Planet Swans ArchivesRoll back the clock to 1st June. “The King” Brendan Rodgers ups sticks for Liverpool. At the time I am sure I was not alone in worrying where the club would go next. After much deliberation, Danish legend Michael Laudrup took the reigns after spells at Getafe, Mallorca and Spartak Moscow.
How would he fare? It was well known that the players had a great relationship with Rodgers and enjoyed working with him. Having been lucky enough to watch sessions and speak with him showed that he had an excellent knowledge of the game, and I could see how he got the best out of the players.
Of course the rumours ebbed and flowed and there was even a story that stated that Garry Monk was due to take over as manager after a bust up in the States.This story was rehashed in the tabloids during a quiet news week, with the club quick to refute rumours.
It is quite normal for players and management to discuss training. For example, the ‘failure’ of Scolari at Chelsea was down to a lack of intensity at training (according to someone who worked at the club). My opinion – I’ve never seen a session taken by Laudrup so it would be awfully tabloid of me to speculate! However, if training is of a lower intensity perhaps the manager is trying to avoid burn out. Overtraining happens at the biggest of clubs – look at how many muscle injuries Manchester United suffer from at the start of every season, something which we could not afford given the size of our club. Thankfully, we don’t seem to be suffering from any Chelsea style player ‘hissy fits’ given our position at the moment – so training can’t actually be that bad!
The signings seem to be positive – DeGuzman, Pablo and Chico seem to be settling after indifferent starts, Michu and Ki have been a revelation. Tiendelli has looked tidy in the first team and U21’s, and the jury is out on Schecter for me. He did chip in with an assist (of sorts) against Chelsea, however his decision making in possession has been poor when I’ve seen him, particularly for the U21’s. That said I shall reserve judgement until I see more of him.
Looking at performances – squad members seem to be chipping in, Tremmel, Monk, Kemy and Moore have been useful, Routledge has been excellent, Dyer has goals and assists despite being out of the side, Leon has been Leon, Ash looks like he’s through his bad patch and Ben Davies has taken like the proverbial duck to the water! The only disappointment has been Danny Graham, but hopefully he’ll pull through and show the form that got him 12 goals last year.
There does seem to be a tinkering with the style of play with more of a direct approach. Certainly not in the Pulis mould, but a sensible idea. Would we have counter attacked with such devastating effect at Anfield last year? Also, there seems to be more of a grit and determination when we go behind. This year, we have clawed back deficits against Crawley, Sunderland, Reading, Chelsea and Southampton. Yes, we did this against West Brom, Spurs and Arsenal last year – but we seem as if we are better equipped to pull something back this season.
To conclude, had you said that we’d be mid table at the beginning of November – I’d have bitten your hands off! Job well done so far, let’s hope the boys keep it up!
