Liverpool legend Roy Evans has tipped Brendan Rodgers to win this year's manager of the year award, but he's admitted that he wasn't initially impressed with FSG's decision to appoint the former Swansea boss in the summer of 2012.
In an interview with the Liverpool Echo this week, Evans insisted that 'fantastic' Rodgers 'has to win Manager of the Year', but conceded that he wasn't initially impressed with the decision to give the Northern Irishman the job. He explained:
“When he first came in, I wasn’t totally convinced. He was a great talker. Sometimes people are great talkers but you wonder are they great doers?
“He has proved to be both. He has taken to it like a fish to water. He has really improved the team. I’ve been jumping out of my seat watching Liverpool this season and it’s been a long time since I’ve done that.
Clearly, a lot of Reds fans felt the same as Evans, and as per usual, a minority of knee-jerkers called for Rodgers' head after only a few months in the job.
There are still areas of his management that need to improve (i.e. performance in the transfer market), but overall, Rodgers is doing a superb job at Anfield, and the club's form this season (and in the latter part of last season) is a testament to that.
Evans' under-appreciated team from the mid-1990s is very similar to Rodgers' current team:
* Very exciting to watch, and scored a bucketload of goals.
* Brilliant attacking players, but defensively suspect.
* Free-scoring striker partnership (Fowler and Collymore)
* Capable of winning the league.
Between 1995 and 1997, Liverpool came close to winning the title, but in both seasons, the club fell away in the final stretch, mainly due to poor defending, and (arguably) mentality issues. Thankfully, history isn't repeating itself, and despite ongoing defensive issues, Rodgers' team looks mentally well-equipped to go the distance.
Rodgers' team is a joy to watch, but I still have a slight preference for Evans' side. Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman, and Stan Collymore were amazing to watch, and LFC also still had all-time legends like John Barnes (my favourite ever LFC player) and Ian Rush in the side, so it was the best of both worlds.
Author: Jaimie K
In an interview with the Liverpool Echo this week, Evans insisted that 'fantastic' Rodgers 'has to win Manager of the Year', but conceded that he wasn't initially impressed with the decision to give the Northern Irishman the job. He explained:
“When he first came in, I wasn’t totally convinced. He was a great talker. Sometimes people are great talkers but you wonder are they great doers?
“He has proved to be both. He has taken to it like a fish to water. He has really improved the team. I’ve been jumping out of my seat watching Liverpool this season and it’s been a long time since I’ve done that.
Clearly, a lot of Reds fans felt the same as Evans, and as per usual, a minority of knee-jerkers called for Rodgers' head after only a few months in the job.
There are still areas of his management that need to improve (i.e. performance in the transfer market), but overall, Rodgers is doing a superb job at Anfield, and the club's form this season (and in the latter part of last season) is a testament to that.
Evans' under-appreciated team from the mid-1990s is very similar to Rodgers' current team:
* Very exciting to watch, and scored a bucketload of goals.
* Brilliant attacking players, but defensively suspect.
* Free-scoring striker partnership (Fowler and Collymore)
* Capable of winning the league.
Between 1995 and 1997, Liverpool came close to winning the title, but in both seasons, the club fell away in the final stretch, mainly due to poor defending, and (arguably) mentality issues. Thankfully, history isn't repeating itself, and despite ongoing defensive issues, Rodgers' team looks mentally well-equipped to go the distance.
Rodgers' team is a joy to watch, but I still have a slight preference for Evans' side. Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman, and Stan Collymore were amazing to watch, and LFC also still had all-time legends like John Barnes (my favourite ever LFC player) and Ian Rush in the side, so it was the best of both worlds.
Author: Jaimie K
Lots of us didn't think brendan rodgers was the right man for the job me included, he's proved a lot us wrong and long may it continue. Yeah he hasn't done particularly well in the transfer market, but I think he's bought some great young players that weren't going to make a impact straight away. In the summer fsg really need to back brendan rodgers in the transfer market, to take the club to next level in european football.
ReplyDeleteI remember Evan's team fondly; in fact, it was the last time I felt truly proud of the team--until now. Of course, I've faithfully supported every team since (Houllier's treble winners, the miracle in Istanbul, and Kenny's return, standing out of course) and even tried my best to get behind the disaster that was the Hodgson era, but there's something about BR's team that has rekindled the romance in me again, the sublime joy of being a fan. There were players in Evan's team I couldn't buy into (won't mention names), but there isn't a player in this team that I'm not crazy about (on-loan players not included).
