20 Jul 2013

'He fits the LFC profile' - Rodgers hails 'outstanding' £9m star. Exaggeration...?

Brendan Rodgers grossly over-effusive praise of players is a defining feature of the Liverpool boss's approach to man-management, and although the new seasons is still weeks away, Rodgers is already throwing the superlatives around, which suggests that next season, we're in for more of the same.

Speaking to reporters in Indonesia yesterday, Rodgers heaped praise on new £9m signing Simon Mignolet. He raved:

"Simon Mignolet has been outstanding in his early time here. He is young and fits the profile that I am looking for"

"You watch his game in training and you think that he was named North East Player of the Year"


So: Mignolet has made ONE appearance for LFC in a meaningless pre-season friendly, and he's already being lauded as 'outstanding' by Rodgers? Clearly, players don't have to do much these days to prove themselves (!) If the Belgian is already outstanding for LFC, where does he go from here?

I know I bang on about this a lot, but to me it's an important issue. Excessive praise (arguably) dulls competitive edge, and Rodgers approach is counter-productive. Players should have to earn such immense praise, but that's not the case at LFC.

Additionally, when the season begins, where does Rodgers go from here? Mignolet is already 'outstanding' according to him, so any further praise along the same lines during the actual season will be meaningless.

To be honest, I retained a slight hope that Rodgers would modulate his excessive praise of players this season, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. On a more positive note, Rodgers provided an enticing transfer update. He told reporters:

"Nothing is close but plenty of work is going on. How near or far we are, I will find out in Melbourne. There is daily dialogue going on but I am confident that we will get the one or two players who will really excite and complete the jigsaw".

I'm sure any new signings Rodgers makes will be amazing, fantastic, outstanding, terrific, marvellous, immense, unbelievable and superb.



NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)


96 comments:

  1. He's just building the players confidence up, massaging their egos a little bit. Isn't that why players love playing for Mourinho because he makes them feel ten feet tall?

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  2. So its one or two, not two. Its beggining to sound like last summer.

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  3. Chris Rossington3:08 pm, July 20, 2013

    Come on hes confidence building

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  4. I would think that his assessment is made based on what he's seen in training, not on that one performance. That's probably many hours of behind-the-scenes work that Mignolet has had to impress, and we know Rodgers values a good attitude in training.



    As for the praise ... I'd suggest you simply get used to it. Rodgers has a different philosophy when it comes to speaking about his players in public. He's been consistent about this for some time now, I can't see any reason why he'd change. Obviously enough he doesn't think the amount of praise he delivers is going to have a negative impact, so it will never be an issue for him.

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  5. liverpool4life5653:13 pm, July 20, 2013

    It's to give players confidence. Also ESPN brasil ale oliveira has confirmed liverpool have made a bid for Benard. :)

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  6. Chris Rossington3:21 pm, July 20, 2013

    To be fair as well i think hes pretty straight with the players he lets players know when theyre not doing enough ie henderson, downing and enrique last year to good effect, as all improved to a certain degree and he praises those that he feels are doing well. Although i admit sometimes seems a bit warrentless ie Allan but then again he knows allan and maybe he was trying to build the lads confidence up to make him believe he can be a quality player for us. Fingers crossed.

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  7. no doubt after that 1st half display he will be saying it about all his new signings ,they have filled me with confidence for the coming season,i really cannot understand who man ure,chavski arsenal and spurs ,did not at least make a bid ,glad to see the commitee is doing its job;-)

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  8. he lets kennys signing know if they are not doing enough

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  9. When SAF and Mourinho does it they are geniuses but when an upcoming coach/manager does it, it's over exaggeration.

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  10. I prefer it to the Rafa approach of very rarely giving public praise to a player

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  11. Chris Rossington3:28 pm, July 20, 2013

    they werent tho were they, Suarez was a kenny signing

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  12. What is this author chatting about. Rodgers is praising his signing .... and WHAT!!!

