Brendan Rodgers playing style - who is likely to be in or out of favour?

Knob

Post of the day 

Have to disagree with this Hardcore, Adam makes poor decisions when in advanced areas as demonstrated many times last year when choosing to shoot rather than lay it off to players in better positions. When he does pass he very rarely moves to make space for himself or others and his pressing game is severely lacking. I honestly think he's guaranteed to either warm the bench or be sold in the summer. I'd personally use him as a squad option but high energy, high tempo pass and move is about as alien to Charlie as mixed grill is to a vegetarian.

i'll 2nd that, dont like Adams never have. To clumbasome and always give freekicks away. I was led to believe he had a deadly left foot, well he must have left it at Blackpool.
 I would have Aquillani in that position or even J cole. keep Henderson as Stevie's understudy.
 Buy another pacy winger and a poacher.
 Coates to come in for Carra ( god bless him ).
 I also dont want to raid the Swans for anybody. Would rather buy 2 quality players who would add another dimension, then start blooding some of our talented youth. 

I can see Suarez being moved out to the left, Downing on the right, Carroll up top. Gerrard and Lucas (hopefully) will be starters but I can see him trying to buy a very good ball-playing midfielder. Back four I expect will remain the same.

I think Carroll isn't the ideal type of striker for this style of football. I'm expecting we're getting someone more suited for the job. Guess it depends what position we'll play Suarez in too.

I'm not worried for Carroll tbh, he has shown he can pass, in fact I always thought he was really good at crossing. On the other hand,despite the fact I don't like Adam as a player, or at least what I've seen of him this year (honestly never saw him at BP) I think he's a nice guy, and after reading his interview on the offal, it makes me a little sad to think he could get the boot after just one bad season (not that bad compared to what our midfield generated, though) . However, it seems his style presumably would not fit with Rodgers philosophy. It's all in the bosses hand.

One player I expect to be F***ing reborn is Enrique. He is gifted for short passing and is fairly fast and technical, but his tactical discipline is so F***ing off, he keeps running into Downing's space with his head down and stuff. I'm sure all the tactical work in training will do him the world of good, as the "zonal" approach will help him organize the way he plays and moves, if he is smart enough that is, which i trust him to be.

I think most of our current lads are all capable of playing in a side that looks to keep the ball and passes it well given that we played that way for much of last season but without the necessary penetration or the required level of finishing. No doubt Rodgers will have his own ideas about who is most suitable and who might need to be shipped out to make way for new players but i think he'll take a look at most of the lads first. The most obvious candidate for not quite fitting in would be Andy Carroll. If your manager is totally committed to keeping the ball on the deck and moving it up the pitch in triangles then you are negating a big part of andy's game. I beleive he can play within this system BUT if you ignore the direct option completely it is like cutting off one of his legs. On the flip side, Rodgers did select Alan Shearer in his Premiership team of the last 20 years so he must see the value of an old school English centre-forward and Danny Graham is quite a big lad as well. Quite a few posters jumping to conclusions about the likes of Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing but both lads can pass it and keep things simple and yet several people claiming Henderson will flourish (it seems) because all we ever see from him is the 5 yard square pass.

If you watch the way Swansea play and read a coupleof the interviews with Rodgers you appreciate that keeping the ball the way they do (i believe only City had higher possession stats) isn't just about having the right individuals. It's a team ethic, it's about taught patterns, rotation of players as the ball is moved, angles, options, distances and all the things necessary to play a good possession game. If the coaching is good enough, if the players are instilled with the confidence to always look to play, and if X is on the ball and Y and Z always show for it, then it can look easy.

I reckon there will be 3 or 4 players in and the same amount going the other way. Funnily enough Maxi is actually very well suited to a side that looks to play short quick passes but I think he may already have moved elsewhere in his head. I agree that Dirk is almost certainly on his way after several years good service and it's hard not to ask the same questions of Carra although I suspect Rodgers may be wanting to lean on Stevie and Carra as supportive senior players as he looks to implement the program so we will have to see. I must admit I do really like young Joe Allen (he was a key element in their side because he could pick it up from anywhere and run with it, he pulled most of the strings) at Swansea and I'd love to see us put in a bid for the lad but I suspect that Rodgers will steer clear of poaching any of their players for the time being.

