I understand your sentiments.
But Liverpool (unlike Swansea) CANNOT afford to lose 5 games in a row.
We are aiming for Champions league football NOT mid table safety! It's a traversty if we end up mid table again...
We need winners...

This thread has been god awful quiet as of lately. We just had a new manager unveiled and throwing down the gauntlet, you would think this thread would spring to life but it doesnt

Watch Brendan's first interview
1st Jun 2012 - Latest News

Shortly before facing the world's media at Anfield today, Brendan Rodgers gave his first interview as the new Liverpool manager exclusively to Liverpoolfc.tv.

How do you feel to be the new manager of this famous football club?

As you can imagine, I am very proud and feel very blessed to be appointed today. It's obviously a club with an incredible tradition and history and I'm very, very proud and honoured to be appointed manager.

How excited are you by the owners' plans and visions for the future?

I suppose I first of all want to mention Kenny Dalglish, who is an incredible man. He's obviously the best player in the history of this football club and he's someone who adored Liverpool. He has nursed the club through some horrific times and also brought a lot of joy to the supporters here both as a player and a manager. He is someone I want to pay a great respect to because he's a wonderful ambassador for this football club. But I'm a different tactician, a different man. The owners are very excited and looking forward, and obviously they wanted to bring someone in who could keep with the traditions of Liverpool Football Club, which is to play offensive and attacking football, and also someone to represent the values of the club off the field, and that's something I will defend for my life.

How difficult was it to leave Swansea?

It was very difficult. I always said I'd leave Swansea City one day but I felt it was only going to be for a top club. I had a fantastic relationship with the chairman and the supporters and also we created history - we were the first Welsh club into the Barclays Premier League. But the attraction of coming to Liverpool is phenomenal. You only need to look at the fact they're five times European Cup winners. Some of the great players who've played for this club. I genuinely think Liverpool Football Club is the heartland of football folklore. If you look back through the years, at the players and managers. You go back to Toshack and Keegan, Rush and Dalglish, Hansen and Lawrenson, Shankly and Paisley. Then you have the modern day in terms of Gerrard and Carragher. It's a club that's so full of history and tradition and passion.

How would you describe your own football philosophy?

The philosophy is very much based on the attacking side of the game. People ask me that question and I always say it's about being offensive and creative, but also with tactical discipline. If you look at the Swansea team in the last couple of years they've been lauded for their offensive approach but defensively we've kept many clean sheets and we're up there with the top defensive records. That's the principles of this club. This is a club that's based on fast, attacking, offensive football. But I'll repeat - it's very important to have tactical discipline within that. Your philosophy and your principles will always be governed by the players. There is a fantastic squad here, some terrific players, but there is no doubt I'll need to make maybe two, three or four additions to try and get that flow - and it will take time to put that in place.

Who are the influences on your managerial career?

I have been a student of the game. I've been coaching and managing for 20 years and travelled a lot as a coach. I've been very clear in my philosophy and had a clear vision in that since I was very young. My grandfather was a big supporter of Liverpool, along with my father, so I watched the late 70s and early 80s football. Obviously the Cruyff philosophy was very prominent because my dad was a big lover of Cruyff. As you move into the coaching, my philosophy has been a fusion between the British and the European. The single biggest influence would be Jose Mourinho, purely because he gave me the opportunity. I learned many things from Jose. He is a great man and the biggest thing he did for me is give me an opportunity and show belief in me, and give me that chance to work with top players.

The style you had at Swansea - would you hope to deploy a similar one here at Liverpool or does that depend on the players?

The principles of your game depend on the players but certainly that's a vision that I would hopefully over the next few years (implement). It certainly won't happen in game one because there are different types of players here. But over time, that's the ideology - to play that way. One, it's my belief, and two, it's the belief of the supporters. They enjoy watching it, and that's one of the biggest attractions coming here. Liverpool supporters are very educated in the game. We were here with Swansea earlier in the season and their style of football got a round of applause at the end of the game. That doesn't happen very often at away grounds.

Do you need time to build that philosophy here?

You do. There is no doubt about that. I'm very much a realist. It's certainly going to be a few years in relation to where the team is at now. It will need some investment and it will need time for me to work. But of course we're in the business of winning and winning games is important. But it's a philosophy and a style that's very much in the DNA of me and the club and hopefully we can roll that out over the years to come.