    His comments follows Mignolet achievement of North East player of the year. I'm sure his next expectation will be to be the best keeper in the Premier league

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  13. you never mentioned suarez you said hendo,downing and enrique

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  14. I see it as trying to make Mignolet much more confident which is only going to help us and not others. So, its a bit harsh if you say that its exaggeration.

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  15. Lol is he meant to say he is rubbish? And don't he say in training he has been outstanding? How do u no he hasn't?

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  16. You're not viewing this in the context of Rodgers' entire reign. His tenure so far is defined by ridiculously overwrought praise of players, and it has no discernible positive effect. It just insults the intelligence of fans, especially when he keeps telling us that X is playing 'outsanding' even when he's not.

    Mignolet may be a new player, but if the only way to make him perform at the top level is to massage his ego in this way, then LFC have bought the wrong player.

    So, Mignolet is 'outstanding' already; where does he go from here? Surely you have to earn the 'outstanding' label, not just be given it because you did some good work in training.

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  17. I have no idea what you're going on about.

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  18. What I'm 'chatting about' is the same thing I've been highlighting since Rodgers' arrived: excessive overpraise of players. It is counter-productive, and it has no positive effect (as evidenced by last season). It's just pointless sycophancy.

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  19. Benitez's way obviously works; his career is full of success. Rodgers' gross overpraise achieves nothing.

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  20. And who says they're 'geniuses'? Don't just make stuff up. Plus, Ferguson and Mourinho in no way worship their players as much as Rodgers. Every second word out of his mouth is some superlative. Mourinho and Ferguson command respect; Rodgers has to kowtow to the players by continuously kissing their a$$es.

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  21. Yes, he's been consistent, but that doesn't make it effective, or right. Rodgers' servility has made absolutely no difference to the players' performance on the field. I would argue it dulls their competitive edge. They know that whatever happens, he's going to laud them with praise, so where is internal motivation to bust a gut? Where is the fire under the players to perform?

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  22. On a related note there are some reports tht we're loaning out Reina to Napoli for the season....not too sure how I feel about that one. Especially with his stock undoubtedly dropping by next year (one year older), we'd be lucky to get 10mil. Looks like a daft move IMO

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  23. Stuart Campbell4:19 pm, July 20, 2013

    No Mourinho does it the right way with humour and a deadpan delivery that suggests its obvious the player is brilliant even to someone who barely knows what a football looks like. BR is OTT full of BS and frankly completely insincere

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  24. Stuart Campbell4:24 pm, July 20, 2013

    Now we seem to be down to just one or two new signings with departures gathering pace.in order to reduce the wage bill

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  25. I would love for us to sign Bernard but I just can't see it, I read this morning that he'd agreed terms with Arsenal, but until he's pictured parading around with a teams shirt we just don't know where he'll end up. Fingers crossed it'll be us.

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  26. Unless you had played professional football you have absolutely no idea of the effects of the BR approach to man management!

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  27. liverpool4life5654:42 pm, July 20, 2013

    He hasn't spoke to any club yet, but arsenal have also made a bid for him. Just hope he picks us :)

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  28. Yeah, I understand where you're coming from and completely agree with you. But then its his way of boosting the morale of his plays and we can't blame somebody for the way they work because we don't feel its right, can we? I think BR has said 'outstanding' for each and every other player he has come upon so we shouldn't be paying much attention as we can make out by how they play on the field. To me it doesn't matter if someone praises a player because you earn it and if our new keeper has earned it from BR then let it be that.

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  29. Season hasn't started yet and people are already trying to find things to criticize. Stop drinking the haterade.

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  30. If he praises them he's overdoing it, when he criticises them he's too harsh. Maybe he could just not say anything and be rude to reporters......oh yeah KK tried that.
    Every manager has there own style and this is BR's.

