Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has taken a swipe at one-time rivals Tottenham Hotspur, indirectly accusing them of failure in the Premier League this season.
When asked today whether LFC not winning the league this season will be seen as a 'failure', Rodgers bristled:
"No chance. Pressure is if you're Tottenham. You spend over £100 million, you'd expect to be challenging for the league".
Rodgers' clear implication here is that Spurs have failed this season because they're not challenging for the league despite spending over £100m during the summer transfer window.
He's right, of course, but history proves that money doesn't always buy success. Indeed, the idea that spending tens of millions will automatically beget success is one of the biggest myths of modern football.
* Since 1990, Liverpool have spent MORE on transfers than Manchester United, but which team has the most Premier League titles?
* Manchester City have spent hundreds of millions over the last five years, but how many league titles/Champions League titles do they have?
* For the last ten years, Chelsea's wage bill has dwarfed Man United's, yet which team has won the most league titles?
* The most obvious example: Chelsea and Man City have a significantly bigger gross spend on transfers than LFC over the last few years, yet it's the Reds who are on the verge of lifting the title.
There are lots of examples of this dichotomy in all the major European leagues. Just look at Atletico Madrid this season, storming ahead of perennial big-spenders/payers Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Rodgers should be careful about pinpointing this particular weakness in other teams, though. If he spends big this summer, it will inevitably mean that LFC's performance in the transfer market will come under scrutiny, and if the Reds fail to deliver on the big-money promise, then it could be a rival manager saying the same thing about LFC in 12 months time.
Author: Jaimie K
When asked today whether LFC not winning the league this season will be seen as a 'failure', Rodgers bristled:
"No chance. Pressure is if you're Tottenham. You spend over £100 million, you'd expect to be challenging for the league".
Rodgers' clear implication here is that Spurs have failed this season because they're not challenging for the league despite spending over £100m during the summer transfer window.
He's right, of course, but history proves that money doesn't always buy success. Indeed, the idea that spending tens of millions will automatically beget success is one of the biggest myths of modern football.
* Since 1990, Liverpool have spent MORE on transfers than Manchester United, but which team has the most Premier League titles?
* Manchester City have spent hundreds of millions over the last five years, but how many league titles/Champions League titles do they have?
* For the last ten years, Chelsea's wage bill has dwarfed Man United's, yet which team has won the most league titles?
* The most obvious example: Chelsea and Man City have a significantly bigger gross spend on transfers than LFC over the last few years, yet it's the Reds who are on the verge of lifting the title.
There are lots of examples of this dichotomy in all the major European leagues. Just look at Atletico Madrid this season, storming ahead of perennial big-spenders/payers Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Rodgers should be careful about pinpointing this particular weakness in other teams, though. If he spends big this summer, it will inevitably mean that LFC's performance in the transfer market will come under scrutiny, and if the Reds fail to deliver on the big-money promise, then it could be a rival manager saying the same thing about LFC in 12 months time.
Author: Jaimie K
if only those clubs you mentioned were run on the same budget as liverpool.
ReplyDeleteRodgers is correct but he could of given a subtle hint rather than explicitly stating Tottenham. A few days ago he also had a shot at Man City's wage bill. I guess it's a luxury of being top of the league but Rodgers has always come across as a 'tool' so to speak - not an insult, but rather, an analysis. It can so easily come back to bite him.
ReplyDeleteKind of needless, really. That's more for banter between fans than anything else. Hope he spends wisely this summer.
Tottenham sold a lot more than they bought, spending was required. BR needs to be careful with his talk. Liverpool have been behind Spurs for quite a few seasons now, will be interesting to see how they do next season competing in Europe.
ReplyDeleteI think it is fair to say that if Rodgers had to go and spend £100m last summer then there would have been massive pressure on him and it would have been expected of LFC to challenge for the title so there is not much wrong with what he has said.
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely right about pressure, we saw that with Dalglish recently, but I see it the other way around. Rodgers can afford to have a cheeky dig at some of our rivals because if we are top of the league, he's untouchable. I enjoyed his recent dig at Man City and their wage bill, but just like that comment, and this comment, pinpointing targets is needless and the shoe will inevitably be on the other foot at some stage. If we weren't flying so high, any media pundit could slam Rodgers transfers to date.
ReplyDeleteUtd have skewed the comparison as they had two factors
ReplyDeleteFerguson, in pure football terms was a brilliant manager.