ReplyDeleteHmm.. I don't share your same sentiments about Evans team. I thought they were one dimensional and I couldn't stand the 5-3-2 formation. Predictable and boring. Fowler and Collymore also couldn't come anywhere close to Suarez and Sturridge.
ReplyDeleteYou can add me to the original list of BR doubters . After the KK debacle and the handling of the Suarez incident etc. I wasn't sure if he would be the right man to steady the ship and get us back on track . He seemed to be all theory with little proven ability . Initially his team selections & substitutions seemed somewhat suspect to say the least .....
ReplyDeleteObviously he had the vision and a plan which has materialised to get us to the position we are in now - beyond our wildest dreams at the start of the season ! I think at first it was more of the players getting used to and adapting to his style and strategy . KK is a legend but I used to squirm watching his interviews . BR is totally different and a perfect fit for our great club. He has bought back the respect and pride to LFC that we have earned over the years . Good on ya mate .
Onwards and upwards !
Liverpool 4 Newcastle 3. Remember that one? Drooool. Still one of the best games in living memory and the goals and the atmosphere remain stamped on my consciousness. Newcastle were similarly entertaining to watch in those days and employed the same 'sod defending let's all just attack' sort of approach. It's true that (until this season) I haven't enjoyed, aesthetically, watching LFC play as much since the Roy Evans era. But the team was as schizophrenic as it was pretty. Roy Evans was a lovely bloke and I liked him as manager immensely, but I often felt he was just too nice. The current team is equally as entertaining to watch but Rodgers has added something that we never had consistently under Evans; steel. We now have the ability to 'win ugly' when we need to, and despite leaking goals we still have great solidity. I wasn't overly sure about Rodgers, but right from the start there were promising performances and encouraging signs, so I've always been happy to give him the time.
ReplyDeleteNot one. Not one person came out and said BR was the man for the job. At best, people said let's wait and see. The man has done a fantastic job and what's even better, it's because of his philosophy, not because he got to spend 200 million on new players. That means it's an improvement that will last. So what if we don't win trophies every year. He has brought the soul back to LFC and I say we give him a contract for life. Personally I wanted Martinez at the time and I still think he's a great manager. That said, he could not have done better than Rodgers has done. I can only hope though that Man U won't snap him up in the summer.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny to me when people talk about the Hodgson era in such a negative way. What happened the 18 months after was a hundred times worse.
ReplyDeleteFowler couldn't what now? Go was your mouth with soap young man!
ReplyDeleteI always wonder how people put pricetags on players. As if there is any logic to it.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone adds Erik Meijer to this list I will find you I swear on my mother...
ReplyDelete:-)
Agree that Roy Evans team was easy on the eye,but this team is on a different level altogether,this is the best footballing team I've ever seen play at Anfield and I've been going to the games from the mid-80's. My older brother started going to the games in 1978 and he believes that this team is the most exciting team he has ever seen! The way we swarm all over teams and then wave after wave of attacks has never been the the liverpool way,the only team that comes close to this buccaneering style was the Barnes,Beardsley and Aldridge team. The league is much more competitive now,than in them bygone days. We are playing a brand of football that is outshining city,which is one of the most expensive teams in the history of the game! My only hope is that we can win the league,for it would not only be a major victory for liverpool,but for football too!
ReplyDeleteMaybe your memory is playing tricks on you.
ReplyDeleteI presume you mean Man U won't snap up Martinez? :)
ReplyDeleteCan't see that happening, i really do think Everton will make CL at the expense of Arsenal, helping us to the title along the way.
Can't see Martinez walking away from that.
And you're right, when they were interviewing for the job, had you asked LFC fans, nobodies first choice was Rodgers and there are very few that could have done the job he has.
Whaaaaaat? Pure blasphemy.
ReplyDeleteThis team better than the late-80s team with Barnes, Beardsley, Aldo, McMahon, Houghton, Hansen et al? No chance, but you're entitled to your view.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that the league is more competitive is a bit of a red herring. back then, players got practically zero protection from refs agains bad fouls etc. Barnes et al played beautiful football despite being constantly hacked all the time. Nowadays, Suarez et al have much more space in which to operate as refs are far stricter re physical contact.