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  31. Can a player not not be outstanding BEFORE he plays for us? I'm thinking that maybe BR thought highly of him for his performances of last season and maybe even seasons previous. Hey that could even explain why he splashed £9m on him!!!!
    Hmmm the plot thickens.........

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  32. I should hope he did rate him highly!! Lol

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  33. If that's his approach, its probably because it has worked for him. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar approach.


    And maybe Mignolet has been outstanding - the guy was making more saves than anyone else last year, seeing as he is probably going to be the 1st choice, no harm done in a little

    ego massage.

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  34. Sometimes he talks as if he's never been near a decent footballer in his time. Steven Gerrard talks with more balance about players and he's the captain. He really needs to stop sounding like such a groupie.

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  35. What a crap site Jamie - Wot about a £500 donation to the 'Hillsborough 96'

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  36. how about saying nothing til we have actually won something two clean sheets against p*ss poor teams and a sweat on in training and the guys brilliant ...put your feet up mingo you have arrived its plain sailing from here.....

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  37. north east player of the year thats some award who won it last year joey barton

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  38. i read about how he was spouting on about borini and allen having this winners mental attitude...what he forgot to mention was that he was on about playing the x box and not actually playing football lol

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  39. thats the st bernard snorbitz

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  40. im not being funny but when someone is on 50 grand a week i expect them to be training hard as the norm and not praiseworthy its a bit like priasing a postman for opening a letterbox

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  41. you also catch more flies if you are full of sh*t

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  42. Who says he's overdoing it if he criticises? If it's warranted then it's fine.

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  43. You know these pre season friendlies are the best chance for Lloyd jones McLaughlin and many other youngsters to get a damn string of games what's the point of playing gerrard and Co OK toure mig aspa alberto I can understand but this could really be a good chance for coates. Jones and McLaughlin to show that they can step it up for us.... I really want to see more or jones the more I see him the more I get the feeling we have an excellent understudy to agger

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  44. liverpool4life5656:56 pm, July 20, 2013

    Pre season is to improve players fitness for the new season.....

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  45. let them play half an hour to 20 min max ...... besides in two matches jones and coates have played 0 matches it can be argued they need the match fitness more than agger and co :P

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  46. liverpool4life5657:04 pm, July 20, 2013

    Jones will be I'm youth next year and we don't need him for the new season so it's fine. And Coates only came back yesterday he will play Wednesday :)

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  47. hopefully ..... seeing how lackluster we have been in the market in defense i hope the players we currently ave can step it up ....this time round no carra to cover their backs when they goof up

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  48. liverpool4life5657:26 pm, July 20, 2013

    BR said he wants two more players one is a CAM(hopefully Banard) and a CB-Hopefully papadopoulous.

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  49. Apparently arsenal won bernards signature

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  50. liverpool4life5657:32 pm, July 20, 2013

    Nah, they've just bid for him. As we have. Nothing concrete regarding which club he will go too :)

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  51. The only thing more we can offer is money Lol hopefully it's enough

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  52. lol i do not think they would be to clever at that

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  53. liverpool4life5657:42 pm, July 20, 2013

    True, also he can look at how well Lucas and coutinho have done for us. Hopefully them two phone Benard up... :)

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  54. see perfect recipe - honey and bull$hit. He knows what he;s doing.

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  55. If we get him our attack is set..... there will be no need for us to purchase any attackers for a few years provided no one leaves

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  56. And Fergie did not kiss Ronaldo's a$$??? Jose is known to tell his players you are better than what you think you are. Why do you think players always want to go to war for him. Don't forget also them has money behind them too so BR has to do what he has to do to. Remember when he criticize some players in public people where saying the same thing. But then When SAF and Mourinho does it, they command respect.

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  57. Full of success huh?? two european cups ok that's big success. Inter Milan is success huh? Nobody wanted to hire him was success huh??

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  58. Three points here:

    1. You are taking this way too literally and personally. I agree with you in that he shouldn't do it, but it's not a big deal yet. If we play poorly or get a bad result, and he says it, then I'll take more exception.