What does Liverpool Football Club mean to you personally?

For me it means an awful lot. There is a real emotional attachment. I've had a number of opportunities to leave Swansea and I wasn't going to leave Swansea for any club, because of my life both professional and personal. But the attraction of the history here, and also the attraction of the frustrations - to feel the club are still striving for that league title. Hopefully over the coming years that's something we can look to challenge for. Certainly not immediately, there are still a lot of improvements to be made. This is an iconic football club. It's a club that's up there with the world's great. When you talk Liverpool Football Club you're talking Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, AC Milan. It's an enormous club. The challenge and the motivation is for me to do the best I possibly can and I will always fight for my life for Liverpool, and that will be on and off the field.

How excited are you about some of the players you will be working with here?

I'm really looking forward to it. I spoke to Steven Gerrard last night. That was fantastic, I had a nice chat with him. I have always worked well with people. To me, it's doesn't matter whether they're big stars or not, the club's success is the most important and every player I work with will have to be a part of the team. There are some wonderful talents. If you look at the likes of Steven; Jamie Carragher has been a wonderful player for this football club; you've got Pepe Reina, who's a top, world-class goalkeeper, and many other talents within the group. I always have a close relationship with players. I speak very openly and honestly with them so they know where they stand. I like to educate players. You train dogs, I like to educate players both on and off the field.

Early days, of course, but have you identified transfer targets?

Again, it's important to assess the group, but having watched Liverpool I've certainly got an idea what could improve., that's for sure.

And have you spoken to the owners about a transfer budget?

Yes. There is money to spend. We haven't got the wheelbarrow overflowing. It's not falling out over the edges but there is money to spend. There are some terrific players here and big talents and I want to help improve them as players and as people. There will be some additions to improve and improve our way of playing as well.

Supporters here are desperate to get back in the Champions League - is that your own aim?

It's an aim for every manager at a top club. That's the holy grail, but also, in time, we want to be challenging for the title. For me, and it's not going to be straight away because that's not realistic, winning the title is something we want to achieve. It's not just aiming for fourth place. The Champions League is fantastic and that's where this club wants to be. It's going to be a process and ultimately, hopefully, that will take us up towards the top of the league and challenging. That's where this club belongs.

Finally, what would your message to Liverpool supporters be?

I'd just like to say, I'm honoured and blessed to be your manager. All I can promise is I'll fight for my life for the club. My family will move to the area and we're really excited about moving to the city of Liverpool, getting to know the football club and the people of Liverpool. I will leave no stone unturned in my quest - and that quest will be relentless - to try and get Liverpool back on the map again as a successful football club.

Further with so many choices around, why Rodgers?
Why go for someone untested and unproven (2 sucessful season is hardly considered as a good track record more so that he did not win any throphies)?

Goodbye and Good Luck RB. Welcome and Good Luck BR

So Brendan Rodgers is our new manager. Am I happy? not really, but that’s not down to Brendan himself, the more I read, hear and see from the man the more confident I am in this appointment. No the reason I’m not happy is because Rafael Benitez as the outstanding candidate has been overlooked. Even more so now it appears there’s a strong possibility of no Director of Football running the show, which begs the question what possible excuse was there not to interview the man?

When the rumour mill was in overdrive and names were being thrown at us from all directions; the likes of Louis Van Gaal, Andres Villas Boas, Jurgen Klopp, Roberto Martinez, Joachim Loew, Frank De Boer, Fabio Capello and of course Brendan Rodgers I was excited. These names weren’t the Alan Curbishley’s, Sam Allardyce’s or Martin O’Neil’s of post-Houllier managerial speculation, these men were either established proven winners or exceptionally talented ambitious prodigies with highly regarded managerial potential who had what most Liverpudlians would agree as the correct philosophy on how to play the game.

Although Rafa’s name was conspicuous by its absence as the week wore on, I still held firmly onto the belief (or should that be clung to one frayed thread of hope) that FSG would be astute enough to at least speak to the him before cementing their appointment, but even if not, considering the standard of candidate linked with us then I would be more than happy to get behind any of them 100%

That was until two days ago when it became almost a dead cert that Brendan Rodgers had won the race to the Anfield hot seat, a race which Rafa Benitez had not been entered. It was at this moment I realised exactly how much I Iove Rafael Benitez, indeed more than a heterosexual male probably should, and how much I wanted him back in his office at Melwood.

