronted by the same challenge in the future would he need to change his approach or his personnel. “Both if necessary,” he admitted. Then he spoke of teams using a “low block” defence and the difference when they went for a “super low block” and his preparedness to speak the language of the coach’s room distinguished him from his peers in management who know stuff like that simply flies over the head of football writers.
But when it was suggested, politely of course, that maybe the team needed more creativity, his smile suddenly had the chill of a Siberian winter. “Ninety six goals, I think that we’re doing OK.”
What had the season so far taught him?
“I think I’ve learnt about dealing with the pressure. I have really enjoyed this season, I have enjoyed managing that pressure. Hopefully, I’ve got a long way to go and I will be a better manager each year.”
He says that he is optimistic by nature but also a realist. Someone mentioned Newcastle United, Blackburn, Leeds and Liverpool themselves as teams who had been up there (in Blackburn’s case winning) in the Premier League but then disappeared from the very top rank.
Rodgers’ Liverpool squad surely didn’t have the necessary depth?
“You’re absolutely right. The owners recognise that. We all recognise that.”
He was asked if the owners recognised how much improving the squad would cost?
“For us, they have been great. They have a strategy and it’s my job to manage that. I am someone who builds, I’m not a maintainer. I like to grow and develop and nurture.”
Nice words but what are we talking about here — five or six new players?
“I’m not going to define any number but it’s clear that it’s going to be something like that. To have made the Champions League is great. It’s a competition that we all wanted to be in. We want to stay in it and that’s going to lead us to inject the squad with quality.”
Having spent last summer trying and failing to attract players to Liverpool when the club wasn’t in the Champions League, he knows the difficulty.
“There were top players who respected the club but they wanted to play at the top level,” Rodgers said. “This is now a totally different situation. We are in the Champions League and top players want to play in a creative, attacking team that wins.”
This isn’t something he would necessarily have mentioned to Mourinho when they spoke in the aftermath of Rodgers’ criticism of the way Chelsea had gone about their business, but Liverpool’s young manager is convinced that the team’s style of play will help their recruitment drive this summer.
“What we’ve put in place over the past couple of seasons prepares us now for bringing in this calibre of player and sets us up for having a crack at every competition we’re in.”
As you listen to Rodgers, there is the sense of a man on a medium to long-term mission. From the start, he has understood what Liverpool stand for and his own vision for how the team should play offers the promise of an interesting and perhaps successful future. Much will depend upon how astutely he buys this summer and the financial degree to which the club’s owners can support him.
Regardless of how the climax to an excellent Premier League finally plays out, this season’s challenge will take its toll, especially on the team’s younger players. Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge will all go to Brazil with England and it would be a surprise if there wasn’t some lingering tiredness next season, especially as the team will be back in the Champions League.
Rodgers is aware that it’s his responsibility to ensure that the new players coming in will be able to carry their share of the load. Tottenham’s disappointing season, which floundered as much because of the failure of the new players as the the disappointing performances of the established ones, serves as a cautionary tale.
The Liverpool manager is certain that his team have nothing to be pessimistic about. “That game will provide great motivation for me to go on and coach the team to be better. It’s clear the methods work. A few weeks ago I said I thought a mistake or a bit of bad luck could cost us the Premier League. Unfortunately, Steven slipped [when Chelsea scored their first goal].”
But that’s in the past. “The best players pick themselves up and you go again. And that’s what we’ll do.”
Regardless of how this season's title race ends, the Liverpool boss knows there is still work to do with his side
David Walsh Published: 4 May 2014
EARLY on Friday afternoon while Jose Mourinho lamented Eden Hazard’s ability to play the team game and Ryan Giggs mourned the brilliant reputation of Louis Van Gaal and Arsène Wenger told us that he hoped Uefa’s financial cops would catch all those big-spending robbers, Brendan Rodgers smiled on all who smiled. He has loved this season, and he can’t wait for next.
That two-nil defeat by Chelsea seemed like an eternity away for, by Friday, Rodgers and the team had moved on. Crystal Palace tomorrow evening, Champions League next season and when he said: “We’re in a position that nobody expected,” it would have been impolite and probably incorrect to disagree.
