Incredibly insightful. A Villa fan here with a soft spot for all things Liverpudlian. Liverpool always seem to find some great players, and produce them. The academy must save a lot of money etc. Villa seem to be adopting a similar approach to transfers, data driven. It’s a bonus that Emery has selected the supporting team, including the Sporting Director, scouts etc. Great interview!
LFC are in an enviable position of being a more successful-than-average club, which attracts the eye of a large pool of younger talent (even KDB is an LFC fan). Harvey Elliott is a good example of a non-Scouser choosing LFC for being a fan. Although, some credit goes to Gerard Houllier; during his tenure, he had a lot to do with trimming the intake of academy players, so prodigies surfaced quickly. However, as data analysts Graham-Edwards had more to do with the current crop.
I'm the opposite. Liverpudlian with a soft corner for Villa. I am happy that you have gone back to and exceeded the level you were at back in the late 2000s
Incredible stuff. Makes you wonder how much our lack of financial flexibility really affected getting the targets that shot off the charts. What a difficult job.
Brilliant interview this.. goes to show FSG is very very clear from Day 1 on how they want to run the club. They gave in a little but slowly steered the club in their way. With Arnie now, the road is 100% clear now. Fair play to FSG.
@whathaff not talking about the money. lack of clarity from the board can mess up the club. Having a strong direction and working towards it is half the problem solved.
Because it brought the club the brink of administration, from finishing 7th with no prospects to winning every trophy possible and completely stabilising the club?? How would it not be good for the fans@@whathaff
@@whathaffWell at least you have competent Owners. Chelsea lost a competent and rich owner due to Ukraine war, to an rich but incompetent owner. Only City has the holy grail owner. ManU would be better if a competent owner at the Top.
Great interview! Would love to hear more about the club's signing philosophy based on each players' characters as well. I've been a Red for 30 years and I honestly can say that our lads last couple of seasons have one of the best chemistry with proper characters. Half our starting XI were national team captains! That says something.
Used to be a common complaint on the old TIA Forums that Rodgers always wanted to sign the players who did well against us, especially if they scored. From Clyne to Lovren to Benteke it somehow didn't occur to Brendan to think about how they would fit in but when they played well and scored against us that was enough for him unfortunately.
Because it does what its mean to it attracts you in first then you realise how solid of a guest he has on…don’t think it’s disrespect I think it’s a good way to get people in I’m a Chelsea fan and I’m now watching this
It’s funny how all the bad signings were Rodgers ain’t it? You do know people like Ian Graham wanted Lazar Markovic? These people who bow at the alter of Graham & Edwards are PATHETIC these losers didn’t win anything until Klopp came to the club and transformed it HIMSELF!
@@johno9761 Strange to pick out one particular player as a failure when they're also responsible for changing Klopps mind from Julian Brandt to Salah, brought in Suarez, Coutinho, Firmino, Mané, Matip, Van Dijk, Alisson, Robertson, and the list goes on and on. There are inevitably going to be some misses in transfers, like Markovic, Balotelli, Grujic etc, but overall the recruiting was excellent. The success rate of signings under JK were incredible. Far more hits than misses !! I love Klopp as much as anyone, but Klopp couldn't have transformed the club if he hadn't been given the tools to do so. You've just heard how Rodgers was far more combative regarding the transfers, so yes, the failures have to fall at his feet if he was the one pushing for that player. Klopp was relatively happy to accept the recommendations, only wanting the final say. Rodgers wasn't.
I always thought Rodgers was meant to be a "new style coach", not a know it all, in charge of everything, old skool manager. The old boys network of managers and owners is nearly dead in England but imo it has definitely held English footy back. When Wenger first turned up many footy ppl were amazed Wenger recommended eating well and not being an alcoholic. The rest of British sport already knew these things but the old boy network didn't have a clue.
Love it, great to put a face and process to how Liverpool signed these absolute gems! Coutinho was a masterclass signing in retrospect, the exit was handled even better. We still need to find a Coutinho replacement, thats how important that signing was.
You think he's going to admit that? Our recruitment team was empowered by the owners, they have some ego in them. Just listen to how he spoke about his tenure, that he wanted to prove that data analytics win titles. Ego is unreal.
Statistics are important in sports when analyzing and identifying a pool of transfer targets, but style of play, character of the player and team chemistry are more important to a successful group and when making a final decision.
Jürgen Klopp once said, he would sign the Player with the better character instead of the Player with the better Football skills. Good character was important to Jürgen.
Really great interview - loved the content! Bit of feedback: the animated white bars in the background are REALLY irritating, especially if the video is playing in one's periphery
This is so interesting and love hearing about the process. Altough kinda wished they could have spoken about the big blunder from the comitee. Selling Suarez and buying Balotelli, a buy the BR didn’t want but got anyway. Also how much did Liverpools lack of finances affect the process of identifying players. I don’t have a degree in informatics but I can pick 5 players who would boost Liverpools stats, but they would cost insane money. The problem Liverpool have faced for a long time is lack of funds. Getting young players cheap and selling em when they leak for profits isn’t the recipe for a consistent top team, alt lest not they way many fans wish for it. And no I’m not taking about City or Chelsea money I’m talking about being able to outspend the likes of West Ham or Villa. Liverpool had been blessed to have Klopp but I don’t think we can demand the same results from Slot on a shoe string budget. Liverpool must be able to sometime spend without selling of its best players to finance :/ potential deals
Balotelli was another Rodgers singing let's be honest. He always said he had final say and then when he was sacked he said oh it was a group decision. So I doubt the likes of the gentlemen here after saying he'd never sign benteke all of a sudden would sign someone similar in benteke a few years later. To be fair some of their signing have been bad but mostly hit than miss compared to other clubs.
