With Brendan Rodgers set to be introduced as the new Liverpool manager at 10 o’clock this morning, The Times examines five key areas for the 39-year-old to address as he takes his first tentative steps in one of English football’s most testing jobs.
Come to terms with the new chain of command
Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Liverpool’s owner, is set to implement a strategy involving a sporting director but, at least in the short term, the role will be performed by an ensemble rather than an individual. Rodgers will be expected to work in tandem with a trio of technical, recruitment and administration specialists, but he will have the final say on transfers as the ultimate head of department. FSG sees this approach as the best way to ensure that a series of checks and balances are in place to prevent players being signed for fees that exceed their values. Rodgers has been able to appoint his own backroom staff, Colin Pascoe, Chris Davies and Glen Driscoll joining him from Swansea City — a trio of arrivals that will pave the way for Steve Clarke’s departure — but he will have no say over the more senior strategic appointments that will make up the football operations team.
Distance himself from the “man behind the new Barcelona” tag
If having your playing style compared to Barcelona was a blessing while manager of Swansea, it could be a curse at Liverpool. Expectation levels are rarely anything other than high at Anfield, so boosting them unnecessarily by being fêted as a purveyor of the kind of football associated with one of the greatest teams to grace the world game is likely to be a hindrance. Now is the time to nail a popular misconception, for reasons of self-preservation more than anything. Whereas Barcelona use possession to fuel their sense of adventure and allow them to hurt their opponents, Swansea under Rodgers monopolised it to exert control and stop their opponents from hurting them. Puncturing the myth may help to keep expectations in check and prevent Liverpool fans wondering what happened to the dazzling attacking football they thought they would be getting.
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Do not judge Liverpool on their eighth-place finish
If the relative merits of the Liverpool squad were assessed solely on them finishing eighth in last season’s Barclays Premier League (17 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur), Rodgers would be forgiven for determining to rip it up and start again. But the bigger picture shows that Liverpool won more than 50 per cent of their matches in all competitions and suffered some misfortune — including a season-ending injury to Lucas Leiva, the Brazil midfielder — that prevented that particular statistic being healthier. Rodgers appears prepared to accept that not everything is in need of a shake-up, having made it clear that he will offer every player a clean slate, including Alberto Aquilani and Joe Cole, who are set to return from season-long loan spells. The squad Rodgers is inheriting may not be perfect, but there is more than enough evidence to suggest that it is better than their league form suggests.
Recalibrate the midfield
Only Barcelona, Manchester City and Bayern Munich had a superior pass completion rate than Swansea last season. This remarkable statistic was largely because of the ability of Leon Britton and Joe Allen to control the game in midfield with short passes that went sideways and backwards more often than forward. Liverpool do not have an abundance of midfield players in this mould. The natural instincts of Steven Gerrard, Charlie Adam and Jonjo Shelvey are to force the play either with driving runs or long, ambitious passes. Only if such impulses are curbed will Rodgers be able to impose his style on his new team.
Embrace the Anfield crowd, don’t fear them
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Depending on who you listen to, the Liverpool fans are either too indulgent, impossible to please or both. Rafael Benítez and Kenny Dalglish, it was claimed, were given too much support, Roy Hodgson not enough. Revisionism has decreed that Hodgson was never given a chance, even though the man himself thanked those who would eventually turn on him for the positive reception they afforded him at his first game as manager. The chants for Dalglish to take his place began only once results, performances and style of football fell well below an acceptable standard. Rodgers is not Benítez and nor is he Dalglish, and he does not have legendary status, but, like Hodgson, he will be given two things by the Kop — a warm welcome and total backing. They want to see good football, which Rodgers has proved he can deliver, and they want good results. Should the former Swansea manager provide both, he will be taken to their hearts. Should he provide neither, he will be given the thumbs-down.