Rodgers Man Management !

Is Brendan Rodgers correct with the way he is handling certain players.  Many people have expressed an opinion that he has thrown players under the bus, almost for no reason, but possibly to cover for his and the teams own shortcomings, I disagree and I'm going to look at four players who have at various times suffered under Rodgers, Balotelli, Borini, Enrique and Mignolet.

Firstly Mignolet who is different to the others he is currently in favour but  he was dropped from the team and told he would be playing no part for a considerable time, looking for all the world like a scapegoat for the terrible results that the team had shown up to that point.  Brad Jones was his replacement who despite being a lovely bloke just isn't a capable goalkeeper he showed us this in that first game at Manchester comically diving out of the way of shots, but still Rodgers kept his word Jones was in, Mignolet out.  Was this bad man management, I don't think so, thinking back Mignolet was seriously out of form, there were huge in takes of breath from the whole of Anfield any time the ball went anywhere near him, constantly criticised by fans, commentators and media he looked a broken man, many were shouting for him to be replaced in the January.  A few weeks out the team and if the press are to be believed after a talking to from the wife he returned to the team with a string of good performances a far better and more confident keeper than ever before.  So good, in fact, that some were telling us that he was our player of the year by the end of the season.  With hindsight granted, but this has been proven as good man management a player who looked broken has been taken away from the limelight and come back stronger and better, but this is partly at least down to Mignolet himself a bad attitude or a petulant strop and I'm sure he wouldn't have made it back in to the first team.

Borini is different again he really wants to make it at Liverpool, he works hard displays a good attitude, says all the right things, the top and bottom of it is he is just not good enough.  I think he will be a perfectly decent forward for somebody just in my opinion not a team with top four ambitions, I believe that the manager has told him this. Last year we were offered around £14 million pounds by Sunderland and he basically refused to go, this has cost us as we will not get that sort of offer again, I know he has a contract but as the manager of the club what options does Rodgers have he is not going to make the bench we have numerous forwards higher than him in the pecking order, the club need him off the wage bill and anything we can get for him in the bank, Rodgers needs to get rid, hopefully in an amicable manner but if not, we still need to get rid.

Enrique is almost the opposite of Borini poor attitude, doesn't appear to have the intelligence to say anything right and appears to spend all his time on social media making inane comments and as far as I can see has no interest in playing football, why would we want to keep him.  He also is refusing to leave appearing to wanting to see out his contract claiming his huge wages for doing very little.  Again what options does the manager have. For me he has made the correct decision.

Balotelli, what can I say, so many seem to think he should be given another chance and I just can't see it, yes he is a Liverpool player and when he is on the pitch I will support him but in my opinion he shouldn't get anywhere near a Liverpool shirt again.  Firstly despite him being a risk worth taking it has turned out that he simply isn't good enough his record not only at Livrpool but at is other clubs and in the international arena show that, he can take a penalty and score an occasional spectacular goal but for me that's it.  Reports from Melwood tell us that he is poor in training, worse is a bad influence on others, talking over coaches, refusing to listen or take instructions, bringing friends who also disrupt sessions, continuously missing sessions due to "colds" all unacceptable.  Again I can't see that Rodgers has any other option than to keep him away from the first team players and try to get him out of the club.

Many people feel that Rodgers should treat the above players differently but I just can't see how, if Rodgers had been replaced in the summer and many peoples favourite Klopp was now the manager I can't imagine for one second that he would reward this type of behaviour and give Balotelli a place in the first team, especially with his goal scoring record at the club, or that Enrique would be rewarded for his time on social media with a place on the bench or that he would pick players who are just not good enough because they say the right things, what he would possibly do is reward players who having been dropped go away, improve and come back stronger and better, in fact you could say he would do just what Rodgers has done.

@lfclumo

That's A Big Big Win

That's a big win, that was my thought on the final whistle and still is now for so many reasons.