Post of the day 

Definatly a finalst for one of the end of the year awards.

What makes me laugh is you get the impression from some quarters that under Kenny that all we did was launch the ball towards Carroll and in the first training season Rodgers will show them the ball and all the players will start oohhhing and aaahing and saying I didn't know you could do that. I see that supposedly Joe Cole could be back in favour. Hopefully Suso and Sterling will get more playing time as well.

Both Aquilani & Cole must be thinking that there's a way back for them? I'd be happy to see both given another chance.

Both Aquilani & Cole must be thinking that there's a way back for them? I'd be happy to see both given another chance.

If it works, great and I'd like to be proved wrong but the real problem for Cole as I see it is a lack of intelligence... bags of ability and not a clue how to use it.

I've got to wonder how Brendan can instill in Cole what so many others have tried to do and failed and that's no relfection on Brendan's communication skills.

I think there's going to be some radical changes and one or two might come as a shock to senior players and fans but we'll see. First things first Bren needs to get to know the players and see how they shape up in a new system. How well they adapt before making too many changes and that will probably apply across the board.

Not sure that applies to Dirk since I suspect he already has a move lined up but even he might choose to stay. His problem I suspect will be establishing himself in the first eleven and since I suspect that might be a tall order he might want to go elsewhere where he won't be on the bench so much. If that happens good luck to him, he's always worn his heart on his sleeve, never given less than 100% and scored some vital goals for us.

One things for sure... anyone who does not rise to the challenge will be leaving the playing staff sooner than later and Bren will have my support in that. No single person is bigger than LFC. Never has been and never will.

We can not afford to stand still.

I am looking forward to seeing Lucas back.Not necessarily for his role as DM but the lad is a very good inteligent footballer and I think he will flourish even more under this style.Charlie Adam can pass a ball long so why cant he pass a ball short. We have played to much long ball football over the past few years so this can only be a good thing.Agger must be delighted he can express himself more now. Sadly casualties will ensue and i think we all know who they might be.But if Aquilani and Cole come back surely that has to mean a strong squad.
Also note we cannot sign a Swansea player for 12months.

I am looking forward to seeing Lucas back.Not necessarily for his role as DM but the lad is a very good inteligent footballer and I think he will flourish even more under this style.Charlie Adam can pass a ball long so why cant he pass a ball short. We have played to much long ball football over the past few years so this can only be a good thing.Agger must be delighted he can express himself more now. Sadly casualties will ensue and i think we all know who they might be.But if Aquilani and Cole come back surely that has to mean a strong squad.
Also note we cannot sign a Swansea player for 12months.

Is that a little postivity I see Walton? Nice to see u feeling a little happier again mate

Suso....step forward

Quite a few posters jumping to conclusions about the likes of Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing but both lads can pass it and keep things simple and yet several people claiming Henderson will flourish (it seems) because all we ever see from him is the 5 yard square pass.

 

I seriously think suarez may go... When he has been asked about the quality of liverpools squad he has mentions, gerrard, carragher, reina, bellemy but not suarez who i thought would be one of the first names to come off his tongue

I seriously think suarez may go... When he has been asked about the quality of liverpools squad he has mentions, gerrard, carragher, reina, bellemy but not suarez who i thought would be one of the first names to come off his tongue

He clearly talks about Premier League greats. As great as Suarez has been he's only had one full season, a long way to go before he's a PL Great.

And anyway, he didn't mention Skrtel, our player of the season, hardly think he's off too? He threw out a few names, absolutely nothing in it.

I think like any new manager he will give all the players an opportunity to impress and given that we actually played very good football for parts of last season we have a lot of players who should be able to fit into Rodgers style of play.

another worrying sign for luis might be all the 'on and off the pitch' mentions.
hope it's just paranoia though

great to hear the comments Rodgers made about pressing the hell out of teams when they come to Anfield. That's how it should be in my book. Keep the fookin ball and when ya lose it, get after the bas..tards till you'ver got the damn thing back.