Stop lying, Balotelli was not a BR signing and when he was manager we had the transfer committe and even though it was a “group” thing BR did not want Balotelli to the club but got overruled. The transfer committee is often the manager and a couple of number crunchers who make football decision based of stats. It’s a retarded system that works in baseball because it’s a more individualized sport but it doesn’t work in football but they don’t seem to understand that. Just look at this transfer window, happy?
Would be interesting to hear what the data team thought of Stevie G. Stevie G was told by BR that his game time is going to be limited. Was that just BR or the data team or both? Benteke, Ricky Lambert, Balotteli, Borini, Allen.. fair to say BR was wrong more than he is right.
@@MrJeeves007 He would have won the league title. Don't forget, the season where Salah scored bucket loads wasn't the season we won a single trophy. So let's not put everything on him alone. We won those titles because we kept our back tighter. The introduction of Van Dijk, Alisson and Fabinho changed the course of our fate in the league, from the nearly men, to winners. So you're ignoring the fact that Klopp is key to unlock that level!
@@johno9761 really? One title!!! His football is not sustainable, guys had all be 100% fit, one player was off, the system would not work, other managers would have won multiple titles with that team, I love Klopp, think he is a great human being, but his football philosophy only works if you have two teams and big pockets.
@@gryphongryphklopp built that team and turned players like robertson, arnold, salah, mane, firmino into great players None of them were before. And the problem was that his squad was too thin. Look at city and compare that Especially in defense
@@gryphongryphand he built that culture and energy there He did the same at bvb Thats sth that is lasting past his days. And liverpool was a state before he arrived
Interesting - but I think I'd be more convinced if there were some stories included where he admitted getting something wrong. There's a focus on Benteke, and Ian being against his signing, but what about some of the other unsuccessful signings after Suarez left? Who decided on Lambert? Balotelli?
Very insightful interview about the world of football and transfers. Many thanks to This is Anfield, you did a fantastic job. Ps: I think he is so damn lying about Fekir's situation 😂 how come that he was your prime target but you don't remember why it did not go through? Something fishy here but anyway😂
Probably because Fekir is still playing and he has only left the position at Liverpool so probably doesn't want to name names or burn bridges. Maybe when there's enough distance there will be some truth about what actually happened.
Brendan went to LFC, had an affair in the club , left his family , spewed utter nonsense on interviews 🤦. ive been supporting the cluc since 1981 and i hate him with conviction.
I don't understand most of this. Why on earth WOULDN'T the manager be the person who has FINAL SAY on all transfers - given they are 100% accountable for results? The process of signing players involves a few things but the player identification aspect MUST fall on the manager, end of story.
I had Costa and Suarez in my Liverpool saved game and remembered they only managed to started half the games together - missed the other half by either being injured or suspended!
Great piece... this was a fantastic discussion guys. Many thanks for such insights into the working dynamics of that Kenny, Brenda and Klopp era. Further confirms my intuition on Brendan. Complete fraud.
@MrJeeves007 he was responsible for multiple substandard signings in what hindsight reveals to be very flawed logic. This guy has been proven right on two accounts: a. The ineptitude of Brendan and b. The starkbimprovement in competency with Klopp. That's indisputable.
Nabil Fekir Dr Graham? He's now playing for Real Betwys!! ps TIA, PLEASE lose the moving graphics on the screen. It just detracts from the whole thing... 🙂
From an outsider looking in , didn't Brendan nearly win you the league? if not for gerrards slip. He gets hammered about how Liverpool were a disaster under him by the media but I remember Liverpool being class that season
It was also Brendan’s arrogance against Chelsea that cost us. I remember watching that game and asking at the time why we were attacking so high up the pitch. Ask yourself, why on earth was Gerrard the last man in defence to begin with?? Brendan got his tactics horribly wrong in that game
I'm not as down on BR as some others, but a) Suarez was the best player in the PL by a wide margin that season, and b) you have to ask why we were in a position where one player slipping was enough to cost us the title (previous game was one, but there were others during the season). A bit more nous and quality from the manager could've got us over the line. But you're right in that by no means was he terrible or even bad, just didn't have enough. Also, at Liverpool a manager has to be 'a Liverpool manager' apart from success; Hodgson is the most obvious recent example of it, but BR suffered from it as well - something was off personality-wise, an underlying artificiality that we had trouble connecting with is the best way I can put it.
Data analysis showed Downing as top for putting crosses into the box and Carroll top (in the Championship) for converting crosses. Look how that worked out. Not this chap's era, of course.
