Topic: Brendan Rodgers Archive

[Garstonite]

Hope you don't mind, but - as a closet, compulsive 'hoarder' - I do like to collect things.

So I'm just going to use this space to throw in all things Brendan Rodgers to add and refer to throughout the season.


Pre-Liverpool

Swansea Stats

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

top 10 pass completion 2011/12:

1. city - 85.9%
2. swansea - 85.7%
3. utd - 85.3%
4. chelsea - 85%
5. spurs - 84.8%
6. arsenal - 84.6%
7. fulham - 82%
8. liverpool - 80.9%
9. wigan - 80.4%
10. everton - 77.3%


top 10 average possession 2011/12:

1. arsenal - 59.6%
2. city - 57.7%
3. swansea - 57.6%
4. utd - 57.3%
5. spurs - 56.3%
6. chelsea - 55.4%
7. liverpool - 55%
8. wigan - 49.9%
9. fulham - 48.9%
10. wolves - 47.8%

http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/2935/Stages/5476/TeamStatistics/England-Premier-League-2011-2012

Noteworthy Articles

Express - Bold Brendan Shows How Football Should Be Played

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

HE’S a young and bold football manager. He has a direct hotline to his mentor, Jose Mourinho. He speaks fluent Spanish, and his team play some of the most beautiful football in the Premier League.
The best tribute of all to Brendan Rodgers, however, is the sentiment that adorns the fans’ websites of so many rival clubs. The message is simple: Why can’t we play like Swansea?

When you see the Swans at a live match you immediately understand this widespread mood among those people who actually pay their hard-earned money to attend games – the supporters.

Swansea are a huge pleasure to watch, a team of substance and joy. They pass the ball out from the back with thrilling expertise and purpose, and they do so without fear and without compromise. They are also strong defensively and hard to beat.

They play proper football.

It is why fans of clubs like Aston Villa, Fulham and QPR among others are so envious. They see a classy team created with frugal spending, with players whose names are often unknown to the opposition and the media. They see it done quietly, without hype.

I have been more than impressed with them. They play football the right way, and they are a dangerous side

What Rodgers has achieved in south Wales gives the lie to every manager who claims that you can only play the stylish way if you have a mountain of money to spend on footballers.
His total outlay last summer in the transfer market was £6.75million after winning promotion from the Championship in his first season at the Liberty Stadium.

Mark Hughes wouldn’t go near a football manager’s job with so little cash to invest. His predecessor at QPR, Neil Warnock, lamented a lack of funds for the task of Premier League survival when he was sacked last week by a club unwilling to trust his player judgement and tactics. It’s a matter of philosophy – how you perceive the game. For men like Hughes and Warnock (realists, some would say), it is the target that comes first: avoiding relegation, winning a trophy. For Rodgers (who is lazily called an idealist), the priority is how you play your football, the style you show; the enjoyment you give as you try to win matches.
   
Rodgers is proving you can be attractive and successful, and he is proving that ambition is not automatically scuppered by a meagre budget. That’s why, in my view, he is currently the manager of the season by a mile – better than Roberto Mancini or Alan Pardew or Harry Redknapp or Tony Pulis or Paul Lambert.

The Swansea boss is from the school of managers who was never a top player. His career finished before it began. He joined Reading at the age of 17, but never played a league match due to injury and retired as a professional footballer at 20.

Coaching became his passion, and Rodgers travelled round Spain as a young man to learn about the continental game, much like David Moyes, who journeyed across Europe staying on campsites while watching big tournaments.

Rodgers worked with youth teams at Reading before being approached by Mourinho, who had identified him as one of the brightest and most intelligent young men in English football. He was youth and reserve team boss at Chelsea at the same time as Andre Villas-Boas was an assistant to Mourinho. Now, at Swansea, we are seeing a managerial star of the future. I have no doubt of that. Opposition supporters see it, too, as do opposition teams. Praise is flying in from all quarters – a typical example is the verdict of Thierry Henry, who will play for Arsenal today against the Swans at the Liberty Stadium in a live TV match.

“Swansea are an amazing team,” said Henry the other day. “I have been more than impressed with them. They play football the right way, and they are a dangerous side.”

It has taken time for wider recognition, and even now Rodgers believes some pundits are missing the point with comparisons to the Blackpool of last season, who were relegated after a bright opening.

The 38-year-old boss, only four years older than Villas-Boas, is eager for his team to be given the credit they are due:

“I think we are fantastic with some of the football we play,” he said. “The (passing) statistics are up there with the top teams in European football, and I really enjoy watching us.
“We are nothing like Blackpool. We have had clean sheets in nearly 50 per cent of our matches, which is an incredible record. We have seen that the things we do can bring us success.
“Your philosophy is judged in games like Tottenham, our last home game. We had played ever so well but found ourselves 1-0 down against a team everyone is talking about as potential champions.
“That’s when your beliefs get judged, and we actually passed Tottenham almost to a standstill in the second half and got a draw. That’s not just me saying that – they were the words of Harry Redknapp.”

Brendan Rodgers is young and bold, and a force for good in the Premier League. And the way Swansea play, with relatively unknown footballers, one final question should be asked. If they can do it, why not the England national team as well?

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/295780/Bold-Brendan-Rodgers-shows-how-football-should-be-played/

BBC - "Getting to the top the top the hard way" - Conor Spackman

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

•He was raised in Carnlough where he spent much of his youth playing Gaelic football and hurling
•As a young coach, he travelled around Europe and now speaks Spanish and Italian
•His son Anton plays for Chelsea's youth team and has represented the Republic of Ireland at U-17 level
•His nickname is Buck

If there is an easy way of getting to the top, then Brendan Rodgers has not taken it. Forced to retire as a player at 20 because of a genetic knee condition, the Carnlough man turned to coaching potential professionals only a few years younger than himself. By his own admission, it was a difficult and laborious path, a time when long hours away from home made leading an unfashionable team to the highest rung seem a long way off. So when his Swansea team closed on victory at Wembley on Monday, Rodgers allowed himself a moment of reflection on how unlikely it had all once seemed.

Sacrifices

"At 4-2 and 30 odd seconds to go - and I've never, ever done it before - my mind sort of wandered to my journey as a coach," he said after the game.

"From my early 20s, working with kids, driving many hours, missing time with my family, all that emotion - the whole journey flashes through your mind."

Those sacrifices began to be rewarded with a post as head of youth development at Reading, the club where he had played his last game. If that appointment with the Royals was a boost, then the subsequent arrival of a certain Portuguese manager at Chelsea was a rocket in the right direction. Jose Mourinho was looking around for a new head of Chelsea's academy and reportedly head-hunted the Northern Irishman who had a growing reputation in youth football circles. Born exactly 10 years to the day before Rodgers, Mourinho saw other characteristics which mirrored his own and gradually promoted the former Ballymena United man through the club.

Ambitious

"I like everything in him," Mourinho said. "He is ambitious and does not see football very differently from myself. He is open, likes to learn and likes to communicate."

Unfortunately for Rodgers, the beginning of his managerial career also had something in common with the self-proclaimed Special One, who had once left Benfica after only nine games in charge. A spell at the helm at Reading, the club he had once played for and ironically the team beaten by Swansea in the Championship play-off, was ended with the sack after only a few months. His latest success has come despite that setback and against a backdrop of difficult circumstances in his personal life. He lost his mother, Christina, 12 months ago and his father Malachy travelled to Wembley on Sunday despite suffering from terminal cancer. Rodgers has said he likes to think his team's performance reflects his father's work ethic.

"I used to help dad paint and decorate to earn pocket money. He installed in me the value of a hard day's work. He believes that leads to success in whatever you do. He's right," he said.

"He'd work from dawn to dusk to ensure his young family had everything. I think you can see his philosophies in my team."

His family's experiences with cancer have inspired Rodgers to eschew a lengthy summer break in favour of walking up Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for charity. With Swansea already installed as one of the bookmakers' favourites to be relegated next season, he knows he has another mountain to climb when he returns.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13601736

Independent - Rodgers: The day Jose left Chelsea, it felt like someone had died" (22/04/11) (A month before Swansea were promoted)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/brendan-rodgers-the-day-jose-left-chelsea-it-felt-like-someone-had-died-2271087.html

Brendan Rodgers: 'The day Jose left Chelsea, it felt like someone had died'

The Brian Viner Interview: The Northern Irishman learnt his management skills under Mourinho. Now he aims to apply them with Swansea in the Premier League

A tiny office, scarcely larger than a broom cupboard, in the Glamorgan Health & Racquets Club just outside Neath would not be Jose Mourinho's idea of a command centre, and yet this is where his protégé Brendan Rodgers, once Chelsea's reserve team coach, is plotting to take Swansea City back to the big time. "I had three and a half years with Jose," says Rodgers. "It was like being at Harvard University."

If this intense, 38-year-old Northern Irishman does lead Swansea back into the top tier, which they last graced in 1982-83 only for one of the most precipitous climbs in the history of English football to be followed by one of the more disastrous plunges, almost into extinction, then he will add a further dimension to his own Harvard analogy, finally graduating from Professor Mourinho's class magna cum laude. But the prospect of automatic promotion to the Premier League has been undermined by a disastrous run of four consecutive away defeats. A fifth, at Portsmouth tomorrow, would make even the play-offs less than a dead cert.

This office is too small to fill with negativity, however, so let's contemplate promotion. They say there's such a thing as not being ready for the Premier League; does Rodgers think the Swans are ready to stick their necks out in such august company?

The ghost of a smile. "I'd say we're similar to Blackpool last year, or Burnley before that. You can't wait until you're ready because you might never be ready. Obviously there are still plenty of things to be done, in terms of infrastructure, and the training ground. We must be the only Championship club that showers with its supporters. So the Premier League and the money that comes with it would help secure this club for years to come. Are we ready? No. But we would jump at the chance to play at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge. The aim this season was to finish in or around the top six. Promotion would be a dream."

Rodgers is keenly aware of Swansea's halcyon period three decades ago, not least because his first-team coach is Alan Curtis, one of the goal-scoring heroes of those years. He knows, too, all about the tumultuous times on the brink of bankruptcy, and indeed the brink of non-League football, averted on the final day of the 2002-03 season. Since then, though, a consortium of local businessmen has restored financial stability, backed up by two notably astute choices of manager. One was Roberto Martinez, now at Wigan. The other is Rodgers, who was appointed last July and has got Swansea playing, in the opinion of some, the most attractive football in the Championship. "My philosophy is to play creative attacking football with tactical discipline, but you have to validate that with success," he says.

Hard work is the other bulwark of his philosophy. The work ethic was forged in the working-class, mostly Catholic village of Carnlough on the Antrim coast, where he grew up the eldest of five brothers, watching his father, a painter-decorator, graft relentlessly to give the family every affordable comfort. "He and my mother set in place the values and morals that are with us to this day," says Rodgers. "They were the best role models we could have had."

At St Patrick's College in Ballymena, his skills as a footballer were spotted by Manchester United scout Eddie Coulter, who more recently unearthed Jonny Evans. It was early in the Alex Ferguson era and Rodgers used to travel to Manchester to represent United at schoolboy level with a lad called Adrian Doherty, a tricky left-winger considered an Ulster discovery almost in the George Best class.

"They called him 'the Doc', and Ryan Giggs, the Nevilles, they will all tell you he was the best player they ever played with at that level. I remember being at Reading with Jim Leighton, who was on loan from United at the time, and he waxed lyrical about 'the Doc'. He was an incredible player, but he got badly injured in a reserve game, which set his career on a downward path, and a few years ago, very sadly, he drowned in a canal, in Holland."

Doherty was just 26 when he died in 2000, all that youthful promise already just fodder for anecdotes. Rodgers' own youthful promise, though far more limited, had much happier consequences. United let him go to Reading, where he captained the youth team and later hovered on the fringes of the first team, but a series of injuries, compounded by the realisation that even at peak fitness he would never cut it at the level he aspired to, made him resolve to become a coach, starting with the Reading youth team.

"From that moment I set off on a journey to be the very best I could be," he says. "Someone told me that if I could speak another language it would help me at a higher level of the game, so I studied Spanish twice a week with a guy called Julio Delgado, whose son was a British tennis player, Jamie Delgado." Rodgers' self-improvement campaign began with football, however, and his reputation as an innovative young coach soon extended beyond the Thames Valley. In 2004 the recently-appointed manager of Chelsea invited him for an interview.

"Jose played 4-3-3, or a 4-4-2 diamond, and he wanted a coach to implement his methodology. As you can imagine I was nervous meeting him, a guy I'd read a book about. But he was brilliant, and made me his first external appointment. He took me under his wing a wee bit, maybe because he saw something different in me, or maybe there was a bit of empathy because, like him, I hadn't had the big playing career. Anyway, that started one of the best times of my life. Jose had learnt from his mentor, Louis van Gaal, and I learnt from him, that there must never be a lazy day in training, and that preparation is vital."

At this point Rodgers takes two strides to the other side of his office and picks up a bundle of diagrams, detailing his forthcoming training exercises. Multi-coloured and minutely detailed, they could just as easily be infantry plans for the Battle of the Bulge. "This is what Jose taught me," he says. "And when the players see them, they are energised. They think 'he's put some thought into this'."

He also took careful note of Mourinho's celebrated man-management skills. "Jose struck a perfect balance between putting them on edge, and supporting them. He'd let them feel the pressure to win, but then be able to take that pressure off them. He could be their friend, or their worst enemy. I'd already worked with Steve Coppell, a fantastic man, very respectful of his players, but here was a guy who took it to a different level, that integration of coaching and management. The day Jose left Chelsea, it felt like someone had died."

Rodgers then worked with Mourinho's successors Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari before deciding that he was ready to become a manager in his own right. "I'd had a great apprenticeship. I'd gone from the park to the peak. So I spoke to Milan Mandaric about the Leicester job, but he decided to go for experience and appointed Gary Megson." The disappointment intensified his desire to get onto the managerial merry-go-round, and in November 2008 he did so, at Watford. Seven months later, he seized the chance to succeed Coppell at Reading. And barely six months after that, the merry-go-round threw him off. It was the first serious bruising of his career, the first stumble downwards in what had been a steady upward trajectory. And it came at the hands of John Madejski, the chairman who had known him since he was a teenager.

"I was at a club I loved, working for people I wanted to do well for, trying to implement things I knew would take time, and I felt I would be given that time. The season hadn't been great, but we were picking up." On 15 December 2009 Rodgers enjoyed himself at the club Christmas party. The next day he was asked to see Madejski at the stadium, without the slightest idea that he was about to be fired.

"But I knew as soon as I walked in. He's a good man, and I know it wasn't easy for him, but it was a lonely drive home. Then, in early February last year, my mother passed away suddenly. She was only 53, a sudden heart attack. I used to speak to her every day, so with losing her, and no football, there were two massive voids in my life. It took a few months and a lot of self-evaluation before I thought about finding another club. I like to win in a certain style, I like my teams to control and dominate games, so I knew it couldn't be any club."

Swansea seemed like a good fit, and on being appointed last summer Rodgers promptly moved his family from Reading, where he had lived since moving from Northern Ireland. South Wales reminds him of home, he says. "It's very working-class, and the people are fantastic. I say to every player I bring here, the likes of Scotty Sinclair, 'don't just come for the football, come and enjoy the life down here'."

It could yet be, of course, that South Wales has a pair of Premier League clubs next season. Does he relish the idea, or has he bought into the fans' notion that nothing except fire and brimstone is to be wished upon Cardiff City? He smiles. "I understand that mentality. A lot of people think Wales finishes at Cardiff. They've put a multi-billion pound investment into the train track from London, and cut it off at Cardiff. But the Premier League will be a better place if it has two Welsh teams, with all that passionate support."

His chances of guiding Swansea to promotion, he adds, have been substantially improved by what happened at Reading. "It made me a better manager, better in every way, and not only for myself but for others. Now, when other managers are removed from their jobs, I'm straight onto them, because you understand what that loneliness is like. I'll never forget what Neil Warnock said to me early on in the season. He shook my hand, and said 'it's brilliant you're back, you can be a top manager, but now you've got to bloody stay in'. That's right. I've been outside looking in, and my aim now is to stay in. Of course I have my goals. I've had a smell of the Champions League with Chelsea, and I want to manage at that level. But I'm looking no further than Swansea as a place to achieve my ambitions."

He might need a slightly bigger office.