The reason being I think, besides having had a bet some time ago with a Manc mate of mine that we wouldn’t go as long as them without winning a title, which I’m very close to having to shell out a grand on, and my belief that Rafa would have had us hitting the ground running had he returned, besides that there is this deep seated resentment against fellow fans and the owners (possibly undeservedly as they weren’t the ones to sack him in the first place) that despite sacrificing everything he had for this club, including it seems his reputation that he hasn’t been given the opportunity to repair that with us, while simultaneously shoving so called Liverpool fans bile back down their throats in the process.

Lest we forget that this man had been courted by the cream of Europe including his boyhood club, and still he chose to remain at Liverpool during horrendous turmoil. He took on our previous owners in full knowledge that in doing so he’d risk losing his job. He took the city, our traditions, our standards, our hopes and dreams and made them his too. Outside of football both he and his wife have given so much to the area, and I think I felt the least we could do was to give him another chance at building the dynasty he wanted; almost 50% of the first team squad is his, some of the backroom staff are his, he revamped an academy system that Pep Guardiola acknowledges as second only to Barcas’. If nothing else I wanted him to get another opportunity as a thank you for all he’s done, both on and off the pitch. While working on work experience for LFCTV and as part of the RedmenTV team I’ve been lucky enough to have met him, and from my encounters he is one of the most dignified, impressive, knowledgeable and humble men I’ve ever met, and it vexes me everytime I hear anyone disparage his legacy at the club or his character, and find myself defending him as if he were one of my own family. I don’t know whether Rafael Benitez will ever get the chance of coming back to our club now, it seems highly unlikely now but it’s a travesty the way he has been ignored by this club, who owe a great deal to him.

This is by no means a reflection on Brendan Rodgers himself, who actually reminds me of a young Benitez, probably more so than his compatriot at the DW stadium does; like Benitez, Rodger’s career was cut short at an early age by injury, so he moved into coach the youth set up at Reading as Rafa had at Real Madrid. They both travelled and studied their craft at some of Europe’s most elite footballing institutions, for Benitez that included Manchester United and AC Milan, for Rodgers’ Barcelona and Ajax. They both then went on to manage at lower league teams where they both experience being sacked for the first time, before later gaining promotion to the top tier of their respective country’s leagues with a rival lower league side. Rafa was then snapped up by Valencia at the age of 41, Brendan Rodgers is 39.

The similarities in career are almost uncanny. In fact when you look at the win percentages of the two side-by-side after their first three clubs, for Rodgers’ his only three, he actually comes out on top with 41.06% to Rafa’s 31.96% of course we should take into account Benitez first two clubs, Real Valladolid and Osasuna were unsuccessful and very short lived with a total of 32 games managed over his time at both clubs, so this would obviously skew the stats a little. If you take Rafa’s first three clubs after his sabbatical; Tenerife, Valencia and Liverpool his win percentage rises to an impressive 54.41% but then that gives Rafa the advantage of having far better players at his disposal. The point here is that there is no significant difference to be made between the two in terms of relative success cross-referenced by experience.

The other day I wrote an article saying that essentially if we are to be successful we all need to pull together and believe in the direction that FSG are taking us. There is however one proviso to this support for our owners. Rafael Benitez is a genius, I don’t believe there is anyone out there that can make such a dramatic impact, in such a short space of time with such a relatively tiny net spend, but he didn’t receive the backing from his board, and in the latter days at Liverpool he also lost some of the dressing room and some of the fans.

I like Brendan Rodgers’ I like his attitude, his philosophy and his emphasis on player character. He’s no Benitez, of course he isn’t he’s Brendan Rodgers; a man with his own character and his own ideas. I think he has the potential to do great things at this club, like his Iberian-scouse counterpart he appears to have insatiable ambition and a clarity of vision, but he cannot succeed without the backing of the board, both in confidence and monetarily, the players and most importantly the fans, as Kristian Walsh said in a recent article on The Anfield Wrap, on the message boards, phone-ins and in the stands, we have to be backing the manager, through the wind and the rain. Brendan Rodgers if he is to succeed will need something his recent predecessors never got, time AND money. Rafael Benitez revolutionising of the club combined with the King’s spending last season has created what I believe to be powerful springboard for the club to launch themselves into a new era, please don’t let us all be flying off in different directions.

