It didn't take long for the "Happy One" to show his true colours. What is it with Jose Mourinho towards Arsene Wenger? or for that matter bar Alex Ferguson, Mourinho always had a disregard for managers who didn't fall for his charade. For Arsene Wenger read Rafael Benitez, Pep Guardiola, Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and Titi Vilanova.
Never ceases to amaze me how the British fall for the bullshit, "the little horse" that is Chelsea Football Club who have a side assembled for more than 250 million are far from a little horse. Which brings me to his comments on Wenger yesterday, just like the Voyeur comments all those years ago to describe Arsene Wenger -- "He is a specialist in failure," -
Sorry I am not an Arsenal fan but what the biggest load of bollocks that has ever been said about a manager who changed the ethos and thinking of how football is coached in England. Arsene Wenger changed Arsenal Football Club completely, extended careers, produced many and shined a few diamonds throughout his time at the Gunners. Yes, Arsenal haven't won a trophy in coming on 8 years, imagine if Bill Shankly was around today. Liverpool didn't win a trophy for 7 year after the FA Cup win in 1965 does that impede the great man to be a failure fuck no. Which is why the likes of Mourinho needs to look at himself, not since his Porto side of 10 years ago has Mourinho built any sort of legacy even at Porto there was none.
Look at the bare facts, Inter Milan suffered drastically after his spending at that club so much so Inter are a shadow of a club these days not even relevant in Serie A terms they are so far behind. Real Madrid, the biggest club in world football, lost the dressing room, marginalised players, not too mention the eye gouging incident. He was run out of Spain by the media who didn't fall for the bullshit.
Easy to be a cheque-book manager which until Mourinho builds a legacy like Wenger that is how many will judge him who see beyond the "Special One" crap, while there is no denying Mourinho is one of the best managers of his generation they way gets every inch out of his players. The crass way of describing one of the best managers to ever grace the English game in my opinion fly's in the face of managers like Ferguson, Busby, Clough, Shankly, Paisley, Chapman, Mee, Stein, Struth managers who built legacies despite lean periods but that's what makes them greats. Until then Mourinho is not on the same level of Arsene Wenger or any of those managers.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Rodgers "Buck-ing" The Trend
He wouldn't last six months some said when appointed Liverpool manager in May 2012. That summer's tour in the USA coincided with the Being:Liverpool documentary which was commissioned to be done before his appointment brought the David Brent comparison's with Rodgers one liner's and some would say cliche quips when been interviewed or when talking to players.
Hindsight is a great thing in football, at the time you think differently. Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and Kenny Dalglish's reign's in the last decade for example; more so the latter, where Kenny performed a key role to where we are now in transitioning from Roy Hodgson's disastrous reign to Rodgers's reign. A lot of fans felt despite(including myself at the time) Kenny got a raw deal. Yes the league form was bad but he ended up getting Liverpool to two cup finals and almost easily could have come away with a domestic double had it not been for the disallowed Andy Carroll goal against Chelsea. That is for another day, but the impact that his 18 months in charge had setup Rodgers with the foundation to build from something.
Not only have Liverpool clearly improved under him but the one thing which is finally getting recognised is his man-management of players, specifically 3 players which I think throughout his reign have improved immeasurably as footballers. As much as the young players like Sterling, Flanagan, Suso, Wisdom to name a few, the players I am referring to are Jordan Henderson, Daniel Sturridge and the mercurial, controversial but unbelievably talented footballer Luis Suarez.
The latter if he stays at the club, could undoubtedly be the greatest player to ever grace the Red shirt of Liverpool, you think who are regarded as the greatest; Dalglish, Gerrard, Barnes, Rush et al...Taking into account Suarez's two almost full seasons under Rodgers his goal return conversion rate has gone beyond what even I imagined. Like Cristiano Ronaldo, Suarez just obliterates the opposition to such an extent its frightening. The man is a genius.
The other two players mentioned, Suarez's strike partner Daniel Sturridge what can you say about him: lethal finisher. His goal return and assist making aligned with Suarez is probably the most feared strike partnership around at the moment. One thing defenders hate is players running at them with pace and also movement, as we seen yesterday in the 5-1 defeat of Arsenal, the League leaders defence were taking apart piece by piece by the aforementioned key attributes. Sterling was involved in a lot of the damage but Suarez and Sturridge strike fear into each side the come up against. Arsenal won't be the last side to come away from Anfield with a beating like that, if Liverpool could transfer 50% of that performance into their away games its fair to say to dream the impossible dream could be mentioned among Kopites in the coming weeks who knows.
