Posts Tagged ‘liverpool’
Chelsea balls: Brendan Rodgers arrives via Tube (Christian Gross nowhere)
Brendan Rodgers has been “spotted in London”. The Mirror sees the photos and ads that the former Liverpool manager’s trip to the big city comes “as rumours of return to Chelsea gather pace”.
Rodgers worked with Jose Mourinho when the Portuguese was first at Chelsea. The Blues could do much worse than recruit the coach to their team. Rodgers has talent and vision.
The Mirror adds that “managerial posts in the capital have also recently opened up at QPR and Fulham.”
The Express contrives: “Ex Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers spotted in London to talk roles at Chelsea, Fulham or QPR?”
Echoed by the Mail: “Brendan Rodgers spotted in London… so was the former Liverpool manager using Waterloo Station to get to a job interview?
All those journalists on the football beat and not one has a clue.
It’s all utter drivel, of course. Rodgers was spotted not being whisked to a ground by car, but riding the Tube alone (no lawyer), having reached London via a train to Waterloo.
Joseph thinks seeing a man on the London Underground warrants a “Haha”. It’s the kind of laugh that says ‘Wouldn’t this be great if this was funny”.
But there is something thrilling about seeing a famous face.
Look out for Rodgers on a TV show very soon. It’s the media career they crave.
Note: It reminds us of former Spurs manager Christian Gross who travelled to his first press conference on the Tube. He showed everyone the ticket as a symbol of his empathy with the ordinary fan.
The idea that someone as vain as Rodgers would so reduce himself to the status of ordinary bloke is laughable.
Posted: 10th, November 2015 | In: Arsenal, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Liverpool balls: Klopp and the Crystal Palace ‘mass walkout’ that wasn’t
Did you see the “MASS WALKOUT” at Anfield as Liverpool lost to Crystal Palace?
What happened was that as the game wound down fans started to leave. This is pretty routine.
Jurgen Klopp admitted he was left feeling ‘pretty alone’ as he witnessed an Anfield exodus after losing his unbeaten record.
The Liverpool manager looked around the stadium in the moments after Scott Dann’s header had secured a 2-1 win for Crystal Palace and was visibly taken aback by the sight of supporters heading for the exits rather than staying behind to try and launch a late rally.
Said Klopp:
“The goal was on 82 minutes – 12 minutes to go – and I saw many people leaving the stadium. I turned around and, I watch my team and I felt pretty alone in that moment. We decide when it’s over. But between 82 and 94 minutes you can make eight goals if you want and we have to work for it. It feels so bad because it was not necessary.”
What the Mail fails to report is what else Klopp said. The Guardian fills in the blank:
Klopp said his frustration was not with the early leavers but his team’s inability to convince supporters that a point could be salvaged against an impressive Palace team. “I am not disappointed about this,” he clarified.
“They have reasons [for leaving] and maybe it is easier to go out, I don’t know. Don’t make a big thing about this but we are responsible that nobody can leave the stadium before the final whistle because anything can happen.”
No pop at the fans at all, then.
Chelsea benefit from FA conspiracy to let Diego Costa escape ban for Liverpool ‘red card’
In his ‘JOIN THE DEBATE’ column for the Daily Mail, Martin Samuel focuses on Chelsea striker Diego Costa.
Diego Costa will not be charged by the Football Association for his off-the-ball kick on Martin Skrtel.
Fact. But this is debate, so…
Why? Replays plainly showed Costa pushing his studs into Skrtel as the pair fell to the ground in Saturday’s game at Stamford Bridge.
Costa has previous for violent play, too, and served a three-match ban earlier in the season. Yet the FA line is that referee Mark Clattenburg saw the incident and dealt with it at the time. Really? If he did he was the only one who didn’t believe it deserved action.
In Monday’s Mail, Matt Barlow prised Skrtel for “not making a meal of it”.
The Mail has already published the views of one referee. It employs Graham Poll to tell readers:
When Diego Costa fouled Martin Skrtel it did appear that he made a secondary action with his right leg and kicked the Liverpool man in a violent manner. The incident occurred close to Clattenburg who took no action. Perhaps he missed it completely or didn’t think it violent. Perhaps he thought it fair ‘retaliation’ after Skrtel had caught Costa with a leading forearm in the first half. For me at full speed I doubt whether any referee would have dismissed the Chelsea man; replays might well have led to a red card but thankfully we still trust our referees to get the majority of decisions right.
Might. But… Not that conclusive, then.
Samuel adds:
More likely, Clattenburg and the FA knew after the game that Lucas Leiva of Liverpool should have received a second yellow card, and that to punish Costa — who could have been banned for four matches considering the previous offence — would merely add to Chelsea’s conspiracy fantasies. So it wasn’t justice: merely a balancing of injustices, which isn’t the same at all.
Chelsea benefit from FA conspiracy. Read all about it!
Posted: 4th, November 2015 | In: Chelsea, Liverpool, Reviews, Sports, Tabloids | Comment (1)
Liverpool balls: Klopp has a masterplan, just like Brendan Rodgers
Klopp Watch: Jurgen Klopp was won his first match as Liverpool manager, a 1-0 home victory over an injury-ravaged Bournemouth in the League Cup.
The Sun lads with news that this is evidence of Klopp’s “masterplan”.
Someone else had a masterplan.
The Liverpool Echo:
Masterplans can be overrated.