Source: http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=294298.0

Rodgers outlines his LFC vision
2nd Jun 2012 - Latest News

Brendan Rodgers has spoken of his intention to play attacking football at Anfield and entertain the Kop.

After seeing his Swansea team applauded off the pitch for their performance at Anfield last November, he witnessed at close hand just what a unique bunch of supporters Liverpool have.

The new boss was reserve team manager at Stamford Bridge when Liverpool beat Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final, and he insists the special atmosphere of Anfield, matched by an attacking team can intimidate opponents.

Recalling the 2005 semi-final, Rodgers said: "The (Chelsea) players said they had never experienced support like that.

"That was ultimately what won the game. I want to use the incredible support to make coming to Anfield the longest 90 minutes of an opponent's life.

"I want to see great attacking football with creativity and imagination, with relentless passing of the ball.

"I know what it's like because I had a team like that at Swansea. That was with a terrific group of players. When people came to Swansea, it was probably the longest 90 minutes in their life. So after 10 minutes, when they hadn't had a touch of the ball, they are looking at the clock and seeing only 10 minutes had gone. It's a long afternoon."

Rodgers knows the expectations at Anfield are different to those at the Liberty Stadium, but he has a strong mental approach and is eager to give the supporters something to shout about.

"When you come to a club like this one, the shirt weighs much heavier than any other shirt," he said.

"The weight of expectation is phenomenal. My job next season is to try and lift some of that weight off the shirt. I'll take the pressure.

"The players can just go and concentrate on performing and if you don't do that you'll get the result eight or nine times out of 10 because of your talent.

"The reality is that this is a club where I need to align the playing group with the supporters. There is an imbalance at the minute.

"You've got some of the world's best supporters here and the playing group is not quite at that level yet. What excities me is the motivation to get that level back up again and that is why I came."

The pass and move philosophy which has become Liverpool's trademark is what Rodgers wants to bring to the pitch on a regular basis and he insists it is important to keep those traditions.

He added: "I think every player will tell you they would love to play that way. The question is, does every player want to work that way?

"For me, a lot of our game is based on passing. Our game at Swansea was talked about a lot and lauded. What people didn't recognise is that to have the ball for 60-70 per cent of the game you have to get it back, very, very quickly.

"So our transition in the game and positioning to get the ball back became very good and that allowed us to beat Manchester City, to beat Arsenal, should have beaten Chelsea and to beat Liverpool.

"It's not starting from scratch but tweaking. I don't think it is a total rebuild.

"Obviously I have a philosophy in terms of where I want to get to but that won't happen on the first day. What we will need to do is make a number of adjustments and bring in players for key positions that will allow us to play that way.

"You can't come to Liverpool and play a direct game of football, lumping-it style.

"This is a club that is historic for the identity, style and DNA of its football."

Source: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news...-his-lfc-vision

Adam with a pivot like Lucas can be quite good tho. It's only when he's asked to do more heavy lifting that he starts to become a liability. With the presence of Lucas and another CM, he is free to focus on that one part of his game that he's very good at .. passing the ball.

And i asked myself what can Downing do that Gerrard can't ? Who is likely to link up better with the other players ? Who is likely to be an assist machine? Who is likely to press harder up field ? Who is likely to score ? Gerrard or Downing ?

Perhaps Downing will improve under Rodgers, but at the moment i'm just basing my opinion on what i've seen.

Anyone bought their new warrior home kit from here?

http://www.warriorfootballasia.com/default.aspx

led_zep_freak,

Lucas 21? What a coincidence lol.

Ordered mine last Friday night. How long will it take for them to verify payment? I paid thru paypal. Both my paypal & CC are not charged yet. I only received notification email of the order. That's it.

You too? How many days already after you ordered?

Hmm, my previous order via lfc.tv seems much faster.

Such as?

tiki-tata need responsibility,good close dribbling skill, good 1st touch, vision or else it wont happened..

the only player who have tis attribute probably only suarez... others i doubt...

downing for tiki-taka?