Telegraph: "Swansea v Reading: Brendan Rodgers' Barca model is more than a passing phase" (28/05/11) - Before the play-off final at Wembley

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/swansea-city/8541337/Swansea-City-v-Reading-Brendan-Rodgers-Barcelona-model-is-more-than-a-passing-phase.html

'Swanselona': there is more than a little presumption — and more than a little tongue in cheek — in the nickname, but it does express the audacity of the way Swansea City play football.


Independence day: Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers is keen to establish himself as his own man with his own style in the Premiership Photo: PA

By Duncan White

Brendan Rodgers’ team have a fundamentalist belief in passing the ball to each other, something of a heresy in this frenetic division. Swansea's high-Spanish style has taken them to within a game of the Premier League: they face an in-form Reading at Wembley on Monday in the Championship play-off final, a match with its own hyperbolic billing: the £94 million game.

Rodgers, 38, winces a little at the comparison but in explaining what he calls his “ideology”, Barcelona are a key formative model. “I think it was the South Wales press that came up with that one,” Rodgers said of the ‘Swanselona’ tag.

“It was after a number of our games in which we’d made a lot of passes. Obviously you can’t even begin to make a comparison with them, but it does give our players confidence.

“We analyse passes that we make and that is one of our key performance indicators. Nine times out of 10, if we make a certain number of passes we will win the game. It means that we have control and our game is based around control and domination. We want to dominate with the ball.”

So how many passes does it take to win a game? “We average 526 passes per game and our average share of possession is 61 percent,” Rodgers said.

“The players have showed great courage. You have to be brave to play that way. That’s why I’ve been such an avid admirer of Barcelona for years. It is much more difficult to coach a team to win that way than it is to coach a team to win by hitting it long. Much more difficult.”

His commitment to an expansive playing style has deep roots, dating back to his youth. “I was brought up in a traditional British way, 4-4-2 and kick the ball up the pitch,” he said.

“Whenever I was playing as a youth international with Northern Ireland we would play Spain, France, Switzerland and the like. And we were always chasing the ball. In my mind, even at that young age, I remember thinking ‘I’d rather play in that team than this team’.”

He had had a trial at Manchester United as a boy but after a short spell as a professional at Reading realised, at 20, he was not good enough to make it as a player. So he started learning to coach.

“I wanted to be the best I possibly could,” he said. “I had a great education coming through the English FA, did courses with the Scottish FA but I also went out and travelled.

“I went to Spain, to Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia. These are the best schools of football in the world, how they develop players. Then I spent time in Holland.

That was the ideology of football that I liked. I educated myself, watching, studying and learning. I knew my basic principles but because I had stopped playing early I had the time to go and learn from the very best. And the model was always Spain.”

In Swansea, he found a club receptive to his Iberian ideas. Under Roberto Martinez, they had developed a reputation for playing expansive, passing football and even had a smattering of Spanish players in the squad.

What Rodgers has done is underpin that with an intense pressing game modelled on Barcelona. Serene on the surface but working hard beneath — no need to hammer home that analogy.

“My idea coming into this club was to play very attractive attacking football but always with tactical discipline,” he said. “People see the possession and they see the penetration, the imagination and the creativity, but we’ve had 23 clean sheets this year. So in nearly 50 per cent of our games we haven’t conceded a goal.

“The example of the Barcelona model was a great influence and inspiration to me. When I was at the Chelsea academy, that was how my players would play, with that high, aggressive press, combined with the ability to keep the ball.

"That’s something that we’ve then been able to roll out to here and defensively we play with high pressure and high aggression. Everyone knows their function within the system. It is like an orchestra, if one of them isn’t doing it, you don’t hit the right note.”

Rodgers always wanted to be a conductor but was happy to take his time getting there. After working his way up to become Reading’s academy manager, Rodgers was signed by Chelsea to run the youth team in 2004, something of a culture shock.

“I was 14 years at Reading but I knew it was time to go. I’d only been at Chelsea a week when I got a call from my brother. He asked if I’d seen who was linked with my new job. It was Jean-Pierre Papin.”

Rodgers impressed Jose Mourinho and he was promoted two years later to running the reserve team.

The patronage of the Portuguese helped accelerate Rodgers’ career but, now that he is a manager in his own right (having been in charge at Watford and Reading), it makes him feel a bit claustrophobic.

Even his touchline dash after the play-off semi-final win over Nottingham Forest was taken as an homage.

“I’ve heard all this rubbish about the Mourinho touchline dash... it’s just instinct,” he said. “I’m not sure how long the protege stuff will go on for. I’m proud that he saw something in me, but we’re totally different. He’s one of the most charismatic characters in the world; I’m just a rough Irishman who’s trying to carve out a career as a young manager.

"I’ve always had to do it the hard way anyway and there’s no doubt that if I get to the Premier League people will say it’s him who’s got me there.

"I hope over time, and I’m not being disrespectful to him, I’ll be seen as my own man and someone who has achieved on his own merit.”

Reading welcome back old friend

Reading manager Brian McDermott will hardly be surprised by his rival’s methods this afternoon — he and Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers go back a long way.

McDermott joined Reading as chief scout in 2000 when Rodgers was working with the academy. Under Steve Coppell, McDermott was promoted to reserve team manager and when Rodgers returned to the club in 2009, after his time with Chelsea and Watford, the pair worked together for the 195 days Rodgers was in charge.

McDermott has impressed since succeeding Rodgers, with FA Cup wins over five Premier League teams, including Liverpool and Everton, in two seasons. This season, with 26-goal striker Shane Long to the fore, Reading have lost only once in the league since Feb 12.

“I’ve never had any problems with Brendan; he is a good manager,” said Reading chairman John Madejski. “It didn’t work out for him at Reading, but we always knew it would work out for him somewhere."


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May 30 2011 - Reading 2 Swansea City 4 - Play-off final at Wembley. Promoted to Premier League.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/championship/8546273/Reading-2-Swansea-City-4-match-report.html

Rodgers was dignity personified as Swansea celebrated. The former Reading manager went around consoling the vanquished, embracing his erstwhile chairman, John Madejski.

...

Breaking with Wembley protocol, they swept up en masse to the players’ bar still in their rain-soaked kit. Some of them were still in there, two hours afterwards, sharing the moment, and a few drinks, with family and friends.

Independent (19/10/11) Prior to playing Utd:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/brendan-rodgers-you-might-not-remember-me-sir-alex-6261508.html

Most of an article by Steve Tongue

"I joined Reading at 16 and was about 20 when I stopped playing, recognised I wasn't going to be the player I wanted to be, so I moved into coaching, devoting my life to that."

"My father loved Brazil, loved watching great football. It was very much from television, not live games, but that was something he passed on to me, a real belief in the way the game should be played.

"I was a little winger or central midfield player, more technically gifted than pace and power. I played in Northern Ireland youth international teams and they were always teams set up to defend and to not have the ball. I was not that type of player and didn't enjoy it.

"It was similar at Reading and I just felt there was a better way to play football and I knew there was British talent that could play that way. It's a lot more difficult to coach players to play that way than just to kick the ball up the pitch. But that was my mission really as a young coach, to go and help players to be technically strong and understand tactically the game. That's followed me from my very first step."

The early steps were positive ones, leading him to take charge of Reading's youth team and then their academy, before a highly desirable vacancy occurred at Chelsea when Steve Clarke was promoted to be one of the new manager Jose Mourinho's first-team coaches. "Jose wanted someone to implement that European type of idea and I was one of few British coaches that had that influence and belief. He wouldn't have known me personally, it was more a recommendation but there were loads of applicants and he maybe wanted someone that mirrored him in terms of working at a big club as a young coach. Jose really believed in my qualities and abilities and gave me the opportunity. He put a lot of time into his preparation off the field and was a terrific influence on me."

The admiration was mutual and after making him reserve team manager, Mourinho's was an impressive reference to have when Rodgers became keen to strike out on his own. He joined Watford in November 2008, staying only six months before being swayed by the pull of his old club, Reading, where an upwardly mobile career suffered its first setback; after five wins in the first 21 games of the season, he was sacked.

"My aim going into my first manager's job was to go somewhere for four or five years and prove I could be a manager through thick and thin. But then came the draw of a club close to my heart, that I thought would allow me to express myself and be creative. I was hoping to do a similar job at Reading, even if the process was going to take a bit longer because of the type of players. It didn't work out, which was a massive disappointment because I'd spent a lot of my life there, my children were born there, it was a club that gave me an opportunity as a young coach.

"I've learnt from it and the manager Swansea have today is a big part of the learning experience I got from that. I made mistakes but ultimately it was just the wrong time. My way of working wasn't what they needed at that time so we both moved on."

The next job needed to be the right one and Swansea proved a perfect fit. Lifted up from the lower divisions by Roberto Martinez playing a style of passing football not often seen at that level, they had consolidated under Paulo Sousa. "This was a club that liked the game to be a certain way over a certain number of years, which is why they pick a certain type of manager," Rodgers says. He soon proved his value in the transfer market by bringing in Scott Sinclair, who scored 27 goals last season, including a hat-trick in the play-off final – which was, inevitably, against Reading.

Widely written off, like most play-off winners, as relegation favourites, Swansea have had what Rodgers calls "an excellent start", sitting in mid-table and unbeaten at home. "A lot of these players have come from League Two, most of their career they've only read about these [opposition] players. It was going to take a few games for them to believe they have a right to be in the Premier League. Now there's a sense of that among the group."

Resources have to be carefully husbanded and the memory of previous financial woes caused by irresponsibility remains a useful corrective to over-ambition. In December 1982, when United last visited, Swansea's expensively recruited and well-paid squad had just finished a best-ever sixth in the top division but were starting to tumble back down a vertiginously sleep slope all the way to the Fourth Division whence they came.

Rodgers is speaking in his tiny office at the local fitness centre, where players mingle with the general public. Tempted last summer to sign the experienced Spanish international Marcos Senna from Villarreal, he declined for fear of upsetting the wage structure and team spirit.

"I've spoken to a lot of managers of promoted teams and the common denominator that causes problems is money," he said. "We needed to ensure that wasn't going to be the case. The club has moved very quickly on the field and the infrastructure, the training facilities have to improve. That will hopefully come with success. But you see here today the players mixing with the public, they go in and shower with the public, which keeps them very much grounded."

Telegraph - Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers aims to convert long-ball believers (13/01/12) - Two days before playing Arsenal:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/swansea-city/9013702/Swansea-manager-Brendan-Rodgers-aims-to-convert-long-ball-believers.html

“This is the crusade,” says Brendan Rodgers. He is out to convert you — yes, you — to the enlightened path, preaching the gospel of tiki-taka in the South Wales valleys.



By Duncan White

His pulpit is a training ground by a health club with one AstroTurf pitch, his church the Liberty Stadium, his flock Swansea City Football Club. Rodgers is the evangelist for the beautiful game. Or, more correctly, the beautiful British game. And his congregation is growing.

On Sunday, Arsenal come to Swansea. Arsène Wenger’s side have long held a monopoly on doing things stylishly in the Premier League. Yet this technical game was thought the preserve of an imported elite.

The lack of British players in the Arsenal side for the past decade was evidence, it was claimed, that these foreign ways were beyond the ken of our honest boys.

Now smaller teams have played good football in the Premier League in the past, but none have done it like Swansea. Despite a modest wage bill, Rodgers has built a side who have impudently dominated possession against their supposed superiors.

“This is our philosophy,” Rodgers said. “I like to control games. I like to be responsible for our own destiny. If you are better than your opponent with the ball you have a 79 per cent chance of winning the game.

"For me it is quite logical. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are, if you don’t have the ball you can’t score.”

Rodgers says he comes “from a different bottle” to the majority of British coaches. Growing up in a village in Antrim, he grew to share his father’s enthusiasm for the great Brazilian and Dutch teams of the Seventies.

When he played for the Northern Ireland youth sides he barely got a touch of the ball — it was always being punted back to the opposition over his head. He had trials with various clubs, including Manchester United shortly after Mr. Ferguson took over, but ended up at Reading.

At 20 he quit the game, realising he was not good enough to play at the top level. He did, though, think he could coach there.

“I wanted to make a difference. I went to Spain. I was a big lover of Spanish football and spoke the language. I spent a lot of time at Barcelona, talking and working with coaches, finding out about the model and the philosophy of the club. I’d been to Sevilla, Valencia and Betis.

I also spent time in Holland. It was a sacrifice because I had a young family at the time but I had a real thirst for knowledge. I wanted to be the best I possibly could.”

After coaching in the Reading academy he got his big break in 2004 when Jose Mourinho took him on in his backroom staff at Chelsea.

“I always say that working with Jose was like going to Harvard University,” he said.

While Mourinho’s integrated approach to management was a great influence, Rodgers has his distinctive methods. Pep Guardiola is another who has inspired him and his Swansea team are modelled, in their tactical system, on Barcelona. He even sketches out the tactical system on my notepad.

“My template for everything is organisation. With the ball you have to know the movement patterns, the rotation, the fluidity and positioning of the team. Then there’s our defensive organisation.

"So if it is not going well we have a default mechanism which makes us hard to beat and we can pass our way into the game again. Rest with the ball. Then we’ll build again.

“When we have the football everybody’s a player. The difference with us is that when we have the ball we play with 11 men, other teams play with 10 and a goalkeeper.”

Rodgers was cut up to lose his sweeper-keeper, Dorus de Vries, to Wolves in the summer and he realised he was going to need a very specific replacement. He found Michel Vorm.

“British people had said to me he was too small, which was good for me because it probably meant he was good with his feet. When we got the chance to see him I realised he was perfect. He was 27, humble, and makes saves that a 6ft 5in keeper won’t make because he’s so fast. But, importantly, he can build a game from behind. He understands the lines of pass.”

Rodgers’s claims are supported by the statistics.

Swansea’s passing percentages are behind only Arsenal and Manchester City. They do play a greater percentage of passes in their own half than any other side in the Premier League but it is all about being patient. To those raised on the orthodoxy of direct football this is baffling stuff.

“People will jump on us whenever we make a mistake. We had it against Manchester United. Angel Rangel had the ball at his feet and the commentary after the game is that he’s got to kick it into row Z.

"He had time on the ball, why would he smash it up the pitch? He just made a mistake. We need to give our players confidence in their ability. To play this way you can have no fear. The players respect that if there are any goals conceded through playing football I take the blame.

“Here’s another example. We were 2-0 up away at Wolves with six minutes to go but we failed to manage the pressure. We stopped playing it out from the back. We kicked the ball long and they got it and just smashed straight back into our box. Eventually we drew 2-2 and the players were devastated.

"I told them we needed to learn the six-minute game.

“The following week we worked on managing the pressure. But with the ball. Lo and behold the next game we are at Bolton. We are 2-0 up. With 17 minutes to go they go 2-1. You could sense the nerves in the crowd.

"How were we going to deal with it? For 10 minutes Bolton did not get a kick of the ball and, eventually, we got the goal to win 3-1.

"Afterwards in the dressing room it was fantastic — that was how to manage pressure. When they had the momentum we sucked the life out of them.

“Our idea is to pass teams to a standstill so they can no longer come after you. Eventually you wear them down. We did that against one of the greatest teams in Tottenham. We did it against Manchester United in the second half. In the first half we were playing the history.

"What I said to them is 'now that you know what shirt you are getting, now can you play our game my friends?’ And they did.”

Yet for all the focus on Swansea’s passing, Rodgers is keen to stress that there is a lot more going on.

“People don’t notice it with us because they always talk about our possession but the intensity of our pressure off the ball is great. If we have one moment of not pressing in the right way at the right time we are dead because we don’t have the best players. What we have is one of the best teams.

“The strength of us is the team. Leo Messi has made it very difficult for players who think they are good players. He’s a real team player. He is ultimately the best player in the world and may go on to become the best ever. But he’s also a team player.

"If you have someone like Messi doing it then I’m sure my friend Nathan Dyer can do it. It is an easy sell.”

Sold? You can make your own mind up on Sunday afternoon whether you want to join the flock.

Telegraph - "Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers insists he is ready to manage a big club" (30/03/11)

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/swansea-city/9177059/Swansea-manager-Brendan-Rodgers-insists-he-is-ready-to-manage-a-big-club.html

Brendan Rodgers has ruled out an immediate move to one of the ‘big’ clubs in British football but said he is well-equipped to do so at the right time.