2 Giggs,Scholes Nevilles, and to a lesser extent Beckham etc provided a spine for 20m years around which ferguson could buy £30m + players just like the big spenders. Rooney, Ferdinand Berba etc all cost around that, Veron was £26m how many years ago, Ferdi was a record for a CB.
I agree he didn't need to name Spurs
Who signed Carroll for £35 million?
ReplyDeleteExactly that, Fergies' class of 92 (if I am not mistaken) 5 players who were immensely talented at such a young age kept the need for big transfers away, holding onto the majority of those players and developing a team around them was the secret to his success.
ReplyDeleteHopefully similar to what Rodgers is planning with our young players!
I think its foolish to have a big mouth after one successful season after being in no mans land for the last few seasons. All respect for this seasons work, but he just lives in the present.
ReplyDeleteAlso people talk about tottenhams spending like they reenforced their team with 100million, they rebuild their team and sold players for more than they spend. People forget that not only Bale was sold.
The teams people should point their finger at for their spending are Arsenal and Manchester United. Arsenal spend 50million on Ozil, without losing any player and still barely make 4th, just as last season.
United also preserved their whole title winning team and got Fellaini and Mata for 90million. I guess if Chelsea and City don't win the league you could say the same about them in terms of progress.
So I can't see why Tottenham is the team getting the hate for their extensive spending.
Since Rodgers joined LFC - Transfer spend in the last two season (12/13 &13/14) plus league finishes last season
ReplyDeleteChelsea - £208m - 3rd
Spurs - £165m - 5th
Man City - £157m - 2nd
Mancs - £130m - 1st
Arsenal - £94m - 4th
LFC - £98m - 7th
Now to finish 7th last season and be on the verge of winning the EPL is unheard of and having the second lowest spend since last season is another plus point for Rodgers. Next season Rodgers Spend will probably be the in line with what he spent last summer which will still make us the second lowest spending team out of the above list.
Bale was sold for 85 million and every single penny of that was spent on new players. They ended up spending 107 million this season. The other players they got rid of was Caulker, Dempsey, Huddlestone, Gallas and Parker.
ReplyDeleteTheir transfer business this season = Epic fail.
I'm a Spurs fan and I hope Liverpool win the league, but these comments are needless and slightly petulant from the supposedly ice cool Rodgers. He's forgetting that the spending was to reinvest the money brought from the sales of Bale, Caulker, Huddlestone etc. We bought a load of rubbish of course, (apart from Eriksen) but at least the money was available, so the books balance. Teams like City and Chelsea are the ones that should be scrutinised.
ReplyDeleteIt was a passing mention. He mentioned Chelsea and City first, I think throwing Spurs in to the mix as those three teams have similar gross spend. It was from a question about if he was feeling the pressure. It was just a deflection that Mourinho (a few months ago) would have journos fellating him. He was just making the point that we shouldn't be and were not expected to be the team challenging for the league this season. We are already ahead of schedule and so if we don't win it it is in his own words "not the end of the world". And so keeping (hopefully) his players relaxed.
ReplyDeleteIt will. I hope we are not as compelled to sell our best players as Spurs have been.
ReplyDeleteThis is what was said in the interview
ReplyDelete"No. No chance. I don't think anyone can say there's pressure. I think the pressure is if you're Manchester City or Chelsea, and you've spent that money and you expect to win the league.
"That's probably pressure. I don't think there's pressure on us, other than what we have from within.
"Look at Tottenham. If you spend more than £100 million, you expect to be challenging for the league.
He did mention City and Chelsea too.
Not Rodgers.
ReplyDeleteThe question was not whether he was feeling pressure; the journo asked BR if LFC's season = failure if the club doesn't win the league.
ReplyDeleteSent from Samsung Mobile
Look at my reply to Pete mate. It was a deflection to take pressure off himself and the players. All managers do it it to some extent. It wasn't nearly as bad as this article presents.
ReplyDeleteRodgers' transfer business last summer is just as bad as Spurs. Not one of his signings an unquestionable success, and only one (Mignolet) has had any significant impact. Having said that, though, If Reina had stayed, LFC would (IMO) be in exactly the same position right now, so it's not like Mignolet has elevated the club. Ditto every other summer signing. Take them out of the team this year and it would make no difference.
