Liverpool FC Forum

Brendan Rodgers delighted with backroom staff after early transfer market deals

AFTER landing his third signing of the summer, with Simon Mignolet soon to make it four, Brendan Rodgers paid tribute to the backroom staff who had sacrificed summer holidays to ensure the Reds got their business conducted quickly.

Luis Alberto joins Kolo Toure and Iago Aspas at Anfield, with even more arrivals anticipated before the players report back for pre-season training next month.

And Rodgers said: “There has been a lot of great work gone on over the last six months. We wanted to get as much of our work done as early as we possibly could for the summer so we could get the group back in and get the players together as quickly as we can.

“It’s been a good summer for us so far.

“I think every club and every manager would love to get transfer business done as early as they possibly could. We had made a conscious effort this summer to do that.

“It’s great credit to everyone at the club and our recruitment team, our analytical team, Ian Ayre our managing director and the owners who have backed us really well.

“There has been a lot of work that has gone on and a lot of people sacrificing holidays to ensure we can get the players in we want.”

Rodgers added: “Kolo Toure is a player I’ve admired since he came into the Premier League. He was a wonderful servant for Arsenal and a part of that ‘Invincibles’ group and did exceptionally well, and in the transformation of Manchester City, they brought him in as one of their key players.

“We’re losing an absolute colossal player in Jamie Carragher, who was absolutely brilliant for me. It’s very, very hard to replace that type.

“Kolo Toure will give us that experience and winning mentality. He’s still very fit, very strong and will come in, offer that support and fight for his place in the team.

“Iago Aspas was one of the stars for Celta Vigo. He’s a goalscorer, he’s quick, dynamic, aggressive in his game and has a winning mentality.
“I feel these are the types of players that can come into Liverpool and keep our momentum moving forward. Players that are hungry to succeed, because that’s important for us.

“We have to bring in players that are willing to fight for the shirt and these players are very much hungry to do that.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-fc-manager-brendan-rodgers-4704054

Well, it looks like Mkhirtaryan may not be coming, at one time it looked almost certain. I don't know why so many fans admire Mkhirtaryan a lot, have you only seen the goals he scored? Yes, by just looking at the goals, he looked impressive. But if you analyse his contribution to his team for the whole match, you'll notice that he seemed either lazy or not confident with the ball most of the time. Most of the time, when he had the ball, he would just quickly pass it away and they were not telling passes like Coutinho nor accurate. He didn't seem to have much ball control skill and definitely not a direct replacement for Suarez. It would be nice to have him around but I doubt whether he can set Liverpool alight if he joins us. I hope BR will look elsewhere for an attacking midfielder.

based on the players we have signed and the players we are linked to, mostly attacking players, i have a bad feeling we are heading toward an unbalance in squad mix. too strong attack but too weak defense.

something like roy evans squad. we had some of the best attacking talents in fowler, collymore, redknapp, macca,owen and berger. but in defense we had james, babb, ruddock and some jokers whose names i cant remember.

score more than we concede = win.

redno7 » Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:00 am wrote:score more than we concede = win.

The Newcastle method under Keegan

Every title winning team is built on a solid defence.

not saying it's the right or wrong way but there's no arguing that scoring more than we concede will win us a title.

redno7 » Mon Jul 08, 2013 1:05 pm wrote:not saying it's the right or wrong way but there's no arguing that scoring more than we concede will win us a title.

Scoring more than the oppo on a game by game basis throughout the entire season would support your blindingly obvious assertion but just for the sake of argument, over the course of a season loads of clubs score more than they concede but don't win every game and only one of them wins the title.

It's all about balance, not the charge of the f'ucking Light Brigade.

I understand this, I was just making the point. I should've added 'in every game' to that to make the point a bit clearer.

There is nothing happening over the summer that gives any cause for hope that Brenden Rodgers will improve on lasrt seasons performances. We did not need any more wingers or a goallie, we do need a strong tackiing box to box midfield player, we require two young central defenders not just one from the 'sell by date shelf'. We are going to require another forward when the Uraguyan finally departs.
Frankly, I have serious doubts on Rodgers surviving next season, last seasons results were poor enough, but i do not see the real weaknesses being addressed.
Sturridge is not strong enough to lead the line by himself. Borini will continue to flatter and ultimately fall by the wayside. Coutinho will be marked out of games as his play is better understood by opponents analyists.

redrider - 6 weeks or so left before the season starts, BR has said openly that he wants a couple more signings blah blah blah...  give him chance mate.

Think we should wait a little before slitting our wrists.  None of us know whether Suarez, Coates, Skrtel, Reina or Downing will leave or be sold.  None of us know how many CB's we'll be signing or what the plans for Toure are.  None of us know too much about Aspas or Alberto and what they might bring to the table.  None of us know whether Rodgers is going to stick to the tactics towards the end of last season or whether we'll see a return of the tika taka, high line, pressing game type approach that our players failed miserably to adopt.

What I do know is that we played quite well in the second half of last season, there is a long way to go in the transfer window and we have a great opening 9 fixtures to try and get points on the board and gain momentum. 

By Christmas we should have a better idea of were we are as a club.

Redrider » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:43 pm wrote:There is nothing happening over the summer that gives any cause for hope that Brenden Rodgers will improve on lasrt seasons performances. We did not need any more wingers or a goallie, we do need a strong tackiing box to box midfield player, we require two young central defenders not just one from the 'sell by date shelf'. We are going to require another forward when the Uraguyan finally departs.
Frankly, I have serious doubts on Rodgers surviving next season, last seasons results were poor enough, but i do not see the real weaknesses being addressed.
Sturridge is not strong enough to lead the line by himself. Borini will continue to flatter and ultimately fall by the wayside. Coutinho will be marked out of games as his play is better understood by opponents analyists.