By Graham Clutton

The Swansea City manager has been touted as a possible replacement at Tottenham should Harry Redknapp leave White Hart Lane to take over with England.

Although Rodgers dismissed as gossip the latest link, he believes he ticks all the boxes after his experiences at Chelsea where he managed the youth team and then the reserves after being approched by Jose Mourinho in 2004.

“If it arrives, I will be ready,” said Rodgers, who takes Swansea to Spurs tomorrow afternoon. “I had four-and-a-half brilliant years at Chelsea where I got a real feel of the challenge at that level.

“I had to deal with players like Ballack, Terry, Shevchenko, and Lampard. No, I don’t think it’s too soon, but it might be in terms of my personal life.”

Rodgers, 39, took over at the Liberty Stadium two summers ago, on a one-year rolling contract, but signed a new and improved three-and-a-half-year deal last month.

He took the club into this season’s Premier League, albeit via the Championship play-offs, and has taken Swansea into 10th place with 39 points from 30 games.

“People have got to fill newspapers and I understand that. On Monday they will be talking about somebody else. I just need to focus on the job in hand at Swansea.

“It has been a big year for us this year. I need a little reflection time, professionally and personally.”

Still, in terms of self-belief, the Northern Irishman has little doubt that if and when the time arrives, he will be set fair to step into one of the top roles in the game.

Rodgers, who landed his first top-level managerial position with Watford in November 2008 before a ill-fated six-month spell in charge at Reading a year later, said: “People talk about experience, but I was very fortunate to experience working with people like Mourinho and Scolari.

“Some managers will never get that in a lifetime. I also worked in the most successful era in Chelsea’s history. I experienced Champions League games and FA Cup finals. It’s not too early but, of course, the pressures are totally different.

“If that day ever comes, be it at 39, 49 or 59, it won’t be a case of me wondering whether I can work at that level. I have earned the respect of the biggest names in the game, both as a human being and as a coach.”

Guardian: "Brendan Rodgers: Spain have been a great model for me over many years" (11/05/12) - Two days before playing Liverpool on the last day of the season

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/11/brendan-rodgers-swansea-city

Brendan Rodgers: Spain have been a great model for me over many years

Swansea's young manager is about to complete an impressive first Premier League season and he is heading to join Vincente del Bosque's Euro 2012 training camp for four days

Stuart James

It is 9am on Wednesday at Glamorgan Health and Racquets club and the cafe is a busy place to be. Fitness fanatics are strutting in and out, a few toddlers are testing the patience of their mothers and those a little longer in the tooth are sipping coffee while flicking through the papers. It is not a particularly unusual scene, apart from the fact that on one table, seemingly oblivious to everything going on around him, a Premier League manager is holding the morning meeting with his backroom staff.

Brendan Rodgers, whose Swansea City side have been such a revelation in the Premier League this season, must feel as if he works in a goldfish bowl. Without a training ground of their own, Swansea make do with what is effectively an upmarket leisure centre, where the public mingle with the players in an environment that feels a million miles from the state-of-the-art facilities and acres of land most Premier League managers take for granted.

Not that Rodgers seems fazed. The only request the Northern Irishman made when he took charge a couple of years ago was to have his own office, which is not much bigger than a broom cupboard and located in a corridor that everyone walks past to get to and from the changing rooms. "This was a physiotherapy room," Rodgers says from behind his desk. "When I came here there was no office. But I needed some sort of privacy. It's not what Arsène Wenger or Mr. Ferguson has but, listen, it's raw and it allows me to work."

Rodgers loves to work, especially on the training field, which has been his "natural environment" ever since he took up coaching at Reading in his early 20s. This week he invited the Guardian to spend a morning with him to talk tactics and to see the training sessions that have helped to produce a Swansea team who have made more passes this season than any other Premier League club. It is a remarkable statistic, although what is often overlooked is how hard Swansea work without the ball. Their pressing game, where they close people down in zones and at speed, is fundamental to the way they play.

"I like teams to control and dominate the ball, so the players are hungry for the ball," Rodgers says. "You'll see in some of our exercises this morning, a lot of our work is around the transition and getting the ball back very quickly. Because I believe if you give a bad player time, he can play. If you give a good player time, he can kill you. So our emphasis is based around our positioning both with and without the ball. And for us, when we press well, we pass well."

Winning the ball back quickly and high up the pitch was a key feature of Barcelona's approach under Pep Guardiola and, as Rodgers explains, is much more sophisticated than it may appear. "You cannot go on your own," he says. "You work on zonal pressure, so that when it is in your zone, you have the capacity to press. That ability to press immediately, within five or six seconds to get the ball, is important. But you also have to understand when you can't and what the triggers are then to go for it again because you can't run about like a madman.

"It's decision-making and intelligence. And this was always the thing with the British player, they were always deemed never to be intelligent, not to have good decision-making skills but could fight like hell for the ball. I believe they have all of the [attributes] and, if you can structure that, then you can have real, effective results."

Swansea are living proof. They go into the final game of the season, at home against Liverpool on Sunday with a chance of finishing in the top 10. Whatever happens, though, it has been a remarkable campaign. They have not only won matches but won them in style, including memorable victories against Arsenal and Manchester City. There was also the goalless draw at Anfield in November, when Swansea were applauded off the pitch by Liverpool fans.

"That was really touching because that is such an historic ground," Rodgers says. "But I suppose in terms of performance the highlight has to be beating what could be the champions, Man City. To actually dominate the game as well — we controlled possession, kept passing and kept the confidence and then, eventually, we were able to get the breakthrough. So in terms of where they're at and where we're at it was a defining moment."

It is close to 10.30am and Rodgers is looking at his watch, the cue to dash to the training pitch, which is artificial and belongs to the Llandarcy Academy of Sport and Learning. The grass pitches that Swansea used earlier in the season were dug up and relaid a couple of months ago, leaving them with little option but to train on an all-weather surface. Not that the facilities appear to have any effect on the standard of a training session that is fascinating to watch.

At one stage nine players are working in small teams of three in an area that seems so confined that it is difficult to believe they will be able to run around freely, let alone pass to a team-mate without an opponent intercepting. Yet they manage to do so time and again, often taking no more than one touch before quickly moving to create an angle to receive the next ball. All the while those without the ball are snapping at their heels, pressing with the sort of intensity that Rodgers demands in matches. It is, in short, easy to see why they are so good at keeping and retrieving the ball.

"When I first came in I said to the players, we will push ourselves in every element of training, so it's reflective of the real game, so I don't have to go on about intensity all the time because that is an obligation," says Rodgers, who closely watches training all of the time. "This morning's session is based around football strength, small-space work, lots of options on the ball and covering the principles of our game, which are possession, transition, pass-think, pass-think, pass-think and the core ingredient of hard work."

It goes without saying that Rodgers would like better facilities but the players seem to buy into the idea that Swansea are offering something more valuable than plush locker rooms and rows of immaculate training pitches. "There is only a certain type of player that will come here, a player that is hungry and a player that wants to develop his talent," says Rodgers. "You get the raw materials here in this moment but they're arguably the most important materials, which are time and quality on the training field."

They also get to perform for a manager who has a clear philosophy on how his team should play. Rodgers talks about four phases that underpin Swansea's approach when they have the ball. "There is the building and constructing from behind, the preparation through midfield, the creativity to arrive in the areas and then the taking of the goals. These are all areas that we have to continually improve on but that is the basis of our game and it doesn't change."

One of the few criticisms levelled at Swansea this season is that they often keep the ball in their own half or in areas where they are not hurting the opposition, although that argument is flawed in several respects. Rodgers points out that, while the primary reason for possession will always be to penetrate, the simple fact is that, while Swansea have the ball, the opposition are unable to score. He also says that by "recycling" the ball for long periods his team are able to recover. "The only time we rest is when we have the ball," the 39-year-old says. "When we haven't got the ball is the moment for intense pressure to get the ball back. But you can't go for 90 minutes, so in order to recuperate and conserve energy, we'll do that sometimes by building our way through the game — our tiki-taka football, our small lending games to keep the ball.

"When we're stuck in the game, we go back to our default system, which is possession."

Always open to fresh ideas, Rodgers has been exploring an alternative system, which he tested in the 4-4 draw against Wolves last month, when Swansea changed from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3. He also hopes to have a few more tricks up his sleeve after spending four days with Spain at their Euro 2012 training camp in Austria later this month, as a guest of their manager, Vicente del Bosque. "Spain have been a great model for me over many years, so I always take the chance where I can to travel and understand new methods," Rodgers says.

Before then, however, Swansea aim to finish off their season in style. Rodgers, back in his office after training, points to four words scribbled on a whiteboard. "Our motto was that there, Per Ardua Ad Astra, which means through adversity to the stars. Because this is what we're in, a real adverse situation," he says. "So this weekend is about celebrating success. For us to stay at this level, for the players, my staff, the club and the supporters, it is an incredible achievement."

What's in a day: Swansea's training routine

10am, Warm-up The players begin their warm-up on the tennis courts in the fitness centre, where they do some core work. Then they have agility work and relay races on the training pitch

10.45am, Keep-ball The players are split into two groups and those on the outside, who are allowed only one touch, try to keep the ball off the two in the middle

11am, Six v three Remaining in two groups of nine, the players are split into three teams of three within each group. In a confined area, 10 yards by five yards, each team of three takes it in turns to try and get the ball off the other six players with the aim of scoring in the small goal sat either end

11.15am, Twelve v six The players move to a bigger area, 40 yards by 30 yards, and this time it is six versus six in the middle, with full-size goals and goalkeepers at either end. The other six players are located on the outside and are on the side of the team that has the ball, effectively making it 12 v six

11.45am, Shooting Midfielders and forwards stay behind for a shooting session

Midday, Finish The sessions are 25 minutes shorter than normal at this stage of the season

BBC: "Brendan Rodgers defends Kenny Dalglish's record at Liverpool" (12/05/12) - The day before playing Liverpool

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18047318

"I don't believe their season has been a failure, he has been in the process of rebuilding.

"When he had the second half of last season there he did a terrific job, he renewed the motivation in the group and city, and this season he has reshaped the squad.

"It's the beginning of a process that he hopes in the future will bring success.

"But that's the problem with being a manager; it's like trying to build an aircraft while it is flying.

"You don't get time to put it in the hanger and do everything you need and send it out there, you have to try and do it while it's flying and that's what he is in the process of.

"He has a history of success at the club as a player and a manager.

"He has a strong team behind him but unfortunately everyone looks to the short term, but he has done a terrific job and he will look to develop and grow next season."

WalesOnline - "Swansea City boss looking for top ten hit on Elvis day" (13/05/12)

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http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballnation/football-news/2012/05/13/swansea-city-boss-brendan-rodgers-looking-for-top-10-hit-on-elvis-day-91466-30955108/

...



Thousands of supporters are expected to turn up to the Liberty Stadium dressed as Elvis for today’s final match of the season after Rodgers put out a rallying call to Swansea fans.



He asked for supporters to dress up as ‘The King’ at today’s game as a dig at bookmakers who gave better odds of Elvis being alive than Swansea avoiding relegation at the start of the season.

Rodgers’ idea has caught the imagination of the Swansea supporters and they are expected to set a new world record for the number of people dressed as Elvis in the same place.

He said: “I have been taken aback by the interest. Someone from the Valleys drove down to the Liberty Stadium a couple of days after I said it with a cake with a Swan dressed as Elvis. It’s absolutely phenomenal.

“It is just something to make people smile. Football is global, but it’s also about fun. It’s an entertainment and we must not forget that.”

...

“I thought Liverpool were excellent in midweek and Andy Carroll was really impressive.

“It shows it’s a totally different pressure when you play for a big club like Liverpool. You are expected to win every single game and it was new for him.

“The adaptation takes time and forget about the football, it was a life change.

“He was bought for the long term. He didn’t put the price tag on his head. He’s a young kid who I have seen come through the England ranks. It was always going to take time.

“But we are starting to see the first real performances that you think he can go on and become a really fantastic player for Liverpool.

“He looked lean, mobile and great in his physicality the other night and his touch was good.

“He got a boost from his cameo in the FA Cup final and he’ll be coming here to do well.”

...

“I don’t think Kenny’s been a failure. He’s got them to two cup finals, winning one and going close in the other one.

“Liverpool is an incredible club with history of winning leagues and European Cups, but the reality is they are trying to build back towards that.

“The Liverpool supporters and public probably see no better man to do it. He’s had a history of success at the club, both as a player and manager. He has the ultimate respect.

“He has a brilliant coach in Steve Clarke, who I know well and speak regularly to so he has a strong team behind him. It just takes time.”


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Belfast Telegraph: "Rodgers: Northern Ireland is where my heart lies" (14/05/12)

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/premiership/brendan-rodgers-northern-ireland-is-where-my-heart-lies-16144662.html

[Garstonite]

Back pages 29 May onwards

[Garstonite]

Pictures:

Rodgers Arrives

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Brendan's Anfield arrival (from LFC.tv)

Rodgers, Shankly & The Tea Lady - lfc.tv

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After addressing the world's media at Anfield, Brendan Rodgers paid his first visit to Melwood and immediately made a bee-line for the most important person there – the tea lady.
 


Within minutes of driving through the gates of the Liverpool training ground, Rodgers asked to be directed towards the canteen where he introduced himself to the kitchen staff and took possession of a cup of tea.
 
"I'd love a cup of tea, just a little bit of sugar," he asked. "You'll find I drink a lot of tea when I'm here!"
 
Cup of tea in hand, the new Reds boss was then given a tour of the facilities by Darren Burgess, LFC's Head of Fitness and Conditioning. After visiting the indoor-outdoor pitch, swimming pool, dressing rooms, medical area and video analysis unit, he stopped to read a quote on the wall from Fernando Morientes praising the supporters.
 


Stopping to chat to all the staff he came across, Rodgers was then shown into new office, where he immediately surveyed the pitches basking in the bright sunshine.
 
Before he left, he pointed to a framed portrait of Bill Shankly on the wall overlooking his desk and remarked, "Now, that's a proper legend."

Random

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[Garstonite]

Quotes:

"It was a fairytale ending. In terms of the performance, the players were brilliant. Our work-rate was phenomenal and we were worthy winners. Everyone talks about our passing and creativity, but behind all that is a great amount of hunger and work ethic and to achieve 14 clean sheets, is a tremendous achievement."

"I’ve got so much respect for the man. I will never replace Kenny Dalglish, that’s the reality of it. I can only be Brendan Rodgers and do the very best I can for the Football Club. This is a guy voted the best player in the history of Liverpool Football Club, who's a legend of a manager here and a fantastic man. So there’s not a race for me - I’m sure it’s a race I would lose. But for me, what I want to do, is prove my worth and prove my honesty and commitment to Liverpool Football Club. History judges you as a manager, and I hope my history here will allow me to walk besides many of the great managers here."

“All I’ll ever do is what I’ve done in every job and promise that I’ll fight for my life, for the supporters and the people of the city. It’s a real special club, I’m really looking forward to moving to the city with my family, and understanding more about life up north and around Liverpool which is a real vibrant city.”

[Garstonite]

Articles Upon Appointment

Quote from 'Callaghan' - (27/05/12) - "Brendan Rodgers completely fits FSG's bill"

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Brendan Rodgers completely fits FSG's bill. We knew when they bought the club that they would ideally be looking for a younger manager to grow the club over a long period - with a long term plan for ongoing success, just as they had done with the Red Sox.

I don't follow baseball but I think things might be going tits up a bit for the Red Sox recently. However, they did achieve the impossible over there and by most accounts the way they went about it was clever, honest and truly had the best interests of the club and the supporters at heart. And of course, there's Fenway Park.

We are where the Red Sox were - and now they have the chance to really begin implementing their plan. They've sacked nearly everyone at the top and most importantly Kenny. No way am I going to get into whether the Dalglish decision was right or wrong, but here we stand.

I'm no Royhendo so I'm not going to try to put my more complicated thoughts down at the moment but a read of the quotes in the following articles will lead most open-minded people to the conclusion that we might just be looking at exactly the manager we need.

He could be here in 15 or more years and we could be looking back then - or in 5 years or so - as this being a fantastic turning point. We will identify Kenny as having started it anyway, so it won't matter about the pain we feel now.

All this 'proven track record at the highest level stuff' is rubbish - at least it can be if you find a golden nugget.

Clemence and Keegan from Scunthorpe. Shankly from Huddersfield (where they'd just been relegated yet he didn't manage to get them anywhere near promotion). There are many examples.

