Topic: Getting excuses in early? Managing expectations? Or painful realism?

[Veinticinco de Mayo]

He is obviously not throwing the towel in but he should really be dreaming big, working his arse off and hoping we achieve great things.  Rafa Benitez inherited a shite squad and almost and should have won it in season 08/09.  We do not need a defeatist attitude at this club but some cocky spanish bastard who will stand up to the Mancs and get us challenging for everything.  Okay, that's another dream but this humility shit will not get him anywhere if he does not hit the ground running come August.

Can you read English? He actually says he will be working his arse off.  At no point does it say that he is not dreaming and hoping for great things.  There is nothing defeatist in what he has said. 

As for Rafa he inherited a CL side, yet as I pointed out earlier in the thread he was quick to issue similar warnings.  That did not stop him trying to win things and neither will it stop BR from doing likewise.

As for "that humility shit" yeah it never got Paisley anywhere did it?

[Red Genius]

Should is different from would.  I do not have a crystal ball nor do I claim to have one.  Just pointing out where the comparison that others were making is flawed.

I don't think him being 'their man' buys him additional time. He'll have a brief of what is expected, what the goals are this year, next year etc.

We don't know what the owners expect of him in the first 12months. Last year it was clearly a top 4 finish, whether that has parallels with the fact Kenny had started so well, the club spent a lot of money, Kenny put his head on the block saying he could deliver that, we don't know, we may never know.

Brendan's job security will ultimately depend on how he performs in line with the expectations the owners have.

[Halibut-Thumb]

I think he needs to quash this Carroll shite and needs to take stock of what the media are up to. Didn't take them long to stab him in the back and make stories up to put him in a bad light.

If you're manager of LFC then you need to realise what the media of this country are sooner rather than later.

Agree totally. Other than that hasn't put a foot wrong.

[Vidocq]

“That’s why I’m here. I want to systemise it - and that’s more important for me than trophies,” he explained.


i like this part...this is it for me

[kcbworth]

I disagree with him. A team containing Luis Suarez, Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina, and Lucas Leiva, who have the best youth record in the country over the past few seasons, with a global fan base barely surpassed by many teams in the world, let alone the league, with a wage bill only surpassed by 2 or 3 team, should not spend long away from the top.

Maybe it will take a while to embed the style into the team, sure, but the factors are there to still do well.

Not sure why he's said this to be honest... inconsistent with everything else I've heard from him.

[stewil007]

"Aim for the sky & you'll reach the ceiling, aim for the ceiling & you'll stay on the floor" - Shankly http://t.co/q7r5QYHt

I get as close to reaching the top of the tree whether I aim for the moon or the top of the tree.

How about, Rome wasn't built in a day?

[Redkoprob]

Can you read English? He actually says he will be working his arse off.  At no point does it say that he is not dreaming and hoping for great things.  There is nothing defeatist in what he has said. 

As for Rafa he inherited a CL side, yet as I pointed out earlier in the thread he was quick to issue similar warnings.  That did not stop him trying to win things and neither will it stop BR from doing likewise.

As for "that humility shit" yeah it never got Paisley anywhere did it?

Kuyt was a decent man too but look where that got him.  I don't have to elaborate on King Kenny.  American businessmen want to see miracles on the pitch.  The miracle of Instanbul brought us H&G.   High-risk strategies bring big pay-offs so we have Rodgers, a supposed FSG man.   FSG man he will remain, and a RAWK favourite too if he wins and wins and wins.  Watch the masses turn when things go balls up.  I like his style but I hope there is more substance.

[Devon Red]

Three things jumped out at me from this interview and from the responses here:

1) Rodgers wants the team to play good football as a first priority, he has a system to install top-to-bottom, that takes time. He seems to be in the 'good results follow good football' camp, which puts him in fine company, Ajax and Barca have had this philosophy for a long time.

2) The Premier League has changed a lot in a short time, some people don't seem to have grasped this yet. Man City, Man United and Chelsea have resources far beyond the rest of the league. Those three teams can have the top three places locked down for the next several years. I know that United have debts, but they also have massive turnover, and the other two teams have bought success before and are clearly prepared to buy it again.

3) Kenny wasn't sacked because he didn't achieve 4th, he was sacked because the owners lost confidence in his ability to take the club forward. If Rodgers has convinced the owners that he is the right person to implement a long-term plan then they should give him the time he needs.

[peachybum]

“One thing I can assure the fans though, I’m going to fight for my life – to try to get this model of play that hopefully can change the history of the club.”

Thats pretty much what Johan Cruyff did when going to Barcelona and building his dream team. No pressure Brendan. 

[simonchamp]

Personally I am starting to get a little hacked off with the soundbites.  I accept that this is down to the world we live in, people want constant information and streams of news.

