The Liverpool Thread

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Scouseinthehouse said:
Ugh. 2017 Champions League Final in Cardiff.

This kills me being as we doubtless won't be there. LOVED going Cardiff those 6 years. ****** all over Wembley. Not a bad speck in the stadium and you're actually right in the heart of the City rather than being stuck out in the ****hole that is Wembley.
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Oi, don't be hating on Wembley: it has a half decent Ikea and everything!
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
I think you're grasping. A lot.

We dismissed Mick Marsh and the man Rodgers did trust right through, whatever we think of him, Pascoe; on the basis they 'weren't experienced enough.' Now we're appointing, as assistant, a guy with NO top flight experience and relatively little in the second tier. He's that well 'respected' he's never been given the opportunity by any Premiership team. Why is that? (And not buying Rodgers violin string quote.). Who the FA appoint holds little weight for me. Just look at the current full National manager. ****, Noel fricking Blake was in charge of the U-19's prior to O'Driscoll. (And did something O'Driscoll failed. Got his charges to the U-19 Euro finals. Twice.).

This is an Everton type move. Highly embarrassing for me given what will be Liverpool Football Club's 1 and 2.

But then I fully expect them all out of a job by Christmas so it probably makes sense.
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Your underselling O' driscoll a bit here. the guy kept rovers as an established championship team with the smallest budget whilst playing excellent football. Before you make assumptions about the man learn a little about him. He is an excellent coach who emphasises simple yet effective pass and move. The biggest question imo is not wether he is unheard of but if he is good at his job which the man clearly is. To say he has no experience is wrong he has worked hard from the bottom and has now got his chance. Who the **** cares wether he hasnt managed in the BPL when they employ the same old useless face aka steve bruce constantly, no one is willing to take risks. IMO he is an excellent appointment however because most lfc fans havent heard of him just like an uknown player he gets bashed for no reason.
 
dilakh2 said:
Your underselling O' driscoll a bit here. the guy kept rovers as an established championship team with the smallest budget whilst playing excellent football. Before you make assumptions about the man learn a little about him......
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I know about him ta, but there's a WORLD of difference coaching players at that level to this. And today's players at the top level have very little respect for someone like that. Wrong as that is, that IS the way it is in todays game. Just look at the manager they tried their damnedest to get sacked.

Same with the Youth Coach. Heck of a resume at that level, but a whole WORLD of difference moving up to Coach senior players. Many established Internationals.

This smacks purely of FSG both doing it on the cheap and making it easy for a clear out if it continues going South.
 
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Scouseinthehouse said:
I know about him ta, but there's a WORLD of difference coaching players at that level to this. And today's players at the top level have very little respect for someone like that. Wrong as that is, that IS the way it is in todays game. Just look at the manager they tried their damnedest to get sacked.

Same with the Youth Coach. Heck of a resume at that level, but a whole WORLD of difference moving up to Coach senior players. Many established Internationals.

This smacks purely of FSG both doing it on the cheap and making it easy for a clear out if it continues going South.
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I agree with the respect part however most of our squad is amde up of young players with potential who will benefit from working with an excellent coach that can improve them. The most high profile player in our squad is most likely ballo and heck even mourinho couldnt coach him. If we had the likes of suarez, alonso, gerrard etc... in our squad then the respect factor could come into play. However the sqaud is relatively young and will perhaps benefit with someone who can has a good track record with youth such as pepjin and o'driscoll.
 
