Analysis: Anfield owners back their man to merge crowd-pleasing style with results

By ALAN BALDWIN
Published on 02/06/2012 01:56

New manager Brendan Rodgers tried to say all the right things yesterday when he assured Liverpool’s fervent fans that he would dedicate his life to fighting for the club and its passing principles.

It was a confident start from a man who is facing a huge challenge in convincing the supporters, and English football in general, that he is the man to revive the fallen giants after one good season in the Premier League with Swansea City.

“Footballers are footballers. They want to learn and be educated and improve. That’s something I’ve done with all types of players,” said Rodgers, whose own playing career ended at the age of 20 due to a knee condition.

Having the Anfield crowd on side is a crucial part of the job, as current England manager Roy Hodgson discovered in his own short-lived and unhappy time at Liverpool. Kenny Dalglish, the sacked club great who Rodgers replaces, could never be faulted for his passion for a footballing institution, and many fans were upset that he was let go last month despite a lowly eighth-place Premier League finish.

Passion only goes so far, however, and Liverpool’s American owners are convinced Rodgers has other qualities needed to set the five-times champions of Europe back on the road to success. But what makes the 39-year-old Northern Irishman particularly attractive to his new employers is that he is in so many ways untypical of the British manager of Dalglish’s generation.

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner highlighted the new manager’s style of “attacking, relentless football” and spoke of him as a coach at the forefront of a new wave. He talked of Rodgers’ talents as motivator and technician and his accomplishments at Swansea, a club who defied expectations of a swift return to the Championship with some delightfully stylish performances last season.

But, most of all, Werner stressed that the new man saw the bigger picture. The fans want attractive football as well as results, and Rodgers has form in that department.

“Brendan is attractive to us for more than what he achieved at Swansea,” Werner said. “He’s an enormously intelligent man and his dedication to coaching and vision for improvement impressed us.

“He’s travelled all over Europe to study and learn the best techniques. He speaks Spanish as well as English and his track record has showed that he has used his knowledge to great effect.

“I think you all know that Jose Mourinho spotted Brendan at one point and brought him into his coaching staff at a time when Chelsea achieved two Premier League titles.” Liverpool, once the dominant force in English football, have not won the championship since 1990 and have had to watch enviously as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and now Manchester City have outgunned them. They finished the 2011-12 campaign 37 points behind champions Manchester City with their lowest win tally (14) in a top-flight season since 1953-54.

While Swansea’s style had some fans fancifully comparing them to the brilliance of Barcelona, Rodgers will be expected to craft a side that will one day be the match of the Spaniards on the European stage.

It will take some time, as he acknowledged yesterday, and he faces a hard road ahead with big decisions to make.