We finished last season in chaos and had to face the humiliation of that final day result and when the fixtures computer sent us back there for the very first fixture of the new season, I was concerned.  Stoke is a hard enough place to get anything from, our record there is terrible and they well, really well at their ground against everybody, add to this the extra pressure from that result last year, the worries, the concerns that the players must of had and you can see why I think we were all concerned.

Stoke are simply a horrible team to play.  I hear people tell me how they have changed styles, "that's not them anymore", "they like to get the ball down and play", " under Hughes they are different" but I saw different very physical all over the pitch, dirty even, huge long balls to the head of Walters throughout the game who played on Gomez trying to intimidate him throughout the match.  A big reliance on set plays that were again pumped into the box and so on for me not much has changed.  Not a criticism, all legitimate tactics to win a Premier League game, but horrible to play against and not the new Stoke we have been fed by the media.  Liverpool had to stand up to the physicality, win individual battles, stay organised and strong at the back and hope the extra class would tell, they achieved all this and that is a credit to all the players.

Our manager, and players were under huge pressure to get a result following last seasons result at Stoke, the general failure to perform last year in particular in the run in, the pressure on the manager due to this failure last season and many fans belief that he should have been replaced, I'm certain that the manager has been put under extra pressure from the owners  they have spent money they have given him the support in every way and I believe that they will expect a better level of performance for everybody.

The fixtures computer has given us a tough start to the season with a string of very difficult away games, to pick up points and stay in the race is going to be very difficult, extra pressure on everybody, again I'm not sure the manager will survive a poor start to the season with the expectations the owners must now have.

All the above combined made this fixture in my eyes before the game almost impossible, probably the worst possible opening day fixture we could have had and I think if before the game we were offered a draw we would have taken it, beyond any doubt. But we did better far better than that.

if we are honest it was a dog of a game it had to be we had to dog it out it's Stoke and they are horrible, we had to try and be strong, solid, compact we couldn't take another defeat like last year and we had to get something from the game to keep fans and owners happy or jobs may be at stake even this early,mother pressure would certainly been added to my media and the support, but we dodged it out well defenders did ok when last year they would have crumbled new full backs did very well under pressure midfield players covered huge amounts of ground and forwards battled and tried to find space with little quality service and then our quality told one moment of pure magic and we had the three points.  We have players who can do that.

            

      

  

  

Because of the reasons listed above this game was hugely difficult and Liverpool overcame them all and won they got the three points and that could be huge, we will gain confidence, we will get belief the support will remain optimistic and positive, at least for one more week, a little of the pressure on the manager has been lifted, new players get more time to settle, to show us what they can do and perhaps most importantly we have a start, just a hint of momentum.  

      

 

It meant a lot to everybody players, supporters, management and I sure owners you could tell by the players passion on scoring the goal and the away end went off, but let's keep our feet on the ground Bournmouth next and  three more points badly needed.

@lfclumo   

Liverpool FC. A Good Summer ?

Obviously, as last season finished and we moved into the summer, I, like just about every other Liverpool supporter was down, a poor season had ended in a disastrous run of results culminating in in the humiliating, slaughtering we received at the hands of Stoke City.  I found myself wanting a scapegoat and it was the manager that I was looking at, especially as it looked like Klopp may have been available to us.  But as the summer has worn on I have come back round to supporting the manager and thinking that the owners have done the correct thing in putting their faith in him.  We got our scapegoats when Marsh and Pascoe didn't have contracts renewed and we settled down to a few weeks of nothing from the club everything went quiet, not a dicky bird. Perhaps another good decision, no controversy,moving the supporters a chance to breath, calm down and everybody get their heads in a better place.  It worked for me by now I was ready to give our manager another chance.

New coaches were eventually announced over the summer with Sean O'Driscoll appointed as Assistant Manager, Pepijn Lijnders promoted to First Team Development Coach and Gary McAllister appointed as First Team Coach, not the big name appointments or ex players many wanted but for me decent enough and the people that the manager wanted so if we are backing him we may as well fully back him so we will see but at have every confidence that they will at least move us forward.