    2. If everyone is outstanding, then by default, no one is actually outstanding because no one stands out. (How's that for literal?!?)


    3. You reference the one pre-season appearance. Rodgers specifically mentioned Training as opposed to the game appearance.

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  59. 1. I'm taking it 'personally'. Based on what? The mere fact I raise the issue? With respect, that is nonsense. I don't take anything LFC-related personally, and being critical of something doesn't mean it's being taken personally.

    2. It's insincere, pointless, and totally transparent. It also (IMO) insults the intelligence of the fanbase. Rodgers and LFC continually feeding fans rubbish about how every one of his signings is 'outstanding' etc.

    3. Whether it's training or a one game, calling a new signing outstanding this early is silly. Players *should* be outstanding in training. They should be trying their hardest, especially if they're new. Why should they be praised for doing that?

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  60. You've just made generalised points that could be made of any manager. The point is neither Mourinho or Ferguson endlessly subjugate themselves like Rodgers, who constantly overpraises players.

    You don't find Ferguson/Mourinho calling their teams 'outstanding' for drawing/losing games, which is something Rodgers did last season.

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  61. 1. Granted, "personally" was probably the wrong word. I stand corrected on that.


    2. My point here is that we shouldn't be surprised by it. He says it constantly. It's nothing new. Finally, he doesn't just single out his signings. For example, he's even praised Downing before!


    3. I certainly agree with you that it's silly... which is why it's not a big deal to me. I think most fans (including you and me) would agree that players today are way too coddled. But that's the game today. If a manager alienates a player or doesn't coddle him, he better make sure he doesn't need that player. Because of the amount of money players make, they have more power than ever. Look at Tevez and Mancini as an example. Rodgers is protecting himself with the players.

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  62. HA so this 'double deal' with Erisken and Alderweireld seems to be dead in the water,if there was ever any truth to it i suppose,but I'm rightly pissed nonetheless.I really rate Eriksen and Alderweireld is a solid CB too,would have been a great bit of business....I think I'm gonna bury my head in the sand till the window closes,I can't handle all these rumours :)

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  63. SAF and Mourinho started from somewhere, they did not just popped up with all that experiences. SAF has used words as 'played well" when they have lost. Mourinho is known to say things that are from outer field. It works for them so let BR do what works for him. If you study all the great coaches from any sports and you will see that they pumped their players head so those athletes think they are 10 feet tall. Confidence is the key for anything in this world!

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  64. Pretty sure you were criticising him over his treatment of Enrique and Downing being harsh last season. You might say he over-praises when players do well, but he's not afraid to criticise when they are poor. We don't know what he is saying to them in person either. Given the improvement of players like Downing and Henderson last year, I'd say his man management has been pretty effective, but every player is going to react differently to things and no manager can get it right every time.

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  65. Last season I'm pretty sure an article was written on this site about BR being too harsh when he publicly made comments about Enrique and downing not being good enough.

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  66. Frankly he is hardly going to say"yeah, he's alright". Why take such a needlessly superficial reading? There are many and varied reasons for what managers say in press conferences, most of which we can't know. I would guess he building confidence, expressing actual opinion, sending a message to reina and backing himself and his scouting team all at the same time. Have a little think before putting fingers to keys, eh?

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  67. As I said, if the criticism is warranted, it's fine. The article to which you refer was about Rodgers criticising those two in public, which (IMO) is not a good strategy.

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  68. Mignolet was outstanding b4 he signed for us, that is a fact, that BR recognises.

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  69. 10mill, plus the £6mill salary we wont have to pay him this year, sounds like an astute business move to me.