I quoted this Bill Shankly quotation last week but here it is again:

"My career as a manager took me to Carlisle, Grimsby, Workington and Huddersfield, but during my time with those clubs I never felt that Matt Busby or Stan Cullis, at Wolves, were better managers than me. Not for one minute. I don't mean to brag or boast. Matt and Stan are brilliant men but I knew I had a system of playing and a system of training and I was clever enough to go on with it. I also knew how to deal with people.

What do you think about getting a diamond young manager in - specifically Brendan Rodgers?

The Liverpool Way - Brendan Rodgers, Why He Makes Sense as The Next Liverpool Manager - By Dave Hendrick

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If reports are to be believed Liverpool’s search for a new manager has been narrowed down to two likely candidates, Roberto Martinez of Wigan and Brendan Rodgers of Swansea. Karl Matchett had a look at how Martinez and his lauded 3-4-3 formation might fit at Liverpool the other day. While the support for the Martinez appointment has grown over the last week or so, my belief is that Rodgers is the better fit for Liverpool.

The key to my belief is the structure that FSG appear to be putting in place with a Sporting Director and a Technical Director to be appointed along with Manager who’s more likely to be a Head Coach than the traditional English style Manager. Martinez is believed to be demanding control over the footballing side of the club, which is something that in my opinion he’s not ready for. Not at a club like Liverpool. I don’t believe Rodgers is ready to have full control over the footballing side of the club either, but my thinking is that he may be ready to have control of the team and I don’t think he would be as demanding as Martinez because I think he’d be far more comfortable in a coaching role than the Spaniard who has no real coaching experience and has always been given free reign at the clubs he’s managed. Rodgers as worked in a variety of positions at the clubs he’s been at, so a Head Coach position, where he handles mainly the training, tactics and team selection, while be just part of the decision making process on things like transfers, might be more to his liking than Martinez’.

It has been said that the method and structure Liverpool are planning to adopt is that which clubs like Lyon, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Juventus and others have been using for years. It’s a set-up where the traditional manager’s role is split up among three or four people with the premise being that many great minds working together can make for great ideas and great decisions. With the Sporting Director and the Technical Director being in place to not only share the workload but also to act as sounding boards for the Head Coach and support him in whatever ways he requires.

I thought I’d take a look at the different factors which have led me to believe that Rodgers is the better fit for the Liverpool job from the apparent two remaining candidates.

Coaching Background

With the role being largely centred around the coaching aspect, Rodgers truly stands out from the crowd. Having retired from football at the age of 20 due to a combination of injury and not believing he was ever going to be good enough to play at the highest level, Rodgers began coaching at Reading. He began by coaching at the youth level and worked his way into the job as youth team manager. He served the club in this role for almost nine years whilst also being involved in the coaching of the first team, and the reserve team as he continued his coaching education. During his time at Reading he also spent significant time travelling around Spain picking up ideas and philosophies which would help shape the type of manager he became. He spent quite a bit of time at Barcelona, where he took note of the clubs philosophy of football. He also traveled to Holland and spent time at Ajax which gives you an indication of the type of football he wants his teams to play.

He was plucked from Reading and brought to Chelsea by Jose Mourinho who was clearly impressed with Rodgers and his work at Reading as he made him his first external appointment after taking over at Chelsea. Rodgers has said the following about making the move to Chelsea,

“Jose played 4-3-3, or a 4-4-2 diamond, and he wanted a coach to implement his methodology. As you can imagine I was nervous meeting him, a guy I’d read a book about. But he was brilliant, and made me his first external appointment. He took me under his wing a wee bit, maybe because he saw something different in me, or maybe there was a bit of empathy because, like him, I hadn’t had the big playing career. Anyway, that started one of the best times of my life. Jose had learnt from his mentor, Louis van Gaal, and I learnt from him, that there must never be a lazy day in training, and that preparation is vital.”

Mourinho’s influence on Rodgers is a huge factor in my thinking, Mourinho methods on the training ground are widely praised and Rodgers is believed to have gleaned quite a lot from them and implemented them in his own regimes.

When Rodgers moved into management at Watford in 2008, he had fifteen years as a coach, youth team manager and reserve team manager under his belt. That’s a rarity in football, even moreso in someone who was only 35 years old at the time.

Man-Management

Another aspect of Rodgers make-up for which he has received significant grounding from Jose Mourinho is the man-management side of things. Mourinho is widely regarded as one of the best man-managers in world football. He makes a connection with his players that few others can even dream of. Rodgers has made a similar connection with his players at Swansea who are all fiercely loyal to him. An example of that is the young Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson who seems set to turn his back on moves to bigger clubs to make the permanent move to Swansea, as long as Rodgers is still at the club. Rodgers strikes the right balance between being the players friend, and being their boss. It’s a difficult balance to get right but Rodgers seems to have managed it at Swansea.

A key aspect in man-management is getting the players to buy into a philosophy and at Swansea the players have done just that with Rodgers. Swansea’s players have embraced his ideas and teachings, and the results speak for themselves. Players who, before being managed by Rodgers, had often been seen as being slightly lazy – Scott Sinclair to name one, Danny Graham to name another, are now totally committed to working hard for the good of the team every time they set foot on the pitch. The work rate of Swansea’s midfield and attack is truly exceptional and is often overlooked due to their attractive style of play.

Philosophy

When Kenny Dalglish returned to Liverpool as manager one of the things that fans were most excited about was the idea that the pass and move style of football that was such a big part of the success in the past would return to the club. Rodgers is the sort of manager who plays the type of football that Liverpool fans love to watch. His team play a fantastic style of football based on making the ball do the work when you have it which allows you to have more energy to get it back when you don’t have it.

Rodgers is on a crusade to rid the world of long ball football. He believes that if you keep the ball, and pass it well, you win football matches. Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Guardian earlier this month which is well worth reading.

”I like teams to control and dominate the ball, so the players are hungry for the ball,” Rodgers says. “You’ll see in some of our exercises this morning, a lot of our work is around the transition and getting the ball back very quickly. Because I believe if you give a bad player time, he can play. If you give a good player time, he can kill you. So our emphasis is based around our positioning both with and without the ball. And for us, when we press well, we pass well.”

Winning the ball back quickly and high up the pitch was a key feature of Barcelona’s approach under Pep Guardiola and, as Rodgers explains, is much more sophisticated than it may appear. “You cannot go on your own,” he says. “You work on zonal pressure, so that when it is in your zone, you have the capacity to press. That ability to press immediately, within five or six seconds to get the ball, is important. But you also have to understand when you can’t and what the triggers are then to go for it again because you can’t run about like a madman.

“It’s decision-making and intelligence. And this was always the thing with the British player, they were always deemed never to be intelligent, not to have good decision-making skills but could fight like hell for the ball. I believe they have all of the [attributes] and, if you can structure that, then you can have real, effective results.”

That’s very much the same idea that the Liverpool teams which dominated played under. It’s something that Liverpool fans can relate to.

Rodgers team sets up as a 4-2-3-1 when they don’t have the ball, but when they are in possession they take more of  3-4-3 formation with the fullbacks pushing forward, the central defenders moving ten yards in either direction, Leon Britton dropping back between them, Joe Allen and Sigurdsson as dual attacking midfielders, and Nathan Dyer and Scott Sinclair pushing forward either side of Danny Graham. That 3-4-3 variation is something that Rodgers has been doing at Swansea for two years without people falling over themselves to credit him, instead preferring to credit Roberto Martinez for apparently re-inventing the wheel by taking on a 3-4-3 in desperate times at Wigan.

Rodgers style of football is one that works very well and translates well to all levels. While Arsene Wenger amongst others have made note of Swansea “not being brave” and often “not doing much with the ball”. that’s quite short-sighted and ignores the fact that for the most part, that Swansea team was made up of players who had never played in the Premier League before, yet managed to outplay many of the best teams in the country, and finish comfortably in mid-table without ever looking likely to become entrenched in a relation battle. With a higher calibre of players, Rodgers style of play would be more effective and more difficult to contain.

Against teams that “park the bus”, rather than try to bludgeon them into submission as Liverpool attempted to do last season and in previous seasons, it’s a more measured approach aimed at creating chances rather than forcing chances. One of Liverpool’s big problems last season was that while they had huge amounts of shots on goal, a lot of them were not clear chances. Luis Suarez, for example, was often guilty of trying to do too much because his team-mates weren’t  able to create clear chances for him. With Rodgers more patient style of build up, and his creative style of passing football, that should not be an issue.

Against the higher calibre of teams, Rodgers’ style of play is suffocating. He likes to starve the opposition of the ball, and then force them into mistakes when they do have the ball. That high pressing style is something Rafa Benitez was noted for during his time at Valencia and Liverpool but his sides were never as good at keeping possession as Swansea are.  Rodgers believes in tactical discipline, mixed with creative attacking play. It’s the perfect blend when correctly put into practice.

Preparation

In my opinion, one of the reasons Liverpool struggled last season was a lack of preparation for matches against teams outside the top four. Far too often it just seemed that Liverpool went into matches with the mindset that they should just be walking through their opponents because “We are Liverpool, and they’re not”. In the matches against United, City and Chelsea, Liverpool came out with clever tactics and a set gameplan. In matches against the likes of Swansea, Sunderland and others, they did not. And it cost them.

Rodgers is noted for his meticulous preparation for both training and each individual matches. This again is something he learned working under Mourinho, but a lot of what he learned came from a certain Andre Villas-Boas who, depending on who you believe, is either in the running for the job or has been ruled out/ruled himself out. Rodgers helped Villas-Boas in the scouting of future Chelsea opponents and preparing reports for Mourinho who would then adjust his tactics accordingly. Rodgers operates in a similar way, having his assistants prepare reports as per his instructions and then tailoring tactics and training accordingly.

He also puts a large amount of time and effort into preparing his training program in order to make sure players don’t go stale by doing the same things day after day. His players look forward to going to training because he puts in that time and effort and makes sure they while they work hard and are constantly learning and improving, they’re also having fun.

Existing Relationship With Van Gaal

Rodgers learned his craft as a manager under Jose Mourinho after getting a solid basis through his experience as a coach. But Mourinho alone is not the only man who’s shaped the mind and helped him develop. When Rodgers was beginning his career as a coach he spent a lot of time at Barcelona studying how they did things. The Barca manager at the time was one Louis Van Gaal who is widely regarded as one of the best teachers of potential managers in the world. His star pupil is Jose Mourinho, to whom he served as a mentor for many years but Frank DeBoer, Frank Rijkaard and a number of others have also turned to Van Gaal for advice.

With Van Gaal looking likely to arrive as Sporting Director, having that existing relationship in place could be of huge benefit. Van Gaal would not be the only person at the club that Rodgers already has an existing relationship with. He worked very closely with Steve Clarke during their time together at Chelsea and that could be highly beneficial if Clarke is retained as assistant manager. Clarke is someone Rodgers knows and trusts and having Clarke at the club might help put his mind at ease if he does have any doubts about not bringing his entire backroom team with him from Swansea.

Ambition, Dedication, Determination

These are three things you want to see in any up and coming you manager and Rodgers displays them all. His ambition is to manage at the highest level of the game, he’s stated that openly in the past. This is generally the aim of every manager but Rodgers has gone about it the right way. He got his experience as a coach at a good club in Reading, travelled and learned the methods of others managers and coaches in other countries, spent his time learning Spanish, and now Italian in order to not only be able to go and manage in Spain or Italy at some point, but also to be able to speak with Italian or Spanish-speaking players at any club he went to. He went and worked under one of the best managers in the world and used the opportunity to learn as much as possible. All of this shows the type of dedication he has towards achieving his ambition. As does his hard work throughout his coaching and managerial career. Rodgers has his footballing principles and won’t change them. It would have been easy for Swansea to come into the Premier League and play an ugly brand of football and fight their way through a relegation dogfight, Rodgers never even entertained the idea. That, to me, shows a man determined to do things his way, using his philosophies and his tactics. That’s admirable.

A Risk That Others Have Taken

Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund in 2008, Rafa Benitez at Valencia in 2001. Two managers who had not had what you might call “stand out” careers prior to getting those jobs. Two men who before they got those jobs were never mentioned in discussions about being among the best managers in world football. Klopp is many people’s favourite choice to be the next Liverpool manager, but that looks highly unlikely. Benitez, of course, would leave Valencia in 2004 to join Liverpool and write himself into Anfield lore by winning the Champions League in his first season. There are many people who want Benitez back at the club but he’s not in FSG’s thinking for one reason or another.

The point about the two managers I’ve just mentioned was made to me on Twitter during the last week or so and initially my thinking was that Liverpool are a bigger club than both Dortmund or Valencia and therefore it was less of a risk those clubs to appoint Klopp and Benitez than it would be for us to appoint someone like Rodgers. As I’ve already said, I don’t believe Rodgers is ready to manage a club like Liverpool, but having given it a lot of though I’ve realized that we’re not looking for someone to manage the club, we’re looking for someone to manage the team. That’s what this structure gives us. It separates the team from the overall club and the man who takes over as Manager/Head Coach is being asked to take care of the team.

Van Gaal, one of the most respected and successful managers in the world, is likely going to be the man who takes over the running of the club.  He will likely be aided by Pep Segura and Rodolfo Borrell. Having those three men in place would allow the Head Coach to focus solely on the team. I believe Rodgers is ready to manage Liverpool as a team. Whilst, as a club, Liverpool remain amongst the worlds biggest, as a team they are currently nothing more than a mid table team fighting to get back amongst those challenging for the title. While you can excuses for why Liverpool finished 8th last season, the fact remains that in the last three seasons Liverpool have finished 7th, 6th and 8th. That’s mid-table. Rodgers is more than ready to manage a mid-table team.

Kristian Walsh made the point on the Redmen TV season review that when Liverpool are targeting players they should be looking to get them before they become stars. He used the examples of Falcao and Alexis Sanchez, rather than buying players like them from Porto or Udinese, Liverpool should be looking to buy them from River Plate or Cobreloa. Porto made a profit of about £30million on Falcao, whilst Udinese made a similar profit on Sanchez. Liverpool could therefore save themselves that sort of money by buying those players directly from South America and developing them in-house. It’s a great point and one that could also be put towards the Head Coaching role in this circumstance. Rather than getting Benitez or Klopp from Valencia or Dortmund, get them from Tenerife or Mainz. To translate, get Rodgers from Swansea before he goes elsewhere and becomes more of a known quantity. Get him now and allow him to become a great manager at Liverpool, rather than letting someone else get him and then trying to get him at a later date where bigger compensation, large wages and more competition for his signature would all be a factor.

With Van Gaal at the club to act as a guiding hand, Rodgers could thrive, learn and develop into something very special. With the structure that’s going to be in place, the internal pressure on him will be lessened and he can focus on the team and getting the best from them.

I don’t know for certain if Brendan Rodgers is one of FSG’s two or three favourites for the job, nobody knows for certain who’s on that list of what jobs people are actually being interviewed for. But if Rodgers is a candidate for the Head Coaches job, I can see why and I hope that after reading this article, you can see some logic in it as well. My own personal preference would be Villas-Boas, but I think Rodgers is the next best thing with the potential to be just as good.

http://www.theliverpoolword.com/2012/05/brendan-rodgers-why-he-makes-sense-as-the-next-liverpool-manager/

The Anfield Wrap - "For those of you watching on telly, Liverpool are the ones with the ball" - By our very own, wonderful RoyHendo

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

AND so it would appear (time of writing 2.15pm, Wed 30th May 2012) that Brendan ‘Brendan Rodgers’ Rodgers will be the new manager of Liverpool Football Club. Jorge Valdano will be pleased.

“I remember a wonderful banner in the Liverpool stands from the days when TV was in black and white – it read: ‘For those of you watching on telly, Liverpool are the ones with the ball’. I used to support Liverpool just for that.

Brendan Rodgers likes the ball. And he likes control.

This is a good appointment, and having experienced something akin to mourning but a couple of weeks ago upon hearing the news of Kenny’s sacking, I’m happy to admit that, having thought things through, the club have gone with the bloke I wanted. Whether it’s through considered analysis and design is another matter… but even if they’ve stumbled on this solution, I think it’s the right one.