Posted: 29th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Liverpool move for the familiar Andrea Ranocchia
Transfer Balls: Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport says Liverpool want to sign Internazionale central defender Andrea Ranocchia. Jurgen Klopp likes the 27-year-old who’d cost in the region of €18m.
Ranocchia had been heavily linked with a move to Southampton over the summer but TalkSport said the player wanted to remain in Italy. He’s been linked with a move to pretty much every top English club:
The Metro: “Everton ‘approach Inter Milan for Andrea Ranocchia to replace John Stones’”
Daily Express: “Napoli set to rival Manchester United and Spurs for Inter Milan’s Andrea Ranocchia”
Daily Mirror: “Chelsea to target towering Inter Milan defender Andrea Ranocchia in January
Daily Express: “Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal & Spurs target Andrea Ranocchia set to hand in transfer request”
Daily Star: “Everton, Spurs, Newcastle and Crystal Palace set to pounce for Italian star Ranocchia”
Daily Mail: “Man City keen to snap up Inter centre back Ranocchia in exchange for Kolarov”
Ranocchia’s got a busy agent.
Posted: 23rd, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Liverpool balls: Jurgen Klopp says one of his side is the ‘complete footballer’ (no, not him)
Keen to convince his Liverpool team that they are the players he’d have chosen to buy, new Reds’ manager Jurgen Klopp says one of them is the “complete footballer”.
Klopp told reporters:
“We don’t have to sprinkle magical dust on them: ‘and now you can play football’. They know how to play. We just have to create a situation where it is possible to do this.
“I am not sure how many games you saw like this from Adam Lallana? I know him from Southampton and he can do 20-30 percent more. Philippe Coutinho? Do you not think he can play better football than today? Of course, he can.
“Lucas? You don’t think he can play balls on the right and left side? Of course he can. Emre Can? Learning between running and passing? He can learn.”
But who is the star turn?
“Milner? The complete football player, the perfect professional, a machine.”
He sure is Jurgen, he sure is…
Posted: 19th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Liverpool balls: stats prove Klopp has Reds playing like Burnley
Klopp Watch: more bilge on the new Liverpool manager in the Metro.
Stats show the Jurgen Klopp effect is already in full flow at Liverpool
Liverpool drew 0-0 away at Spurs in Klopp’s first match in charge. In can be argued that the scoreline is the biggest and most important stat. But the Metro has seen a tweet by data harvesters Opta:
Gegenpress is Klopp’s preferred method of closing down the opposition – what English types call ‘getting in their faces’ or simply ‘pressing’.
It might be worth looking at the same fixture last season, a game that ended 0-3 in Liverpool’s favour. Or the result in the season before that when Liverpool won 0-5.
And as for sprints equating to good team play, well, these are three biggest runners from last season:
George Boyd (Burnley) – 2587
Scott Arfield (Burnley) – 2532
Ahmed Elmohamady (Hull) – 2241
Burnley and Hull were relegated.
Such are the stats.
Posted: 18th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Liverpool balls: Danny Ings turns Klopp is the new Shankly
Klopp Watch: Gary Neville was annoyed by BT Sport’s Klopp cam, a little box in the corner of the screen that kept track of every smile, grin and physical jerk by Liverpool’s new manager Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp is hailed as that most rare of sporting gems: the likeable German.
In the Mirror, before a ball has been kicked under his guiding smile, the paper told readers:
Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp had the air of Bill Shankly about him at first pre-match press conference
Shankly was the manager who inspired Liverpool to greatness.
David Maddock began his article:
If there is one word Jurgen Klopp has used above all others since arriving at Anfield, it is “dream”.
He is living it, he insists, and he wants his players and the Liverpool supporters to do the same. His aim, above all others, is to get his new club dreaming again… There is something of the Shankly about him when he says, calmly, he has always preferred to concentrate on those who are available, rather than worry about the players who aren’t.
That’s pretty much what every manager does, is not, focusing on playing the fit over the ill, in this case not dwelling on injury to striker Danny Ings.
“As a manager, one of the things I learnt first you do not think about the players who are not available at this moment, because there is no chance to get lucky if you do this all of the time,” he explained with a smile… Shankly was famous for refusing to speak to injured players, blanking them as though they didn’t exist until they were fit and useful to him again.
Blimey! It’s the second coming.
Posted: 18th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Klopp Watch: Liverpool manager swears at media and binds Reds fans
Klopp Watch – a look at the news Liverpool manger Jurgen Klopp in the news. Matt Dickinson tells Times readers he “fears that the charm offensive won’t last”.
Klopp is the current media darling. It used to be Jose Mourinho they loved and before that Harry Redknapp. But Jose is now presented as toxic by the righteous and right-on and Redknapp’s been rumbled.
Says Dickenson:
As José Mourinho finds fresh conflict and conspiracy everywhere he turns, at least there is that lovely Jürgen Klopp to keep us smiling. Ah yes, the “normal one” with his cool jeans-jacket combo, his self-deprecation, the twinkle in his eye and stylish stubble on his rugged chin. Klopp is the future — bright, optimistic — like Mourinho used to be. Or so we like to think.
