Brendan Rodgers has presented Liverpool’s owners with a 180 page dossier that forensically details his vision for transforming the club’s fortunes. After he was brought into succeed Kenny Dalglish in June, Rodgers met with John W Henry, the principal figure in Fenway Sports Group, to discuss his strategy and footballing ideologies; that meeting provided Henry with absolute vindication he made the right appointment. Rodgers may only be 39 but he has been assembling his coaching manifesto ever since his playing career was prematurely ended by injury, tweaking and improving it, developing it whenever and wherever he has travelled to further his education. Doing it his way: Brendan Rodgers and Daniel Agger talk during training The Four P's - Rodgers Blueprint Patience: Players are told to maintain concentration and not do anything rash Possession: Opponents cannot cause trouble if they do not have control of the ball Passing: Has to be quick and incisive and keep the opposition on edge Penetration: It is all well and good keeping the ball but without goals it is futile Henry brought Rodgers in to fill a long-term plan and the Irishman, whose side face Tottenham in an intriguing friendly in Baltimore this evening, hopes it will Liverpool evolve as a club. ‘I presented the owners with a document on the culture, philosophy and game plan going forward,’ he explained. ‘It’s a model, a short cut to how I work, the kind of players I want tactically and the personality traits of players. The vision is simple. ‘The aim is to win the most trophies we can. That’s the bigger picture. The second (aim) is to play attractive, attacking football to win games. The third is to bring through as many of the young players as we possibly can. The principles are based on this. ‘When I became a manager I always wanted to go into a club with a clear philosophy, so it’s clear in terms of where everyone is heading. Thankfully at two of my three clubs as manager I’ve been able to create a one club mentality and it’s been successful. ‘I started this (document) over 15 years ago. It’s something I have been piecing together for some time and when I became a manager I put it into a format with a philosophy and methodology.’ Though Liverpool have only played two games under Rodgers so far, there have been clear signs that his methods are starting to filter through. For instance, Liverpool made 712 passes against FC Toronto last week; their average in Barclays Premier League games last season was 495. ‘For me football is an art, not a science,’ he said. ‘The only statistic I want to know is how good we‘ve been with the ball. In my upbringing, on my travels, the statistic that interested me was if you were better than your opponent with the ball, you have a 79 per cent chance of winning the game. ‘Basically, you have an eight out of ten chance of winning, so I’ve followed that my career. You may lose the ninth or tenth, but I have been devoted to that. It won’t always be perfect but I’d rather control and dominate games and have that possibility rather than wait for something to happen. ‘My world has been about creating rather than waiting. If you wait, you rely on somebody else to make a mistake. If you create, you do everything possible to win the game. I’d rather lose a game trying to win it than lose it trying to not get beat.’ Success for Rodgers is not going to happen overnight but the most important thing for Liverpool this season, after changing managers three times since May 2010, is to get back on a level footing. ‘The club has been through enough trauma, heartache and problems,’ he said. ‘I could give you a list of problems but it won’t help anything. We have to find a way to challenge again. We need a one city, one club mentality. If we don’t, we will fail. If we can stay as one, we have a real chance.’ Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-page-dossier-clubs-future.html#ixzz21vsH5Vl5
I think BR does well with the first 3 "P's", he just needs to work out the secret to the last one. More than anything, this season, we need goals. A glut of goals please Brendan!
With all the hype about the way we could potentially play...I fear our opponents will prepare and try and counteract it more than they would have at Swansea. Hopefully after a few months we will be fairly good at what Rodgers wants.
As you say first 3 P's wont be a problem. The final one comes from having quality players in the final third to provide that penetration. Sinclair, Dyer, Sigurdson and Graham did this well for him and I'm sure we can attract better players than them. This was our problem last year though, really only Gerrard and Suarez had the neccessary quality in that final third. Hopefully with the return on Aquilani and possibly Cole this will help. Borini maybe but nobody knows how he will perform yet, same with Sterling and Suso. For me, 1 more quality attacking player is needed to add to these as there's too many question marks over these (and the ability to stay fit of Gerrard).
Sorry forgot Bellamy, but he can't play every week. Allen would be a good signing, he's good technically and keeps the ball moving but I dont think he's the one to give us that penetration in the final third. Happy to see him come in but I expect he'd play alongside Lucas with Gerrard a bit more advanced.
