Its Rodgers!

This probably answers the question as to whether or not you are a moron Nothing lowly about being a Sunderland fan if they're your team lad but I wouldn't bother with the wind ups when you're not very good at it Good luck when Martin gets bored btw.

 

BRENDAN Rodgers has described Swansea City and Liverpool as "two class acts" after quitting the Liberty to take over at Anfield.

And Rodgers has set himself the target of leading Liverpool back towards the top end of the Premier League over the next couple of seasons.

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Rodgers will today be unveiled as the new Reds boss after agreeing a three-year deal on Merseyside.

And he believes that given time and cash to invest in the playing squad, he can steer the five-time European Cup winners forward.

"The challenge for me at Liverpool, as it was when I came to Swansea, is to prove myself to the people both on and off the field," Rodgers said. "I will do what I have always done, which is to be committed to improving the club. The club's success will be the most important thing and we'll see where we are in the next few years."

As Liverpool manager, Rodgers will have transfer funds at his disposal that he could only have dreamt of at Swansea.

He insisted that Liverpool's owners scrapped the idea of appointing a director of football before agreeing to succeed Kenny Dalglish (below), so the responsibility for signing new players will lie with him.

"The challenge is to keep improving the group," Rodgers added.

"It's about getting into the real world. It's a group that I think in a couple of years can be competitive at the top end, but I will need to spend a little bit of money and I will need time to work. I will need time to bring my identity into the team — I need time to impose my philosophy on the group.

"There are some wonderful players at Liverpool, but to bring all that into the team is going to take a wee bit of time.

"It's a job where I need to align the playing identity and style and success with the supporters, because the supporters at Liverpool are renowned."

Rodgers has not forgotten how his side were applauded by the natives after Swansea's impressive goalless draw at Anfield last November.

He added: "I said before that I liken the Liverpool supporters to the Swansea supporters because of their education in the game, and I said that long before any of this came about. That's a massive part of the draw for me. The two clubs are very similar in that they are both class acts.

"The supporters at both clubs are brilliant. They are very passionate about their clubs, they love their cities and they are very educated in football terms.

"I believe there's a similar feel going into Liverpool as there was when I came into Swansea.

 

Was previousl on the South Wales website

 

I have to admit that Swansea handled this with total professionalism, and have my respect. Unlike Wigan, and Dave Whelan not being able to hold his own water, we could have all been convinced that we had no chance of landing Rogers, not that we were wishing as such. But it was all done on the hush hush, and I do hope the swans stay up and get better.

 

I'm already going off this guy! If he believes that the squad he inherits is not good enough for top 6 as it stands and can quickly be brought into contention for top 4 then he doesn't understand what he's got!

 

I can't believe you guys are so happy.

A club as big as yours could have almost any manager they want but who do they choose - a guy who spent 6 months at Watford keeping them from relegation from the Championship, followed by 4 months and the sack from Championship Reading. He goes to Swansea where Martinez has built a good squad - and does well. Promotion and a great first Premiership season BUT it is well known that the second year is the one that finds many teams and their managers out - Rodgers could well have struggled next year. So what sort of football does he like - well the passing game to extremes - many times across the back even in your own half.

I am not saying all this because he has gone to Liverpool - when Redknapp was likely to leave us I argued against Rodgers as a replacement - too inexperienced and never won anything. It will be interesting to see how he handles star players - especially when he is telling them what to do and they ask how far he ever got in the Premiership or Champions League as a player. Will top class players now flock to Liverpool - or hesitate till he proves what he can do. Hodgson struggled and he had European experience

I like Liverpool and wish you all the best and hope you have made the right choice but boy what a gamble for a massive club

 

everyone has to start somewhere. Who the **** was Rafa before Valencia? Or Wenger before Arsenal? SAF before United - Aberdeen FFS!! Brendan is young, enthusiastic and has a great philosophy. I agree it's a risk but he is young and we need rebuilding from the bottom up with fresh ideas and vigour, not a quick fix from a short-termer like Capello.

 

Spurs61
Of course it's a risk- it always is. If there was someone who carried a money-back guarantee of success we'd go for him.
But there isn't, there's no guarantee that Guardiola could repeat with another club the success he's had at Barca. We just have to see.
It's not so much that we're "happy", but excited and enthusiastic about seeing where we can go from here.

Thanks for the good wishes, anyway.

 

You are quite right Sir Red - so long as the Board, fans and players are prepared to give him time. If you rightly recognise you have a potentially great manager in the making but need to give him two or three years to grow into the club then I agree with you 100% But nowadays time is precious - Man U came so close to sacking SAF - there is no way in today's football he would have survived long enough to become successful.

Hodgson was not given any time at all - if Rodgers fails to impress early on will he really be given enough time either? I am sceptical

 

Which is what Dave, a squad capable of finishing eight?

I don't get what you're saying really, if you think the squad is already top four quality then Dalglish must be a truly **** manager.

 

Pth, what a funny universe you live in. In your universe everybody hits the woodwork the same number of times every single season, there is no law of averages, nothing changes, nothing goes forward, back, up or down and something at rest has no potential energy whatsoever. I won't go into any other detail because you can't handle the conceptual thinking required, which would be as alien to you as Klingon is to me.

 

Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy is happy with the decision: "I think they have made a very good appointment in Brendan Rodgers, I really do.

"He is very good guy as well, speaks well, knows his football, and he has proven himself."

 

You finished eight. End of.

How many times you hit the post is completely and utterly irrelevant.

 

It's not irrelevant to the style of play and the potential therein.

 

No, you're right. It means you need a decent striker who can finish.




Does conceptual thinking allow me to believe that as we should have beaten Blackburn and Wigan then we are actually the best team in the league? Just wondering as being a realist I believe that is bollocks and the table does not lie.

 

Players need time to settle and can be easily unsettled in a season. We seemed to have a lot of that with Downing, Carroll and Henderson struggling to settle plus Suarez being unsettled by the whole media coverage of the race row (which I won't go into details about).

The squad will be a lot better for the season they've just had. Good enough to finish above three of Newcastle/Chelsea/Man City/Arsenal/Man Utd/Spurs? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't rule it out.

 

I agree it should be better than eighth, definitely, but not so sure it is top four to be honest. I believe that United, City, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal have better squads, Arsenal only just, and that top six should be realistic first target. Then onwards from there, he's never been close top competing at that level anyway so beyond that is a bit much to ask first season.

 

Rogers PMSL !

...Still funny

 

Is that Alan Rogers...? Or do you mean Rodgers...?

 

That is in EXACTLY chronological order Baz.