I use the word ‘solution’, because only a few weeks back I gave my views on what Liverpool’s problem was. I had hoped the club would back him to fix it himself, of course, but it wasn’t to be (and it may well be we lost something significant in the process – time will tell). The problem, to paraphrase it as I saw it, was that we lacked control. Its symptoms were as follows.

1. tactical incoherence.
2. poor decision making with the ball.
3. players somehow forgetting how to finish.

The way to fix it? Well, it’s self-indulgent, but it illustrates my point, so here goes – a wee quote from myself in my last post on the subject.

Establish that tactical coherence, and the whole side gets a little calmer. When the whole side’s a little calmer, the decision making tends to get a little better. When you’re more controlled and dominant, and you’re less worried what will happen if you lose the ball in transition, you tend to make better choices. And when you’re making better choices, and those choices are happening within a coherent and balanced tactical framework, your game gets that little bit more ruthless. And we just need to be that crucial little bit more ruthless.

As I saw it, there were two routes to that tactical coherence. Either you bought or blooded another player like Lucas, or you changed the system to introduce what losing him deprived you of.

Well, Rodgers is the man when it comes to control. And he’s fresh from demonstrating his ability to exert it even with a squad full of supposedly ‘limited’ players. Without the ball, his Swansea side has shown energy and aggression, tactical and positional savvy (both individually and collectively), and admirable balance. They’re well drilled off the ball, and not in a passive way – the approach we came to loathe under Hodgson.

Meanwhile, Rodgers loves the ball. He’s greedy for it, and he wants his sides to monopolise its possession. That’s Liverpool football – the kind Valdano fell for all those years ago.

People criticise his football, saying his side lacked penetration in the final third; but the capacity to hurt sides increases with quality and integration – the squad – all squads at all levels – need to learn how to play what is the most ambitious mode of football a coach can try to implement, particularly when resources are limited. Play this brand of controlling football with a defensive unit that’s already arguably the best in its division, and with attacking resouces that, let’s face it, dwarf those Swansea had at their disposal… well, we’ll see, won’t we?

I’m quietly excited by the appointment. I just hope the structure being put in place enables the kind of approach to the game I personally yearn for at the club, as discussed in the following articles (again, self-indulgent, but it’s a drum I’ve been banging for a very long time).

http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/04/the-only-true-moneyball-strategy-available/
http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/03/stupid-football/
http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2011/08/were-not-spanish-we-are-scouse/

Good luck Brendan.

http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/05/for-those-of-you-watching-on-telly-liverpool-are-the-ones-with-the-ball/

The Liverpool Way - Brendan Rodgers: What Will he Bring to Liverpool and Which Players Could Lose Out? - By Karl Matchett

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Liverpool’s managerial search may be over by the end of this week after reports throughout the English media put Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers at the top of the pile.

It is by no means the only major senior management position that will have a new face for Liverpool next summer, as they have also yet to appoint a new Director of Football, while the Director of Communications and Chief Commercial Officer have already been put in place.

All in all it is a summer of major change for Liverpool Football Club, one which will go on to shape the immediate and mid-term future of the club under Fenway Sports Group and, ultimately, prove whether Tom Werner and John W. Henry were right or wrong to sack club legend Kenny Dalglish.

While the fans—and the owners themselves—will undoubtedly be relieved once the management issues are finally settled once and for all, it will be the playing staff who are left with the most pressing concerns: adapt and impress the new man, or ship out and find a new club.

During the season just past, Swansea City fielded a fluid system in the final third, a solid and hard-working defensive shape when not in possession, and the top-notch attitude to press immediately and high up the pitch to win back the ball and maintain possession for long spells.

No matter what the occasion or opposition, Swansea had their way of playing and, whether in control of a game or chasing, they played to their strengths and trusted that it would be enough to win them matches and points in the Premier League.

12 victories, 47 points and an 11th place finish in their debut season in the top flight says that they got it spot on.

Their ball retention and recycling of possession was a constant feature of theirs throughout the season, one which Rodgers worked long and hard to instil in his players.

Leon Britton was the epitome of Swansea’s core functions during the 2011-12 season. He racked up an impressive 2,258 passes in league games altogether—and completed an astonishing 93% of them.

And by no means was this pointless, cyclical passing; a third of all Britton’s passes went forwards, while another third travelled towards the right flank. He was Swansea’s pass-master, the move-starter, the player always available for relieving pressure when opposition players closed down those in white and the man quick to distribute with a simple yet often effective pass.

This one position alone offers a tantalising insight into what Brendan Rodgers asks—no, demands from his players.

Play football.

As a team, Swansea attempted a massive 20,791 passes in the league, completing 17,811 of them; equal to an 86% completion rate.

To truly get an appreciation of that feat, see how that fares against other teams in the league. The two north London sides, Arsenal and Tottenham, are widely credited in the mainstream media with playing “the right kind of football”; easy on the eye, swift exchanges of passes and good build-up, ultimately leading to goalscoring opportunities.

In 2011-12 Arsenal made 200 passes fewer than Swansea did, and completed a lower pass percentage rate (85%). Spurs made around 19,500 passes, again with an 85% success rate.

By way of comparison, Liverpool attempted 18,794 and completed only just over 15,000; giving a success rate of 81%.

While more of the Reds’ passes went forward overall (46% to Swansea’s 40%), the Reds were unable to be as effective with the ball, completing a lower percentage of passes than Swansea in both halves of the pitch. In the opposition’s half, Liverpool completed 69%, Swansea 75%.

The immediate message is clear.

Liverpool’s players next season, (all but surely) under Brendan Rodgers, will need to be far more efficient and effective in their ball retention if they are to remain in the side.

Lucas Leiva, assuming his recovery from injury is both timely and without serious long-term repercussions on his form, is almost assured of a continued role.

He ably anchors the midfield and has exemplary passing, and will fill the “Leon Britton” position superbly. In a defensive sense, he will almost certainly fare better. Positionally, there are few who excel more than Lucas and his knack of intercepting opposition attacks and willingness to make key tackles are of huge importance to the side. Where Liverpool do need to improve in this role of course is in his replacement, for should he fall injured again.

Jay Spearing is not, and will never be, a defensive midfielder.

Further forward, Jordan Henderson should be safe to continue in the central role he ended the season in, though he may find his playing time reduced if his form does not improve rapidly.

Charlie Adam is another matter.

The Scot, brought in as a creative midfielder, simply must improve his ball retention to be a feature of any Liverpool side under Rodgers. With an 80% pass completion rate his is not poor by any means, but neither is it reliable enough to count on in a system where so much emphasis is placed on keeping the ball until the opportune moment arises.

Rodgers has played both a 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 with Swansea, depending on the type of attacking midfielders available to him.

Needless to say the mid-season arrival of Gylfi Sigurdsson made the decision of which one to stick with an easy one, with the Icelandic playmaker effortlessly slotting into the central role behind lone forward Danny Graham.

Speaking of which, aside from his goal return, it was the forward’s impressive work-rate and selflessness, making runs off the ball, closing down defenders and working the channels, which made him a success for Swansea.

Signed for just £3 million from Watford, Graham lent his own skill-set to the team, and benefited himself many times over as a result.

Can Andy Carroll do the same? He has the physical attributes to make himself a first choice forward, at the end of last season showed that he has the technical ones—but now needs to show he has the mental edge to make himself improve further, and indeed to utterly refuse to let any defender best him.

Tactically and technically Carroll still needs work, but it is the mind-set which needs most work. Carroll needs to see that he is required to always work hard for the team and always play well to win.

If Rodgers can coax that out of him, he may well have one of the league’s better forwards on his hands. If Carroll on the other hand does not give Rodgers—or any other incoming boss—the conviction and belief in him that he will improve and learn a new way to play, then Liverpool will merely have another expensive mistake.

With Maxi Rodriguez certain to leave and Dirk Kuyt showing every sign of following the Argentine out the Anfield exit door, the flanks are where Liverpool might—yet again—need the most new faces.

Rodgers favours skilful, pacey, creative wide men; not necessarily wingers but attackers who can both get into dangerous areas in the final third and be defensively aware and responsible—yes, Stewart Downing, we’re talking to you—when not in possession.

At Swansea Rodgers has Scott Sinclair, Wayne Routlege and Nathan Dyer, at Reading he had Jobi McAnuff, Jay Tabb and Jimmy Kebe. All shared the important asset of pace, while all also—at their respective levels—offer something a little bit different, whether the trickery of Tabb, the natural width given by Kebe or the self-confidence and goal threat of Sinclair.

Liverpool have badly needed that for some seasons, and Rodgers will be expected to remedy that area of the team in particular.

Success is relative, and will no doubt require patience to achieve with all the turnarounds at Anfield this year, but one thing is for sure: exciting times lay ahead for Liverpool.

It’s up to the players to show they deserve to be a part of it.

http://www.theliverpoolword.com/2012/05/brendan-rodgers-bring-liverpool-which-players-lose-out/

TomkinsTimes - Brendan Rodgers is Boss - Paul Tomkins

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So, it seems that Brendan Rodgers will be the next Liverpool boss.

Like many, I was sceptical about Rodgers and the overhyping of Swansea last season. Teams get promoted, do well for half a season, then fall away. But Rodgers is different. His team completed 10,500 more passes than Stoke, and finished above the best long-ball merchants around. Unlike other promoted sides, like Hull and Blackpool, Swansea never fell away after a good five months. They finished 10th, which in the modern age, is remarkable for a low-budget side fresh from the Championship.

They managed to keep 13 clean sheets (on top of 23 last season), and did so with a goalkeeper considered by the manager to be the 11th outfield player. They kept 13 Premier League clean sheets despite passing from the back; none of that percentage nonsense.



Rodgers is fairly unique because he went to Spain and Holland to study football. This is not something many Brits ever do. From a young age he hated the way football was played in Britain, and sought to emulate the Spaniards.

Roy Hodgson was seen as different as he too went abroad, but mostly to Sweden, Denmark and Norway. And rather than going abroad to learn their ways to bring back something better, he was exporting the British model. So in the end, he just brought that back with him.

Contrast these statements from Rodgers with what we saw under Hodgson:
At first I was concerned that John Henry, who’d spent the week leading up to Swansea visiting Anfield last October in and around Melwood, was swayed by what he saw; he was clearly impressed by Liverpool’s preparations, and yet Swansea played the game in the way Liverpool had intended – but were just unable to. Swansea controlled the game. However, the more I learn about Rodgers, the more I’m convinced that his relative Swansea success is no fluke, and that he was not given the job on that basis.

Presumably, reading between the lines, Steve Clarke stayed on in Boston after Dalglish’s dismissal to discuss Rodgers, the man he’d worked with at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho.

More than the incredible passing stats, it is Rodgers’ strict adherence to high, hard-pressing that I find most encouraging. Liverpool kept the ball well themselves last season, but there was a deep defensive line and no aggression to the pressing. Rodgers speaks very highly of Clarke, but the Scottish coach will need to refine his approach under the Ulsterman.

One major tactical problem Liverpool had was defending too deep for Pepe Reina; he could no longer sweep up, and it made it harder for him to command his box (because the deeper the defence was, the closer to goal big strikers could be, and Reina isn’t the tallest). Rodgers has been happy to use smaller, footballing goalkeepers. Reina should be excited. He should have more space to play in. Rodgers has been doing it this way for almost a decade:

Rodgers may have learned many things from Jose Mourinho – the ability to keep players on their toes but also on side, and the need for relentless hard work in training – but his teams aim to press and pass more like Barcelona. All of this suggests that his approach is entirely up-scalable.
In the Championship, Swansea made their way out of a division where, received wisdom tells us, playing football is tough.
While I’d have loved to see Benitez get the job, Rodgers is reminiscent of Rafa at the stage when he joined Valencia: no big-club success, with the major achievement no more than promotion to the top flight; but future success determined by a desire to learn from the best, with a willingness to travel and study. Instead of RB, we got BR. (Indeed, Rafa brought Valencia to Anfield and controlled a game, just like Rodgers did with Swansea.)

As well as examining Barcelona, Rodgers went to study Valencia (although before Rafa’s time), and he speaks Spanish – again, also pretty rare for the modern British manager, and handy given all the Spanish-speakers at Liverpool.

While I have always hated the notion of unproven British managers getting the biggest jobs based on overachieving in relative backwaters – the way the press touted Curbishley, Hughes, Hodgson and Bruce – I do think that Rodgers (like Martinez) has taken a unique and thrilling approach to small-club management.

Both of these managers had to endure firestorms of criticism for having their centre-backs pass, pass, pass; by contrast, Hodgson even wanted Daniel Agger – the best technical centre-back in England – to “get fucking rid”, and omitted ball-playing Rio Ferdinand from his England squad.

Hodgson was recently overheard in England training sessions encouraging defenders to hit long balls. Where Rodgers and Martinez personally accepted the risks of playing from the back with mediocre players if things went wrong, in the knowledge that it’s the best way to succeed long-term, Hodgson is less keen to risk it, even with the elite. That, I feel, is the big difference. Hodgson’s style has a glass ceiling (although he may muddle through four or five games in the Euros); Rodgers’ and Martinez’s do not. The fact that both these managers were in the frame shows that FSG were looking for a specific type of manager.

If you can get a promoted side to make more passes than anyone but the eventual champions, you’re doing something right. If you do it without even having a god-damned training ground, having to rely on a local sports centre where the public mingle, you have worked some kind of minor miracle.

It’s a risk, of course, but Rodgers is the kind of manager FSG were always after; fresh ideas, cutting edge, analytical approach, able to man-manage (but not coddle) players, and with the scope to grow and develop.

My fear with Rodgers had been how the style of possession football he used at would fare, given that much of it was held in deep areas, designed to draw out the opposition, and also used as a kind of defence (in that your opponents need the ball to score, and that the easiest place to keep the ball is in deep areas).

For Liverpool, keeping possession in deep areas leads to the opposition saying “well, you have it then”. But  Barcelona, whose style Rodgers has closely studied, have far better players, and that allows them to move their way up the field with the ball; right now, Liverpool are somewhere in between, with much better players than Swansea, but nowhere near the standard of Barca’s.

Results somewhere between Swansea’s control and Barcelona’s devastating über-possession would presumably be possible.

We don’t know if he can handle the extra pressure, but he seems well grounded and balanced, and has experience of a club expected to challenge for major honours, and dealing with star names, during his time at Chelsea. His judgement in buying players will be questioned with bigger cheques to write, but the idea, as I understood it, was that the there’d be others to help with that side of things, as a technical management team was put in place. A lot may depend on how good those other people prove to be, but Rodgers has the potential to succeed.

http://tomkinstimes.com/2012/05/brendan-rodgers-is-boss/

Telegraph - Brendan Rodgers' playing philosophy could be a success if he transfers it from the Liberty Stadium to Liverpool

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Brendan Rodgers’ ideas about football were formed when he was a youth player with Northern Ireland, a small, creative midfielder watching helplessly as the ball hurtled back over his head the few times his team managed to wrestle it away from the Dutch, French and Spanish opposition.

In the simplest terms, Rodgers wants his team to get hold of the ball as quickly as possible and then keep it. I spent a couple of hours in his office at the Liberty Stadium last season when he talked me through the logic behind his tactics, derived from various sources but especially inflected with the Barcelona way.

One of the key points he made is that your initial formation — say 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 — matters less than what that translates to on the pitch. When going forward, the best way to move the ball up the field is to create angles of diagonal pass. If you have two banks of four across defence and midfield there are no diagonal passes on. The system needs to be more fluid.

So Rodgers seeks to create as many ‘lines’ across the field as possible. In his system you have a minimum of seven lines. He wants his goalkeeper to be part of the play, then the centre backs, then what he calls the ‘controller’ (a deep-lying playmaker), then the full-backs pushed on, the two attacking midfielders, the wingers and then the centre-forward. That allows you to draw seven horizontal lines across the pitch.

Through coaching, Rodgers ensures that every player knows his place in this system. When a player receives the ball he should always have at least two options for an ‘out’ pass. He gives the players confidence to make those passes by taking the blame on himself when it does not come off.

When the ball is lost, his players seek to win it back quickly by pressing high up the field. This means reacting as a unit and nobody shirking their duty. Winning the ball back quickly creates openings in a disorganised opponent, especially when it happens near their goal. The team as a whole need to know when to press like this, and hold a high line, and when to drop deep and absorb the opponents’ efforts to break them down.

