From Rhys Jaggar:
Do you believe Brendan Rodgers’ interview assertions?
Well, it made for some interesting reading.
1. Dele Alli was on his way to Anfield but ‘the deal wasn’t pushed by the Club’.
Was Alli just being polite without committing or was it simply that Liverpool were the first to show their hand? You’d be crazy to rebuff approaches outright, but one does suspect that his agent must have known that options would exist for his young charge…..
2. Rodgers didn’t want Balotelli but all other targets failed so he had to take ‘someone’.
The claim is that the owners took a punt on him turning a £16m player into a £50m one. That says that the owners know little about football, as to do that, Rodgers would have had to shape the whole side around Balotelli rather than playing a way fairly incompatible with the big man’s approach. Surely he should have said: ‘look, Chairman, I appreciate the sentiment, but the fact is you need to completely reorganise the whole squad to achieve that. We simply don’t have the time to do that late in the window…..’ Maybe he did, but reckoned that Balotelli was simply making the best of a bad job……knowing full well that Rickie Lambert had been bought as a squad player, not as first choice number 9……
3. Sterling and Rodgers never had a bust up.
Now that one I can conceive of being true. The media make up so many lies that it’s entirely possible they fabricated that one. Especially if Sky and ADIA wanted a move to take place…..
He can’t have been that bad a manager – he let Suarez do his thing, jollied Sturridge and Sterling along to perform well with him.
He didn’t handle Gerrard’s situation well – but he needed the club’s backing to say: ‘Stevie, you’re a legend here and nothing will ever change that. But everyone’s career comes to its peak and everyone’s career glides into the retirement siding.
Any new contract here at Liverpool must reflect the fact that you’re moving into the twilight zone, just as Giggs and Scholes did at Man Utd. We can find creative ways for you to transition to the coaching side of the club over the next 3 years, but we can’t do that if you demand £150k a week for another 3 years’.
If Gerrard couldn’t accept that, then he did need to be moved on. He’d earned his money, had his peak earning years as a player and needed to be realistic about the future. Who knows what was actually said behind closed doors?
He’s another of those managers whose entire careers seem to get railroaded by the insidious and evil media surrounding football nowadays. Not to mention the bloggers at The Daily Mail.
He may not have been Sir Alex Ferguson or Bill Shankly, but he was by no means a useless manager.
Myles says:
I didn’t watch that interview or read it.
Rodgers appealed to John W. Henry and the technocrats of Moneyball theory, the number-crunchers who form a committee and tell you who to buy.
Dele Alli is a Liverpool supporter, always has been.
My view on Liverpool’s nearly-season has been repeated several times here.
Luis Suarez was 70% of that team.
His wife’s family came to Europe and settled in Spain and his entire career was based on following his childhood sweetheart from Uruguay to Europe and to Spain.
Luis Suarez is a phenomenal one-man whirlwind, a force of nature, a super-skilful warrior who will run through a brick wall for his team. His energy and determination set the tone.
He joined Barcelona and they won the treble, as I predicted they would with Suarez in the team.
Suarez improved Sturridge and Sterling, then he improved Messi,Neymar and Iniesta.
You’ll think I’m crazy for saying that but….
THIS COLUMN IS WHERE I TELL YOU WHAT I THINK.
PS. You must read Bob Lefsetz on Glenn Frey,California, the 70s and why girls love the Eagles.