It was the guy who recruited this chap, Edwards, who was hired by Comolli. It's got a lot to do with the manager as much as the players themselves. Data may show you all the stats, but don't tell you their attitude and ability to handle adversity.
Under Brendan Rodgers I wonder which players he could have recommended him instead of Joe Allen, Lazar Markovic, Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren, Mamadou Sakho and Mario Balotelli. I'd be interested to know.
@@dman9152 Lovren scored a header in St Mary's for Southampton against Liverpool in a 1-0 loss for the pool. Those 3 points cost Liverpool the 13/14 title at the end🎉.
Brendan Rogers was the David Brent of football managers. That documentary should have been the end of him. He was utterly ridiculous in that video where he was telling 17 year old Sterling off. And that whole nonsense with the envelopes should have led to his immediate dismissal
Markovic was half decent, he was just a differently player than what was expected. Balotelli just didn’t want to play for us or really anyone at the time
@@SpencerioQ well thats part of scouting, to figure out what kind of player Markovic is as well is Mario willing to play before they get signed, not after
@@Daniel3NT Rodgers was very open that Balo was a gamble. As for Markovic, and in fact everyone - scouting is by no means bullet proof. He won the league before heading over and it just didn't work.
Ian Graham should enlighten us on the influence of the owers. Chelsea now and prior to Ukraine war. From very successful signings (on big spendings) to bad signings (on big spendigs)
People really under-estimate the importance of good transfers... everyone is so accustomed to just seeing general player turnover with no improvement, not even thinking of Chelsea or City, look at how Southampton and West Ham do business, constantly selling players to fund transfers, and they bring in batches of players 4-6 every window, rarely do they improve, and most of the time they are left trying to recoup some of the transfer fee in order to reinvest... When Liverpool take 'a risk' its 8 million on Robertson, its 20 million on Shaqiri, its 12 million on Chiesa, its free transfers, Matip and Adrian... the only risk involved is that it addresses an issue but doesn't answer the issue ; for example, we need a left back, 8 million Robertson can definitely fill that role, but we may end the season still needing a left back.. he turned out to be brilliant and irreplaceable but the risk was still there, so we get Tsimikas... the difference would be spending 55 million on someone definitely capable, then 3 months later an injury or something else happens and you are left with no left back or means to buy one 👌 when Liverpool take a risk in transfers, its a risk that the selling club will regret, and we never do 👌 I could list 40 of Liverpools last major signings... and 10 players sold that paid for them 👌 this is Liverpool, football comes first... save the sun newspaper headlines and inflated price tags for the billboard FCs who play football 👌
Imagine if we had got Tom Ince. We might never of won anything or got Klopp. Thank god we got Cutinho and all that cash for him. It really helped Liverpool be competitive
Diego Costa back then would of been amazing fit. There were games we just had to "be smart" and rely on improvisation and tactical ingenuity in the moment to see out wins. But instead Brendon would just make 3 subs and try to do something that made no sense and then backfired and either wins turn to draws or draws turn to losses... its not always about goals, there were games we dominated but we were naive and fragile and as soon as it started going wrong it completely derailed... just having Diego Costa grimacing smile in the heart of the opponents defence would of been enough to see those games through... Benteke always looked lost, it made him look like a bad player which was always obviously false, but tactically in the momentum of a game, Brendon never adjusted to games and never knew how to use Benteke and he was still young and developing, as a striker all he needed was a structure and clear instructions and he could shine, unfortunately he had brendon shouting left is right and red is green in the shade 😅
Fakir got the medical....but after the medical was done, his bro/agent....asked LFC for more money...........that last min hustle made LFC baulked at such a mercenary move
Brendan was successful mainly because of Suarez. Our defending at the time was absolutely atrocious. We conceded 50 goals in the league but scored about 100.
It's funny how our 433 adapted from having a no 10 as a centre focal point, to not having a recognisable no 10, almost 2 6s and an 8, or 3 8s playing as a 6, to now, we basically have 3 no 10s playing out of position 😂 MacAlistair and Szoboszlai would be world beater no10s in that original Klopp formation, now they are like powerhouse box to box no.8s while Gravenberch is basically playing the role Coutinho played in his final 6 months... looking back and comparing to conventional 4 3 3 formations, it really is crazy how Liverpools midfield have been so dominant and important year after year, despite their unorthodox set up and constant changing roles... everyone said Liverpool need a no.6, so Liverpool loaned out their 2 number 6s and bought a winger 😂
Liverpool played its best football of the premier League era under Brendan Rodgers up to that point in that time. He was a great coach. But not a great manager. His network was too small. I'll always be grateful for Brandon Rogers. He was the perfect precursor to jurgen klopp
Rodgers was lucky to have Stevie and Luis in his starting 11 and for those reasons alone he was not an absolute joke. It was far from the best football we've ever played. To mention that in the same breath after having seen Klopp's Liverpool is quite mad.
Brendan Rodgers was one of our worst signings in recent club history. Tactically inept with an ego that writes cheques he can't cash. It's why he's gone back to the pub league.
