Liverpool under Rodgers are heading in the right direction
Some football fans thought the appointment of Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool boss was a short term fix; how wrong they were.
The man from Northern Ireland is a student of the beautiful game and has served his apprenticeship well; taking over at a big club like Liverpool is a natural progression.
After learning his trade in the Championship he took Swansea to the Premiership via the play-offs.
At just forty years old he is one of the Premiership's younger Managers but he knows the game inside out.
He started the clear out straight away; he wanted his own team and not a Kenny Dalglish team. The one thing he asked for was a bit of time for the players to get used to his style of management; he seems to be getting it right.
Just like the rest of us Steven Gerrard is getting old; but is still one hell of a player. Rodgers has built a side around the England Captain who uses his football brain where his legs used to do the work. The midfield is well balanced either going forward or helping defend.
Two major pluses for Liverpool football club; keeping hold of Suarez and signing Daniel Sturridge.
Luis Suarez will always be cast as the pantomime villain, taking a bite out of a fellow pro tends to do that, there is no doubt he knows where the goal is.
Daniel Sturridge seems to have finally found 'home' after playing for Manchester City and Chelsea. They are both players that have skill in abundance, they both like taking players on and seem to have a telepathy that must scare most defenders.
If you look at the top of the goalscoring charts you'll find three players on eight goals apiece; Aguero of Manchester City along with the SAS team!
Not only that but he also brought in Philippe Coutinho fom Inter Milan in January. He is only twenty years old but looks a very good prospect. The world of football can never have enough attacking midfielders and this player, if looked after properly, could become a great!
I've always rated Pepe Reina and honestly thought he'd stay at Anfield for a lot longer than he has but the gaffer wanted his own team and went out and bought Simon Mignolet from Sunderland. The Belgium International has impressed with some of his displays this season and at twenty five has yet to reach his goalkeeping peak so a lot more to come from him.
Bringing in Victor Moses on loan from Chelsea and the form of Jordan Henderson, whom I think has yet to show the reason why he was bought for twenty million pounds, is showing what a strong side he is putting together.
But as the reds boss knows, it's all about building a squad; Liverpool are far from finished.
Rodgers at a recent press conference
' "We need to bring in players for the team," said the Liverpool manager. "We've got a squad and we've got enough cover but in the future the focus is on bringing in players that can come straight in and improve our team. We did that last year and benefited from that. We know what we need to improve and we know the areas we need to improve but it's all about timing and all about affordability and can we do it? I always hope that in each window we can improve the team and if we can do that we can rightly be up there."
Rodgers accepts that shopping in January can be problematic but not impossible, as last season's additions proved. He added: "In January it's difficult but our recruitment guys are working very hard to try to identify that type of player that can come in. Last January we got Daniel Sturridge for the money we brought him in for, the same as Wilfried Bony went to Swansea, and he has been brilliant. '
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/08/liverpool-brendan-rodgers-talent-transfer-window
The fans and the board of Liverpool F.C. have been very patient with Brendan Rodgers and I think that faith really will be repaid; anyone that knows anything about football can see he is building a side that will battle for the title.
But it's not only on the domestic front that the Anfield faithful want to be succesful; this is a club that is steeped in European history. If he can bring the Premiership title to the red side of Merseyside that will be part one completed. How long that will take is another article all together!
Written by Paul Moore, a football fan.
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