Who uses the cheque book - Rodgers or Klopp?
Article by Red Phil
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Several newspapers are suggesting that LFC will get rid of about ten players this summer in the biggest clear-out seen for quite a while. Some suggest that it might not be Brendan Rodgers doing the clearing-out which, because of what he has done for us, is potentially very sad.
But, let’s look at the evidence . .
His record on purchases is fairly poor with far more second-rate players signed than top-notch ones and, on that basis, should we trust him to get rid of the weaker players before, in theory, spending another skip-load of dosh on their replacements? Under his tenure we’ve lost out on Sanchez, who was a likely candidate for coming here, Fabian Delph, who was supposedly a LFC target before he apparently got fed-up of waiting and signed a new contract at the Villa . . . before tonking us last weekend with a superb individual performance, and several other top players who didn’t end up at Anfield when we hoped and thought they might!
Brendan did bring about the organisational nous that we needed when he brought the sort of ball-controlling tactics that did so well at Swansea and stifled the life out of the other teams who simply couldn’t get the ball and, when we had Suarez and Sturridge up front, it worked a treat.
However, now, we’ve lost that cutting edge up front, we can’t hold on to the ball and, as I’ve been saying for longer than I care to remember, we haven’t got the creative talent available to make use of any use of the ball we manage to have. We seem to be playing with any number of players interchangeable when it comes to roles, not game after game but with changes several times during games!
I don’t know if that tactic is supposed to perplex and bamboozle the opposition but it most certainly fries the brains of most of our players. Such tactics, to a point, may be okay when you have the Dutch footballers of the 1970s who gave us ‘total football’ but it doesn’t seem to work when your average player is distinctly . . . average!
In the Villa game – and it has been mentioned in about four newspapers I’ve read – we had three different positional line-ups in just the first half and, let’s be honest, it didn’t work! The players could have been unsure of just what was being asked of them, I don’t know, but when Sterling doesn’t know if he’ll be a winger, central striker or wing-back during the next twenty minutes, not the next twenty games, its no wonder he is beginning to look lost. Same with Emre Can and Alberto Moreno.
It’s a long way from the days when Shanks and Bob Paisley would send the players out with a quick “Same as usual, boys” as the team sauntered on to the pitch.
No, we’ve got to get rid of at least ten players – I’d suggest more than that – and spend WISELY up to £70m . . . and I don’t know if I’d trust Brendan to do that WISELY. Looks, according to the websites, as if we’ve lost out on Depay so who are the other players we are ‘supposedly’ interested in? Milner? Good Grief! Falcao? Please, shoot me if that happens as I couldn’t cope with signing an injury-prone United failure on £260,000 per WEEK for sitting on the bench and spending many hours in the treatment room!!!!!
Then there’s that Brazilian full-back whose name I can’t remember? Plays for Barcelona and formerly of Sevilla, must be 30+, eagerly awaiting yet another huge contract but totally unsuited to the rigours and pace of our league. What’s his bloody name? Anyway, I don’t want him anywhere near this club as his best days are far, far behind him (as are Falcaos!). We don’t need players who are over the hill or capable of looking over the hill as they near the summit.
One or two others players get mentioned, such as Cavani, but yet again we are talking about very expensive Prima Dona players unproven in our sort of football and not on the way up! Normally nice hair styles with flowing locks and nice Latin sounding names and egos but they don’t tend to cut the mustard in our brutally fast game!
If we can get Brendan Rodgers to admit he has lost the plot a bit recently, with the tactical changes and positional movements every half-hour or so, with relatively poor players in many positions, we may have a chance as he DID do well before these changes began. Can we go back to the old days and try to replace poor players with better ones and play a single tactical formation so the players can realistically know who is likely to be beside them any time they look for somebody to pass to.
Our poor players are well-known to the fans so we have to hope that the manager knows who they are as well. It’s going to be a Hell of a summer with comings and goings, hopefully, but if we start next year with Sakho and Toure as part of a back three (I want a back four) I’ll be more than depressed!
This is NOT the time to say there isn’t a problem . . . because we’d be ten points behind the front runners by Christmas, again, if we try to start next season with the players who have failed so badly this season. I don’t want to see Lucas or Allen there, either as they aren’t good enough!
If Brendan Rodgers pulls up the drawbridge, states that we’ve just gone through a bad spell and it will all be all right for the start of next season – with few new players, loads of tactical changes and no creativity – then I’m sure he will not be at Anfield next year because the owners aren’t stupid and know how good Klopp is! Klopp, apart from being a Liverpool fan, is saying he’d love to manage the Reds. With all of this speculation I think he WILL be there next season.
Mind you, I wouldn’t mind having a go myself, if given the chance . . . and I’d PAY for the privilege!
