This is a shout out for Monk's Hero/Dai, Now that the superhero Suarez has left, do you think your ex swansea manager hero Brenden Rodgers is still the man to lead Liverpool out of the mess he has created. All last season you raved about how he was a cut above but i believe he is being found out now. What are your thoughts? one season wonder or just mislead?
Any team would struggle losing a scorer and player like Suarez. When you acquire people like Lambert and Balotelli as replacements you know you're going to take a step backwards. I'm not sure that's Rogers' fault - how do those two fit with Sturridge and sterling.
Well I assume this is open to all of us... I think it's Brendan not Brenden and it's supposed to be Monk's Heroes but we know who you mean. Not being a dick but spelling is a bugbear, sorry. It's me not you. Imo Rodgers is a talented manager and one to whom this Club owes a huge debt of gratitude. His signing of Sinclair alone probably delivered us Prem football. I've never bought the line that "we were knocking on the door anyway". Plenty of clubs have knocked and knocked but are still down there. Secondly, he's exceeded expectations last season at Liverpool but his masterstroke was convincing Suarez to stay when he clearly wanted out. The ability to dig his heels in and effectively tell Suarez 'Sorry mate you're not going anywhere' is another example of excellent man-management. That's his real skill - and an ability to get the best out of his players. Look at Gerrard who has improved under his guidance imo. He's made some excellent signings and a few less so. Keeping Sturridge fit is key if they are to get close to replicating what they did last season. On the downside I dislike his Irish-blarney-I'll-tell-you-want-you-want-to-hear style. I've met him and he's charming but full of it. He's also a tad pompous with his little dossier of football. He genuinely thinks he's an Irish Mourinho but I don't think he's in the same league. It's because of that I have a wry smile when they're struggling, not because he used to be one of ours. But good luck to him. He's an important part of our history and sadly under-appreciated by many of our fans. Lots of worse managers out there, but quite a few better.
Yankee i agree but he was given an awfull lot of money to try and replace him (I know it would be nearly impossible to do it), but what he did was go out and sign too many players instead of trying to find a replacement for the gone Suarez. Now he has no idea what his best team is and he is making constant changes. They will be lucky to make top 4 this year. Can I ask then are we saying that the achievements last year were not down to BR but down to Suarez.
I read that Sousa, looking back, considered he made a mistake leaving Swansea. Nice piece, he didn't play the blame game and said he didn't take any credit for what Brendon achieved after he took over. He was talking ahead of the Liverpool Basel game. I know loads didn't like him (players included ... some) but if monk moves on I'd welcome him back with open arms.
Agreed Bob. Sousa sorted us out defensively after the gung-ho years of Martinez, but we were sorely lacking firepower during that period (Pintado I think). If we'd had a decent striker we'd have gone up, no doubt. He's done well elsewhere since and I wouldn't rule him out in the future.
Rogers has a Director of Football that he also (may) reports to / deals with / shares responsibility with etc. So it's not like the buck stops with him and I'm sure that the US owners are pretty picky about how they spend cash on hand. Also, you can only buy what's on the market and who wants to come to you. I don't think we are saying that last year's achievements were down to Suarez - Rogers is the coach has to get the orchestra to play - but Suarez is a player that made everybody else better by the load he carried and the goals he scored - that's tough to replace. The lack of goal scoring threat and goals is now exposing the weak links in the 'Pool squad - it's defense.
Yes indeed. I have a great deal of admiration and respect for what Sousa achieved with the resources he had on hand and the support denied him by the board. I don't consider Beattie / Kuqi etc support - it may have been the best we could afford at the time or the best available at the time, but let's be realistic, misfits and sick notes do not support make. I would have him back any time.
The weakness defensively was there to see last year but the goals for amounted to the greater of those conceded, as good as Sterling is he's not up to Squarez's standard and with Sturridge out then I'm afraid they look just ordinary, poor v Everton and struggling in their last CL game it'll be interesting how he fares this year , last season was exceptional for him but they over stretched themselves this season with the additional CL competition , slowly slowly catchee monkey .A good manager all the same .
Sousa was a manager who needed money. We didn't have it at the time. He did sort us out defensively, but his contacts in the game were probably a level above where we were. He'd probably make a better go of managing us now as at least we'd have the money to pay for some of his targets these days. Back then, the players he wanted probably required some multi-million pound transfers. Brendan comes in and does what Sousa couldn't (and the reason why Sousa left for a club with more money/infrastructure), buy a player who can score a bagful for £1 million. I don't think it makes Brendan a better manager than Sousa, but his contacts granted him access to the right player at the right time for the right money.