We then get to realise that anyone who got to the top of German football didn’t do it by grinning alone:
Blaming his woes on referees? Klopp can resort to that cheap tactic along with the worst of them. A check of his misdemeanours shows that he has been sent to the stands at least eight times for volcanic explosions. Patronising to journalists? Klopp can charm but he can also pull off a world-class sneer. You might think that is no bad thing — the media dish it out, we should take it too — but belittling hacks does not tend to play well beyond a club’s supporters.
Nigel Pearson’s belittling played out badly with pretty much everyone. And if Klopp’s words can bind Reds fans, so be it. Maybe he can share a few words with a Sun journalist and really win them over?
How long before Klopp is snapping like he did at Borussia Dortmund in a press conference when it was pointed out by someone from the club’s website that he was on a losing run against Hamburg: “The last thing I need is for you to bring that up, a***hole”.
Make a nice change from Mourinho’s too-clever-by-half rhetoric. Klopp’s “dark side” looks refreshingly normal.
Read it all here.
Posted: 17th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Arsenal balls: lose to Bayern Munich and the Premier League goes too (just ask Liverpool)
Arsenal are playing badly in the Champions’ League. With the table reading ‘played 2; lost 2’, Arsene Wenger’s team need a win in their home match with Bayern Munich.
Steve Howard has a theory that you can win when you lose. He writes in the Sun:
Should Arsenal suffer back-to-back defeats against Bayern Munich — P11, W11 and 24 goals in their last six games — they could well finish bottom of the group and not even qualify for the Europa League. Arsenal, free of other distractions, will then never have a better chance of winning their first title since the Invincibles in 2003-04. Just call it forward planning. And they never do anything in the Champions League anyway
Can losing matches help to win matches? What about winning being a habit?
In 2014, Liverpool were pushing to the title. With a home match against Chelsea looming the Daily Mirror asked its writes to take a view:
Will Liverpool win the Premier League title? Our reporters have their say…
Martin Lipton:
…the Anfield clash comes slap in the middle of Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final games with Atletico Madrid. That surely gives Liverpool an advantage.
Joe Mewis:
While there’s surely a few twists and turns awaiting us, the fact that the Chelsea game comes in the middle of their Champions League semi-final tips the balance in favour of the Reds for me.
Paul Wilson had more in the Guardian:
There can be no doubt, as Liverpool home in on a possible first title in 24 years, that their chances have been enhanced by non-involvement in Europe.
Managers in the know such as José Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini have been saying all season that it is easier to play once a week, it is clearly less tiring not to have to travel abroad in midweek and you do not run the risk of “hangovers” when disappointing results in Europe affect your confidence in Premier League matches…
The Anfield game falls right between the two legs of Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final against Atlético Madrid. Mourinho’s players will arrive in Liverpool having played in Spain, and have the home leg at Stamford Bridge three days after Anfield. Given that victory over Liverpool will not necessarily confirm Chelsea as English champions – another slip-up by Manchester City will be required for that to happen – it may be the case that European progress is prioritised…
He then adds wryly:
At the very least some seem to feel that if a 24-year gap is closed and Gerrard gets his title wish, an asterisk should accompany the achievement in the record books to denote that Liverpool played fewer games than most of their rivals that season. If Liverpool do win the title and seventh place is established as the ideal launchpad for domestic success, can we expect teams to be fighting to finish outside the European positions from next season onwards? It could be Manchester United have been ahead of the game all along.
Adding:
There is plenty of room for argument about whether a Championship season is actually easier or less taxing than a Premier League one, but missing from my correspondent’s analysis of the Wembley situation was the consideration that Arsenal, of the Champions League, were nine minutes from being humbled by Wigan, of the Championship. A team that though relegated at the end of last season had gone to Manchester City in the previous round and put out a side that at the time were favourites to win the Premier League title. You can produce statistics to support almost any argument in football, but Danny Blanchflower was right about the game being about glory. If you don’t see that, if you can’t even be a little bit excited about teams upsetting the odds, you might be missing the point.
Liverpool never did win the title that year, losing t0-2 to Chelsea in that home match. Chelsea lost 3-1 to Atletico Madrid.
Does defeat in the Champion’s League help a team win the title? No. It just means you lost.
Posted: 16th, October 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Klopp watching: Liverpool boss implicated in Firmino love photo
Klopping Off
Klopp Watch: a look at the Liverpool manager in the news. the Daily Mail shoehorns Klopp into a story built around a selfie.
Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino all loved up with wife Larissa Pereira…
Rohan Banerjee adds:
…so will new boss Jurgen Klopp take a fancy to him?
File under: threes a crowd.
Posted: 15th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Klopp watch: the Ulla Sandrock head poncho contest
You should see the size of the Cups
Klopp Watch: a look at reporting on the Liverpool manager.
Daily Mirror: “Who is Jurgen Klopp’s wife Ulla Sandrock? All you need to know about the Liverpool boss’s other half”
Key facts from the big list:
Ulla Sandrock, who was known as the ‘First Lady of Bundesliga’
That would make the President of the Bundesliga, which is odd given that he works in the Premier League.
Ms Sandrock is well known to the German media and was a regular at Borussia Dortmund games, but is she ready to compete with Merseyside’s finest WAGs?
Compete for what?
The Liverpool Echo adds: “New LFC boss Jurgen Klopp’s wife loves Liverpool fashion”
Jurgen Klopp’s wife is a big fan of Scouse fashion, according to… former Big Brother contestant Rebeckah Vaughan… Rebeckah, from Bidston, said: “My dad is a huge Liverpool fan so I’d heard all about him. We went up to his wife and I asked if she liked Liverpool and she said she did. I offered her a drink but she declined. She had on a lovely poncho so we discussed Scouse fashion…”
The poncho was invented in Toxteth in 1897.