I wonder after last night will his "dream" now be to join Athletico?
ReplyDeleteAm I the only person on here who actually shared JK's excitement about Rodgers when he was appointed? Rodgers just had something about him before he signed which I trusted. I think it was the fact that he took Swansea from relegation favourites to mid-tablers- with a great style of play. Being a good talker also helped as well.
ReplyDeleteExactly and playing the worst football I have seen in a long long time to boot. Yes our form tailed off dramatically badly and that was terrible but two cup finals and winning one can't be ignored. For me they are not comparable. Hodge was a joke and never should have gotten the job. I look at England now getting rid of the ball like and unexploded bomb at times and I am so glad he wasn't given more time.
ReplyDeleteAnd the great thing about Rodgers is that because he is young and still relatively in the dawn of his career, he can stay at Liverpool for a very long time, like Ferguson or Wenger. Because of that, we'll alway have a consistent core to our team, unlike teams like City who keep needing to buy players all the time.
ReplyDeleteI was very hopeful and somewhat excited but his lack of experience meant that in that slow start (though there were some really good performances there) it was harder to hang my hat on something. My mate is a Swansea fan and he was convinced he would be a success. This lad knows his football too and I had watched a decent amount of Swansea to feel excited. I wasn't absolutely thrilled as you never know but definitely hopeful.
ReplyDeleteYou need to show you deserve more time. Rodgers earned it because we still put in some impressive performances while that final touch and consistency just wasn't there yet. What did Hodgson show? Bottom table obscurity, shit house style of play, shit house performances, complete lack of team cohesion, and instability. I still felt sorry for Hodgson when he was sacked because he seemed like a really nice bloke, and he just looked so miserable every time he'd rub his face with his hand. But hey, he's still not doing bad for himself at all.
ReplyDeleteHe has an apparent ability to learn quickly and be tactically flexible when it's required, which I like very much. Remember at the start of his reign the football was nice but a little too 'tippy-tappy', but once he'd instilled the importance of possession play into the players we've become much quicker, powerful and more direct. He's grown with the team and achieved much in really a very short space of time. Most impressive.
ReplyDeleteI thought he was the right man for the Liverpool when he was manager for swansea city.
ReplyDeleteI think we have to give FSG much credit for having the balls to pick a young manager who had shown promise and tactical flair but who had not, in reality, achieved a great deal. He must have impressed them.
ReplyDeleteI said the" best footballing team",not the best team,there is a difference. When this team has the success of the late -80's team,then I may call them the best team. Football in England is a lot more competitive than ever before,when we were at the height of our powers we only had one or two teams to compete with in a season,now we have four clubs with much deeper pockets than us,money talks,teams can buy success,watch utd throw money at the problem next season. I agree that football was much harder in the past,but to say Suarez has more space is an absolute nonsense,football is much faster,players are much fitter now than ever before,to play football now, one has to be an athlete,there is no room for beer guzzlers. If you watch the tapes back,you'll agree this team plays at a much higher tempo than any team that has went before. Also remember we used to close out games by passing back to our keeper over and over,possession was the name of the game. I know we are splitting hairs,but sure isn't it great that we are able to compare this team to our great teams of the past?!
ReplyDeleteI am a massive fan of the Roy Evans Era. He was my favourite LFC manager before Rodgers arrived.
ReplyDeleteThere is just something about Rodgers that sets him aside from the likes of Houliier & Benitez. That something is 'you sore 3, we will score 4'. Rodgers has instilled a wining mentality in the team which is something that has been our downfall sine the last time we won the Holy grail.
I can remember how many were crying to get back Rafa back :-o The first thing that should b done ASAP is to offer Rodgers a long term contract!
Exactly. He can do a decent job with limited players I think and so I don't think the England job is for him. We can see in Liverpool and Soto that their is flair in the younger generation of England players (Barkley and Stones at Everton too) and I fear he will do a Liverpool with them. Not that I car too much about England but I do care about our players playing for them.
ReplyDeleteNick I think you are dead right and to compare Kenny's tenure to Hodge is just madness and disrespectful to what he actually did.