ReplyDeleteSent from Samsung Mobile
Context Jaimie. I saw the interview earlier. He is asked about how well he sleeps by one journo and not long after is it a fail if we don't win the league and his response was
ReplyDelete"No. No chance. I don't think anyone can say there's pressure. I
think the pressure is if you're Manchester City or Chelsea, and you've
spent that money and you expect to win the league.
"That's probably pressure. I don't think there's pressure on us, other than what we have from within.
"Look at Tottenham. If you spend more than £100 million, you expect to be challenging for the league.
So he talks about pressure within answering that question. Don't know if you only read it but it is very clear televised.
Cheers to Logan so I didn't have to look far for the actual quote.
Rodgers has spent almost 70 million less than Spurs since his arrival and we are first in the league. The rest is history.
ReplyDeleteI wait for Rogers form to return as it was at Reading.
ReplyDeleteHe has had it already mate. Started slow for us. We played well but didn't get results at the beginning of the his first season. Difference is he got time with us and we have gotten better in each half a season since.
ReplyDeleteNice try though but you really have to do a bit better to troll around here chief.
I hope and think that he would not have said that at all if they still had the same,manager as when the money was spent. He probably thinks Levy is fair game though.
ReplyDeleteYou will first have to endure the pain of him possibly lifting the EPL trophy. I hope you wait a very long time.
ReplyDeleteI think you will find he has had it already mate. Started slow for us. We played well but
ReplyDeletedidn't get results at the beginning of the his first season. Difference
is he got time with us and we have gotten better in each half a season
since.
Nice try though but you really have to do a bit better to troll around here chief.
i just want to leave a message for johnny stars..
ReplyDeletein Indonesia, you can also watch BPL.. but its on tv cable, not free.. you have to pay for it.. Orange TV is the best choice for BPL right now (maybe till 2016)... you can watch almost all BPL matches, live, every weeks
If he has the internet their are ways of watching games and he would not have to subscribe to anything.
ReplyDeleteYes I believe he was trying to educate the press a bit and not having a rip at the big clubs. LFC have already exceeded all expectations for this year and frankly, although important for fans, SG, and the general mood at Liverpool, the rest of our season is gravy because we have met and surpassed the goals we set for ourselves. We have guaranteed CL football next season...and we don't even have to play the qualifying rounds.
ReplyDeleteWinning the league is now a NEW goal because the opportunity is there. We are in a great position because the team have produced for themselves a new goal that allows them to focus on winning rather than playing out the string.
Abso-fucking-lutely!
ReplyDeleteHe has had it already mate. Started slow for us. We played well but didn't get results at the beginning of the his first season. Difference is he got time with us and we have gotten better in each half a season
ReplyDeletesince.
Nice try though but you really have to do a bit better to troll around here chief.
Yeah, but in indonesia, if you want to use the internet that is fast enough to watching games on line, it will cost you more than a tv cable
ReplyDeleteWell colour me informed.
ReplyDeleteSorry but BR has said was absolutely right.
ReplyDeleteSpurs finished 5th last season, 1 point behind Arsenal and had broken their all time points record in the premiership with 72 points.
Yes they sold their best player but they spent 100mil+ on 10 players.
Of course they would be under pressure to improve
Logan take the blinkers off, your words are pathetic.
ReplyDeleteHenderson - look at the stick he got after signing for a large fee after one season. New signings need time, Spurs signed quality from other leagues so hopefully they find their feet. Eriksen, Paulinho have proved bargains - Chriches and Chadli were cheap and are showing positive signs.
ReplyDeleteYour figures are wrong, but I can't be bothered to correct you.
ReplyDeleteWhat context? In the earlier post you stated that Rodgers responded to a question about pressure. He didn't. I merely pointed that out.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the whole quote is not needed. I'm talking about Spurs, not Chelsea/Man City, and including the rest of the quote makes absolutely no difference to the point I'm making.
Dont know if I can agree with that one Jaimie. In fairness, regarding the kick-start to this season, Mignolet gets the credit for that. Would Reina have saved that penalty? We cannot know but that penalty save surely played a HUGE role in LFC's mental approach to the next 4-5 games. Would be in the same position as now, hmmmmm. I admire your confidence.
ReplyDeleteYou may have a point about the penalty save, but people seem to massively overstate its importance. Do you really think that the players went into the next 4-5 games after that thinking about the penalty save? How exactly can one penalty save have a quantifiable impact on players over an extended period of time?