I know they have a pre-season to promote, but would rather they were just cracking on with the hard work and seeing how we perform in the first 10 games before writing off our chances!  Hopefully the players are getting a slightly different message as the ambitious ones will not want to hear that it will take years to challenge.

[Halibut-Thumb]

“I know what we want to be in the next three or four years. We want to be up there challenging for those Champions League places, but I’m not going to commit to any stupid statements now. It’s about the real world.”

I think a few of you have missed this..

[vicgill]

There's a saying in politics going: 'if you agree 90%, that's perfect. If you agree 100%, that's when you should worry', insinuating that the latter will hold elements of spin and dishonesty. I can't shake off the feeling that Brendan's interviews are tactics rather than his own opinion, and worse yet, I can't seem to decide which I'd prefer.

This, I am not suggesting that he is a con man, I prefer to wait and see the reality and I think that anybody who compares him to Bill Shankly, well

[Wingman]

Jesus I almost feel sorry for the poor bastard.

Almost? Reading the shit posted in this thread alone says it all about how delusional some of our fans are.

[Pistolero]

Personally I am starting to get a little hacked off with the soundbites.  I accept that this is down to the world we live in, people want constant information and streams of news.

I know they have a pre-season to promote, but would rather they were just cracking on with the hard work and seeing how we perform in the first 10 games before writing off our chances!  Hopefully the players are getting a slightly different message as the ambitious ones will not want to hear that it will take years to challenge.

to be fair we've hardly heard a peep from the club or Rogers from the week that he signed until his latest press conference...the latest batch of soundbites are the result of news hungry twitterfreak journos endlessly rehashing, reheating and re-spinning every syllable the manager comes out with..

[Vinay]

Given the state of the club, and the level we have dropped too, there is nothing outrageous in what Rodgers has said.

[Cpt_Reina]

Realise I'll probably be in the minority here but I wouldnt mind Rodgers just being quiet for a week or so.

You like the club, you'll 'give your life to it'. We get it.

[Devastatin' Dave]

I disagree with him. A team containing Luis Suarez, Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina, and Lucas Leiva, who have the best youth record in the country over the past few seasons, with a global fan base barely surpassed by many teams in the world, let alone the league, with a wage bill only surpassed by 2 or 3 team, should not spend long away from the top.

Maybe it will take a while to embed the style into the team, sure, but the factors are there to still do well.

Not sure why he's said this to be honest... inconsistent with everything else I've heard from him.

He has said it because we have finished outside the top 5 for three seasons running.

Our wage bill might be the fourth highest, but recent results suggest that our players our overpaid as we have consistently fell below our wage league table position.

While the players you mentioned are very good players, their league form suggests we are overrating them, or at least underrating every other side around us.

As such, we should not be expecting top four right away.

[keyo]

couple of things.....firstly, rodgers is doing a fine job in terms of dealing with the press and getting people on side...as that has been his job (the visible portion) so far, then that is all we can expect.....with regards to what he is saying, nothing really in the content to be wary of, merely avoiding making predictions or saying anything that is an easy headline for the press....as you can see from that piece, it seems to be the same quotes as when he took the job, so what he says to the press and what he means do not entirely meet in the middle

secondly, competing for cl places, now or in 3 years....open to interpretation as to what he actually meant, but either way i do not think he really cares about that, he was just avoiding the headline answer

thirdly, admire the fact that he wants to put in a structure, whether it benefits his position or not.....how genuine that is is another matter.....but we had a structure being bulit by benitez that underinvestment undermined and slowed, and was then pulled apart upon the change of ownership.....regardless of whether benitez stayed, alot of his foundations could have been maintained, but it appears little remains of substance of those foundations

i would prefer rodgers remains as manager and is given time to actually put his own plan into place, as he is not the architect of the position we are in, and i would trust him to move the club forward, than fsg and any appointments close to them, they have chosen him for this job, hopefully they will let him get on with it and support him

since benitez left, we have needed stability....we have not had it......so far fsg have failed to provide stability through structure, whilst appearing to stabilise the club financially.........as much as i have disliked the removal of benitez, hodgson's tenure and dalglish's dismissal, along with the apparent vacuum at the club, i do hope rodgers can lead the way to stability through football and the connection of the club's football to the fanbase.....whether he can or not i do not know, i would however, suggest that none of the problems the club faces are of his making, he is here to try and solve many of them (a task he will be unable to do without support from fsg) and for that he deserves support

and in summary, actions speak louder than words, let's not get too hung up on what rodgers says to the press......let him get on with it and judge him by hs actions, if his words are not consistent, then he has a problem

[mensor]

I think a few of you have missed this..

THIS! Read it again people!

"I know what we want to be in the next three or four years. We want to be up there challenging for those Champions League places, but I’m not going to commit to any stupid statements now. It’s about the real world."

[peachybum]

Realise I'll probably be in the minority here but I wouldnt mind Rodgers just being quiet for a week or so.