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  70. ' the guy was making more saves than anyone else last year'

    I wouldn't read too much into that, in relation to it being a testament of his ability. Football is a little bit too complicated to use that stat as a compliment of a keeper, unless proper detailed analysis is made of him and his peers. Considering the state of that Sunderland team last season, it is no surprise he had to make so many saves. When a keeper is busy making that many number of saves, it says more about his defence and team in general than it does about him. Yep, some teams conceded more but the number of saves stat is still a narrow-minded stat.

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  71. I highly doubt that a professional footballer gets their motivation from the managers comments to the press. There motivation comes from being the best player that they can (i.e. scoring goals, clean sheets) and winning games. When they go out to play they're not thinking "oh well, doesn't matter if we win, Rogers will say i'm outstanding anyway". I think your opinion on this is misguided.

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  72. 149 saves, 54 goals conceded 73% save ratio (149 / 149+54). Pepe made 73 saves, and conceded 34 goals, save ratio of 68% (73 / (73+34). Clearly he has talent. Had sunderland had Pepe, statistically they would have received 10 more goals and would have probably have been relegated. He is a step up for sure, played all games last season (no injury problems), and doubt he makes as many errors. Who scored has him rated as the third top goalie in europes top 5, and best in Premiership. I know indexes aren't definitive, but they are a good starting point - and statistically, Liverpool are better off with a keeper like this, rather than pepe. experience is good, but a handful or 2 of saves can make all the difference in a season.

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  73. And what if Rodgers says to his players: Pay no attention to what I say in the press. I'll always praise you in public and defend your corner. You listen to what I say to you here in training, that's what is important.
    So what negative impact does what he says to the press have now? He does overpraise. But at least no hacks can make up stories about rifts etc like they constantly do about managers after they let something slip about how they feel.
    It annoys you. So what.

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  74. It has no negative effect either, except to annoy you! Hang on, maybe that's actually a positive one lol

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  75. I don't pay much importance on stats, especially in context like that, so that doesn't do much for me, with all due respect. Football is a little too complicated than just keep swapping keepers around and applying stats from original club. Football isn't a exact science. So when someone says 'Had sunderland had Pepe, statistically they would have received 10 more goals and would have probably have been relegated', with all due respect, I find that ridiculous and funny. There is no guarantee at all to back that up.

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  76. none of you so called LFC fans have bothered to mention the late great Bill Shankly . The great man did exactly what BR is doing made his team feel like world beaters and they responded. As BR is a great student of the Legend i think we have a great future ahead. Now get your head out of your arses and get behind the man or go and sit with the faggots in old traff and cream yourself thinking about your real hero purple nose.

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  77. Have you considered the fact that Rogers is talking about attitude, professionalism and commitment and not simply his goalkeeping ability. Rogers and the scouts had a whole season to evaluate this area of Mignolets ability, but not the above mentioned facets.

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  78. Also it seems to me that Rogers is more than happy to drop players who do not perform to the required standard. Reina is a good example, which is why this particular topic is being discussed I would argue. Skrtel, Allen, Sturridge and many others have all been dropped since Rogers took over and he has praised all of them at some point, so clearly if you slack off at any point, youre dropped.

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  79. Mate nice reference lets just hope we dont have to wait till the (Bernie) Winter(s) to make any good signings

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  80. Agree with everything. Outstanding article. Keep up the amazing work. You're awesome

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  81. He's just deflecting the fact he's getting rid of Reina, Mignolet would'nt have signed if he were'nt going to play. This is why we won't get top players, FSG won't pay, Rodgers has said you don't have to pay big money for class, what a clown, if you want the best you have to pay for it, you know you only get what you pay for. This is why i don't listen to what he has to say 'cos it's usually crap.

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  82. BR knows more about the game than each and everyone of you so to question this JK shows you know very little. Do a bit of research and you'll find that Shanks did this all the time. Thank god the Internet wasn't around then. Idiot.

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  83. Although I do agree he goes a bit overboard with the praising, this time he his dead right. Mignolet is still only 22. A big thing with goalkeepers is dealing with pressure and confidence. With Reina going and being so young I can understand why Rodgers would go out of his way to praise him to give him belief and confidence. On a side note, you could try be a bit more positive yourself Jamie, as a club over the last few seasons we have enough negative input.