I would have had Rafa back straight after Hodge but I am glad at where we are now and how we are playing. Rafa may have lost his way a bit but is still a great manager.
ReplyDeleteYeah but the overall quality and athleticism of players is far higher now. Their was space due to the fact that your opponents were of a much lesser quality. There were far less foreigners in the league so the pot that the players were taken from was smaller.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong I don't agree this current team is better (yet) but the quality of opponents back then was arguably worse.
I never said he was not a great manager just pointing out that many wanted Rafa back only for things to turn out for the better since he left ;-)
ReplyDeleteYeah they definitely have the tougher fixtures with Soton and City, but Arsenal have a couple of relegation battlers too. But watching them Sunday they were unrecognisable. The only word I could use to decribe them was beaten.
ReplyDeleteThe fight looked totally gone out of them and at this stage of the season that will cost you dearly. Still think Everton have a right chance, and like yourself I hope they do it.
I'm just hoping they give Moyes 100m in the summer, that'll f**k em up for a couple of years at least!! :)
Agree and I think Everton will do it
ReplyDeleteGiving 100 million to Moyes would be like giving an iPad to your Gran. She wouldn't have a clue how to use it either.
ReplyDeleteNot so sure my nan says it's the best coaster she has ever had.
ReplyDelete"A bit like a mule with a spinning wheel. No one knows how he got it and danged if he knows how to use it"
ReplyDeleteLyle Langley
Take a bow, Sir.
ReplyDeleteThat is true but Hodgson also took over at a time when the club was at its sickest. Had it been a horse, someone would have shot it. He got no money what so ever to invest into the team, needed to replace half of it, had to deal with a dressing room disrupted by one of our players that had been put on a pedestal by the club's supporters and he had to fight against the Kenny or no one brigade who had not given him a break had he won the PL title and the CL by October. It was impossible for him, or anyone, to be succesful in that situation. The King came in right after the takeover. Already had the fans on his side. New hope was everywhere. The success stories of the Red Sox were there for everyone to be seen. And he immediately was given all the cash made from the Babel and Torres sale to plough back into the team. The summer after that he got another cash injection to build further. So even though the stars lined up for him, he finished in the same position as he did the year before and Benitez did the two years before that. So if you compare the circumstances these guys had to work in and the results they got, I think Kenny made less of the situation than Hodgson did.
ReplyDeleteI would disagree, the league is a lot more competitive these days.
ReplyDeleteBack in teh 80's and early 90's you were games which you would class as bankers, game you know you will win because the opposition were poor.
Now that is no longer the case, teams at the bottom of the table are now much capable of beating those at the top, there is no such things as a sure fire win.
That's just not true. Today we still expect to beat Fulham, Norwich and Hull...yes...I said Hull :-)
ReplyDeleteExactly. I could understand when they appointed Moyes that they went for a manager with PL experience rather than a big name but I never quited understood why it was Moyes. I'm convinced they wouldn't be up the creek the way they are had they appointed Martinez. I hope Everton make it too but to be honest, looking at their fixture list and that of Arsenal the Gooners do tend to get their act together against smaller teams whereas Everton need to beat Citeh and Moyes United. Let's hope they do :-)
ReplyDeleteBut a bit of an egomaniac and that's what caused us to crash and burn in the first place. I don't think there was anyone at the club he didn't get into a fight with
ReplyDeleteRobbie fowler was one of the best strikers this country has ever seen. People with his talent are timeless. That's like saying romario couldn't cut it with the current Barcelona team. Nonsense
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't for king kenny coming in, hodgson would've had us playing in the championship you fool. So show some respect to to king kenny he came in and got us into european football for following season from the position hodgson left us in.Then got us till two cup finals the following season and we won one of them. Honestly some people have short memories, he done an absolutely great job in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteWe were a bit reliant on McManaman though. Arguably the start of our tradition of running our best players into the ground.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a good point that Kenny squandered an opportunity, whereas Hodgson wasn't really presented one. Roy came in at a tough time and maybe it was a bit of a poisoned chalice.
ReplyDeleteWhat it comes down to me for me however, is that Kenny Dalglish was a Liverpool manager and Roy Hodgson wasn't. Some people may read that and think "well he never had a chance then, did he?" but that is wrong. Obviously Kenny rode into the job on a wave goodwill and optimism but him aside, none of our recent managers have had to do that and they were all accepted.