RED PHIL
© e-Football 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Subscribe to the e-Football Podcast on iTunes (Click Here)
Several newspapers are suggesting that LFC will get rid of about ten players this summer in the biggest clear-out seen for quite a while. Some suggest that it might not be Brendan Rodgers doing the clearing-out which, because of what he has done for us, is potentially very sad.
But, let’s look at the evidence . .
His record on purchases is fairly poor with far more second-rate players signed than top-notch ones and, on that basis, should we trust him to get rid of the weaker players before, in theory, spending another skip-load of dosh on their replacements? Under his tenure we’ve lost out on Sanchez, who was a likely candidate for coming here, Fabian Delph, who was supposedly a LFC target before he apparently got fed-up of waiting and signed a new contract at the Villa . . . before tonking us last weekend with a superb individual performance, and several other top players who didn’t end up at Anfield when we hoped and thought they might!
Brendan did bring about the organisational nous that we needed when he brought the sort of ball-controlling tactics that did so well at Swansea and stifled the life out of the other teams who simply couldn’t get the ball and, when we had Suarez and Sturridge up front, it worked a treat.
However, now, we’ve lost that cutting edge up front, we can’t hold on to the ball and, as I’ve been saying for longer than I care to remember, we haven’t got the creative talent available to make use of any use of the ball we manage to have. We seem to be playing with any number of players interchangeable when it comes to roles, not game after game but with changes several times during games!
I don’t know if that tactic is supposed to perplex and bamboozle the opposition but it most certainly fries the brains of most of our players. Such tactics, to a point, may be okay when you have the Dutch footballers of the 1970s who gave us ‘total football’ but it doesn’t seem to work when your average player is distinctly . . . average!
In the Villa game – and it has been mentioned in about four newspapers I’ve read – we had three different positional line-ups in just the first half and, let’s be honest, it didn’t work! The players could have been unsure of just what was being asked of them, I don’t know, but when Sterling doesn’t know if he’ll be a winger, central striker or wing-back during the next twenty minutes, not the next twenty games, its no wonder he is beginning to look lost. Same with Emre Can and Alberto Moreno.
It’s a long way from the days when Shanks and Bob Paisley would send the players out with a quick “Same as usual, boys” as the team sauntered on to the pitch.
No, we’ve got to get rid of at least ten players – I’d suggest more than that – and spend WISELY up to £70m . . . and I don’t know if I’d trust Brendan to do that WISELY. Looks, according to the websites, as if we’ve lost out on Depay so who are the other players we are ‘supposedly’ interested in? Milner? Good Grief! Falcao? Please, shoot me if that happens as I couldn’t cope with signing an injury-prone United failure on £260,000 per WEEK for sitting on the bench and spending many hours in the treatment room!!!!!
Then there’s that Brazilian full-back whose name I can’t remember? Plays for Barcelona and formerly of Sevilla, must be 30+, eagerly awaiting yet another huge contract but totally unsuited to the rigours and pace of our league. What’s his bloody name? Anyway, I don’t want him anywhere near this club as his best days are far, far behind him (as are Falcaos!). We don’t need players who are over the hill or capable of looking over the hill as they near the summit.
One or two others players get mentioned, such as Cavani, but yet again we are talking about very expensive Prima Dona players unproven in our sort of football and not on the way up! Normally nice hair styles with flowing locks and nice Latin sounding names and egos but they don’t tend to cut the mustard in our brutally fast game!
If we can get Brendan Rodgers to admit he has lost the plot a bit recently, with the tactical changes and positional movements every half-hour or so, with relatively poor players in many positions, we may have a chance as he DID do well before these changes began. Can we go back to the old days and try to replace poor players with better ones and play a single tactical formation so the players can realistically know who is likely to be beside them any time they look for somebody to pass to.
Our poor players are well-known to the fans so we have to hope that the manager knows who they are as well. It’s going to be a Hell of a summer with comings and goings, hopefully, but if we start next year with Sakho and Toure as part of a back three (I want a back four) I’ll be more than depressed!
This is NOT the time to say there isn’t a problem . . . because we’d be ten points behind the front runners by Christmas, again, if we try to start next season with the players who have failed so badly this season. I don’t want to see Lucas or Allen there, either as they aren’t good enough!
If Brendan Rodgers pulls up the drawbridge, states that we’ve just gone through a bad spell and it will all be all right for the start of next season – with few new players, loads of tactical changes and no creativity – then I’m sure he will not be at Anfield next year because the owners aren’t stupid and know how good Klopp is! Klopp, apart from being a Liverpool fan, is saying he’d love to manage the Reds. With all of this speculation I think he WILL be there next season.
Mind you, I wouldn’t mind having a go myself, if given the chance . . . and I’d PAY for the privilege!
RED PHIL
© e-Football 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
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