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  84. Although I do agree he goes a bit overboard with the praising, this time he his dead right. Mignolet is still only 22. A big thing with goalkeepers is dealing with pressure and confidence. With Reina going and being so young I can understand why Rodgers would go out of his way to praise him to give him belief and confidence. On a side note, you could try be a bit more positive yourself Jamie

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  85. It obviously was a good strategy as they improved drastically as the season went on, and they looked like they wanted to earn there place by working hard so it was warranted (IMO) ;)

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  86. ffs it was a one horse race Malcolm Mc Donald came 2"d

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  87. Please tell me what barca paid for messi.
    There is a difference between visionary n clown.
    Lol

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  88. He's made 2 appearances, not one.. And what's wrong with heaping praise on a player if it makes them more confident?

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  89. Keepers are the position where the rest of team means little in terms of stopping shots. Either they go in or they get saved, Mignolet happens to not let them go in as often as Pepe. Not very hard to understand.



    I understand your "not exact science" point, but what are you getting at???

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  90. Do you remember last year there was a clip where BR rag at Raheem Sterling on the preseason in the USA (that was not an official interview), and what was the result ... There is a lot of communication behind the scene, and the players who under-perform know that and what they need to do .... and don't you guys trust Sieve G's opinion, he said that he loves to speak and communicate with Brendan ... The truth is that we don't have the finance power of half of the premier league teams. We should trust our manager and believe that he can take 1000 % of our players, prizing them when they are doing well in public is and reprove them on the training filed.

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  91. You wanted Rafa out. Now you are starting on Rodgers. What a fan.

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  92. You don't seem to be able to grasp the narrow-minded nature scenario you are trying put forward here with stats. I'll illustrate it like this. Did Reina and Mignolet get the exact same types of shots and more importantly, did they get same ratio of those types of shots as the other keeper? Did Reina or Mignolet have more deflected shots to deal with than Mignolet or Reina? Can you find stats for those? I doubt it if you could. How many of those saves were to the right or left of them? What is the saves ratio between left and right? How many shots were inside the box (pprobably can get this stat)? How many shots were at the near post? how many shots at the far post? How many shots were straight at them? What were the positions of the defenders closest attempting to cover the shots and to what extent does it make life easier or harder for the keeper to see it (of course, the defence effects a keeper's ability to see a shot!)? There are so many questions that your stats do not answer. Unless you break down those save stats into much bigger depth than you have, than it means very little and thus making your use of the stats grossly unfair and inept. Those stats you have given far too simple and narrow-minded. Not very hard to understand at all, that your use of the stats is just ridiculous.


    Lastly, despite this plethora of stats available in this modern era, football teams still send scouts to watch players? Why did Alex Ferguson and his GK coach miss a Man United domestic cup game to go and watch De Gea at Atleti? You know why, because there are things that you see with the eye that stats can not account for.


    I'll really leave it there and not reply, as I just find your interpretation of said astonishingly bemusingly bad and I won't change my view on that

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  93. Liverpool Kopites3:46 pm, July 21, 2013

    I think he just does things the way he treats himself. Remember this is the guy with a larger than life sized portrait of himself in his home.

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  94. He's 25 actually. Not so "young".

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  95. And what would Rodgers say? It's not me you would need to convince, and that's the only point I'd try to make. Rodgers clearly has his own view on these kinds of things and that's not going to change any time soon. Why would it? He's not just saying these things mindlessly; if you're smart enough to have this idea then so is he and he's therefore continued to speak about players in this way very deliberately and with a clear purpose. In the simplest terms: be it right or wrong he knows what he's doing and he doesn't agree with you. Eventually you probably just need to come to terms with that. Your views on it have been clear to everyone for some time, and I think so have Rodgers.

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