How will this work at Liverpool? In Pepe Reina, Rodgers has the ideal goalkeeper for this system, coached to play as part of the team in the Barcelona academy. Daniel Agger is the kind of ball-playing centre-back Rodgers likes but he made need to recruit a specialist ‘controller’ to do the selfless job Leon Britton did for him at Swansea.

One of the main issues will be how Steven Gerrard can adapt. Is he capable of subjugating himself to a role in a disciplined tactical system at the expense of playing by instinct?

Andy Carroll must also show himself capable of playing in a system in which he will be required to build the play more than he has done in the past. Physical strength is secondary to tactical acuity and technical ability for Rodgers.

There are plenty of technically-adept players in the Liverpool team who will thrive on Rodgers’ emphasis on possession when attacking. The thornier issue is with Rodgers’ defensive system, in which you are only as strong as your weakest link.

If a player does not press off the ball, the whole approach unravels. That is why Barcelona are such an important example — even Lionel Messi closes down and harries.

Selling this to Swansea players was not easy. Selling it to Liverpool players, with big contracts and big egos, will be even harder.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/9301301/Brendan-Rodgers-playing-philosophy-could-be-a-success-if-he-transfers-it-from-the-Liberty-Stadium-to-Liverpool.html

[Garstonite]

Videos

Brendan Rodgers' Spanish Adventure

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/o-7e4RtB61E?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/o-7e4RtB61E?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

On MOTD3

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/gLFQODf8SpE?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/gLFQODf8SpE?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

Mourinho raves about Brendan Rodgers

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/G82uXVaplu0?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/G82uXVaplu0?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

PlayBall Street Striker Brendan Rodgers

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MBw67Th71S4?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/MBw67Th71S4?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

Brendan Rodgers Interview

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/RBeQnnv8J5Q?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/RBeQnnv8J5Q?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

Swansea City FC - Match Analysis

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/9_1Dx3wgCP8" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/9_1Dx3wgCP8</a>

Brendan Rodgers Meets The Press - LFCTV (1/2)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/5lfYbVJN3x8&amp;feature=g-u-u" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/5lfYbVJN3x8&amp;feature=g-u-u</a>

Rodgers: Title bid begins today (2/2)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/zwgh-VILDxs&amp;feature=g-u-u" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/zwgh-VILDxs&amp;feature=g-u-u</a>

Rodgers at Melwood

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/gnfbFsgOjn4" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/gnfbFsgOjn4</a>

[The Bill Hicks Appreciation Society]

Might want to throw this in here too

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/9_1Dx3wgCP8" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/9_1Dx3wgCP8</a>

[Garstonite]

Noteworthy RAWK links:

Kenny (to) Rodgers: the Gambler - hinesy (31/05/12)
Brendan Rodgers and the New Breed of Fan - Garstonette (31/05/12
Brendan Rodgers Named Liverpool Boss - Hazell (01/06/12)
Rodgers: The meeting of philosophies - A Buick 6 (01/06/12)
Bridging the Gap to a Structured Playmaking Style - royhendo (01/06/12)
From Roy to Rodgers: Pulling The Trigger - hinesy (02/06/12)

[Garstonite]

Scans from everybody's favourite Oldham-based newspaper

[Garstonite]

Audio Content.

His interview with forums/bloggers in early September 2012 (post-Arsenal home).
http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/09/interview-brendan-rodgers-talks-to-taw/

(Direct link: http://traffic.libsyn.com/theanfieldwrap/INTERVIEW_-_RODGERS_TALKS_TO_TAW.m4a )

[Garstonite]

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[Garstonite]

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[Garstonite]

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[Garstonite]

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[Garstonite]

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[Garstonite]

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[royhendo]

bump - the point isn't to hail the bloke - it's just for those interested in his approach - a case study if you like. So please lay off with the 'isn't this a bit premature' type comments and accept the thread for what it is - an archive.

[royhendo]

PS - massive thanks to Garstonite for compiling it.

[Garstonite]

Cheers Roy.

Spoilers work for me on Firefox but not IE. Not sure why, but there you go.

For anyone confused (probably those on Internet Explorer) - each of the bold titles are meant to have an article beneath them!

[yorkykopite]

Thanks Garstonite. Terrific thread.

[♠Dirty Harry♠]

Cheers Roy.

Spoilers work for me on Firefox but not IE. Not sure why, but there you go.

For anyone confused (probably those on Internet Explorer) - each of the bold titles are meant to have an article beneath them!

I think anyone using IE is slightly confused in some way or another so wouldn't worry about them too much.

Cheers for the effort Garstonite

[۩ Maximus ۩]

It's basically all in here: http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=294162

[John C]

Can't wait for the winning headlines with in-depth discussions about how we finally outplayed Spurs, never mind Arsenal again 

[Jeeps]

Brendan Rodgers has saved Liverpool a six-figure agent’s fee on his Anfield contract by using the League Managers’ Association to negotiate his deal.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2155615/Brendan-Rodgers-saved-Liverpool-money--Charles-Sale.html#ixzz1x4bx8VAY

Well done that.

[lucas65]

Brendan Rodgers has saved Liverpool a six-figure agent’s fee on his Anfield contract by using the League Managers’ Association to negotiate his deal.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2155615/Brendan-Rodgers-saved-Liverpool-money--Charles-Sale.html#ixzz1x4bx8VAY

Well done that.

Well done Brendan. It all goes into the pot.
I hope he is a big success 

[David H]

good post mate, thanks

[MikaelLFC]

Brendan's letter to Swansea



"This is a letter I'd hoped I would not have to write for a long time, and only ever in the event of a unique opportunity.

"The chance to manage one of the world's great footballing institutions doesn't come around very often in a manager's life and, after two approaches, I have decided to take up the professional challenge.

"Before doing so I wanted to leave you my wholehearted thanks and gratitude for a truly memorable period of my life.

"My story at Swansea City began nearly two years ago and my mission above anything else was very clear: to inspire the city.

"My aim for a legacy was simply to have made Swansea City Football Club an attacking and creative team who were enjoyable to watch, and to make the people of Swansea proud of their great club, city and nation.

"In the years ahead, you, the most important people at the club, will decide if I achieved those dreams, but the journey for me has been one I will never forget.

"We created history together to become the first Welsh club in the Premier League, and defied all the odds at the same time, and there is no doubt the club will continue to flourish in the coming years.

"I have made many friends and I want to thank them all for the support my family and I have received. I want to thank the board of Swansea City for their belief and support and in particular the chairman, Huw Jenkins.

"Our working and personal relationship has become strong over the last two years and I'm sad to be leaving such a good man and friend, but I'm also happy knowing that the future of Swansea City couldn't be in better hands.

"The Supporters' Trust have really opened my eyes to how a successful club can function and I have no doubts your great work will be replicated throughout football in the coming years.

"On behalf of my wife and daughter, I want to say a special thank you to the teachers and pupils at St Michael's School in Llanelli for everything they have done to make her time at school so enjoyable and rewarding.

"I want to thank the media in Wales for the respectful way they have gone about their job and in particular to the South Wales Evening Post, who have been sensitive to the personal issues I have had in my social life.

"The players at Swansea I will thank individually, but to them I hope I have helped you become better players and people because you have certainly done that for me.

"And, finally, to the Jack Army. I'm proud to have been your manager and feel truly blessed for the support you have given me on and off the field.

"Your passion both at home and away made me very proud on the touchline.

"I leave knowing I couldn't have given any more to help your great club succeed.

"The next manager will come in and look to keep the club moving forward and your support for him will be as important as it was for me to ensure continued success.

"Swansea will live in my heart for the rest of my life and one day I would love to return to this great club and city.

"Until that day comes, I wish everyone at Swansea lots of success in the next chapter of your amazing story."

Brendan (forever a Jack!)

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/brendan-s-letter-to-swansea

[MikaelLFC]

I tried putting it within spoiler tags - but somehow it doesn't work. And speaking of which, I can't see the articles provided by Garstonette either, the 'spoilers' don't appear for me (I've tried it with Firefox, IE and Chrome, all with the same result).

[royhendo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2025464/Brendan-Rodgers-mobile-beeped-message-Jose-Mourinho-Its-Man-City-away-game-mate-s---3-points-guaranteed.html

-

Brendan Rodgers’ mobile beeped with a message from Jose Mourinho: It’s Man City away first game for you, mate, that’s . . .3 points guaranteed
By DES KELLY

UPDATED: 01:24, 13 August 2011
 
Brendan Rodgers looked down at his mobile as it exploded with beeps demanding his attention.
The Swansea City boss was in the bustle of Nairobi Airport when the Premier League fixtures were released, relying on his shaky phone signal and updates from friends gathered nearby for news.
The giant leap up to the Premier League had offered a delightfully vague promise of something  infinitely better after the play-off success and a summer of celebration. But now the stark enormity of the challenge facing Rodgers popped up on the screen of his BlackBerry. The message said: Manchester City v Swansea.

Lofty ambition: Rodgers is hurled in the air by his celebrating Swansea players after beating Reading in the play-offs

His Welsh side, a club who were once unable to pay their electricity bill and almost dropped out of the Football League eight years ago, would face the richest club in the world on their Premier League debut. Welcome to the big time.

‘We might as well start as we mean to go on,’ Rodgers said with a wry grin. Another beep drew his gaze back to his mobile and he showed me the text.

‘Man City first game? Three points guaranteed for you top man! — Jose.’ Rodgers laughed  at Mourinho’s unshakeable confidence.

The Swansea boss was under no illusions about what lay ahead back then. Spin forward through two hectic months of preparation and I find he is equally realistic now.

‘They say there are three tiers in the Premier League — well, now there’s a fourth tier,’ he says. ‘We’re in that fourth tier on our own. There’s everyone else plus Swansea.’

Rodgers’ resources are undoubtedly meagre. One of his squad was on £1,300 a week last season, approximately a half of one per cent of the salaries the likes of Carlos Tevez and Yaya Toure will recoup for turning out against Swansea on Monday night. Half the clubs in the Championship Rodgers has left behind will be operating on bigger budgets than his  Premier League novices.
‘We know we are a million miles away from clubs like City in terms of finance,’ he says. ‘But it won’t stop us competing.’

Rodgers is an immensely likeable Northern  Irishman — thoughtful, urbane and seemingly blessed with reserves of patience and understanding.

He admits he is touched Mourinho still looks out for him four years on from his spell at Chelsea as one of the charismatic manager’s trusted lieutenants, but they couldn’t be more different.
Rodgers’ modesty marks him out as the antithesis of the Mourinho public persona, but the two share other qualities, particularly a love of learning and a burning desire to make their mark as coaches after less than glorious playing careers.

‘Yes, there is a mutual respect,’ says Rodgers. ‘We just got on as people. We have lots of similar  interests and we even have the same birthday. It’s the aspects of normal life that bind people together.

‘But when it comes to football management and our teams, I work differently to Jose and  I wouldn’t copy anything he did.

‘He has obviously been fantastic for my career and I’m grateful. But many other people have influenced me too and managing is about what you are and your own identity.’

Rodgers is only 38, but smart beyond his years, thanks to an intensive education in the game. He is the eldest of five boys, a son of Antrim, schooled at the Catholic St Patrick’s College in Ballymena.
Last month I spent 10 days with Rodgers on a cancer charity trek up Kilimanjaro. At one evening meal, a 23-year-old African guide asked what I thought of the Barcelona side. I pointed out Rodgers was infinitely more qualified to give a view. The two continued the conversation in fluent Spanish.

Rodgers just absorbs learning, from coaches, managers, teachers and experiences. Having grasped Spanish, the impressive young boss is now learning Italian.

‘When I arrived here in England my ambition was to be a footballer and play at the highest possible level I could,’ he says. ‘I knew very early in my career that was not going to happen. So the second best thing to playing was to be a coach and I started on my journey. I was maybe 20 years of age and I took my time finding out what makes top coaches and top managers. That was my destiny.’
He has now been on the touchline for 18 years, having defined his principles from a very early stage.
‘I was brought up playing for Northern Ireland schoolboys and youth international games. We would play against the likes of France and Spain and Germany and always on the defensive. It was all about stopping them, not what we could do. I wanted to be in control. That was when the seed for my ideas was planted.’

Ironically, he realised his true potential with Swansea’s Wembley play-off triumph over the same club that had sacked him after a mere 31 games.

He certainly has the sense to know what lies ahead. The bookmakers already have his side as firm favourites to be relegated. Add that Rodgers resolutely plays a passing game, come what may, and it is clear it won’t take long before the headlines branding him ‘too naive’ are dusted off.

‘When you’re in trouble, command is lonely,’ he says. ‘As your status grows and you are more in the public eye, your world becomes smaller. But that’s the job.

‘There are going to be results this season that go against us; there are going to be some heavy defeats too. But that will be a part of the learning curve for the players, as most of them will be here in the Premier League for the first time.

Dorus de Vries and Darren  Pratley left to join Wolves and  Bolton on free transfers, but Rodgers has recruited the free-scoring Danny Graham from Watford.

‘When you look at some of the prices going around, I think signing the Championship’s top scorer for £3.5million is good business.

‘We are underdogs. It’s the reality. Frankly, we were underdogs in the Championship last year, so I don’t know what we are now. Is there such a thing as an under-underdog?’ But he does not intend to allow Swansea to be brushed aside.

‘We need style and steel. We must pass the ball with arrogance and back it up with a willingness to defend. Our template will be the same since I arrived last year.

Organisation, being defensively strong and aggression.

‘We kept 23 clean sheets last season — that’s nearly 50 per cent of games where we didn’t concede. That’s going to be tested to the limit this year. Whatever happens I’d always adhere to my principles. I would not abandon my methods because of results. It’s how I coach.

‘Even so, I am under no illusions. To finish outside the bottom three would be an outstanding, magical season. But I will aim as high as we can. I’m aiming for the Moon and if we fall short we’ll still be among  the stars.’

So HOW do Swansea compare with the likes of Blackpool, who rose last season and were relegated at the first time of asking, or Queens Park Rangers or Norwich City now?

‘There are leagues within the Premier League. My message to the board and to the chairman was having reached the Premier League for the first time in three decades, we must fight like hell to stay there.

‘We’re not passing through, or visiting. We don’t want to get a round of applause and then go back down. The trick is to do all of that while balancing the books.’

Rodgers already has a timeline mapped; targets given extra urgency by the loss of his mother Christina to a heart attack at 53 last year and the fact that his father Malachy is in the latter stages of throat cancer. Those personal ordeals have cast a shadow over the proudest moments of his professional career.

‘My Dad has battled but he is struggling now,’ he says. ‘It was his 59th birthday on Thursday and I have to accept it is the last one he will ever see. It’s just a matter of weeks. But he’ll see me manage in the Premier League, which I’m thankful for. We cried about that the other day.’
It is a heavy load to bear at a time when the demands on Rodgers will be greater than ever. But his ambition burns brightly. He refuses to get ahead of himself, but one day he plans to manage a Champions League club.

‘That is a target,’ says Rodgers. ‘There is a job to be done at Swansea and that is where my full attention is now. But if you ask any coach what they would like to ultimately do, then that would be the aim.’

Rodgers relies on wit, not rage. He has never thrown a teacup or a boot. ‘I’m not that type,’ he says. ‘At one game something really annoyed me and I nearly broke my foot kicking the skip that the kit is kept in. That was enough. I try to keep control.

‘The modern player is different, so you have to contain the emotion. But I sometimes think it’s fine to let them see you are unhappy.’

So is there anyone he will call for advice before the season starts?

‘I’ve many friends in football — Alex McLeish, Steve Clarke, and I speak to Jose, but I’m very much my own man. Besides, I don’t like to burden people with a problem I may have. I like to carry it myself and rectify it that way. ’

So would Rodgers ever call himself the Special One?

‘No,’ he says. ‘Well, not until I win the Champions League, anyway,’ he adds with a smile.
And the funny thing is, whatever happens at Swansea, the idea doesn’t seem all that outlandish.

[royhendo]

http://thetilehurstend.co.uk/2011/06/09/what-went-wrong-for-brendan-rodgers-at-reading-fc/

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What Went Wrong For Brendan Rodgers At Reading FC?
June 9, 2011

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On HobNob Anyone? there’s a thread open about Brendan Rodgers and why his time at Reading was such a failure. As I started writing a reply to the topic I realised to give my full feelings, it needed more detail than was fitting for a web forum so below is my own personal feelings on the ‘Rodgers Era’.