@kurleelox obviously as well lol, close though. Both dog shit managers bigged up to something they're not. The titles they've both won as managers my nan could've won and she's been dead 30 years 🤣🤣
Liverpool pulled out of the deal after his brother representatives starting demanding more money. He didn't fail the medical. He played alright in the years since.
In the 36th minute or so when asked why left, his answer at first was fine, that he wanted a new challenge. But his motivation at the club is to prove that data analysis on finding players work and they actually do believe that the team won the trophies not because of Klopp's ability to grow players, but that of their data analytics. Wow, the ego....
Did you completely ignore the part when he said: "The data doesn’t make any difference at all unless you’ve got a great manager, a great sporting director, a great scouting department to go and do all of the other work that’s absolutely necessary for success."
@@thisisanfield right?! I was like what is he talking about, how in the world did you sit here in and listen to this interview and come away with that perspective.
Good interview and Rodgers was definitely out of his depth and his treatment of SG was pathetic but I can't help but say there are a lot of selective things Ian is choosing to say and I guarantee he isn't speaking the whole truth I mean he dodged that fekir one quickly. It's easy to pin Rodgers as the villain but I always say there are 2 sides to the story. Rodgers definitely was not treated well enough imo. Truth is klopp is a MAJOR reason why Liverpool are back to where they are, Edwards eventually got the hang of things and is great but most of the credit goes to klopp. FSG and all these puppets have a lot of things to answer for but they won't.
Thanks to everyone who has watched the full interview and found it interesting, much appreciated!
Please do like and share the interview 🙌🏽
The facts we only got Coutinho because Tom Ince deal fell through is quite horrifying oh my days
Huh.. I forgot Tom Ince existed. He was quite an exciting young midfielder once.
@strictlyfootball7859 The fact that he was a youth player with us and we were trying to then resign him is laughable!
can you actually imagine van dijk and Allison wouldn't have happened if tom Ince came
The fact we only got Macca+Szoboszlai because the Bellingham deal fell through is quite horrifying oh my days
@@Bleech606p
How has this interview not gone viral on football/liverpool twitter? Absolutely brilliant!
its not marketed well. the title could be far better
I’ve been binging his interviews and just bought his book, he’s class
Becuse he's more boring than butter. He's brilliant at his job though
With my attention span it's rare for me to get through an interview that long but that was fascinating. It flew by. Really insightful.
I can't even read yr comment it's to long
Incredibly insightful. A Villa fan here with a soft spot for all things Liverpudlian. Liverpool always seem to find some great players, and produce them. The academy must save a lot of money etc.
Villa seem to be adopting a similar approach to transfers, data driven. It’s a bonus that Emery has selected the supporting team, including the Sporting Director, scouts etc. Great interview!
LFC are in an enviable position of being a more successful-than-average club, which attracts the eye of a large pool of younger talent (even KDB is an LFC fan). Harvey Elliott is a good example of a non-Scouser choosing LFC for being a fan.
Although, some credit goes to Gerard Houllier; during his tenure, he had a lot to do with trimming the intake of academy players, so prodigies surfaced quickly. However, as data analysts Graham-Edwards had more to do with the current crop.
Liverpool Football Club bro. That's the pull.
I'm the opposite. Liverpudlian with a soft corner for Villa. I am happy that you have gone back to and exceeded the level you were at back in the late 2000s
Last great player Liverpool developed?
Liverpool fan here but my first football shirt at 7 years old was an Aston Villa shirt with Mita sponsorship in the early 80s
Poor Brendan. All he wanted was brilliant technicians who were wonderful human beings
BEAUTIFUL human beings
With CHARACTER
Makes you wonder why on earth he wanted Benteke doesn't it? And almost any other player he signed.
@@kims4495
Borini ((shivering))
Like Benteke smh 🤦
Awesome interview, best I've heard in ages, so insightful and frank. Thanks for organizing this lads!
The white stripes in the corners are very disturbing for the viewing experience. But the interview is GREAT!!!!!
Are you autistic? Smh
Incredible stuff. Makes you wonder how much our lack of financial flexibility really affected getting the targets that shot off the charts. What a difficult job.
It led to us building our best ever team
Brilliant interview this.. goes to show FSG is very very clear from Day 1 on how they want to run the club. They gave in a little but slowly steered the club in their way. With Arnie now, the road is 100% clear now. Fair play to FSG.
How is that good for the fans, I don't know. Unless you get to share the dividends of the club profit.
@whathaff not talking about the money. lack of clarity from the board can mess up the club. Having a strong direction and working towards it is half the problem solved.
Because it brought the club the brink of administration, from finishing 7th with no prospects to winning every trophy possible and completely stabilising the club?? How would it not be good for the fans@@whathaff
@mmw4990 long term infrastructure was put in too with la AXA, the new anfield Road stand and buying back melwood for the girls
@@whathaffWell at least you have competent Owners. Chelsea lost a competent and rich owner due to Ukraine war, to an rich but incompetent owner. Only City has the holy grail owner. ManU would be better if a competent owner at the Top.
Wow, what a gem of an interview. This is why I subscribed to TIS. Keep up the good work!