Posted: 12th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Klopp Watch: Liverpool’s new Avram Grant, Sefton Park stalkers and dreaming of Stuttgart
Klopp Watch: Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has been speaking to German newspaper Bild:
“There is no doubt, this is a huge challenge, for me and my coaching team. We knew that full well [when we accepted the job]. Liverpool have not had any success for a long time and they’ve changed the manager all the time. And now they have appointed a German who is no miracle worker. Progress is not possible without a bit of time…
“I spoke to the people in charge of the club at length. [There are no targets for this season], just simply to play football with a recognisable brand…
“Whether there is money to spend in January or not doesn’t interest me. We are only in October and I don’t even know how many games we’ve got until the transfer window opens and therefore we will have a look at the players at our disposal first.”
What about the language?
“We will all have English lessons. I was relieved after the first press conference. I have said some stupid things in my life. But never in English… Did I dream about becoming a Liverpool manager when I was a kid? No, I dreamed about playing for Stuttgart, and that didn’t work out. But I am totally humbled to be here. It is almost a bit bizarre: there have been so many good and successful German managers and yet no one has been here.”
The Mail picks up the story. It also publishes paparazzi photographs of Klopp, his wife, son, son’s girlfriend and dog stood by a wall in Sefton Park. This is the Mail that swore off paparazzi photos after Princess Diana died. One photo is captioned:
Klopp’s wife Ulla bends down to stroke her pet dog while the Liverpool boss looks on along with his stepson (second left at back) and his girlfriend (third right), his driver (second right) and a club liaison officer (far right)
In another caption, the Mail reads his mind
Klopp will be hoping to be settled in his new apartment before Liverpool’s next match against Tottenham
The Guardian says “Klopp is expected to deliver – and fast“. We hear more from Klopp:
“People should not make me out to be like Jesus, I don’t walk on water.I understand that there are huge expectations surrounding this club, and expectations are important in life, not just football, but I hope no one really thinks I can perform wonders. Of course I cannot. I am not really enjoying all this attention, to be honest. I didn’t ask for it and I am hoping that after the initial big hype we can all cool down a little and get to work.
“I am glad everyone seems happy I am here, but some people seem to think that because Jürgen is here everything will change. I can’t promise that. Some things will change, for sure, and I might be different to other managers in some respects, but we cannot change the whole world in one day. I am sure Liverpool fans are clever enough to understand that we need time. If things need changing I want to do it as soon as possible, but patience is important.”
Paul Wilson adds:
Time is what every manager asks for, with Brendan Rodgers no exception. The trick is to buy it with results, visible improvement and perhaps even silverware. As Klopp attempts to move from trophy manager to manager responsible for trophies, he can be under no illusions that being in charge of Liverpool at the moment is anything other than daunting.
Sky Sports has news of ‘The Normal One’.
Jurgen Klopp had no plans to call himself ‘the Normal One’ before Liverpool unveiling
It too has read the Bild interview:
Speaking to the media for the first time since taking over at Anfield, Klopp was asked about how he compared himself to Jose Mourinho who labelled himself ‘The Special One’ when he became Chelsea manager in 2004.
Klopp delighted reporters with his tongue-in-cheek response, saying: “I’m a very normal guy from the Black Forest. I’m the normal one, maybe.”
But, speaking to German newspaper Bild, Klopp says it was an unplanned remark.
“No, I hadn’t thought about that at all,” Klopp said.
“I was asked and simply answered. Sometimes it is better to keep your mouth shut – but that is quite difficult at a press conference.”
Not that being the Normal one is original.
The Guardian tells us:
Avram Grant described himself as the “normal” one as he vowed to coach Chelsea in his own way after taking over from ‘the Special One’. Grant was unveiled as first-team coach at Stamford Bridge this evening, taking over from Jose Mourinho following the shock events at the club this week, but he made a less dramatic immediate impact than his predecessor.
More Klopp Watch most days.
Posted: 12th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Liverpool balls: Klopp joins the transfer committee he hated
Jurgen Klopp news (again). Those experts in the mainstream media had a few words to say about Liverpool’s new manager:
Joe Bernstein, Mail, 27 September:
Jurgen Klopp would demand the end of Liverpool’s transfer committee if he is to succeed Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool manager.
Jurgen Klopp join Liverpool. He tells media on October 9,”
“[The transfer committee] was not a problem for 10 seconds. We talked about it. For me it is enough that I have the first and the last words. We only want to discuss about very good players. I’m not a genius, I don’t know more than the rest of the world. I need the people who get the perfect information.”
Well, they did target Luis Suarez…
Posted: 10th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Liverpool: If Jurgen Klopp is the news Benitez Liverpool will be a lucky flash in the pan
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is just like Rafa Benitez, the Buddha of Anfield who led the Reds to Champions’ League glory. Well so say all the papers.
The Telegraph:
The similarities between Benitez’s appointment and Klopp’s are striking.
Oh?
Both left their home country having built their reputation slaying their nation’s financial superpowers with clubs of far less resources, utilising the qualities of players they improved rather than paid a fortune for.