I’ll preface this entire article by saying that there is no way in my mind that Rodgers would have achieved the level of success that Brian McDermott has had during his time here, and ultimately his dismissal has proved 100% the right decision. Still I’m trying to look at his sacking more as I saw it at the time. I’m also not privy to exactly what happened behind the scenes, either in the board room or in the dressing room. Various rumours and stories have come out about Brendan but in the absence of definitive facts regarding those, I’ll have to go by what we do know for certain or has been said publicly.


The Position Of The Club When Rodgers Was Appointed

People talk of the work Brendan did to undermine the Steve Coppell way of playing, a system that had led to the greatest success in the club’s history. However Coppell’s last six months as manager were blighted by poor form, inconsistant selection and generally drab ineffective hoofball led by Michael Duberry.

Coppell departed in the summer of 2009, taking long serving assistants Kevin Dillon and Wally Downes with him, decimating the backroom staff with the exception of Nigel Gibbs and one Brian McDermott…

Financially the club was also in fairly troublesome shape, having committed the bulk of its two years of parachute payments into retaining the majority of the Premier League era side on high wages for the 08/09 season. That gamble backfired as we failed to win promotion and as a result  top scorer Kevin Doyle,  leading assist maker Stephen Hunt and arguably the best defender at the club, Andre Bikey were all sold. Graeme Murty, Marcus Hahnemann, Michael Duberry, Leroy Lita and Dan Harding also left the club before Rodgers was appointed on June 5th, taking with them vital first team experience.

It’s easy to say that Rodgers still had a full pre-season to re-shape the side as he wanted, but the financial constraints he was working with at the club were massive at the time of his appointment. Wriggle room was barely possible until the sales of Stephen Hunt (August 13) and Andre Bikey (August 18). Even after those sales, the club still had several high wage earners left from the Premier League era including James Harper and Liam Rosenior. Those two players were sacrificed by Rodgers before the deadline to give him more room for wages going forward.  Those deals weren’t completed until the deadline week and until you can actually confirm a player has left the club it’s a potential financial disaster to bring in replacements but I’ll go more into transfers later on…

On top of the uncertainty over such players Rodgers also had to deal with  Ivar Ingimarsson, the club’s captain being injured going into the season, Noel Hunt struggling for fitness and Chris Armstrong also out injured. Andre Bikey was also unable to play in the first four games due to a ban handed out for his Burnley meltdown which left Rodgers with just a handful of players who had played more than 20 league starts the previous season. Those players were Khalifa Cisse, Jimmy Kebe, James Harper and Liam Rosenior, with the future of the final two not certain due to their high wages.

What Rodgers did have to work with was a group of promising but largely inexperienced youngsters, including Alex Pearce, Jem Karacan, Simon Church, Adam Federici, Hal Robson-Kanu and Glyfi Sigurdsson.


Transfers

Rodgers is regularly hung out to dry over the on/off  Tommy Smith transfer saga.  Brendan does deserves some stick for making our interest public and making the club seem a bit like a bully, but was the management of the football club any worse with its very public pursuit of Brendan from Watford?

More to the point it wasn’t Brendan’s fault that we missed out on Tommy Smith, it was Tommy Smith and Portsmouth that denied the club his signature. It’s silly to think that Portsmouth just saw some quotes from Brendan on Smith and thought ‘wow we should sign that bloke!’

Smith aside, who Rodgers did manage to sign turned out to be pretty good for the short and medium and long term success we’ve had/will hopefully have under Brian McDermott. Gregorz Rasiak got into double digits for goals in 09/10, Jobi McAnuff started at Wembley, Brian Howard was on the bench and Ryan Bertrand was 3rd in the Player Of The Season voting for 09/10. Matt Mills is now our club captain and Shaun Cummings is also  looking a good prospect at right back.  The only real ‘flop’ was Celtic’s Darren O’Dea who was only signed on a 6 month loan and wasn’t actually a bad player when played in his natural position at centre-back.

Where Rodgers does deserve stick is for his reluctance to play Matt Mills, his biggest signing and for one of the highest transfer fees in the club’s history.  Nobody will know the exact reasons for why Mills was dropped, but it was apparent to fans that Mills would be an upgrade over the Ingimarsson/Pearce partnership.

But before Rodgers is crucified for dropping an expensive acquisition, don’t forget that Steve Coppell bought Emerse Fae and Greg Halford to the club and failed to play them. Sometimes players get to a club and they just don’t fit under a manager, hardly a sackable offence in my opinion.

The signing of Shaun Cummings was also widely criticised at the time. Cummings had a steadyish start but was horrendously exposed by West Brom’s Jerome Thomas in a 3-1 Royals defeat at the Hawthorns.   Some have suggested that Rodgers was wrong to leave him out there, as it shattered the youngster’s confidence but who else was he supposed to play? Injuries to Julian Kelly and the departure of Rosenior meant that Cummings was the only natural right back available. Jay Tabb was subsequently slotted in but hardly set the world alight in his time at the position, and in hindsight the only other option would have been Brynjar Gunnarsson who at the time was being used in midfield.

Brendan ultimately did decide to take Cummings out of the firing line and tried Tabb at right back, while rumour has it he lined up Andy Griffin on loan to come in when the window opened in January, so it’s clear he had identified that Cummings needed a bit of help.

It’s also been argued that Rodgers gave Alex Pearce too much responsibility for a player so young. While it’s true that being made captain and being promoted as ‘the new John Terry’ were big responsibilities, some younger players can thrive under such situations.  Pearce may not have lived up to the hype quite yet but I’d still bet on him being a Reading captain somewhere down the line, while again with Ingimarsson out who else was suitable for the armband?


How Long Does It Take To Bed In?

Given what I’ve outlined in the first two sections I’m surprised that some fans are still so shocked by Brendan’s comment’s of it still feeling like pre-season after a few games. With all the uncertainty about the place, the hangover from last season, a very young team and the lack of Rodgers buys what more was expected in those opening four league games?  Brian McDermott has said it took 12 games for us to get over losing Gylfi for example.

Even so lets look at the results from that ‘extended pre-season’

H) Forest (D) <- Finished Third

A) Newcastle (L) <- Champions

A) Swansea (D) <- Finished seventh

H) Sheff Utd (L) <- Finished Eighth

In hindsight those were 4 very difficult games and if you said at the start of the season you’ll get 2 points out of 12 from games against top 8 sides including 2 of the top 3 I think you’d be disappointed but not by much. What was alarming though was a lack of goals, with the team scoring just once, against Sheffield United.

Howard, Rasiak and co were signed at the end of August, and from the Barnsley game (where Rasiak made his debut) our record was

P17 W5 D4 L8 = 19pts, including defeats against teams finishing, 2nd, 4th and 5th.

That’s not a stellar record by any stretch of the imagination, but at that pace we WOULD have survived relegation.

It’s not just Rodgers who needed time to bed into his Reading career either.

Here are the starts of some other recent Royals bosses compared to Rodgers.

Steve Coppell –  P23 W9 D2 L 11 = 29pts

Brendan Rodgers – P21 W5 D6 L10 = 21pts

Alan Pardew – P22 W5 D10 L7 = 25pts

Mark McGhee – P21 W6 D8 L7 = 26pts

So there’s difference of around 8 points from who many describe as the best manager in our history, who took over a far more settled Reading side. Both Alan Pardew and Mark McGhee took over third tier sides with far less consistency and achieved similar openings. The key difference in that was the lower expectations and position of the club when Pardew and McGhee took over, while Coppell at least had points on the board accrued by Alan Pardew at the start of 2003/04.


Turning The Corner?

I can’t argue against the fact that there were some dire dire performances when Rodgers was at the helm. I had the misfortune of being at West Brom and as others have said, it’s hard to remember a more pitiful performance by a Reading side.  Add in the debacles at Peterborough and QPR and you can easily see why many felt Rodgers was doomed and getting it so totally wrong.

That being said, those dire performances at QPR and West Brom were the catalyst to Rodgers getting the hint that he couldn’t get these players playing in a 4-3-3 and he went back to a more tried and tested formula, playing 4-4-2, using 2 wingers.

From West Brom onwards our performances were by and large MUCH better. His record from after West Brom read

P8 W3 D2 L3 = 11pts

That type of record that would have seen us survive even without any new signings that already seemed to look immanent in January. The defeats in that time included a very unlucky defeat at home to Leicester and throwing away a lead at Derby, while Victor Mosses and Adam Federici combined to throw away any chance of points against Palace.

Reading picked up 11/21 points in Rodgers final 7 games

It’s also worth noting the experience that was being gained each week by some of the younger players. Rodgers had a largely inexperienced core to work with at the time. Though that group has slowly developed over the last two seasons, it’s something they were just as likely to do under Rodgers as they have under Brian McDermott.

Brendan wouldn’t have been able to get as much out of Jimmy Kebe and Shane Long as McDermott, but he arguably got far more out of Jobi McAnuff and gave Sigurdsson his break. Rodgers was trying to mould these younger players and former fringe men into a team capable of playing patient passing 4-3-3 but we just didn’t have the players capable of adopting it and Rodgers waited far too long before changing his style. Without those right players in the team it was often horrible football to watch, too many passes with no end product led to frustrations on the terraces and the team wasn’t getting the best out of its best players.

Others have made the point that the fact we weren’t getting results in those games was a warning sign in itself but the point remains that we were creating more chances and looking more solid at the back, scoring  10 and conceding just 7 in that period (excluding Palace which would otherwise make it 12/11).

As infamous as the Tim Dellor v Rodgers meltdown interview post Scunthorpe was and as petulantly as Rodgers reacted, I can see why Brendan thought the Scunthorpe game was far better, given the sheer number of chances we had to win that game, while we only conceding once. As I’ve said on other occasions, if Sigurdsson puts 1 of 4 golden chances away against Scunny, maybe he survives, but then football often boils down to such fine margins as Brendan found out in his favour at Wembley when Karacan’s shot deflected onto the post…..


What Otherwise Went Wrong?

Brendan never really endeared himself to a fanbase who had seen unprecedented success under Steve Coppell and Alan Pardew. Coppell was the very definition of understated and unassuming while Brendan came with the tag of being the apprentice of the ‘special one’ Jose Mourinho, and while he didn’t exactly wear that as a badge, it was a tag he did little to distance himself from. Rodgers was also far more open about his plans, be they tactical (his big book of tactics) or transfer targets (Tommy Smith).

His backroom staff also seemed to win him few fans, with Reading supporters angry that the club was paying ‘football consultant’ Frank Lampard Senior who was regularly away from the club and had no clearly defined role.  Lampard Snr even admitted to watching his son’s games at Stamford Bridge rather than being at the Madejski to watch Reading, hardly something that would endear you to the people that pay your wages.

On top of that Brendan always came across as super confident, something that’s great when your team is flying (like Swansea or Mourinho at Chelsea/Porto) but aggrivates and winds up fans when things are going badly. Officially his petulant and aggresive reaction to Tim Dellor’s questioning after the Scunthorpe game had nothing to do with his dismissal but it MUST have been in Sir John Madejski’s mind when the decision to sack him was being taken.

On top of all that I can’t help but think there was a volcano of frustration with the fan base that was always about to explode and that sadly Rodgers took the brunt of that. The meek way that we fell from the Premier League and then blew promotion under Coppell was something that many fans couldn’t blame on a set of players and a manager who had got them to such heights in the first place. Rodgers on the other hand, with his confidence and ego was seemed a perfect target on which to blame the clubs problems, a burden he shared with Nick Hammond and Sir John Madejski.  Again I’m not suggesting that Rodgers didn’t deserve some criticism but and to be the target of some frustrations, I just feel the relegation hangover was unleashed a bit unfairly on him.

The other thing that went wrong was a mixed indication of the amount of time that Rodgers would be given to get things right. Rodgers was given a long term contract and sold the club on a 3 year plan to get back to it’s previous heights if not more. His signings team selection and tactics showed that he was clearly more focussed on the long-term than the short term.  In the meantime the points just never came and as Reading sunk further and further his desire to find a winning long term formula cost him short term results that would have kept the dressing room, fans and the board happy. The need for short term results eventually sank in after the humiliations away at West Brom & QPR but by then it was always an uphill struggle outside of a transfer and loan window, to change things.


Overall

As I said at the start of this article, it’s impossible to argue that the decisions made in December 2009 haven’t worked out positively for Reading or for Brendan Rodgers. Reading were still deep in a relegation battle at the time of his sacking and the fact that they finished in the top ten means that ultimately the decision wasn’t the WRONG one. Under Brian McDermott Reading survived comfortably last season while reaching the play-off final this year. While for Rodgers, he was given a job at Swansea where they already played a passing style and with lower expectations. Helped by his Reading experiences, Rodgers has flourished and has lead the Swans into the Premier League for the first time in their history. The Northern Irishman has admitted since his sacking that he understands the decision, holds no ill will towards the Chairman and has acknowledged that he learned a lot from the experience, while Brian McDermott is already on course to be one of our most successful managers.

While Swansea’s success was directly to our detriment, it’s still pleasing  to see a man who has given such great service to this club achieve personal success.  Rodgers worked his way through our coaching system, lived in the town for two decades and helped recruit some of the youngsters and senior pros who fill our squad today.

Ultimately I just think he was the right man at the wrong time for the club. Had he been appointed when Reading were in the Premier Leauge, or even in the first season after relegation he may have had a better chance of success. As it transpired he came in during one of the most difficult summers in our history and couldn’t cope.  It’s a shame that it didn’t work out and that his learning curve had to come with his home town club and the club he has the greatest feelings for.

Still, In the future I still think he’d be a good fit for Reading but that time isn’t now and won’t come for a good while yet.


--

That press conference 'exchange'.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xctmrs_brendan-rodgers-last-live-post-matc_sport

[royhendo]

Article about Swansea from last May.

Dutch Treat in South Wales: Swansea & Total Football
Posted by Jason on May 16, 2011 in Football League, Latest, Welsh Football | 0 comments

In general, the phrase “total football” rolls off the tongue as easily as “fiery Welshman Craig Bellamy” and often conjures images of marauding fullbacks flying to spaces ludicrously-high up the pitch in an orange blur, engaging in a intricately-woven passing game wearing spiked wooden clogs. Holland’s approach to the game, crafted on the Ajax training grounds beginning in the mid 1950s and played to perfection on European stages in the 1970s, remains an innovation of admiration to football aficionados of the beautiful game. It has been exported across Europe’s leagues, from Rinus Michels of Ajax to Johan Cruyff’s influence over the playing culture still employed to the present day at Barcelona. Arsene Wenger’s Français-Anglais application in North London is a somewhat related variant while over in Wales, Brendan Rodgers has used the totaalvoetbal concept this Championship season to bring Swansea City to the cusp of Premiership promotion.

Swansea City?

For a club whose crest includes a stylized representation of an elegant bird, though, it feels somewhat appropriate Rodgers and Swansea would be the ugly ducklings in the rather regal family tree that is Total Football. Generally the preserve of the elite, this approach to the game requires intensive training involving teaching players to play in space rather than defined positions on the pitch and a fair amount of ego-swallowing on the part of some players who are compelled to defend their own goal rather than attack the opposition’s goal mouth. Shifting players’ expected roles and achieving success might be the most difficult adjustment for a manager at any level to achieve, as many of those playing in the English leagues for any length of time might have had the 4-4-2 etched inside their skulls since they learned to tie their boots. Transition to the Total Football concept fails even amongst the giants of European football as well and impoverishes those with the wealthiest of pedigrees.

Just ask Louis van Gaal how Year 2 of Total Football worked out at Bayern Munich this season.
Now, while Rodgers is only in his first year at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea have been in a bit of a love affair with all things from the land of windmills over the past several years. Perhaps it began with board member and shareholder John van Zweden’s interest in the South Wales side. Still residing primarily in The Hague, Netherlands, van Zweden came to Swansea from Eredivisie club ADO Den Haag, and under the company Swansea Jacks Ltd. was one of the initial partners in a consortium headed by Mel Nurse and the Swansea Supporters Trust that began to depose Tony Petty back in 2001. Since this time, Swansea have embarked on several pre-season tours of Holland going back to 2002 and have signed several former ADO Den Haag players, including current keeper Dorus de Vries.