That brings us to possibly one of my favourite players at the club, not Lucas who I admire a lot but the similarities between him and Jordan Henderson could not be more striking. One thing I have learned, never write players off too young, Henderson is one of those and his performances this season have put him in the frame to be on the plane to Brazil with the England squad come the summer. I would go on to say he should be a starter for them, everyone knows he has the energy and stamina to run all day but his in game intelligence is improving all the time.
The runs he makes, the passes in key areas, his defence side of the game all of it. The lad has it all, in years to come when he hits his prime we could look back at what a piece of business it was that we signed him. He has taken time to settle, flourished under Rodgers despite Liverpool trying to get rid of him in the deal to sign Clint Dempsey, again hindsight looking back missing out on Dempsey was a god-send.
Things happen for a reason in every day life, in the football world Liverpool massively dodged a bullet on that one. The attitude and work ethic of Hendo doesn't go unnoticed among many Reds, six assists this season tells its own story from midfield that is a cracking return. We can only remember he is only 23 years of age already has over 160 Premier League appearances under his belt, playing at a massive club and under a manager who rates him highly, he can only get better and will.
All of the above is down to the man-management of Rodgers, long may it continue. Rodgers is been smart in playing things down, keep the feet on the ground but this coming week against Fulham is a massive game for everyone involved.
Hindsight is a great thing in football, at the time you think differently. Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and Kenny Dalglish's reign's in the last decade for example; more so the latter, where Kenny performed a key role to where we are now in transitioning from Roy Hodgson's disastrous reign to Rodgers's reign. A lot of fans felt despite(including myself at the time) Kenny got a raw deal. Yes the league form was bad but he ended up getting Liverpool to two cup finals and almost easily could have come away with a domestic double had it not been for the disallowed Andy Carroll goal against Chelsea. That is for another day, but the impact that his 18 months in charge had setup Rodgers with the foundation to build from something.
Not only have Liverpool clearly improved under him but the one thing which is finally getting recognised is his man-management of players, specifically 3 players which I think throughout his reign have improved immeasurably as footballers. As much as the young players like Sterling, Flanagan, Suso, Wisdom to name a few, the players I am referring to are Jordan Henderson, Daniel Sturridge and the mercurial, controversial but unbelievably talented footballer Luis Suarez.
The latter if he stays at the club, could undoubtedly be the greatest player to ever grace the Red shirt of Liverpool, you think who are regarded as the greatest; Dalglish, Gerrard, Barnes, Rush et al...Taking into account Suarez's two almost full seasons under Rodgers his goal return conversion rate has gone beyond what even I imagined. Like Cristiano Ronaldo, Suarez just obliterates the opposition to such an extent its frightening. The man is a genius.
The other two players mentioned, Suarez's strike partner Daniel Sturridge what can you say about him: lethal finisher. His goal return and assist making aligned with Suarez is probably the most feared strike partnership around at the moment. One thing defenders hate is players running at them with pace and also movement, as we seen yesterday in the 5-1 defeat of Arsenal, the League leaders defence were taking apart piece by piece by the aforementioned key attributes. Sterling was involved in a lot of the damage but Suarez and Sturridge strike fear into each side the come up against. Arsenal won't be the last side to come away from Anfield with a beating like that, if Liverpool could transfer 50% of that performance into their away games its fair to say to dream the impossible dream could be mentioned among Kopites in the coming weeks who knows.
That brings us to possibly one of my favourite players at the club, not Lucas who I admire a lot but the similarities between him and Jordan Henderson could not be more striking. One thing I have learned, never write players off too young, Henderson is one of those and his performances this season have put him in the frame to be on the plane to Brazil with the England squad come the summer. I would go on to say he should be a starter for them, everyone knows he has the energy and stamina to run all day but his in game intelligence is improving all the time.
The runs he makes, the passes in key areas, his defence side of the game all of it. The lad has it all, in years to come when he hits his prime we could look back at what a piece of business it was that we signed him. He has taken time to settle, flourished under Rodgers despite Liverpool trying to get rid of him in the deal to sign Clint Dempsey, again hindsight looking back missing out on Dempsey was a god-send.
Things happen for a reason in every day life, in the football world Liverpool massively dodged a bullet on that one. The attitude and work ethic of Hendo doesn't go unnoticed among many Reds, six assists this season tells its own story from midfield that is a cracking return. We can only remember he is only 23 years of age already has over 160 Premier League appearances under his belt, playing at a massive club and under a manager who rates him highly, he can only get better and will.
All of the above is down to the man-management of Rodgers, long may it continue. Rodgers is been smart in playing things down, keep the feet on the ground but this coming week against Fulham is a massive game for everyone involved.
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