Great interview! Would love to hear more about the club's signing philosophy based on each players' characters as well. I've been a Red for 30 years and I honestly can say that our lads last couple of seasons have one of the best chemistry with proper characters. Half our starting XI were national team captains! That says something.
they just need to be wonderful guys with greatcharacter or technician w movement on the ball or a beautiful human being
I’ve been waiting years to hear this man speak
Used to be a common complaint on the old TIA Forums that Rodgers always wanted to sign the players who did well against us, especially if they scored.
From Clyne to Lovren to Benteke it somehow didn't occur to Brendan to think about how they would fit in but when they played well and scored against us that was enough for him unfortunately.
Brilliant interview. But you got Ian Graham to interview with you and you don’t put his name in the title or the thumbnail.
yeah i thought the same thing
Because it does what its mean to it attracts you in first then you realise how solid of a guest he has on…don’t think it’s disrespect I think it’s a good way to get people in I’m a Chelsea fan and I’m now watching this
What a good watch. Thank you for sharing this TIA, appreciated 👍
Thanks for watching!
very Insightful, particularly hearing about the Rodgers era. Good One !
Ian Graham took a proper dig on Barcelona about that 'stupid bid' 😂
Timestamp? 😂
~ @30:55
Fascinating interview, can't wait for the book now.
Finding the surrounding screen graphics quite annoying.
But very informative channel 👍
wish more people from the club's hierarchy would come out and do a pod like this
Completely unrelated, but the the Milner brat pfp goes so hard
Brilliant interview, just shows how clueless Brendan was. Confidence through the roof for some reason.
he had the arrogance of a pep and the ability of brendan
It’s funny how all the bad signings were Rodgers ain’t it? You do know people like Ian Graham wanted Lazar Markovic? These people who bow at the alter of Graham & Edwards are PATHETIC these losers didn’t win anything until Klopp came to the club and transformed it HIMSELF!
His pride is his biggest weakness
@@johno9761 Strange to pick out one particular player as a failure when they're also responsible for changing Klopps mind from Julian Brandt to Salah, brought in Suarez, Coutinho, Firmino, Mané, Matip, Van Dijk, Alisson, Robertson, and the list goes on and on. There are inevitably going to be some misses in transfers, like Markovic, Balotelli, Grujic etc, but overall the recruiting was excellent. The success rate of signings under JK were incredible. Far more hits than misses !! I love Klopp as much as anyone, but Klopp couldn't have transformed the club if he hadn't been given the tools to do so. You've just heard how Rodgers was far more combative regarding the transfers, so yes, the failures have to fall at his feet if he was the one pushing for that player. Klopp was relatively happy to accept the recommendations, only wanting the final say. Rodgers wasn't.
Omg Suarez Costa would have been amazing!!!
Very interesting to hear the inside knowledge.
Thank you, very insightful. Hope we can get more interview with Ian and other analysts ❤
W🌟W, excellent fascinating interview, lifting the lid on hits and avoidable misses, much valued & appreciated 👏🏼💯
I always thought Rodgers was meant to be a "new style coach", not a know it all, in charge of everything, old skool manager. The old boys network of managers and owners is nearly dead in England but imo it has definitely held English footy back. When Wenger first turned up many footy ppl were amazed Wenger recommended eating well and not being an alcoholic. The rest of British sport already knew these things but the old boy network didn't have a clue.
brilliant interview and insight👍
Really enjoyed this! Great insights, can’t wait to read the book, Ian. Best of luck with everything #YNWA
Love it, great to put a face and process to how Liverpool signed these absolute gems! Coutinho was a masterclass signing in retrospect, the exit was handled even better. We still need to find a Coutinho replacement, thats how important that signing was.
Very enjoyable and revealing interview. Good to see you in front of the camera too Matt. Hope you're keeping well - BigWoodenSpoon.
i thought coutinho had been recommended by Rafa Benitez?
You think he's going to admit that? Our recruitment team was empowered by the owners, they have some ego in them. Just listen to how he spoke about his tenure, that he wanted to prove that data analytics win titles. Ego is unreal.
Statistics are important in sports when analyzing and identifying a pool of transfer targets, but style of play, character of the player and team chemistry are more important to a successful group and when making a final decision.
Jürgen Klopp once said, he would sign the Player with the better character instead of the Player with the better Football skills. Good character was important to Jürgen.
This needs more views. Very intresting.
Incredible interview
Brilliant interview. So impressive.
Brilliant interview
Really great interview - loved the content!
Bit of feedback: the animated white bars in the background are REALLY irritating, especially if the video is playing in one's periphery
Thanks for the feedback, we'll be changing that!