You like the club, you'll 'give your life to it'. We get it.

He's only given another press conference to TV and wriiten media to promote the pre season tour. Hardly Harry bloody Redknapp.

This is how the media works. They sit down for 1 day and then string out the interview over several days to fill their newspapers. He's not talking to them day after day after day.

[keyo]

THIS! Read it again people!

"I know what we want to be in the next three or four years. We want to be up there challenging for those Champions League places, but I’m not going to commit to any stupid statements now. It’s about the real world."

does it mean we will be in a position to challenge for cl places in 3-4 years, or that we will be challenging for cl places over the next 3 - 4 years?  open to interpretation, is the "stupid statement" about challenging to win the league this coming season, or about challenging for a champions league place next season?

[Junkle]

The comments have made my stomach to start sprinting. I am sick in the stomach. I hope we have not made a mistake in choosing our new manager. I remember when Stevie G said we were not going to win the Champions league and Rafa brought him to size and in the end we won it. Since then I expected our managers to see things differently. We won that trophy with not better players than what we currently have. I know the managers is not saying we are going to be fodder for other cows but I am not comfortable with the picture as it is being painted.

[Andy @ Allerton]

Realise I'll probably be in the minority here but I wouldnt mind Rodgers just being quiet for a week or so.

You like the club, you'll 'give your life to it'. We get it.

You're not alone mate. A few fans are uncomfortable that he seems to have to go to the media every 2 minutes. I'm hoping that we haven't got a Hodgson-media-alike. Prefer our managers to do their talking on the pitch and when required to do interviews because of league regulations.

[Cpt_Reina]

He's only given another press conference to TV and wriiten media to promote the pre season tour. Hardly Harry bloody Redknapp.

This is how the media works. They sit down for 1 day and then string out the interview over several days to fill their newspapers. He's not talking to them day after day after day.

He might be.

Regardless, it's not so much the regularity of the interviews as it is the repetition of what he says.

Like I said, im sure I'll be in the minority but this charm offensive is starting to grate on me now.

[keyo]

Three things jumped out at me from this interview and from the responses here:

3) Kenny wasn't sacked because he didn't achieve 4th, he was sacked because the owners lost confidence in his ability to take the club forward. If Rodgers has convinced the owners that he is the right person to implement a long-term plan then they should give him the time he needs.

where did you get that from what rodgers said?

[Kovai Red]

Regardless of whether we finish 1op-4 or not, if he shows improvement year-by-year, then no problem with him.

[Smudgester]

I think he needs to quash this Carroll shite and needs to take stock of what the media are up to. Didn't take them long to stab him in the back and make stories up to put him in a bad light

Which made up stories are these? And instead of trying to quash Carroll shite maybe he shouldn't have started it in the first place.

[Crosby Nick]

Will people get a fooking grip!

If a manager comes out and ‘guarantees’ something and it doesn’t materialise then we’ve seen first hand how they get pulled up for it.
If a manager comes out and is all mealy mouthed about what a shambles we’re in he (rightly!) gets pulled up for it.

Rodgers has done neither of these things. He’s spoken confidently about the squad/the club/the challenge he faces but I don’t think there’s too much wrong with what he’s said. There’s no point arguing the toss over the nuances of every word he comes out with.

Last season was terrible on the whole. I think we have room for improvement and I think we’d have done better next season had Kenny remained. That said there are clearly 5 teams at the moment who have proved themselves to be better than us over the last 2-3 seasons. Then Newcastle and Everton have done well last year too. Anybody demanding top 4 as some sort of guarantee next season needs to reconsider. Of course we can hope for it, we can aim for it but it’s not the done deal it was a few years ago. We have plenty of rebuilding to do so how about we give the new man some leeway to get on with doing that?

[keyo]

He might be.

Regardless, it's not so much the regularity of the interviews as it is the repetition of what he says.

Like I said, im sure I'll be in the minority but this charm offensive is starting to grate on me now.

so far it is the same thing over and over again, and i am not seeing him giving out soundbites at every turn or interviews through his car window at every opportunity.......i do see the media work being turned up, and hope it does not become the brendan rodgers show over the next month, so i don't think we can be too critical of him at the moment, as there is little else we can see to judge him on other than the couple of press conferences he has done.....ideally we will have some football to talk about soon and he will be talking about performances and how happy he is with progress soon enough

[scared_person]

I feel sorry for BR. In the absence of any football we only have his words to pick over, so people are bound to find things they don't like in what he says. When we start playing football we can put these words into some proper context.

The only genuine worry I have is that the fans won't take to BR's passing style. We're not good enough to play Barca's all out attack, so its going to be inevitable that sometimes we'll be keeping the ball to prevent the opposition having it, rather than to pile forward. The boring old shouts of "Get it forward", "No urgency" and "Only passes backwards and sideways" are going to be inevitable.