In other words Liverpool have invested in a known winner.
Like Benitez, Klopp won two domestic titles before deciding to fulfil the ambition of taking on a Premier League giant in need of revival. He left Borussia Dortmund on his own terms with an emotional goodbye, echoing Benitez’s farewell to Valencia eleven years ago.
Uncanny. It’s almost as if Liverpool have a plan: hire a foreign manager whose made it.
No, says the Metro. This is fate.
Rafael Benitez was the last manager to lead the club to any sort of success and there are spooky similarities between the start of his reign and the start of Klopp’s.
Go on, Will Giles:
Klopp signed his three-year contract in the sixth boardroom of the appropriately named Hope Street Hotel – which is exactly the same place where Benitez signed his in June 2004.
Spooky!
But it doesn’t stop there – Benitez’s first league game in charge of Liverpool was Tottenham away. Klopp’s first game in charge? Tottenham away.
The game ended 1-1.
Benitez also managed to win the Champions League in his first season and while Klopp won’t be able to replicate that success straight away, you can’t deny that the omens look good.
You can. But the Daily Mirror can’t.
The eerie fact that suggests Jurgen Klopp could be as successful at Liverpool as Rafa Benitez
Klopp has promised a trophy within four years at Anfield – but could one arrive even sooner now we’ve discovered this omen?
Good if it does because he’s only on a three-year deal.
Klopp promised a trophy within four years to the Anfield faithful and maybe that’s because he knows his arrival at the club has more than a hint of Rafa Benitez’s. Because Klopp signed his mega-bucks Liverpool contract in the very same room that Benitez did way back in 2004. Both put pen to paper in the sixth boardroom of the Hope Street Hotel.
Spooky!
Oh, good grief.
Benitez won the Champions League in his first season at Liverpool and the FA Cup a year later. He remained a massively popular figure despite no league titles.
Not massively popular with everyone, though. In 2010, with four years of his five-year contract to run, Rafa was “extremely sad” to be leaving the club.
Good lucky, Jurgen. You’re gonna need it.
Liverpool balls: how much Klopp is now earning at Anfield
Liverpool have appointed affable German Jurgen Klopp and the papers agree that he’s terrific.
But what’s he earning at Liverpool?
Daily Telegraph: Klopp signed a three year deal worth £7 million a season.
The Times: £25m for three seasons.
But it’s just £6m for the migrant worker the Mail:
In Bild it’s €10 million-a-year. That’s around £7.4m a season.
But it’s down to £5m in the BBC:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 9th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Money, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Liverpool balls: Klopp joined a week ago but signs tomorrow
Jurgen Klopp has agreed a three-year deal to manage Liverpool FC. If it goes well, chances are he’ll be offered the Arsenal job. Only joking. It’ll be Chelsea. That for later.
Of course, readers of some other newspapers were told Klopp had agreed to join Liverpool well before the club made their announcement this afternoon – and some before the German had even spoken with the club.
October 7: Daily Express
October 6, Daily Star
October 4, The Metro
September 29, The Week
Such are the facts.
Liverpool balls: Shankly and the transfer committee bought winners, Brendan Rodgers picked the dross
Much has been written about Liverpool FC’s Transfer Committee. The group that signed Luis Suarez also signed Mario Balotelli. They don’t always get it right. But can it be an excuse for Brendan Rodgers’ failure at Anfield?
Guardian, July 2014: “Liverpool transfer failings suggest Luis Suárez won’t be adequately replaced”
…many of the targets identified by Rodgers and “the team” have proven to be high-level talents – the only problem is that they’ve done so at other clubs. Liverpool wanted Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but he joined Borussia Dortmund, they also wanted Willian and Mohamed Salah, but they joined Chelsea, while a move last summer for Diego Costa, who has just joined the Stamford Bridge club from Atlético Madrid on the back of finishing as top scorer for the La Liga champions, also came to nothing.
The committee is good at talent spotting, then. They also wanted Alexis Sanchez, but he rejected Liverpool and chose Arsenal.
Daily Mail, July 2014: “Liverpool buying big to replace Luis Suarez would go against the club’s principles and Brendan Rodgers’ instinct”
Oh?
So where would you start? You have been thrust into the role of Liverpool manager and your first task is to fill the void created by Luis Suarez’s departure to Barcelona… How about Karim Benzema, then? …He would cost in the region of £50m and demand huge wages but money isn’t an object for you, so why not? If Benzema isn’t for you, what about Marco Reus from Borussia Dortmund? Yours for £45m. When he recovers from the ankle ligament damage that cost him a place in Germany’s World Cup winning-squad, there is no doubt he deserves a place in European football’s ‘A’ list.
Others would have to be considered. Why not Radamel Falcao, a striker who deserves to be playing in front of a bigger, more passionate crowd than Monaco’s? Edinson Cavani from Paris Saint-Germain, maybe? Angel Di Maria, or even Mario Balotelli?
Were Liverpool to land any of the aforementioned players, the news would be huge, the fee would be massive but, more than anything, the deal would represent a shift in a policy that goes back to the days of Bill Shankly. Liverpool, in the main, do not raid big clubs to sign big names – they identify talent and turn them into stars.
The committee is upholding Liverpool traditions.
Indy, October 2014: “Brendan Rodgers is being let down by the Liverpool ‘transfer committee’ – only two of 23 players signed since 2012 have been successes”
Which two?
