After one of the youngest sides Liverpool have ever put out claimed Brendan Rodgers’ first domestic victory in charge over West Brom as the Reds progressed to the next round of the League, in came the praise again for the so-called Brendan Rodgers philosophy.
The “Rodgers Method”, which involves blooding youth who are capable of espousing a high-tempo, probing passing philosophy, was perfectly showcased by Swansea under the Northern Irishman’s management last season. The Swans set the Premier League alight at times with their wonderful midfield interplay flanked by tricky wing whippets. Once given the Liverpool hotseat, Rodgers’ remit was simple: to bring the “Rodgers method” to Anfield.
One has to say that it has not quite worked just yet. Liverpool have made their worst start to a league season since 1903 and remain winless in the Premier League under Rodgers in a lowly 18th position. Liverpool have attempted to play a more progressive passing style than the “up and at em” approach pursued by Kenny Daglish and Andy Carroll last season, but with funds at the club tighter than ever (as shown by the club’s ludicrous handling of Andy Carroll’s departure and Clint Dempsey’s non-arrival), Rodgers has hardly hit the ground running.
The question has to be put forward however, what is the “Brendan Rodgers method”? Should it perhaps be known as the “Roberto Martinez method”? Rodgers takes the plaudits for Swansea’s success as he of course should, having led the club to promotion into the Premier League. But Rodgers did not impose the passing philosophy in the way that he is attempting to do so at Liverpool. Rather, Rodgers arrived to already find a continental style put in place by first Roberto Martinez and then carried on by Paulo Sousa after the former had departed for Wigan.
Many of the players who led the club’s promotion campaign under Rodgers had been already there before his arrival, such as Ashley Williams, Nathan Dyer, Angel Rangel and Joe Allen. Yes, Rodgers did brilliantly to get them up and added to the squad diligently, as he did once in the Premier League with the additions of Scott Sinclair, Danny Graham and Gylfi Sigurdsson but Rodgers fundamentally was not asking the players to do things they were not already comfortable doing or indeed had not been already doing for the previous two to three seasons.
Herein lies the problem around the “Rodgers method” at Liverpool. The squad at Anfield is unsuited to a passing philosophy, that much is clear. Rodgers arrived to find a squad that contained the likes of Martin Skrtel, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Steven Gerrard, Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll. All seemed unsuited at the time to high-tempo pressing and passing and it has proved to be so with many of those sidelined or departed from the club and those who remain in the team, such as Gerrard and Skrtel, cheaply presenting the ball to the opposition in positions that have cost Liverpool dearly against Arsenal and Manchester City in particular.
Rodgers fundamentally appears to have arrived at Liverpool with an inflated ego of himself and his philosophy. It’s often said that a good manager works well with the players he has and slowly but surely, imposes the way he wants to play. In contrast, Rodgers appears to be forcing the players he has into a certain system or philosophy and those who do not wish or simply cannot comply successfully are jettisoned as quickly as possible no matter what other qualities they may bring; Andy Carroll a perfect case in point.
What a ridiculous attack piece. So far off the mark that you are right, you will be questioned as to your motives for this absurd and inaccurate assessment. Fail.
totally agree unnecessary and only written to attract readers. no valid comments and / or anaylsis. just destructive negativity.
Total and utter garbage written by someone who knows absolutely nothing about football. Nothing!
Self-contradicting article with no focus. Pay no attention to this rubbish.
When it does start to work maybe we will finish in about 11th in the prem, thats about where the Swans finished last season. That may be success in South Wales and probably is success given their first season status, but we LFC supporters should expect a little more. As regards Skrtl he was probably our best player last season and Gerard may be getting older but still has a lot to contribute to any team. The player that never made a mistake is yet to be born.
It’s a careless and insulting effort. “The squad at Anfield is unsuited to a passing philosophy” lol
It may not have pleased you but the non-passing philosophy of the squad helped them reach two cup finals last season.
You must think people are stupid, which only reflects on you. It was a waste of time reading that article.
rather too negative and quick to judge. the young players will prove you wrong very quickly, and by the end of the season, between wisdom, sterling, suso, robinson and assaidi , we’ll have almost 1/3 of a first team match day squad for very little money.
As mentioned above, substandard research and writing. “The Brendan Rodgers Method” is entirely responsible for Swansea’s success, as any Swan’s fan will tell you. Martinez instilled a passing style, but Rodgers took it to the next level – as evidenced by the contrasting styles of Wigan and Swansea and Sousa? He was a car crash from start to finish and had little bearing on the club, but to stymie the development of excellent players like Allen. Try harder next time.
Pathetic smear piece that shows almost zero understanding (except for a few good, yet obvious points) of what’s going on at LFC.
LFC fans are very happy with Rodgers, but a Gooner “journalist” with 78 followers thinks he knows better. Laughable. But sadly in line with previous dross posted by the children posing as writers on this site. Too bad articles from here show up on the LFC NewsNow feed.
Did Martinez and Sousa take Swansea to the premiership and then greatly exceed expectations in their first season there? No?
Assaidi, an established international FYI, should be nowhere near the first team eh? You clearly didn’t see the West Brom game then. I suspect you haven’t seen much of LFC at all this season apart form our worst game which coincidentally was against your team.
It’s funny how the critics are the people outside of the club, who aren’t watching the games, and just read the table and think they know the whole story. The same people who where so keen to defend that fraud Hodgson who we exposed quickly.
Rodgers is the anti-Hodgson, which is the greatest praise I can give. He is here to stay, and the results will come if we get a good scouting team in place and he is backed with reasonable funding and a goal-scorer. In the meantime I’m very excited to see more of the football we’ve seen lately from players like Allen, Suso, Assaidi, Sahin and Sterling.
Don’t agree with much of this at all. Some lazy, sweeping statements.