Suarez on Brendan Rodgers and his style of coaching : LiverpoolFC
There was a moment during the first real, in-depth conversation that I had with Brendan Rodgers when I looked at him and it hit me: “He’s right.” We had been talking for a little while, he was explaining the way that he wanted the team to play, and everything was falling into place. Everything he said made perfect sense. I was completely convinced.
When Kenny left, the rumours about who would replace him started. That can be unsettling for a player because you don’t always know any more about what’s going on than anyone else does: you’re not so different from the fans, reading about it in the papers. Soon Brendan Rodgers emerged as the favourite. He wasn’t a “big-name” manager and I didn’t know much about him, but Swansea City were a team that stood out because of their attractive style of play; they were different and especially impressive for a team that had only been promoted to the Premier League the season before. One of our last games of the 2011-12 season had been away at Swansea.
I’d bumped into Brendan in a corridor afterwards and he said in Spanish: “You’re an excellent player, congratulations.” I remember thinking: “That’s interesting, the Swansea manager speaks Spanish.”
The first chat I had with him was at Melwood, just after he was confirmed as Liverpool’s new manager. It wasn’t a long conversation, just the typical welcome to the club stuff, but he also wanted to talk to me because there had been suggestions there was a chance of me going to Juventus. Brendan spoke to me in Spanish and he told me to give him time, to give him a chance, and that I would like the way we were going to play. It would suit me. He said we would bring the ball out on the floor, keep possession and play attacking football. I remember him saying: “It’s not so hard to bring the ball out from the back on the floor, you know.”
I started to see that things were going to be different. In a nutshell, his philosophy was this: you’ve got four players in the defensive line and you’ve got the goalkeeper, who at the time was Pepe Reina, who is good with the ball at his feet. You’ve got the two central defenders outside the area and you’ve got one of the central midfielders who can come for the ball. And if he’s marked, the other one can come for it. If you have 30 metres from your goalkeeper to the midfield, if the players are good with the ball at their feet, at most the opposition are going to pressure you with two men.
No one else is going to come. If you can pass it well, if your positioning is good, it is impossible for them to take the ball off you. Why? Because you outnumber them and you will always have a line of pass open which allows you to progress up the pitch. A midfielder drops into the space which the central defenders open out, the goalkeeper becomes an “outfield” player and you carry the ball forward that way. I listened and I was sold. It seemed so simple that way but no one had ever walked me through it like that before. I thought: “He’s right, it is impossible in a 30-metre space, with the players Liverpool have got, with the ability that Pepe Reina has with the ball at his feet, for them to get the ball off us.” Unless we made a simple mistake, of course.
Over the first few weeks, that idea was the basis of the work we did with Brendan, the first of the building blocks in constructing a new approach. From the start, it convinced me. It made sense. And although the results weren’t good, I could see that we were playing better. I was excited. Brendan’s philosophy was to play on the floor, keep possession of the ball and, if we lost it, to pressure to get it back. Don’t panic, don’t play so fast as we had the previous season, look for the spaces at the right time.
If I was excited, others were worried. And no, not because of the famous envelopes that appeared during a TV documentary about the club. Mostly, we just joked about that particular episode, but the manager’s methods really worked for us.
For those who didn’t see the documentary, Brendan had got the entire squad together during pre-season soon after he had taken over and showed us three envelopes. He told us that inside each envelope was a piece of paper on which he had written the name of someone who would let the team down during the coming season. It was our duty, he said, to make sure that it wasn’t our name in there. At the end of the year, he would open the envelopes and reveal the names inside. I hadn’t seen a manager do that before and of course afterwards lots of the players were talking about it.
There was a group of us sitting there, and Glen Johnson came over and said: “I know who’s in the envelopes. I know what’s written on all three pieces of paper.” Who? What?
‘“Number 3” . . . “José” . . . and “Enrique”. We fell about. José Enrique protested: “No, no, no, no, inglés – I’m not there, you are!”
We never did find out what was written in those envelopes. It was unusual and I must admit that for a moment I did think: “How can you think before the season has even started that there are three people who are going to let you down? And if there is a name in there and he plays well, and you doubted him, what are you going to do then?’’ I’m sure there were no names, it was just a way of motivating us; a tactic to make sure we gave everything. And in truth it got forgotten pretty quickly.
I was much more interested in the way we were going to play. Others were interested for different reasons. It can be frightening to play like that; it takes nerve. Some centre-backs prefer not to have the ball that often. They prefer not to risk being caught with it. You could see that sometimes the central defenders felt under pressure and wanted to hit it long, but Brendan kept insisting and, gradually, they got used to it.
Slowly they became more comfortable bringing the ball out. We adapted. Danny Agger and Martin Skrtel improved a lot. Technically, they’re fine and they’ve gained more confidence in their ability. They’ve become better players. Before it might be two passes and then hit it long but Brendan has changed that. For that to work, the goalkeeper has to act like another outfield player and right from the start they began to be coached differently too. Confidence came through repetition.
The new style suited me. Playing in England where all the centre-backs are tall and strong, the long punt up the pitch is no good to me, but a quick ball to release me either side of them works well. Mostly, I need the ball on the floor and Brendan knew that and he also worked with me on the movements I could make to isolate defenders. He was confident that if I could take them on one-on-one, I would be likely to beat them. He was keen to play to my strengths and my style suited his.