The ‘transfer committee’, an idea of Fenway Sports Group, includes chief executive, Ian Ayre, Michael Edwards, the head of analysis and the head of recruitment, Dave Fallows. Rodgers has final say on signings…
Rodgers has seen 23 new players arrive either permanently or on loan at Anfield in his spell in charge and, at a quick count, only two of those have proved themselves to be truly successful under the Northern Irishman.
Those two are Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho…
They are top players. But did Rodgers want them?
Liverpool Echo: October 2015: “Brendan Rodgers and the Liverpool FC transfer committee: a source of constant friction”
Rodgers was the driving force behind signing the likes of Fabio Borini, Joe Allen, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert, Danny Ings, James Milner and Christian Benteke, while the other members of the committee championed the suitability of players such as Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho, Sakho, Emre Can, Moreno, Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Lazar Markovic, Divock Origi and Roberto Firmino
No. The committee picked the two winners.
Daily Mirror, October 2015:
So Liverpool ‘s mysterious transfer committee has finally suffered its first casualty.
Although it says it all about FSG’s strategy that one of the six members has only gone because they have sacked Brendan Rodgers.
The committee was responsible for turning FSG’s misguided ‘Moneyball’ theory into practice in the transfer market.
Headed by the FSG’s powerful president Mike Gordon, who sacked Rodgers by trans-Atlantic phone call yesterday, it now comprises chief executive Ian Ayre, director of scouting Dave Fallows, chief scout Barry Hunter and director of performance ‘stats guy’ Michael Edwards.
Their brief is to find undervalued talent, preferably young or Bosman signings, for the coach to nurture.
But Rodgers wanted Sakho, Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto, right. The Echo told us he did.
He didn’t want Mamadou Sakho or Iago Aspas or Luis Alberto.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 7th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (2)
Liverpool balls: Harry Redknapp hopes Milner settles in England and rewrites history for Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodger is out of a job at Liverpool. And here’s Harry Redknapp to explain all. The headline makes his case:
Harry Redknapp: Brendan Rodgers should not have been sacked by Liverpool – he is a victim of modern football
By modern football, presumably, Redknapp means the Premier League, which has not not exactly proved un-lucrative for him and his. Rodgers lasted 3 years and 2 months in the Liverpool manager’s chair.
Before him, the Liverpool’s manager’s job was not exactly a role for life:
George Patterson: 1 June 1915 – 14 December 1919
David Ashworth England: December 1919 – February 1923
Matt McQueen: 1February 1923 – February 1928 229
George Patterson: March 1928 – August 1936
George Kay: August 1936 – January 1951
Don Welsh: March 1951 – May 1956
Phil Taylor: May 1956 – November 1959
Bill Shankly: December 1959 – July 1974
Bob Paisley: August 1974 – July 1983
Joe Fagan: July 1983 – May 1985
Kenny Dalglish: May 1985 – February 1991
Ronnie Moran: February 1991 – April 1991
Graeme Souness: April 1991 – January 1994
Roy Evans: January 1994 – November 1998
Evans & Gérard Houllier: July 1998 – November 1998
Gérard Houllier: 16 July 1998 – May 2004
Rodgers fits a patten, no? So what was “modern’ about his removal?
I feel desperately sorry for Brendan, it is too soon for him to be sacked after eight games, but it does seem to have been coming for weeks. For me, though, he has taken the blame for other people at Liverpool.
He was not sacked after eight weeks. He was sacked after threes years and two months.
In the modern game, it never seems to be the manager who signs the players, it’s just the manager who takes the blame when things don’t work out. It happens all the time and it is exasperating sometimes.
In the good old days, the Government had a say in who played. In 1922 the State-imposed maximum wage for a player set at £8 a week (£6 in the summer), plus a loyalty bonus of £650 after five years. The maximum wage was abolished in 1961.
Managers don’t have the same say on transfers that they used to, but they are still expected to take the blame if the new signings don’t work out. They have these transfer committees, but it’s only the manager who sticks his head above the parapet and he’s the one who gets shot at. The other lot just stay in the background, out of sight, but they have huge power. The only time you ever hear from them is when one of the players signed becomes a huge success.
Redknapp would, of course, never get praise for someone else’s work.
I don’t think Brendan has signed those new players at Liverpool. They’ve brought in players from Brazil and I don’t think he will have known much about them.
Let’s look at Liverpool’s Brazilian players.
Roberto Firmino Barbosa de Oliveira joined from German side Hoffenheim
Lucas Leivia joined from Brazilian club Grêmio in 2007
Philippe Coutinho joined from Italy’s Internazionale
If Rodgers doesn’t know much about players in other top European league’s, you should worry.
Redknapp concludes:
I don’t think Brendan deserved to go so soon into the season. I think they’ve got a wonderful chance of finishing in the top four this season… The thing that will frustrate him is that those new players may well go on to benefit the next manager. They will settle in England and they will get used to the Premier League.
Last summer, Rodgers signed:
James Milner – Man City – Free
Danny Ings – Burnley – Tribunal
Adam Bogdan – Bolton – Free
Joe Gomez – Charlton – £3.5m
Roberto Firmino – Hoffenheim – £29m
Nathaniel Clyne – Southampton – £12.5m
Let’s hop Milner and the other migrant workers settle in England.