ReplyDeletePepe Reina saved penalties, didn't he?
Additionally, Mignolet has already conceded more goals than Reina did for the whole of last season, and there are still three games to go.
I'm not the greatest fan of Reina, but his distribution, kicking, and command of the penalty box are arguably superior to Mignolet; the only thing the Belgian has over him is shot-stopping, which declined during Reina's last couple of years at LFC.
yes the only difference is that Mignolet in his first year in LFC he's ready to win the league when Reina for so many years, well you know...
ReplyDeleteThat's not just down to Mignolet, though; in my view, his actual contribution to the league title win is negligible compared to the likes of Suarez, Sturridge, Gerrard, Sterling, and Skrtel. Take any of those players out of the team and things would probably look different right now. Take Mignolet out, and not much would change (IMO)
ReplyDeleteanon, you better star watching tennis, cause in football you're going to wait for long
ReplyDeleteto me every team starts from N1, and only the physical size difference is enough to favourite Mignolet, but of course that doesn't mean that he is top level keeper, at least not yet
ReplyDeleteTottenham has failed, their position is very flattering, theyve been lucky to get quite a few of the results they have (sketchy pens). Just look at their whopping goal difference of +3!
ReplyDeleteKinda like Moyes AVB failed to win the dressing room over, but unlike Moyes, he basically picked his squad, alienated players, and didnt play to the players strengths.
I dont think they made bad buys, they just didnt know how to use them, Ericsson is proving his worth, and I believe Soldado, Lamela, and a few of the others would have performed better if they had gone to another team. Damn right there was pressure there, and AVB crumbled. Sherwood cant really be blamed, but he's not helping his cause by saying things like "I have no clue who my best 11 are".
City's buys have been decent, but adding to what they already have - you'd expect some pressure there too, though for his first season, Pelligrini is doing ok, and at least playing an entertaining style of football.
Chelsea well, piles of money spent, on top of a very expensive squad, have piles of players in their stable, yet are almost out of the race, playing boring football. Pressure is there.
Liverpool, well didn't spend too much, have already achieved their objective, no pressure - however its not so crazy that we are where we are given the all the changes at City, Chelsea, United, and Spurs - Arsenal if it weren't for injuries would probably be competing for the top spots too.
As for next season, can't really see any key Liverpool players leaving, so spending would only add to what we have, hard to conceive that this would make anything than better than it already is.
The reason why he said this originally was because Sherwood came out before we played them and tried to play mind games about how LFC had all the pressure.
ReplyDeleteObviously, Brendan doesn't take kindly to other managers trying to play games off the field.
I think it did not escape Rodgers attention when Spurs players were saying only Suarez is the difference between Liverpool and Spurs implying the reds are only ahead of Spurs because they have Suarez. I particularly remember Jan Vertongen saying this http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11669/9230076/premier-league-jan-vertonghen-braced-for-meeting-with-former-team-mate-luis-suarez
ReplyDeletePellegrini also dismissed LFC and AFC title challenge when we were joint top last year so City deserve the the reality check Rodgers flagged about their wages.
The same could also be said of Chelsea were Mourinho can field 2 squads that would challenge for top 4 but then has the temerity to say he will field a weakened side to face LFC which in a way is safeguarding himself.. If Chelsea wins, he will praise his strong side but id he loses he will say LFC won only because they had a more pressing commitment hence taint that win. The premier league has had a few Champions League semi finalists over the years but none have had their fixtures rearranged in the manner Mourinho is demanding for Chelsea. Lower budget Atletico is also playing on Sunday so they do not have any advantage over Chelsea
GROSS spend? You need to talk about Net spend OBVIOUSLY.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm here, take a look at the list of Referees that cover the Premiership. ALL from the North of England or the Midlands. Lee Probert being the only exception - and he is from Wiltshire, the West Country. Any Southern or London referees? No, none, zero, nada.
ReplyDeleteThe FA have walked into an ambush charging Mourinho. Evidence will doubtless be presented in mitigation. Why did Mike Riley (Leeds) send Foy (Merseyside) and Dean (Wirral) to preside over Chelsea in crucial games at a critical point in the Title run in when they both come from (and live in) communities that have strong support for Liverpool? They live amongst the fans of Liverpool, do they not?
Was this an error of judgement by Mike Riley, or was it part of the current Zeitgeist?
Think on, people.