He knew that I’m a very instinctive player who plays on intuition. He knew that if he put me in as a static number nine, waiting for the wingers to put crosses in, I’d be no good.
Not no good, in fact, but worse than that – I’m not there. He knew that I’m a mobile striker and that a lot of the time you’ll find me outside the area, looking for space, moving. I won’t be there as a target for two wide men to aim crosses at.
Andy Carroll would be, of course. Every coach has his own taste in players and given the type of game that Andy offered, it was natural that Brendan didn’t include him in his plans.
Andy is tall, strong and good in the air. But I think people were wrong about him: he was also technically very good indeed. He can strike a ball very cleanly with his left foot and with so much power. The power he was able to produce always stood out to me in training sessions. It was a shame that injuries reduced the number of times we could play together in our first season at Liverpool.
Yet for a short, passing game in which you’re looking to release people into space with a lot of pace, he doesn’t fit. He wanted to play for England so it was important for him to get games, which meant looking for a way to move on and eventually he joined West Ham on loan. The coach was honest with him, which is always the best way: if you’re not going to select a player, tell him.
Something similar happened with Charlie Adam. Charlie’s passing was good, but it was suited to a longer passing type of game and Brendan wanted shorter, sharper passing and quicker movement.
That shift in style was symbolised by the arrival of Joe Allen from Swansea. Brendan described Joe as the “Welsh Xavi”; it didn’t quite work that way, and that’s some tag to have, but Joe was especially brilliant the first 10 games or so and I thought he was an excellent signing. Brendan knew him really well from their time at Swansea and Joe’s first few games were fantastic. He was very good with the ball, he fitted the philosophy perfectly and defensively he was exceptional; above all, he understood the movements Brendan wanted straight away, while Stevie and Jordan Henderson began a process of adapting to his style.
With time, they adapted too. In Jordan’s case, the proof came last season. Jordan had changed so much. To start with, maybe he wanted to do too much at once, but he is intelligent and he learned with Brendan in the first year even if he didn’t play much. You watched him the following season and he was playing the passes when he saw them. He was taking his time, he was calmer, cleverer. He learned to understand the movements of Daniel and me more too, while the shift to a one-touch game suited him. He also rebelled against the critics; maybe they brought out a part of his character that we didn’t know he had. Brendan changed him; he changed us all.
I remembered Rafa Benítez’s Liverpool, which was a team based on being very defensively strong and looking to break, so I didn’t necessarily see the new Liverpool as the recovery of historic values, but soon people were talking about that. I heard fans talking about “pass and move”, the way the great Liverpool sides of the Seventies and Eighties had played.
From my point of view, there was something in that idea of Joe as the Welsh Xavi. I wouldn’t say that we played like Barcelona because it was impossible to emulate the speed, touch and technique of their passing game at the time. But you could see a Spanish influence in the way that Brendan worked. He was interested in Spain, he had studied there, and what he’d learned there was at the heart of our style of play: passing, pressuring high, quick movement, arriving into the area rather than standing there waiting for it, coming inside from wide positions.
It’s not quite that simple, of course. You always have to adapt to your environment. For example, Barcelona wouldn’t be the same in the English league. In Spain they let you play more. The defenders and the midfielders can play but that’s partly because they’re allowed to play. The opponents will come and pressure in the middle of the pitch, but no higher. In England, they pressure you more aggressively, they’re much more on top of you. Barcelona would have to adapt to that. Equally, if you put Liverpool in the Spanish league they would not be the same. When you see a Spanish team play against an English team, you get a glimpse of that: the Spanish team pressures, sure, but it’s different. The English team runs much more, but they often run less intelligently.
Generally, English teams are less well-ordered. Brendan stood out: his tactical work was exceptional while some opponents seemed to do little in this area.
Brendan quickly showed he was adaptable too. Changes were made depending on the opposition. Sometimes, if they only had one up front he would leave three back rather than four and use the full-back to give width and depth to the attack. He also knows that he has to listen to the player, to know what he is comfortable doing, and he’s exceptional at that.
Liverpool are in very good hands with Brendan Rodgers. The way he coached us during my time there was impressive and I am sure that the methods I enjoyed and found so effective will continue to be employed. Everything Brendan does is built towards perfecting the mechanics of football and making adjustments for the next game or to fulfil a particular objective. Although there weren’t any specific instructions to begin with, I knew that as soon as I got into training on Tuesday all the exercises were conditioned by the game the following weekend. It might be a small exercise where we couldn’t yet see what he was working towards, but it was always building towards the match.
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dilakh2 said:
I agree with the respect part however most of our squad is amde up of young players with potential who will benefit from working with an excellent coach that can improve them. The most high profile player in our squad is most likely ballo and heck even mourinho couldnt coach him. If we had the likes of suarez, alonso, gerrard etc... in our squad then the respect factor could come into play. However the sqaud is relatively young and will perhaps benefit with someone who can has a good track record with youth such as pepjin and o'driscoll.
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Well one can only hope that's who it plays out.