This is so interesting and love hearing about the process. Altough kinda wished they could have spoken about the big blunder from the comitee. Selling Suarez and buying Balotelli, a buy the BR didn’t want but got anyway. Also how much did Liverpools lack of finances affect the process of identifying players. I don’t have a degree in informatics but I can pick 5 players who would boost Liverpools stats, but they would cost insane money. The problem Liverpool have faced for a long time is lack of funds. Getting young players cheap and selling em when they leak for profits isn’t the recipe for a consistent top team, alt lest not they way many fans wish for it. And no I’m not taking about City or Chelsea money I’m talking about being able to outspend the likes of West Ham or Villa. Liverpool had been blessed to have Klopp but I don’t think we can demand the same results from Slot on a shoe string budget. Liverpool must be able to sometime spend without selling of its best players to finance :/ potential deals
Balotelli was another Rodgers singing let's be honest. He always said he had final say and then when he was sacked he said oh it was a group decision. So I doubt the likes of the gentlemen here after saying he'd never sign benteke all of a sudden would sign someone similar in benteke a few years later. To be fair some of their signing have been bad but mostly hit than miss compared to other clubs.
Stop lying, Balotelli was not a BR signing and when he was manager we had the transfer committe and even though it was a “group” thing BR did not want Balotelli to the club but got overruled. The transfer committee is often the manager and a couple of number crunchers who make football decision based of stats. It’s a retarded system that works in baseball because it’s a more individualized sport but it doesn’t work in football but they don’t seem to understand that. Just look at this transfer window, happy?
Brilliant interview
very insightful interview. thank you
Brilliant interview, might go buy his book.
Would be interesting to hear what the data team thought of Stevie G. Stevie G was told by BR that his game time is going to be limited. Was that just BR or the data team or both? Benteke, Ricky Lambert, Balotteli, Borini, Allen.. fair to say BR was wrong more than he is right.
“How to win the PL”
Simple. Hire Jurgen Klopp 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ignoring everything behind him...imagine Julien Brandt instead on Salah.
@@MrJeeves007 He would have won the league title. Don't forget, the season where Salah scored bucket loads wasn't the season we won a single trophy. So let's not put everything on him alone. We won those titles because we kept our back tighter. The introduction of Van Dijk, Alisson and Fabinho changed the course of our fate in the league, from the nearly men, to winners.
So you're ignoring the fact that Klopp is key to unlock that level!
@@johno9761 really? One title!!! His football is not sustainable, guys had all be 100% fit, one player was off, the system would not work, other managers would have won multiple titles with that team, I love Klopp, think he is a great human being, but his football philosophy only works if you have two teams and big pockets.
@@gryphongryphklopp built that team and turned players like robertson, arnold, salah, mane, firmino into great players
None of them were before.
And the problem was that his squad was too thin.
Look at city and compare that
Especially in defense
@@gryphongryphand he built that culture and energy there
He did the same at bvb
Thats sth that is lasting past his days.
And liverpool was a state before he arrived
Should ask him who's his favourite player interms of data right now at liverpool. Meaning the underrated one
He made the point he charges for that information now.
Clubs pay big money for that information tho. What an interesting and valuable info that is
This is not FREE information, so he will not drop that info casually in an interview.
Interesting - but I think I'd be more convinced if there were some stories included where he admitted getting something wrong. There's a focus on Benteke, and Ian being against his signing, but what about some of the other unsuccessful signings after Suarez left? Who decided on Lambert? Balotelli?
This is fascinating for me, thank you so much
Very insightful interview about the world of football and transfers. Many thanks to This is Anfield, you did a fantastic job.
Ps: I think he is so damn lying about Fekir's situation 😂 how come that he was your prime target but you don't remember why it did not go through? Something fishy here but anyway😂
Well he did mention the injury problems Fekir had. Didn't sound fishy to me.
Probably because Fekir is still playing and he has only left the position at Liverpool so probably doesn't want to name names or burn bridges. Maybe when there's enough distance there will be some truth about what actually happened.
Great interview
Really good interview.
That was incredibly insightful - thank you.
00:37 to skip 37 seconds of something you're going to watch anyway.
Brendan went to LFC, had an affair in the club , left his family , spewed utter nonsense on interviews 🤦. ive been supporting the cluc since 1981 and i hate him with conviction.
What I've love to hear is signings thst nearly happened
He really dodged the Fekir situation ... Must be more to it than meets the eye.
I don't understand most of this. Why on earth WOULDN'T the manager be the person who has FINAL SAY on all transfers - given they are 100% accountable for results? The process of signing players involves a few things but the player identification aspect MUST fall on the manager, end of story.
I had Costa and Suarez in my Liverpool saved game and remembered they only managed to started half the games together - missed the other half by either being injured or suspended!
Great piece... this was a fantastic discussion guys. Many thanks for such insights into the working dynamics of that Kenny, Brenda and Klopp era.
Further confirms my intuition on Brendan. Complete fraud.
But with a better defence and GK Brendan would have won the league
@MrJeeves007 he was responsible for multiple substandard signings in what hindsight reveals to be very flawed logic.
This guy has been proven right on two accounts: a. The ineptitude of Brendan and b. The starkbimprovement in competency with Klopp.
That's indisputable.