As the new signings started to come through early on in the window initially I was a little underwhelmed Ings, Bogdan and Milner were not the exciting signings I had been dreaming about but on thinking about they all appear to be an improvement and made our squad stronger not exciting but functional.  Joe Gomez was signed shortly afterwards from Charlton again at the time I didn't really know who he was so great a young player that we thought was good but ho hum another run of the mill signing.  Then the news. broke we were getting Firmino, now this was the signing I wanted, a marquee signing at least and I player I had watched and like very exciting and on top of that it appeared to be winding up other clubs supporters that we had got him, Twitter was full of happy reds for a change.  Clyne followed shortly afterwards another big name signing who other clubs reportedly wanted and a player who I believe is absolute quality, it finally looks like Liverpool have got their act together in the transfer market, business don early and getting our targets rather than loosing out to our rivals.  The Benteke deal had been rumbling on all summer with rumours about just about every striker in Europe going on but I think we all knew it was always going to be Benteke.  Many argue that we have paid to much, some that he won't fit our style, some that he simply isn't good enough. I disagree, I think he is a quality player who will fit our style of play and who will score goals he did cost a lot but to be honest I don't care, I don't look at the price I only care that we have another quality player.  Liverpool have also signed to or three quality youngsters who I know nothing about other than what I have read but I am pleased that we are looking worldwide to develop our academy teams I think it can only help, the more quality at the club, regardless of age, the better.

Our tour, not sure what to think, we travelled to far to be good for the players, we made millions of pounds and that can only be good, we played weaker teams don't know if that's good or bad, not much of a challenge but do we really want to be challenged pre-season and wins bring confidence no matter who you are playing.  Anyway I'm not going to go through game by game but I will go through the things that have stuck in my mind or that I will take away from the tour. Firstly, our fans worldwide are superb I love watching  full grounds belting out You'll Never Walk Alone thousands of miles from Liverpool and the players must love it as well.  Playing wise Milner is going to be a huge player this year, far from the run of the mill signing i though he was earlier in the summer, Gomez has looked like a star very time I have seen him early I know but he could be a player.  Our manager seems to still prefer Lovren to Sakho and if this is the case I believe it will be a huge mistake we will have to wait and see. Ings runs lots, hope he can score lots to.  Been a little disappointed in Clyne but I am still certain he will do very well for us and just recently Firmino looked good, I think we all knew he would and Benteke started well a few more like that and everybody will be happy.  We have some very talented youngsters Chirivella, Rossiter, aren't and Ojo joining Gomez in impressing hugely.

My thoughts are that we have had a very good summer, lots of change but all positive, you are never sure until the season starts and we certainly have a tough start but there couldn't be a better way of putting last year behind us than a win at Stoke.

Big Ben.

Is Benteke the man for the job, 32 million pounds would suggest our manager and owners believe he is.  Nobody can say the manager didn't get the backing of the owners, Benteke was his man and they got him he cost plenty but the owners backed the manager and got him the man he wanted.

                         

    

Many will argue that he cost to much for me the cost is irrelevant, the owners are the people that worry about money not the supporters or manager I only worry about the team and the players the manager brings in and in this case I think we have a good player who will benefit the team.  The stats show that Benteke scores goals over the last three years only Suarez, Van Persie and and Aguero scoring more and Rooney less, put an average value on these players and I think it will show that he is a bargain.  Lukaku is a similar player representing the same international team with a far worse statistical record and moved last year (before the new TV deal money) for a similar wage again suggesting we have a good deal.  I agree that there are foreign players who may be available for less money but there are also arguments against them, the biggest name players will not sign for us, we are not in that league, yet, not able to attract the big names and I would also argue that players in this league would cost more than Benteke.  There are exciting players available in the next group down.  I can feel people screaming Lacazette at me, there have been plenty rumours that he is available for a little less than thirty million and I must admit is the signing i wanted but again I feel that we will struggle to attract him from a club who have made the champions league and also when everybody in the world has been linked with him.  Having said that i have to admit that I hadn't heard of him 18 months ago and without any great knowledge feel he like many players he would be a risk have I fallen into the trap of mistaking foreign and good,  There is a lot say for proven premier league and Benteke is that.