Granted, having a Dutchman sitting on the Swansea board and de Vries in goal makes the Jacks as Dutch as having Javier Hernandez in the starting squad for Manchester United makes Alex Ferguson an adherent of Lucha libre. Rather, it seems the lessons learned from those pre-season visits to the Netherlands have been impressed upon managers stretching back to the successful tenure of Roberto Martinez as he employed a Total Football philosophy to guide the Swans up from League One to the Championship after the 2007/08 campaign. Now under Rodgers, his spin on Swansea’s Total Football experiment has been ”possession with penetration,” implying that pretty passing and rates of possession to rival Barca’s mean little without advancing up the pitch and putting the ball in the back of the net.

A hallmark of Total Football is the passing game, though, and in this respect the Dutch conversion by Swansea is most easily recognized. Most of the passes are diagonal rather than straight ahead or across–to chalk it up would be the equivalent of drawing medium and large triangles rather than rectangles. In this season’s playoffs between Nottingham Forest and Swansea, the angles of the passes by the Jacks has been demonstrated most acutely. Whilst Brian Davies’ charges were pouring forward in attack more or less directly and crossing in from the wings, Swansea midfielders Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer seem to have their protractors with them when considering either a pass, shot, or run while Fabio Borini darts in and out of the diamond.

Another trademark of this approach is players playing in space, and one might notice this contrast with Forest with respect to deflected passes. Earlier in the first half of the semi-final leg in South Wales, Swansea were relentlessly in Forest’s end of the pitch, as nearly every pass to clear and advance by lads like Chris Gunter were deflected by a Swansea player who just happened to be in an area typically open. The spacing issue also was illustrated in the first leg of the semi-final tie, as when Swansea went down a man within two minutes at the City Ground, they actually appeared to play better with the additional space. After Neil Taylor was sent off for a high challenge on Lewis McGugan when some fans still hadn’t found their seats, Brendan Rodgers could be seen immediately on the sideline intently discussing with his assistants how best to proceed in less than optimal circumstances.

What was remarkable about that sequence following Taylor’s dismissal was there was a noticeable lack of fury from the manager’s box–rather than yelling at the officials and gesticulating wildly as if his entire plan for a tough away match had been destroyed in less than two minutes, Rodgers appeared to be a figure of calm amidst a sea of calamity. For him, the tactics changed very little–save having to sacrifice forward Stephen Dobbie for defender Garry Monk–as Swansea employed the same gamepland and utilized the additional space being a man down created. Dyer and Sinclair were required to rush back to defensive spaces when Forest sought a breakthrough on a counter attack, and while the fitness levels of all the Swansea players were tested in that opening leg at City Ground with one less teammate on the pitch, the scoreless draw felt much more like a victory for them and Total Football.

A final trait of the Total Football approach is employing a slightly higher defensive line. Swansea use their fullbacks as often in offensive movements as they do defensively, and maintaining a high line in the back helps to compress the pitch by a quarter of the length. This can be a dangerous ploy, as Forest demonstrated throughout the match at Liberty Stadium with McGugan and Tudgay having chances to punish Swansea’s defenders for playing too far up the pitch. With one of the best keepers in the Championship in de Vries, though, the Swans were saved then as they have been throughout the past two seasons, thus allowing them to continue moving forward according to the “penetration with possession” philosophy permeated in their dyed Dutch roots and advocated by their manager.

With a trip to Wembley–along with the chance to become the first Welsh side to play in the Premiership–awaiting, it might come down to a philosophy mined from the Lowlands that wins the day for Rodgers and Swansea. Then again, the Total Football concept seems to have been given to the Dutch by its Manchester-born manager Jack Reynolds, who directed Ajax youth players like Rinus Michels to play in this fashion as he went about converting Ajax from a small regional side into a national champion during his 27 years with the club. So, should the Welsh club successfully complete a remarkable journey from near relegation to the Conference a few years ago to playing Premiership football throught its Dutch Renaissance, there might be some recognition afforded to an expatriate Englishman along the way.

How very British.

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=12553

[SJL]

http://thetilehurstend.co.uk/2011/06/09/what-went-wrong-for-brendan-rodgers-at-reading-fc/

Fantastic article that.  I used it as the basis for this.  http://www.theliverpoolword.com/2012/06/liverpool-manager-brendan-rodgers-reading-between-the-lines/

Brendan Rodgers: Reading Between The Lines

The journey of life is one of self improvement. That constant strive toward bettering oneself, with no real end in sight.

Perfection as a concept may be unattainable and yet because it’s relative it has become no more than a stock phrase. Not a 90 minutes passes without someone executing what is described as the perfect through ball. More often than not the striker misses—or hits the post if it’s Liverpool.

These are all notions defined by us and can be as diverse and contradictory as we are. Everybody makes mistakes. In no other industry however are those mistakes held against you quite so personally as the world of professional sport. Just ask any referee.

While most people of his age were acquainting themselves with the local Weatherspoons, Brendan Rodgers was coaching the Reading youth team at just twenty three. Determined to scale the heights as a coach that he was never able to as a player, he left for Chelsea in 2005 and built upon his tag as one of Britain’s best up and coming coaches by studying abroad.

His first real crack at management came at Watford and after a difficult introduction into the life of a football manager – winning only two of his first ten – Rodgers found a way to turn it around and ended the season in thirteenth place. It was then that the opportunity of a lifetime came along. To go back to the club he had been with fleetingly as a player and who had enabled him to cut his teeth as a coach.  "Brendan is the perfect fit for Reading Football Club"  said Reading chairman John Madejski upon his appointment in June of 2009. So what went wrong?

The numbers read like a Stephen King novel.  Eleven defeats in twenty three league games. Five victories over the course of nearly two hundred days in charge and only one of those at home. To put that number into perspective, Roy Hodgson had five wins at home during his time in charge of Liverpool – and he had a few days less than Rodgers.

Before anyone starts to panic however, remember one thing: statistics only told half the story. It wasn’t just about the wins and losses for the soon-to-be-harangued England manager, it was his entire demeanour. The same is true of our current manager, in that as soon as you start to scratch the surface it becomes very clear that the numbers are as misleading as a quote from Dave Whelan.

First of all, let’s take a look as a whole at the state of Reading Football Club when Brendan Rodgers arrived.  They had finished six points off automatic promotion in fourth place and scored the joint-second most goals in the Championship, a more than reasonable platform for someone to build upon.

Top scorer Kevin Doyle and veteran goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann both went to Wolves shortly after his arrival and they would be followed shortly after by Stephen Hunt. André Bikey, former captain Graeme Murty and Leroy Lita would also leave the club that summer but of the three only Bikey was finding regular playing time during Steve Coppell’s final season. Money to bring in new recruits was in short supply with Reading opting to use their parachute payment the season prior in retaining most of it’s Premier League squad. If he was going to meet the demands—which sounds a little harsh but there will have been given expectation—of promotion then he needed to hit the ground running.  That didn’t happen.

Despite having his hands tied by a high wage bill, Brendan was active in the transfer market. Matt Mills came in for £2 million, Jobi McAnuff for £300,000 and players like Grzegorz Rasiak, Brian Howard and Ryan Bertrand came in on loan. It appears that what Rodgers had on his hands was a team trying to balance the expectations of gunning for promotion while trying to cut back some of the money in failing to do so previously. In addition to this he will have seen first hand the young talent we now know existed at Reading at the time.

Both Alex Pearce and Adam Federici played during Rodger’s tenure and were also vital parts of the team that has just won promotion, the latter having gone on to becoming Mark Schwarzer’s back up for Australia. Also, let’s not forget one Gylfi Sigurdsson who we may be seeing an awful lot of very soon. This talented bunch of youngsters, coupled with a management style based with intensive attacking football, had the potential to light up the Championship. Unfortunately for them, it was “sink or swim” football and they weren’t quite ready for it yet.

By late October, Reading were in the midst of a four game losing streak that saw them in the relegation zone. Their form picked up, taking ten points from their next five games but another three games without a win saw Brendan Rodgers leave the club on the 16th of December.  He wasn’t necessarily the wrong man but it was certainly the wrong time – both for he and the Royals. Going back to a more direct style of football suited them and given what’s happened since nobody can really say that it was a bad decision for either party but it did appear that he may have turned the corner.

Six months passed and the once golden child of British coaching – touched by the hand of Mourinho himself – found that he was left with a seemingly immovable stain on his record. When the Swansea job became available after Paulo Sousa’s departure he wasn’t on anybody’s list of top candidates, including the chairman Huw Jenkins. Paul Tisdale, Gareth Southgate, Gary Speed and even Graeme Jones were all considered for the job but for one reason or another didn’t end up at the Liberty Stadium. This time he had a point to prove.

Given a 12 month rolling contract as opposed to the implied security of the three year deal Rodgers was given at Reading, there wasn’t much time for reinventing the wheel. It’s naturally assumed that what happened at Swansea was a case of adding the finishing touches to Martinez’s work but again there’s a little more to it than that. Though they achieved their highest ever finish for over a quarter of a century, the style of football didn’t exactly endear himself to the Swansea faithful.

Missing out on the play-offs wasn’t so much heartbreak as it was frustration. They had been in either fourth or fifth from December until late April and were defensively very solid but simply couldn’t find the net, especially at home where the Swans ended up scoring only 21 goals in 23 games. Remind you of anyone?

What’s noticeable – even before a ball was kicked – is the absence of a big money transfer. Championship clubs often walk a fine line with their finances and have to make do with free transfers. Not having a war chest ready for an assault on promotion, if things were going to work then it was clear he would have to be a lot more savvy than at The Madjeski.

For one reason or another having spent £2 million bringing Matt Mills to Reading from Doncaster, Rodgers only played the defender seven times. This time around money was going to be a lot more scarce and there would be no room for gambling. With that in mind, it’s not too hard to understand why he went looking where he did.

Enter Scott Sinclair.

When things eventually got under way, results were mixed. After the heartbreak of the previous year coupled with the club having it’s third manager in two years, nobody could have expected what was about to happen. Although Swansea lost three of their first six, they would then go on to lose just one of 10. It would take Rodgers just fourteen games to eclipse his points tally at Reading as everything seemed to come together. One thing that’s very clear is that the rotation was a lot tighter, employing just fourteen different starting players over the first five games (as opposed to nineteen with Reading).

In fact, eight of the starting eleven that began game number one played all five. There was also one massive difference between the team he had and the one he had left. Swansea’s team may have been filled with young potential, but it was also much more experienced. Players from lower league clubs who had been plying their trade from an early age and were hungry to climb the ladder.

Sinclair for instance was 21 when the season started and he had already wracked up 72 appearances. Nathan Dyer was a year older and had over 100.

To illustrate both these points, I’ve taken the top 10 most used players from both teams and sorted them by their age when Rodgers first had them, and also the games they had been a part of up until that point. Swansea’s team collectively was just over a year older and on average had played more than 40 games more than their Reading counterparts. Inexperience cost him at the Madejski but this time Brendan was able to put together a young team that was not only physically suited to playing his style of football but one that had the know-how to implement it.

Last year we looked on in envy. Like a child with its head pressed up against the glass of a toy store window just before Christmas, Brendan Rodgers was on everyone’s list. Now that we’ve opened the wrapping paper, we should be careful not to discard or break him. The idea that we’ve all got our knives out and are collectively waiting—willing—him to fail is about as laughable as it is inaccurate.

It’s important not to get carried away too much in either direction at the moment, neither calls of crisis nor mindless grandstanding will do him any favours regardless of results. Patience is the one word everyone is tired of hearing because it’s the only one worth saying.  Rodgers will save his words for the training ground.  The strive for perfection continues.

[And Could He Play]

What quote from Morientes?

[♠Dirty Harry♠]

What quote from Morientes?

[royhendo]

Brendan Rodgers today reflected on the first day of pre-season training and explained how he pitched his football vision to Liverpool's returning squad and his approach to moving the club forward.

The 39-year-old met a selection of players at Melwood for the first time on Wednesday when those who had not been on international duty during the summer returned to begin preparations for 2012-13.

"The last couple of days were really about painting the vision so that people understand what direction we're moving in," Rodgers revealed to Liverpoolfc.com in an exclusive interview at the club's training complex.

"We had a really good meeting with the staff on Tuesday. I just felt it was important from the very first day with the staff they understand how I work, my values and morals on and off the field.

"Then obviously for the players it's about what I can do to help them achieve what it is they want to achieve, and let them understand the principles of how I'm going to work and look at the direction which the club is moving in."

Although Rodgers has already spoken with the likes of skipper Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and Luis Suarez, the new manager was keen to imprint his beliefs into the players who were in attendance for his first training session.

"They understand where I'm coming from, from day one, which is important," the Northern Irishman continued.

"There's no mystery behind it, they understand the vision and the culture that we're trying to create here. We can now move forward in confidence and look to work hard and work well."

Rodgers was appointed Liverpool boss on June 1, but due to the summer break had to wait until yesterday to begin working with his new players at Melwood.

Now the self-confessed 'lover of football' cannot wait to get started out on the training pitch and is keenly anticipating the chance to analyse the talent at his disposal.

He said: "I've got good awareness of a lot of the players here but you are always surprised when you see people from the outside and then look in. It's only really when you come in to work with them day in, day out you start to understand their character and personality before the technical and tactical aspect.

"That's something I'm really looking forward to because I'm sure there are players here who will surprise me, which is always nice.

"The natural environment is on the green grass, that's where we'll do a lot of our work. Thankfully that will start today and the players can look forward to working well."

Rodgers admitted that some additions may be made to the Reds' squad before the new Barclays Premier League season begins against West Bromwich Albion on August 18, but stressed that any potential signings must 'fit the model'.

"I've got a bunch of wonderful players here," he added. "I'm going to take time to have a look at that. I believe there's one or two areas that I'll need to improve on for sure, but overall the core of the group is strong.

"But like any manager, you want to add the other pieces that can complete your jigsaw and that's something that we're doing over a period of time.

"This window for the summer, you either had to get your business in early or it was going to run over towards the end of the window, just purely because of all the games and holidays and championships and everything that was going on.

"We're doing a lot of work off the field in terms of potential players to come in, but it will only be a certain type of player that will fit the model here at Liverpool."

One player who will not be making his way to Anfield is midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, who featured for Rodgers at Swansea during the second half of last season and completed a move to Tottenham Hotspur earlier this week.

"Gylfi did fantastic for me at Swansea last season," said the boss. "He wasn't playing at Hoffenheim, I brought him to Swansea and he did very well for me there, scored seven goals in 19 games and was very, very good.

"He and I both sat and spoke and believed that playing football was going to be the most important aspect for him. But obviously it was important financially so we agreed a deal for him to go to Swansea and that was wrapped up.

"I then became the Liverpool manager, and that then wasn't something that was going to happen at Swansea. So he then had a choice of where he wanted to go. I knew what the market was and I wasn't prepared to pay anything over what I had known was agreed before.

"Liverpool would have provided Gylfi with a wonderful opportunity to perform with a manager that he knows and at a club which is a real footballing institution.

"But he's decided to go to Tottenham, for whatever reason. I wish him the best, he's a good kid and there's no ill feeling. We've got other targets and we'll move on."

Positivity was the overwhelming message being preached by the manager, who offered an insight into how his working day begins and where he finds his inspiration.

Rodgers said: "I find it all very inspiring, from the minute I drive through and walk through the door. You see the little bust of Bill Shankly, you walk in every day and walk past the European Cup.

"It's a great and wonderful motivation for me as a young manager. It gives me great pride. It's an absolute privilege for me to be the manager of this club and I hope to repay the faith of the owners and the people for everything they have given me so far."

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/rodgers-outlines-liverpool-vision?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[royhendo]

This thread is gonnna be heavily moderated. It's a case study. It's not an assumption of legendary status. If it goes tits up, so be it.

[WorldChampions]

This is a cracking thread, cheers to all the contributors. One thing I spotted though was in the first image in the op.

Possession Liverpool 55.3%, Swansea 58% ?

[Schwindlig]

I can't see the articles provided by Garstonette either, the 'spoilers' don't appear for me (I've tried it with Firefox, IE and Chrome, all with the same result).

Same here. Any clues?

[Passmaster Molby]

This is a cracking thread, cheers to all the contributors. One thing I spotted though was in the first image in the op.

Possession Liverpool 55.3%, Swansea 58% ?

Its the average percentage of possession each team had during the games they have played in throughout the season.

[Crosby Nick]

This is a cracking thread, cheers to all the contributors. One thing I spotted though was in the first image in the op.

Possession Liverpool 55.3%, Swansea 58% ?

33,000 passes in the match though. Hell of a game.