Barrett has been beating this drum for the past couple of years, as a means of showing Rodgers up as a fool.
Of course Rodgers had concerns about Sturridge. We're talking about a player with a history of injury problems, who had never really got going at any club, had been let go by City and the Chelsea, and who was believed by many to have an attitude problem.
It would have been downright negligent for a manager to not have concerns about a signing like that. Any signing is a gamble, and a signing like that is even more so.
I don't remember anyone on here predicting that Danny would hit 50 goals faster than any Liverpool player before him, or have the season he had in 2013/14. And given that he's been injured for about 40% of his time here, any concerns Rodgers might have had there have been shown to be reasonable. In fact had Danny not been injured last season, he'd probably still be in a job.
It's also fair to say that no other manager has got as much out of Sturridge than Rodgers, and I think he deserves some credit for that, instead of snidey digs about Dempsey.
This is a fair comment all round.
It seems clear to me that our issues have been largely systemic. The fact that two distinct sides have been briefing journos bears that out, and is of course a recipe for failure. Basic management and common sense dictates that the manager decides how the club will play, and together with the scouts and money-men ratifies the players required to fit that playing system.
The jostling for favour from the owners, reflects terribly on the owners for facilitating such a political structure in the first place. At some point they also have to concede that football is not the same as baseball in terms of analysing players purely by numbers. Granted there is always some merit in numbers, but in a nuanced sport like football they have to be 'qualitative' not just quantitative, and not all game-changing play can be identified by numbers. For example how do you quantify intelligent running off the ball that releases space for a team-mate - or denies space to the opposition, etc? Baseball is a binary sport - balls, strikes, hits, bases, runs, RBIs, catches. Football is infinitely more nuanced, which is why a great scout should always trump an egghead.
Rodgers has to be a 'decent' manager, he was a freak-occurrence slip away from being a legend - we cannot underestimate the magnitude of that, and it wasn't purely down to luck. Ian Wright was completely disrespectful in his comments on MOTD2 where he said anyone could have managed the 2013/14 side to the title. That's patent nonsense as many managers would never have allowed the type of free-flowing football that facilitated that run. Rodgers deserves credit for unleashing the SSS that season and at his best is a pretty imaginative manager.
However, where Rodgers did fail was with our defence, which is terribly inept and the root cause of most of our on-the-pitch problems. Starting with a goalie who is a good shot-stopper but who does not command the penalty area, who spreads panic as a result, and who is a dreadful distributor of the ball. Think how many attacks Pepe started with quick over-arm distribution, and then compare. Migs doesn't have that vision and should have been sold by now. I was shocked we weren't in for Begovic, but in any case we need a new goalie for starters. Consider the impact of a De Gea ... without him ManU would not have made CL this season. That's the importance of a truly great keeper, and compared to outfielders they're cheap at the price.
With Klopp as manager, I believe his track record, strong presence and honest speaking will help the club find a path to a cohesive structure where all the moving parts are working as a team. For that to happen FSG may have to wield the axe on a few more personnel.
