In the following press conference that unveiled the new KOP boss, Rodgers outlined the philosophy he will be enforcing on the Liverpool players in the next season.
"I like teams to control and dominate the ball, so the players are hungry for the ball,” Rodgers says. “You’ll see in some of our exercises this morning, a lot of our work is around the transition and getting the ball back very quickly. Because I believe if you give a bad player time, he can play. If you give a good player time, he can kill you. So our emphasis is based around our positioning both with and without the ball. And for us, when we press well, we pass well.”
Winning the ball back quickly and high up the pitch was a key feature of Barcelona’s approach under Pep Guardiola and, as Rodgers explains, is much more sophisticated than it may appear. “You cannot go on your own,” he says. “You work on zonal pressure, so that when it is in your zone, you have the capacity to press. That ability to press immediately, within five or six seconds to get the ball, is important. But you also have to understand when you can’t and what the triggers are then to go for it again because you can’t run about like a madman.
“It’s decision-making and intelligence. And this was always the thing with the British player, they were always deemed never to be intelligent, not to have good decision-making skills but could fight like **** for the ball. I believe they have all of the [attributes] and, if you can structure that, then you can have real, effective results.”
When quizzed on the gaffer's thought's on his new squad he replied, "Simple, really. There is massive quality here. When you come to a club like Liverpool you must have enormous quality, haven't you? There is work to be done for sure, and implementing this type of play style takes time. Liverpool football club should be at the top of the English game, but we need to get there. I am realist, and I understand that this ambition won't happen overnight. The important thing is that club progresses forward. Steady progress is the goal that myself and the owners have identified as being the most important thing. We have no minimum requirements, we have a long term strategy that we are going to move forward with. There is a great quality amongst the players in the dressing room here, but there are also areas that need to be addressed as well. I will be looking to bring in 2, 3, maybe 4 players into the team for next season; it's apart of the natural progression of any club to do this."
There is a real since of intrigue around the club, however the likes of Pepe Reina have made it clear that he along with some of the other players would have perffered Rafa Benitez to be appointed the Liverpool gaffer. Stay tuned....