As we stand, as happy as I am with the window's additions, I'm honestly not expecting much of anything different from last year but I hope I'm completely wrong.
 
Finished 0-0 AET. Sweden won 4-3 on penalties.

Hard to really judge Ilori as he didn't really have too much to do. But he did what was asked of him and looked solid enough which is all you can ask. Certainly a whole host better defensively than the Italy group game last time out.

Take him out on tour, have a good look at him, then loan him to an English club looks the best option in his development.

Comisorations to him and his teammates.
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
Finished 0-0 AET. Sweden won 4-3 on penalties.

Hard to really judge Ilori as he didn't really have too much to do. But he did what was asked of him and looked solid enough which is all you can ask. Certainly a whole host better defensively than the Italy group game last time out.

Take him out on tour, have a good look at him, then loan him to an English club looks the best option in his development.

Comisorations to him and his teammates.
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Pretty dire final tbh. Sweden been the most consistant team imo. Portugal have looked brilliant then dire the next game.
 
I'd take it with a pinch of salt but Talksport are reporting a deal has been agreed with Aston Villa for Christian Benteke
 
Average Joe said:
Did the same, skipped to comments.

"Were you ****** when you wrote this?"

Haha, what tripe.

Good signing in Clyne though
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I've read the Guardian for years (mainly non sport related) and that's the worst article they've put out for years.
 
It's a Liverpool squad that lack natural leaders but in Henderson you have a player vital to our team that is as hard-working and committed as they come

A captain should set an example to the rest of the squad and whilst his leadership skills will need to improve, the rest of his game is perfectly suited to a captaincy role
 
alnnn1 said:
First of all, I want to say that I'm replying to this thread for a school assignment. I'm an English teacher trainee from Holland and I have to do this assignment as part of a little project. You should not see this as an offensive reaction to Liverpool or a reply on something or someone. It’s just my opinion and there’s no need to reply if you don’t agree.

Liverpool has always been my favourite club but I’m really doubting if Fenway Sports Group is going to bring The Reds back to where they belong, the top. Even though Liverpool is the sixth most valuable football team in the world, I get a strong feeling that Fenway is only doing it for their profit. There hasn’t been a little bit of success since their ownership. They spent more than fifty million pounds on players that haven’t proven anything since day one.
Andy Carroll’s transfer has been a complete failure and I really can’t imagine that he will ever be a key player for Liverpool. They will never get the paid fee of £35 million back by shirt sales or otherwise.
Also, Stewart Downing has barely shown anything yet and I think most of us can agree that he’s nothing more than a B-class player. Same goes for Charlie Adam.
I’m still hoping that Jordan Henderson will turn out to be a good player. He has been doing quite good lately and is one of the only recently bought players that impressed me, along with José Enrique.
José Enrique has been quite a revelation in my opinion. He’s a great player and is one of the only players that shows combativeness during a match.
In my opinion, Liverpool should really buy some top foreign players. It’s nice to have a lot of homegrown and English players but we can all agree on the fact that the level of English talents has bagged a lot in the last couple of years.
Nevertheless, I’m still very proud of what Liverpool achieved. It will always be a great club. Love for the Merseyside!
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I'm randomly on old posts out of boredom, how right was this guy!
 
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