It felt like Rodgers, whose team are surely destined to miss out on the Premier League title after the defeat by Chelsea at Anfield seven days ago and Manchester City’s victory at Goodison Park last night, had spent the week hooked up to an intravenous drip full of optimism. There was so much to be pleased about, so why get upset? But, after the game Brendan, you hadn’t been overly generous to Chelsea and their manager.
He accepted that perhaps he had lacked a certain graciousness. “Probably I was a wee bit frustrated. I don’t regret entirely what I said but I am big enough to respect Jose as a man and a manager. He’s a great man. It was never personal. I have huge appreciation for how he works his team. I was probably a little bit frustrated after losing,” said the Liverpool manager.
Rodgers has been a manager for just five seasons and is only 41 years old. This challenge is still so fresh to him that even the routine of speaking to journalists doesn't seem like a chore. He said that he had watched the Chelsea game twice and found that although there had been much in the Liverpool performance that was very good, they just couldn't get that breakthrough.
He was asked if confronted by the same challenge in the future would he need to change his approach or his personnel. “Both if necessary,” he admitted. Then he spoke of teams using a “low block” defence and the difference when they went for a “super low block” and his preparedness to speak the language of the coach’s room distinguished him from his peers in management who know stuff like that simply flies over the head of football writers.
But when it was suggested, politely of course, that maybe the team needed more creativity, his smile suddenly had the chill of a Siberian winter. “Ninety six goals, I think that we’re doing OK.”
What had the season so far taught him?
“I think I’ve learnt about dealing with the pressure. I have really enjoyed this season, I have enjoyed managing that pressure. Hopefully, I’ve got a long way to go and I will be a better manager each year.”
He says that he is optimistic by nature but also a realist. Someone mentioned Newcastle United, Blackburn, Leeds and Liverpool themselves as teams who had been up there (in Blackburn’s case winning) in the Premier League but then disappeared from the very top rank.
Rodgers’ Liverpool squad surely didn’t have the necessary depth?
“You’re absolutely right. The owners recognise that. We all recognise that.”
He was asked if the owners recognised how much improving the squad would cost?
“For us, they have been great. They have a strategy and it’s my job to manage that. I am someone who builds, I’m not a maintainer. I like to grow and develop and nurture.”
Nice words but what are we talking about here — five or six new players?
“I’m not going to define any number but it’s clear that it’s going to be something like that. To have made the Champions League is great. It’s a competition that we all wanted to be in. We want to stay in it and that’s going to lead us to inject the squad with quality.”
Having spent last summer trying and failing to attract players to Liverpool when the club wasn’t in the Champions League, he knows the difficulty.
“There were top players who respected the club but they wanted to play at the top level,” Rodgers said. “This is now a totally different situation. We are in the Champions League and top players want to play in a creative, attacking team that wins.”
This isn’t something he would necessarily have mentioned to Mourinho when they spoke in the aftermath of Rodgers’ criticism of the way Chelsea had gone about their business, but Liverpool’s young manager is convinced that the team’s style of play will help their recruitment drive this summer.
“What we’ve put in place over the past couple of seasons prepares us now for bringing in this calibre of player and sets us up for having a crack at every competition we’re in.”
As you listen to Rodgers, there is the sense of a man on a medium to long-term mission. From the start, he has understood what Liverpool stand for and his own vision for how the team should play offers the promise of an interesting and perhaps successful future. Much will depend upon how astutely he buys this summer and the financial degree to which the club’s owners can support him.
Regardless of how the climax to an excellent Premier League finally plays out, this season’s challenge will take its toll, especially on the team’s younger players. Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge will all go to Brazil with England and it would be a surprise if there wasn’t some lingering tiredness next season, especially as the team will be back in the Champions League.
Rodgers is aware that it’s his responsibility to ensure that the new players coming in will be able to carry their share of the load. Tottenham’s disappointing season, which floundered as much because of the failure of the new players as the the disappointing performances of the established ones, serves as a cautionary tale.
The Liverpool manager is certain that his team have nothing to be pessimistic about. “That game will provide great motivation for me to go on and coach the team to be better. It’s clear the methods work. A few weeks ago I said I thought a mistake or a bit of bad luck could cost us the Premier League. Unfortunately, Steven slipped [when Chelsea scored their first goal].”
But that’s in the past. “The best players pick themselves up and you go again. And that’s what we’ll do.”
