Under fire Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has fired a shot at the club’s transfer committee suggesting that the club’s recent struggles are due to a lack of quality in the Liverpool squad, telling reporters:
“If you give me the tools, I’ll do the work.”
Rodgers, who oversaw a first win in seven games as Liverpool beat Aston Villa on Saturday, has found himself under pressure after failing to build on the promise of the 2013-14 campaign, when his side finished two points behind champions Manchester City.
Liverpool sold Luis Suarez to Barcelona that summer, while a series of injuries saw Daniel Sturridge, who scored a brace against Villa, make only 18 appearances in 2014-15 as they ended the season in sixth. Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling have also now left, and Rodgers said:
“I am the same guy who nearly won us the league, but better.
“I think I have shown in the early stages of my management — without being arrogant — that with a talented group of players I can compete at the top end of the league. I know how to manage top players. If you give me the tools, I’ll do the work.”
So is Rodgers saying that he has had nothing to do with the close to £300m that Liverpool have spent on new players since he arrived on Merseyside? And what have Liverpool gotten for that money? Sturridge and Coutinho are terrific players but who else have Liverpool signed that is even close to the players that left?
The former Swansea boss took charge of Liverpool in 2012 after Kenny Dalglish’s return ended with the team eighth in the Premier League, their worst finish since the 1993-94 campaign.
“There are very short memories in football,” Rodgers said. “The team was eighth when I got here. We built a team to excite people throughout European football, that should have won the league.”
He added: “All the good work gets forgotten. That’s how it works. It seems the focus has not been on what’s gone on and what we’ve been missing, but more about getting me out of the club. That’s sad.”
This sounds like Rodgers is desperately trying to rewrite history. He conveniently leaves out that King Kenny won the League Cup and reached the FA Cup Final, where they lost to Chelsea. Those are more cup finals that Rodgers has even reached as a manager.