The most obvious candidate for not quite fitting in would be Andy Carroll. If your manager is totally committed to keeping the ball on the deck and moving it up the pitch in triangles then you are negating a big part of andy's game. I beleive he can play within this system BUT if you ignore the direct option completely it is like cutting off one of his legs.  Quite a few posters jumping to conclusions about the likes of Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing but both lads can pass it and keep things simple and yet several people claiming Henderson will flourish (it seems) because all we ever see from him is the 5 yard square pass.

Great post.  I have my doubts about Henderson as well.  Him versus Joe Allen, there's no comparison.  Henderson seems like a good lad with a good head on his shoulders, but I've seen very little of him this season to impress, no matter if he was on the right or in the middle.  He takes no responsibility, and I suppose that this short passing business is in the eye of the beholder.  Some see it as fitting into the way Rodgers wants to play, I see it more like... hot potato.  He just is a human rebound machine, get it away from me, quickly, five yard pass sideways, or backwards... as I said, he's not really a pass-and-move player, he's more of a pass-and-hide player.  If you look at Joe Allen, he makes those passes then moves into a space where he wants the ball and then looks forward to attack.  He can dance on the ball to get away from pressure, he can control the game, etc etc.  I'm not saying we should go after Joe Allen.  I'm just saying that if Joe Allen at Swansea is better than Henderson at Liverpool, then there's no way Henderson is the requisite quality.

As for Carroll, I actually have started to come around to the lad, he had an abysmal season, only started to look better in the last few games.  But the problem, I think, is not whether he can handle the ball at his feet (he has shown that he can), but his initial speed.  I think that once he gets going he's faster than you might think at first.  But the way Swansea have played, and the way Barca and Ajax play (after whom Rodgers models his system), you have a lot of intricate passing in the middle of the park, and so your center forward needs to be hugging the defensive line to stay onside, and then be ready to make a dash once a through ball is played.  Carroll takes a couple of seconds to build up the steam.  I don't think he has that off-the-blocks speed that we would need to play cleverly and get behind those defenses.  Just my opinion though.

great to hear the comments Rodgers made about pressing the hell out of teams when they come to Anfield. That's how it should be in my book. Keep the fookin ball and when ya lose it, get after the bas..tards till you'ver got the damn thing back.

I agree with this, last year frustrated the hell out of me seeing us back off when other teams had the ball and letting them pass it around us. We should be thriving to get the ball back so that we can attack

A lot of people say Henderson will flourish under Rodgers yet Spearing won't :S

Spearing (when played) has imo proved to be the more superior in short and long passing, quick thinking, decisiveness, composed, positionally better and even shown authority in the middle. 

Still believe Spearing and Lucas would  be our best partnership in the middle atm. Not only would they offer a lot defensively but also, fluidity in a pass and move style of play.

Finally, Kuyt for me would be the better option than Carroll if Rodgers plays with 1 center forward. His movement, link ups and hold up play is far better than that of Carrolls... not forgetting Kuyts pressing too.

A lot of people say Henderson will flourish under Rodgers yet Spearing won't :S

Spearing (when played) has imo proved to be the more superior in short and long passing, quick thinking, decisiveness, composed, positionally better and even shown authority in the middle. 

I agree.  I think Spearing did exceptionally well this season, given the expectations.  And why exactly would he not flourish under Rodgers?  I mean, I don't think he's going to get many opportunities under him, but nothing last season would suggest that he did poorly, let alone that he's somehow worse than Henderson.  In fact, there were many times when it seemed to me like Spearing was handling his own job (DM), AND doing double duty for Hendo, trying to make some attacking, aggressive passes while Hendo just kind of was a passenger.  Some of the Spearing posts, you'd think he was an eternal hoofer or something.  In fact, he plays a lot of slick passes, much moreso than Hendo (at least last season).  He looked like he wanted the ball, he wanted to attack, I remember some times where he would ping it on a plate for Suarez even and Luis looked surprised and caught off guard.  Whereas most of Hendo's attempts to Suarez ended up not anywhere close to him and with Luis throwing his arms in the air.

I'm not saying Jay is going to take us forward to the title.  We can do better for sure.  But it's ridiculous to say that for some reason Hendo is better suited to Rodgers' system when he was a passenger most of the season and Spearing was the one playing the better football by leaps and bounds.