I would love to know what he thought about Englands squad and tactics at the Euros
Nabil Fekir Dr Graham? He's now playing for Real Betwys!!
ps TIA, PLEASE lose the moving graphics on the screen. It just detracts from the whole thing... 🙂
Wonderful insight
From an outsider looking in , didn't Brendan nearly win you the league? if not for gerrards slip. He gets hammered about how Liverpool were a disaster under him by the media but I remember Liverpool being class that season
Then the next season happened
It was also Brendan’s arrogance against Chelsea that cost us. I remember watching that game and asking at the time why we were attacking so high up the pitch. Ask yourself, why on earth was Gerrard the last man in defence to begin with?? Brendan got his tactics horribly wrong in that game
I'm not as down on BR as some others, but a) Suarez was the best player in the PL by a wide margin that season, and b) you have to ask why we were in a position where one player slipping was enough to cost us the title (previous game was one, but there were others during the season). A bit more nous and quality from the manager could've got us over the line. But you're right in that by no means was he terrible or even bad, just didn't have enough. Also, at Liverpool a manager has to be 'a Liverpool manager' apart from success; Hodgson is the most obvious recent example of it, but BR suffered from it as well - something was off personality-wise, an underlying artificiality that we had trouble connecting with is the best way I can put it.
Goes to show that Brodge was quite inept and Suarez truly carried him.
Data analysis showed Downing as top for putting crosses into the box and Carroll top (in the Championship) for converting crosses. Look how that worked out. Not this chap's era, of course.
It was the guy who recruited this chap, Edwards, who was hired by Comolli. It's got a lot to do with the manager as much as the players themselves. Data may show you all the stats, but don't tell you their attitude and ability to handle adversity.
Under Brendan Rodgers I wonder which players he could have recommended him instead of Joe Allen, Lazar Markovic, Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren, Mamadou Sakho and Mario Balotelli. I'd be interested to know.
Lovren did his Bit ❤
@@bradrockl8330I get that Lovren did his bit for the club, but surely there must have been better options out there cost wise.
Lovren gets to much hate, he was a decent player.
@@dman9152 Lovren scored a header in St Mary's for Southampton against Liverpool in a 1-0 loss for the pool. Those 3 points cost Liverpool the 13/14 title at the end🎉.
Wtg team inspiring incite rarely seen 🙂👍👏👏👏
Brendan Rogers was the David Brent of football managers. That documentary should have been the end of him. He was utterly ridiculous in that video where he was telling 17 year old Sterling off. And that whole nonsense with the envelopes should have led to his immediate dismissal
eye opening video 👍
I just wonder who greenlighted Balotteli and Markovic deals.
Markovic was half decent, he was just a differently player than what was expected. Balotelli just didn’t want to play for us or really anyone at the time
@@SpencerioQ well thats part of scouting, to figure out what kind of player Markovic is as well is Mario willing to play before they get signed, not after
@@Daniel3NT Rodgers was very open that Balo was a gamble. As for Markovic, and in fact everyone - scouting is by no means bullet proof. He won the league before heading over and it just didn't work.
Wish you'd asked about Bobby Firmino
Definitely was on the list, we could have spoken to Ian for hours!
We need to find out who was behind that signing. He seemed to slip in the back door
Rodgers was close to winning the league to be fair.
Wonder why Brendan is at Celtic tom ince and bentake
Basically, Brendan thought he was Fergie but he turned out to be Moyes.
If he can't "remember" the detail of Nabil Fekir's proposed transfer, why buy his book? What else has he forgotten along the way? Very poor.
Rodger’s is such a simpleton. We could see it then and this confirms it really
Ian Graham should enlighten us on the influence of the owers. Chelsea now and prior to Ukraine war. From very successful signings (on big spendings) to bad signings (on big spendigs)
People really under-estimate the importance of good transfers... everyone is so accustomed to just seeing general player turnover with no improvement, not even thinking of Chelsea or City, look at how Southampton and West Ham do business, constantly selling players to fund transfers, and they bring in batches of players 4-6 every window, rarely do they improve, and most of the time they are left trying to recoup some of the transfer fee in order to reinvest...
When Liverpool take 'a risk' its 8 million on Robertson, its 20 million on Shaqiri, its 12 million on Chiesa, its free transfers, Matip and Adrian... the only risk involved is that it addresses an issue but doesn't answer the issue ; for example, we need a left back, 8 million Robertson can definitely fill that role, but we may end the season still needing a left back.. he turned out to be brilliant and irreplaceable but the risk was still there, so we get Tsimikas... the difference would be spending 55 million on someone definitely capable, then 3 months later an injury or something else happens and you are left with no left back or means to buy one 👌 when Liverpool take a risk in transfers, its a risk that the selling club will regret, and we never do 👌
I could list 40 of Liverpools last major signings... and 10 players sold that paid for them 👌 this is Liverpool, football comes first... save the sun newspaper headlines and inflated price tags for the billboard FCs who play football 👌
Imagine if we had got Tom Ince. We might never of won anything or got Klopp. Thank god we got Cutinho and all that cash for him. It really helped Liverpool be competitive
Diego Costa back then would of been amazing fit. There were games we just had to "be smart" and rely on improvisation and tactical ingenuity in the moment to see out wins. But instead Brendon would just make 3 subs and try to do something that made no sense and then backfired and either wins turn to draws or draws turn to losses... its not always about goals, there were games we dominated but we were naive and fragile and as soon as it started going wrong it completely derailed... just having Diego Costa grimacing smile in the heart of the opponents defence would of been enough to see those games through...