Why is this? It is because you have to prove you are a Liverpool manager. A lot of people were sceptical of Hodgson, but the idea that people were in open revolt from day one is revisionist fiction.
If anything, he provoked more optimism than Rodgers since Rodgers had done nothing. Hodgson has limited top level experience but had some and also he was British, which was considered a welcome novelty by many after Houllier and Benitez. By the time Rodgers came in, after the failure of Hodge and Kenny, being British was unfashionable.
The early press conferences for either manager were both positive too. The difference came to when we started playing football. With each passing game Hodgson proved that every fibre of his DNA was antithetical to the corresponding fibre in LFC's DNA. Hodgson came into a shit-storm, but instead of trying to navigate his way through it and making sure LFC emerged at the other side with our identity intact, he resorted to negativity and systematic lowering of expectations in a way that was anathema to the winning mentality this club, at times delusionally, has prided itself on.
Hodgson had a chance- a slim one. He made nothing of it. Rodgers hardly strolled into ideal circumstances either. He had to sell players. He had many players that were not fit to play his style of football. What he showed the fans was that his comments about a being desirous of a passing and moving red machine were not hot air and palliative deception as they were under Hodgson. I think that is the crucial difference. Roy tried to manage Liverpool in his own way, which is perhaps fair if slightly (unintentionally) disrespectful (like the Allardyce situation at West Ham) but what made it worse was how he tried to pull the wool over fans eyes and convince us this was the Liverpool we'd always known.
Well I guess sticking your head in the sand is easier than admitting you were wrong isn't it?
ReplyDeleteOh it's not really that hard for me to choose the old team of Fowler, Rush and McManaman over the new team of SAS, Coutinho and SG. Afterall, Fowler is still my favourite striker without any serious competition.
ReplyDeleteI will always have fond memories of my first Liverpool team, the double winning team of 86 and then spending the Rush money on Aldridge, Barnes, Beardsley
ReplyDelete( just wish they could have mixed it with the Milan team of the time )
Hard to pick one, different era's, generations, opinions.. They have all been great.
ps. i have even managed to drum it into the wife this team stands on the verge of
something never done for 24 years
B Rodgers needs to ship out these dead wood average or injury prone players first and foremost:
ReplyDeleteGK B Jones CB K Toure CB S Coates RB M Kelly
AM L Alberto RW O Assaidi FD I Aspas FD F Borini
One world class player B Rodgers no longer wants or has time for at club:
GK P Reina
And the two abyzmal, comical, pathetic and useless loan signings we brought to the club this summer:
LB A Cissokho LW V Moses
B Rodgers should bring into club £35-£45M on sales of those 9 players:
That £30-£40M needs to be spent on these 5 Defensive players:
1: GK: A Mccarthy(24) Of Reading for £5-£7M competition and cover for S Mignolet (25)
2: CB: D Lovren(24) Of Southampton for £8-£15M competition and cover for M Skrtel(29)
3: RB: N Clyne(23) Of Southampton for £4-£8M competition and cover for G Johnson(29)
4: LB: B Davies(20) Of Swansea for £4-£8M competition and cover for J Enrique(27)
5: DM: Y M'Vila(23) Of Rubin Kazan for £7-£11M competition for S Gerrard(33) and L Leiva(27)
And then the owners need to give B Rodgers £50-£60M to spend on 4 class creative goal scoring quality pacey quick attacking players this summer:
1: AM: Diego(29) of Wolfsburg on a free transfer competition for Coutinho(21) and Suso(20)
2: CM: Koke(21) Of A Madrid for £17-£23M competition for J Allen(24) and J Henderson(23)
3: LW: B Arfa(27) Of Newcastle for £8-£12M competition for J Ibe(18)
4: FD: L Remy(27) Of Qpr for £8-£14M competition for Sturridge(24)
Yes but character has a lot to do with it. Example; Suarez is a different type of guy to Torres. Put Suarez in a competitive game he CANT help himself. He gives everything. He just wants to win! Not all players have that kind of mentality and I'm sure the management realised this when they refused to let Suarez go..
ReplyDeleteI'm not against the deal. Just a little cautious is all..