Many are worried that Liverpool have just bought a target man and this will result in is changing styles to just booting the ball up to him and that Benteke can only play in this style.  It's true that he is a big man, he is good in the air and certainly has plenty of physicality but that's not it, he has everything else as well, he has pace, he has technical ability and he can score, all types of goals from all areas, he can play in several formations but importantly I don't think we will change anything he does have the strength and ability to hold the ball up that we need but he also has the technical ability to join in with a move and the pace, power and finishing ability to get in the end of moves, in our team I believe he has the ability to become an all round striker to be feared after all he has achieved everything so far in a struggling Villa team.

Can he fit in with the flair players we already have? Coutinho and Firmino are going to be important and once Sturridge returns we have an array of attacking players can Benteke fit in?  In my opinion without a doubt he can with these for players fit and firing not many will be able to stop us different styles of player yes but in my opinion compatible.

In my opinion a good buy, not without risk but every chance of becoming a vital player for us over the coming years and I certainly believe that he has goals in him and goals win games.

@lfclumo   

Summer Signings

First of all I need to state that I am normally optimistic, I usually like signings and find it hard to find fault in what we do, last year for example I was happy with the business we had done by the time the season had started, over the season I was proven wrong with Lambert, Balotelli and Lovren failing to produce throughout the season and Markovic, Manquillo and Moreno,  failing in many fans eyes.  Despite this I'm still going to put on record my thoughts about this summers signings.

Once again I'm optimistic and like the signings, I feel that we have bought several players who can and will go straight in to the first eleven and that everybody is an improvement on last season.

Firstly the most controversial, Benteke, I like him, he seems to have the lot, pace, power, movement, physicality, finishing, technique, arial ability, proven Premier League record what more could we want.  Granted he is expensive and everybody is a risk but strikers are expensive no matter who you buy and I would argue that attackers with a comparable record go for similar money if not more, Lukaku would be a good example.  We as Liverpool fans often fall into the trap of wanting a foreign sounding name that we no little about rather than players we know are good and who can achieve.  There are other good strikers out there, possibly cheaper but we have a very good striker on our hands and that's what we were demanding at the start of the window.

Firmino, an excellent player and the marque signing that we have all been shouting for.  I'm very excited by Firmino several people were talking about him last summer and because of this I have watched him play and thought he was out of our reach and that he would be going to one of the big names for huge money, delighted that we got him and I am certain that he will be a huge success.

Ings a good young player he stands a chance, had a lot of work to do and needs to develop but in my opinion will be more effective than Borini, Lambert or for that matter Balotelli so an improvement in the squad so this makes me happy.

Clyne, again I have high hopes widely touted as the best right back in the country and he chose to sign for us over some of our competitors so that's good and a definite improvement over Johnson so yet again our squad gets stronger.  

Bogdan, not overly impressed I have to admit, we wanted a new reserve keeper and we got one and he without doubt is an improvement over Jones so at least he represents a step forward if only a small one.

Milner to be honest originally I wasn't to bothered by this signing but I have since changed my mind and now believe he will be a huge player for us over the coming season.  Several things have changed my mind, better people than me have been singing his praises, City were desperate to keep him offering lots of money, he seems to have bought into the Liverpool project and finally and most importantly his performances in pre season have been excellent.n I again believe he has improved our squad from last season with a 29 year old Milner looking stronger than a 34 year old Gerard.

Gomez didn't know anything about this lad but he has been the shining light of pre season with some exceptional performances, yes I know it's only pre season and the opposition weren't all that but that's all I have to go on and by God the lad looks exciting.

We have also signed a couple of youth team players that those who are in the know seem to be excited about so that also looks good and if we continue to support and develop our young players as we have been uni believe we will continue to be able to sign the best young talent from around the world and this can only help the first team.

So, overall I'm delighted and excited about the season ahead, with new coaches in place I hope some work gets done on defending and set plays at both ends and we could achieve anything, let's hope for exciting times ahead.

@lfclumo