Very harsh on Rodgers that.

He appears to be operating on a fairly tight budget, we haven't made much (if any) of a net spend this summer, we aren't offering the ridiculous wages we were a few years back and on top of that we don't have CL football making it harder to attract players.  He's also had to deal with Suarez's behaviour, Carra's retirement and the likelihood of Reina going as soon as Barce decide they want him.

He had us playing good football and getting good results second half of last season and made 2 excellent signings in January.

One thing I do agree on is I'm amazed we haven't tried to recruit an athletic centre mid, I do think that's a weakness and we don't seem to be even linked with any.

He's clearly been trying to bring in a younger centre back though with most sources linking us with Papadopoulos, Alderweireld and Lloris - I think we'll sign one of these three before the window shuts.

By Christmas we should have a better idea of were we are as a club

Sadly, mid table!
Ayre and Rodgers are turning us into a mid table club! Neither are really good enough for the positions that they hold in LFC.
Ayre has no gravitas and respect within the game in England, let alone Europe. He has been promoted way beyond his ability.
Rodgers cannot even 'talk a good game', his comments are generally cliched and meaningless. His tactical record last season was poor. His player purchasing is patchy at best, with only Coutinho and Sturridge looking anything like money well spent. I am not sure that Rodgers and his 'Swansea' Coaching team hold much respect in the dressing room, comments are begining to emerge from Gerrard, that he found the new coaching team difficult when they arrived and it speaks volumes that Carragher has insisted on leaving the club.  That fly on the wall mini tv series exposed Rodgers as having a fairly shallow style of player management, his conversations with Shelvey were 'banal'  and it is no surprise that Shelvey has now moved along. The three envelopes would have been a joke at most club's but were an insult to senior professionals at a club with the stature of LFC. I see no evidence of strong and astute leadership.
Having been a major factor in the downfall of KD, Suarez is again leading the club by the nose and will expose the weaknesses in the Ayre/Rodgers combo, who will be sorely embarassed by his statements and aniics over the next month, that they will be conned into selling him for less than top dollar, probably to Real Madrid who will walk all over Ayre and we will finish up with the equivalent of buying a 'Clint Dempsey' for an inflated fee - Deja Vu !

john craig » Wed Jul 10, 2013 5:58 pm wrote:

Redrider » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:43 pm wrote:There is nothing happening over the summer that gives any cause for hope that Brenden Rodgers will improve on lasrt seasons performances. We did not need any more wingers or a goallie, we do need a strong tackiing box to box midfield player, we require two young central defenders not just one from the 'sell by date shelf'. We are going to require another forward when the Uraguyan finally departs.
Frankly, I have serious doubts on Rodgers surviving next season, last seasons results were poor enough, but i do not see the real weaknesses being addressed.
Sturridge is not strong enough to lead the line by himself. Borini will continue to flatter and ultimately fall by the wayside. Coutinho will be marked out of games as his play is better understood by opponents analyists.

Very harsh on Rodgers that.

He appears to be operating on a fairly tight budget, we haven't made much (if any) of a net spend this summer, we aren't offering the ridiculous wages we were a few years back and on top of that we don't have CL football making it harder to attract players.  He's also had to deal with Suarez's behaviour, Carra's retirement and the likelihood of Reina going as soon as Barce decide they want him.

He had us playing good football and getting good results second half of last season and made 2 excellent signings in January.

One thing I do agree on is I'm amazed we haven't tried to recruit an athletic centre mid, I do think that's a weakness and we don't seem to be even linked with any.

He's clearly been trying to bring in a younger centre back though with most sources linking us with Papadopoulos, Alderweireld and Lloris - I think we'll sign one of these three before the window shuts.

If money is tight then I would question why we spent £23mil on squad fillers when we have glaring holes in the first 11. Also why are we so tight on money when we slashed the wage bill , got an extra 80mil in telly money this summer and have a very big commercial income - we may not have unlimited billions but we surely must have a decent budget for BR to spend plus any sales made - so far it's a sell to buy situation. That will not improve us

Redrider » Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:06 pm wrote:

By Christmas we should have a better idea of were we are as a club

Sadly, mid table!
Ayre and Rodgers are turning us into a mid table club! Neither are really good enough for the positions that they hold in LFC.
Ayre has no gravitas and respect within the game in England, let alone Europe. He has been promoted way beyond his ability.
Rodgers cannot even 'talk a good game', his comments are generally cliched and meaningless. His tactical record last season was poor. His player purchasing is patchy at best, with only Coutinho and Sturridge looking anything like money well spent. I am not sure that Rodgers and his 'Swansea' Coaching team hold much respect in the dressing room, comments are begining to emerge from Gerrard, that he found the new coaching team difficult when they arrived and it speaks volumes that Carragher has insisted on leaving the club.  That fly on the wall mini tv series exposed Rodgers as having a fairly shallow style of player management, his conversations with Shelvey were 'banal'  and it is no surprise that Shelvey has now moved along. The three envelopes would have been a joke at most club's but were an insult to senior professionals at a club with the stature of LFC. I see no evidence of strong and astute leadership.
Having been a major factor in the downfall of KD, Suarez is again leading the club by the nose and will expose the weaknesses in the Ayre/Rodgers combo, who will be sorely embarassed by his statements and aniics over the next month, that they will be conned into selling him for less than top dollar, probably to Real Madrid who will walk all over Ayre and we will finish up with the equivalent of buying a 'Clint Dempsey' for an inflated fee - Deja Vu !

don't hold back mate