This, of course, is the same Redknapp who told Telegraph readers in September 2015:
I don’t fancy Liverpool at all. I think it’s the worst Liverpool team I have seen in years. They look bang average. They are lucky to have any points. Bournemouth should have beaten them, they got a wonder goal at Stoke. Okay, they played all right first-half at Arsenal. I think they will do well to finish in the top five. I am not with Liverpool at all this year.
Modern football eh, full of overpaid pundits.
Posted: 5th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers sacked, moves one step closer to England job
No sooner had his Liverpool side drawn 1-1 against Everton in this afternoon’s Merseyside derby than Brendan Rodgers found himself out of a job.
According to the BBC, the decision to can Rodgers was made by the Liverpool higher-ups at 18:30 BST, just hours after full-time.
Announcing the news via a joint statement on the official Liverpool website, owner John W Henry, chairman Tom Werner and president Mike Gordon said:
We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Brendan Rodgers for the significant contribution he has made to the club and express our gratitude for his hard work and commitment.
All of us have experienced some wonderful moments with Brendan as manager and we are confident he will enjoy a long career in the game.
Although this has been a difficult decision, we believe it provides us with the best opportunity for success on the pitch. Ambition and winning are at the heart of what we want to bring to Liverpool and we believe this change gives us the best opportunity to deliver it.
The latest from the club’s owners is that they are hoping to appoint a new manager – and Jurgen Klopp is runaway favourite to take the gig – in a “decisive and timely manner”.
And here’s us thinking Brendan, for all his many and obvious flaws, wasn’t doing too bad a job at Anfield.
Ruthless business.
And how about Rodgers for England? He’d be good. He has vision.
Posted: 4th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (2)
Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers would make a great England manager
Liverpool are looking limp under Brendan Rodgers. Jurgen Klopp is the media’s favourite to take over should Rodgers get the boot. In the Times Matt Dickinson asks readers to pause and remember that Rodgers is no fool. A talented manager, which Rodgers certainly is, does not become rubbish.
There may be fun to be had with @DeludedBrendan and the mocking tweets but, beyond the David Brent gags, the Rodgers who emerges from Gerrard’s book deserves to be taken seriously; a sharp tactician, a strong communicator, an astute improver of players.
Sometimes he can get a little carried away and, as Gerrard notes, he is ambitious perhaps to the point of ruthlessness. But there emerges a portrait of an upwardly mobile manager who, if unwanted by Liverpool at the end of this season, would be very welcome in an England tracksuit as the successor to Roy Hodgson.
Rodgers for England? You hear it and it makes sense.
…Rodgers is the one with top-level coaching and managerial experience, a record of improving young players, especially English ones. Or, as he once said in one of those quotes that seem to polarise opinion: “My life’s work has been trying to show that British players can play.”
Dickinson quotes from Gerrard’s book:
Read Gerrard recount in compelling detail about when he went to see Rodgers because he felt off-form and could not fathom the problem. The speed with which his manager came back with detailed analysis about a lack of head movement, and how it was affecting the tempo of the captain’s passing game, is striking. There are plenty of stories from Gerrard of Rodgers’ ability to motivate as well as innovate. The book is littered with lines like “the training sessions were among the best I had ever experienced while his man-management was excellent, generous and imaginative”; “it needed a bold appointment from the owners — and I think they got it right with Brendan”; “Brendan came across as a nice man, and a good person, from the start”; “a very human man-manager”.
Of course, there is some blunt criticism, too; a dubious signing or two and, most notably, a critique of that fateful, gung-ho approach against Chelsea with the title at stake fuelled by “an overconfidence in Brendan’s team talks” and not recognising the need to temper his boldness.
Jason Burt has also talked of Rodgers being the ideal England candidate:
The FA needs direction, maybe even an evangelical approach. It intends to keep Hodgson in place until the completion of the 2016 European Championship when his contract expires, when he will be close to celebrating his 69th birthday. He is likely to go then, so the clock is ticking as regards his successor. The answer seems clear: it should be Brendan Rodgers…
Here is a man who clearly has “ that vision thing”. Not just in an identifiable and entertaining modern style of play – you could put his Liverpool team in any colour shirt and they would be recognisably Liverpool – but in developing players as people. He has both a “holistic” approach, to borrow Manchester City’s phrase, and a much deeper sense of pastoral care and social responsibility.
It does not matter that Rodgers comes from Northern Ireland. The FA should read his words and call him, to discover if he would want to be involved in finding “that vision thing”. Hodgson should welcome his input. It would not undermine him.
And then there is Steven Gerrard, who says:
“The way he [Rodgers] plays would suit England. He would improve the possession football you need at international level. His man management is brilliant. At tournaments, in the heat, it is absolute torture and we need to keep the ball better. If you want someone who would get the team playing and the players would enjoy working with, it would be Brendan.”
Rodgers for England. It makes sense.
Posted: 2nd, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (2)
Liverpool balls: football genius picks Neymar over Ings
Banteriser Jimmy Bullard has a plan to make Liverpool great. Jimmy, last seen being irritating (surely, engaging in hilarious bantz – ed) in the I’m A Celebrity jungle has been talking to the Express.
Bullard has been hired by Ladbrokes Rugby’s ‘Who’s Got The Balls’ campaign, a truly dire marketing strategy in which punters are invited to see if Bullard or Austin Healey (Strictly Come Dancing, Hole In The Wall, The Weakest Link, Pointless Celebrities and more) can decide “once and for all” if celebrity footballers or rugby players are tougher.
