KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Most improved player(s) and why?

Lallana was still bad for Rodgers in the season he was sacked but I give you Firmino as he needed time to settle. Klopp has had his first 37 games in the EPL, how does his points tally compare with your Brendan's 37, if you want you can wait for one more game. Last, Rodgers was not a better tactician than Klopp, I don't know why you think otherwise. Rodgers tried to copy Pep (tiki taka) and Klopp (high pressing), but was not good enough.

Klopp the better motivator. Brenda the better man lover

Brenadan Rodgers was a good coach but a bad manager, whereas Klopp is a good coach and a good manager. By that I mean theres more to tactics on a pitch with players. Its about getting the best from players by talking to them on their level. Klopp comes across as someone who doesnt walk around letting everyone know hes manager but he will let players know if they are stepping out of line. Kinda like the Sakho case in some ways.

That comeback against swansea yesterday was a champions performance. Im not saying we are going to win the league but its the mentality. Sometimes believing that your good enough is enough to make you successful.

Theres no denying that Lallana and Lovren have really turned their game around. I just hope they can continue the way they are going with their football. I want to see it from Henderson this year as well as Origi. Last season both had injuries Henderson a lot more than Origi. They were unlucky is some ways not to have the same amount of game time but I think this season they might come good. Origi needs to work better on his finishing and Henderson needs to look to add goals to his game this season. If they get enough gametime I think both will.

I don't think Rodgers was a bad manager at all. He got the best out of many players that had previously underperformed like Henderson. Before Rodgers, Suarez was a marauding talent that lacked focus or end product, and most people couldn't even agree what his position was (Winger, CAM, SS?), but under Rodgers, he became on of the most lethal 9s in the game.

Coutinho and Sturridge were rejects at Inter and Chelsea, but they became stars for us. Gerrard was reinvented as a regista-playmaker, and Raheem Sterling became the most valuable Englishman in the game. Many people put that season down to Suarez, but they seem to forget he was banned for 25% of the season. The wheels came off, and it didn't work out, but I think it's unfair how we've treated Rodgers. It was time for a change, but he brought us as close as we've ever been to the title in 26 years. Even after he left, Suarez, Rodgers, Gerrard, and Coutinho all continue to speak very highly of him.

Klopp is a better manager, and I think he has improved us in many ways, and I think he will be able to finish what Rodgers couldn't, but there is no reason to mock his predecessor. In many ways, Rodgers was the perfect transitional manager to prepare us for Klopp's brand of football.

Origi, Can, Henderson, and particularly Firmino and Lallana have come a long way under Klopp. Coutinho's added consistency would get my vote, but I would agree with any of the above.

I don't think this is accurate, from memory I believe he was missing for the first 5 league games over the season, where we managed to get 3 wins, (All 1-0) one draw and one defeat.

I remembered the ten match ban in total, but you are right, 4 of them he served the season before, missing 6 (5 league one cup)that season.

My point was that he didn't play in those 5 games, which account for 10 points we earned that he contributed nothing to, and without those points we would have finished below Everton. For context, he only had 5 more appearances (33) than the ever-injured Sturridge (28). Also, of the 101 goals we scored that year, he scored 31. That's a fantastic contribution, but the other 70 had to come from somewhere, didn't they? Saying that Suarez the only reason for that season is simplistic and silly.

I'm not one someone that credits Suarez solely for that season, but you cannot underestimate his impact. He brought players up to a higher level, Sturridge and Sterling being the prime examples. I'm not Rodgers' biggest fan but of course he deserves credit for that season as well.

What I'd also say is that in the 5 games that Suarez missed, we won 3 games 1-0 with Sturridge scoring the only goal in each game. We also drew 2-2 at Swansea and lost 1-0 at home to Southampton, with Suarez playing who knows, we may have picked up more points which could have made the difference at the end of the season.

Very refreshing read

The improvement in Suarez's game from when Rodgers came in was huge. I recently watched highlights of Liverpool vs. Utd in the game when Kuyt scored a hattrick, and Suarez played well that day but there were very notable differences that day in everything from his movement, decision making, the positions he was taking up to when he left. And Rodgers should take an awful lot of credit for that.

I'm not disagreeing. He was an amazing player for us, that year more than any other, but his performance and development that year had a lot to do with the change in management. Under Kenny, he was not that same player. He was talented and tireless, but incredibly frustrating. He was wasteful in front of goal, constantly out of position, unfocused, and he would occasionally disappear in big games (like the FA cup final). Too much of Liverpool's game was built around letting Gerrard and Suarez run around and do what they wanted. Both players had plenty of ability and desire, but in many games both of them wanted too much of the ball, and they would chase it all over the pitch. Suarez would play all over the pitch and get lost in games. He was a winger one game, a CAM in another, and a striker the next. Some people called him "a scorer of great goals, but not a great goal scorer," and he only scored half the goals he managed under Rodgers. Some people here even argued (incorrectly) that we played better without him in the team. But when Rodgers arrived, there was a tactical shift that moved him to the focal point, with Gerrard more withdrawn. We saw the best out of Gerrard since Rafa had left, and we saw a new improved Suarez. Still a maverick, still tireless, still a genius (Brendan had nothing to do with these qualities), but more focused. No longer wasteful in front of goal, he became lethal and precise. No longer chasing the ball like a headless chicken, he remained in the final third much more often. He went from 17 goals in all comps to 30 in Rodgers' first year. The next year was even better.

Suarez himself speaks very highly of Rodgers, and he has credited him more than once with a large portion of his development. He was a huge part of that season, and you are right, his contribution cannot be underestimated. But by the same token, Rodgers' contribution to Suarez's development cannot be underestimated either. When a manager changes a player's position and tactical approach like that and a player's goal output doubles, you can't say the manager had nothing to do with that. Suarez was magnificent, but our team ethic and spirit was equally important.

Rodgers has many flaws: lack of a plan B, hubris, and a habit for saying strange cringeworthy things to the press. He is a good coach and man manager, and a good tactician, but when his top goal scorer left, his captain began playing like a ghost, and his second top goal scorer spent most of the season injured, he couldn't reinvent the wheel, and it was time to find someone who could. Klopp shares many of his strengths, but he has fewer weaknesses. Klopp is a better manager, and he has an aura and charisma that Rodgers will never have. If he had Suarez to work with, who know what could have happened. But I am grateful to Rodgers, because he made several changes that made Klopp's start much easier than it could have been, and he shouldn't be mocked by our fans the way that he is right now.