Benteke always looked lost, it made him look like a bad player which was always obviously false, but tactically in the momentum of a game, Brendon never adjusted to games and never knew how to use Benteke and he was still young and developing, as a striker all he needed was a structure and clear instructions and he could shine, unfortunately he had brendon shouting left is right and red is green in the shade 😅
Great interview but he dodged that Fekir question… he had a medical didn’t he and then nothing…
"Alas" - Thought he got quite spiky at that point myself!
Fakir got the medical....but after the medical was done, his bro/agent....asked LFC for more money...........that last min hustle made LFC baulked at such a mercenary move
We could've signed Lukaku instead of Benteke? What could've been
19:40 defeats analysis interesting
Brendan was successful mainly because of Suarez. Our defending at the time was absolutely atrocious. We conceded 50 goals in the league but scored about 100.
It's funny how our 433 adapted from having a no 10 as a centre focal point, to not having a recognisable no 10, almost 2 6s and an 8, or 3 8s playing as a 6, to now, we basically have 3 no 10s playing out of position 😂 MacAlistair and Szoboszlai would be world beater no10s in that original Klopp formation, now they are like powerhouse box to box no.8s while Gravenberch is basically playing the role Coutinho played in his final 6 months... looking back and comparing to conventional 4 3 3 formations, it really is crazy how Liverpools midfield have been so dominant and important year after year, despite their unorthodox set up and constant changing roles... everyone said Liverpool need a no.6, so Liverpool loaned out their 2 number 6s and bought a winger 😂
Wild that FSG would sign a manager that completely goes against the ideology of their club.
He did indicate in that portion of the interview along the lines that there were some mixed signals/misunderstanding from the manager.
Liverpool played its best football of the premier League era under Brendan Rodgers up to that point in that time. He was a great coach. But not a great manager. His network was too small. I'll always be grateful for Brandon Rogers. He was the perfect precursor to jurgen klopp
Rodgers was lucky to have Stevie and Luis in his starting 11 and for those reasons alone he was not an absolute joke. It was far from the best football we've ever played. To mention that in the same breath after having seen Klopp's Liverpool is quite mad.
He said up to that point, meaning before klopp
@@CiaranArmstrong-r9r I'd put Benitez and Houlier above Rodgers, it's not even close.
@@swurvydel I don't disagree im just pointing out what the original comment said
Brendan Rodgers was one of our worst signings in recent club history. Tactically inept with an ego that writes cheques he can't cash. It's why he's gone back to the pub league.
Hodgson?
@kurleelox obviously as well lol, close though. Both dog shit managers bigged up to something they're not. The titles they've both won as managers my nan could've won and she's been dead 30 years 🤣🤣
Liverpool pulled out of the deal after his brother representatives starting demanding more money. He didn't fail the medical. He played alright in the years since.
Rodgers is a complete buffer. Ricky Gervais in the office is Br. Suarez nearly won us the league not Br
I skipped this video initially because of the title. Just saying. Didn't realise it was with Ian Graham.
No worries, we figured that Jurgen Klopp and Brendan Rodgers were more well known than Ian Graham but perhaps not for everyone.
First class
In the 36th minute or so when asked why left, his answer at first was fine, that he wanted a new challenge. But his motivation at the club is to prove that data analysis on finding players work and they actually do believe that the team won the trophies not because of Klopp's ability to grow players, but that of their data analytics. Wow, the ego....
Did you completely ignore the part when he said: "The data doesn’t make any difference at all unless you’ve got a great manager, a great sporting director, a great scouting department to go and do all of the other work that’s absolutely necessary for success."
@@thisisanfield right?! I was like what is he talking about, how in the world did you sit here in and listen to this interview and come away with that perspective.
Good interview and Rodgers was definitely out of his depth and his treatment of SG was pathetic but I can't help but say there are a lot of selective things Ian is choosing to say and I guarantee he isn't speaking the whole truth I mean he dodged that fekir one quickly. It's easy to pin Rodgers as the villain but I always say there are 2 sides to the story. Rodgers definitely was not treated well enough imo. Truth is klopp is a MAJOR reason why Liverpool are back to where they are, Edwards eventually got the hang of things and is great but most of the credit goes to klopp. FSG and all these puppets have a lot of things to answer for but they won't.
omg, imagine ozil and some of those other players, surely we're trying the same if not better now #trusttheprocess
Brendan is a prick , not shocked at all.
Not to mention over-rated and useless...
Diwgo Costa and Suarez in 2013-2014 would surely would have make LFC win PL
Wait- so Graham suggested we sign Lukaku from... Everton at the time? That would've been fun to witness.
I love how he speaks in his own accent throughout the interview yet says "Liverpool" like scouser 🤣
diego costa plus luis suarez was a possible pair??? Graham is a menace 😭😭
Tom Ince resigned he started at liverpool
Slot is Already Implementing His Philosophy at Liverpool
Benteke was just weird. Buying a player with such clear strengths even though you have no plan to play that way at all is madness.