One test of fortitude would be to see how long anyone can spend in room with Bullard before begging for mercy. But while Ladbroke’s make ready the punishment room, Bullard turns his mind to Liverpool.
“They haven’t bought enough. They bought ok, but Roberto Firmino has not produced. They got rid of top quality and they haven’t got that back. With the likes of Suarez going and not getting world quality, for me as a fan I want to see a world-class striker join. I wanted to see a Neymar or someone to replace Suarez. They took a risk with signing Danny Ings from Burnley.”
But Neymar! Had only Brendan Rogers the wit to have bought Brazil’s brightest star from Barcelona.
Posted: 1st, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment (1)
Liverpool: Klopp says ‘come and get me’ but only if you change
Is the next Liverpool manager to be Jurgen Klopp? If it is then changes will need to be made says the Daily Mail:
Klopp will only take Liverpool job if transfer committee is scrapped
Joe Bernstein writes:
Jurgen Klopp would demand the end of Liverpool’s transfer committee if he is to succeed Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool manager.
That’s not exactly new news is it. Back in May, the Metro said the same thing:
The German would demand FSG remove the current four-man committee that decide which players Liverpool decide to buy or sell, leaving Klopp himself to have more influence on the club’s transfer targets.
But is that even correct? In August Klopp said he wasn’t keen on doing transfers:
“The Premier League is very exciting. And we do not only think about the top four because there are some other great clubs below them. In Germany there is a clear separation between manager and sporting director and I think in principle this is very good. Jürgen does not like to speak to players’ agents or to carry out a transfer. So we have to see which is the most useful arrangement.”
But none of it matters because Liverpool don’t want Klopp. talkSport told us that:
Such are the facts in the mainstream media.
Posted: 28th, September 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Liverpool: Rodgers senses ‘hysteria’, 33 new players and Manchester United move miles ahead
The Sunday Times says “Liverpool as far from the top as they’ve ever been”. Is Brendan Rodgers’ side that bad?
Jonathan Northcroft:
Rodgers surely also knew, from last year, that when you churn playing staff in the summer it is hard to find consistency. His latest spree, featuring eight arrivals, was lauded by supporters seeking change — but after 33 signings, for £292m, in three years, is it not stability that Liverpool need?
Recruitment defines most reigns. It is likely to do so with Rodgers. The 33 have been an unbalanced crew, including five No 10s, 10 strikers and only two wingers…
There is another five-year anniversary approaching, of John W Henry’s takeover in 2010. The pledge was “to first focus on stability rather than change”. Can Rodgers weather trouble and finally get a restless club to settle?
Another noble Henry 2010 objective was to “return Liverpool FC to its rightful place in English and European football, successfully competing for and winning trophies”. But look through the squad. How many would get in the first teams of Liverpool’s rivals in England — let alone Europe?
Look at the economics: in 2010, Liverpool’s wage bill topped Arsenal’s and was just £10m behind United’s and £12m behind Manchester City’s. Now it’s £71.5m behind United’s, £62.5m behind City’s, £23m behind Arsenal’s. Liverpool have never seemed further from Henry’s goal and for reasons neither he nor Rodgers fully control.
Says Rodgers:
“There’s a hysteria around the club. We’ve lost fewer games than Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal in all competitions – two. It’s a huge club, a worldwide, iconic club, so the scrutiny on it is huge. It doesn’t affect us. We’re working hard and trying to integrate players back into the team….There is a group of people that don’t want me here. Myself and the players stay very calm and work very hard.”
But it’s about belief. City and Arsenal have lost in the Champions’ League. Can Liverpool even get there?
Posted: 27th, September 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comment (1)
Liverpool balls: Rodgers gets the ‘axe’ and refuses to ‘quit’
Is Brendan Rodgers heading out of Liverpool FC? The Sun and the Daily Mirror each have a take on the story.
David Maddock, the Daily Mirror, September 25:
The Liverpool manager retains the support of his club’s American owners, for now. The 42-year-old is pragmatic enough to know the backing that came – surprisingly strongly – from the other side of the Atlantic this week will not endure unless there is a seismic shift in performance
Ken Lawrence, The Sun, September 25:
His [Rodgers] language — in terms of what he says as well as his body — suggests he now thinks it inevitable Fenway Sports Group will get rid of him. Rodgers might have been referring to a statement prepared AFTER the American owners had ended his three–year tenure when he declared: “I know I’ve given it everything.”
And in a second story also from September 25 by Ken Lawrence:
BRENDAN RODGERS’ biggest fight is against the enemy within — not the critics determined to see him sacked. They say you never walk alone at Anfield but the Liverpool boss is becoming isolated from his Fenway Sports Group employers. Ahead of tomorrow’s must–win clash at home to struggling Aston Villa, the sound of silence from principle owner John W. Henry and chairman Tom Werner is deafening.
Have Fenway Sports Group backed him or not? The Mirror says ‘yes’ the Sun says ‘no’.
One day on and the Mirror declares that “defiant” Rodgers “shrugs off critics”:
Or as the Sun puts it – Rodgers “looks resigned to the Liverpool axe”:
Rodgers is defiant and resigned?
Such are the facts.
Posted: 26th, September 2015 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (2)