Thats not displacement VdM, it'll be very refreshing for me to see a team that can keep possession and have full control of a game. I was never one of those that called Rafa a defensive manager!

[kcbworth]

No shortage of determination or vision, a little short of belief imho

[Phil M]

“One thing I can assure the fans though, I’m going to fight for my life – to try to get this model of play that hopefully can change the history of the club.”

Maddock is a massive c**t!


Aside from that, the quote above is one of the most important things that Rodgers has said. He wants to introduce or re-introduce even, a pass and move style that ultimately could, as he says change the history of the club and hopefully get us to a place which I believe ultimately Rafa would have succeeded in doing if given enough time and financial support.
Whether he has the capability to handle the pressure of being at a big club, whilst attempting to change our current footballing philosophy remains to be seen but I'm certainly behind him 100% as every Red should be.

Exciting times ahead but he has to be given time.

[DutchRed]

It was pretty much Rafa Benitez' epitaph when he promised the world Liverpool would stay in the top four and didn't deliver that. For all the good things the man did for the club, this was a stupid thing to do, he gave every person out there a big stick to hit him with.

The table, my friends, doesn't lie. It shows Liverpool in mid-table. Is Rodgers the right man to turn that around? I think he is, if he will be given backing from both the boardroom and the supporters. But there is one little problem. Liverpool supporters are spoiled bastards, they won't have their team wandering around in mid-table, even if their team is just no better than mid-table. I really feel for the man because he has to find the right balance between realism and optimism and is pretty much not going to be able to say the right things.

[Devon Red]

You're not alone mate. A few fans are uncomfortable that he seems to have to go to the media every 2 minutes. I'm hoping that we haven't got a Hodgson-media-alike. Prefer our managers to do their talking on the pitch and when required to do interviews because of league regulations.

The 'stories' in the media today are probably still coming from the one press conference Rodgers did on Monday. After the televised press conference there is a closed session for the print media. The journos get a few minutes with him to get as many quotes as possible, and then drip feed them out over the next few days. Rodgers probably did no more than an hour total of media work this week, and that was only because there is a tour to promote.

[Andy @ Allerton]

Which made up stories are these? And instead of trying to quash Carroll shite maybe he shouldn't have started it in the first place.

What did he start? He issued a statement that seemed to me to say that he'd spoken to Carroll and Carroll was OK because he knew the script. He also seemed to be saying that he'll look at the whole squad before he decides what the next step is.

The media jumped on it and immediately said that Carroll was off on loan/sold then started linking loads of clubs then got soundbites from people at those clubs saying they've love to have him and then stepping it all up a gear with their usual backward frenzy.

This in turn has riled and pissed off some of the fans and delighted others that don't like our number 9.

[Andy @ Allerton]

The 'stories' in the media today are probably still coming from the one press conference Rodgers did on Monday. After the televised press conference there is a closed session for the print media. The journos get a few minutes with him to get as many quotes as possible, and then drip feed them out over the next few days. Rodgers probably did no more than an hour total of media work this week, and that was only because there is a tour to promote.

Nah. He keeps popping up in seperate Radio interviews. He's done at least two talkshite interviews for instance.

[Devon Red]

Nah. He keeps popping up in seperate Radio interviews. He's done at least two talkshite interviews for instance.

2 radio interviews and 2 press conferences since he took the job doesn't seem like a lot to me.

Just look at the stories today; the Mail, the Independent and the Mirror printed exactly the same quotes. Why? Because their journos got them from the same press session on Monday.

[Veinticinco de Mayo]

The comments have made my stomach to start sprinting. I am sick in the stomach. I hope we have not made a mistake in choosing our new manager. I remember when Stevie G said we were not going to win the Champions league and Rafa brought him to size and in the end we won it. Since then I expected our managers to see things differently. We won that trophy with not better players than what we currently have. I know the managers is not saying we are going to be fodder for other cows but I am not comfortable with the picture as it is being painted.

I'd blame the curry you had last night to be honest.

[Smudgester]

What did he start? He issued a statement that seemed to me to say that he'd spoken to Carroll and Carroll was OK because he knew the script. He also seemed to be saying that he'll look at the whole squad before he decides what the next step is.

The media jumped on it and immediately said that Carroll was off on loan/sold then started linking loads of clubs then got soundbites from people at those clubs saying they've love to have him and then stepping it all up a gear with their usual backward frenzy.

This in turn has riled and pissed off some of the fans and delighted others that don't like our number 9.

The media said carroll was off on loan because rodgers said it was being considered

[peachybum]

Nah. He keeps popping up in seperate Radio interviews. He's done at least two talkshite interviews for instance.

At least two. You mean two with talksport. I think he did 1 BBC 5 Live on when he got the job.

Everything this week is all from the one pre season tour presser.