Brendan Rodgers, born in Northern Ireland on January 26, 1973, is currently the head coach of Liverpool Football Club in the Premier League.
He also has a very famous nickname, known as "Uncle Fang".
The reason why he has this name is because there are as many as 102 properties under his name!
Many coaches and players came to Liverpool and rented Rogers' house to settle down, including the German coach Klopp who later succeeded him... It's really a bit humorous.
This shows how financially minded Rogers is. Even if he is not the head coach, he would be very comfortable just being a housekeeper and paying rent.
However, as a football coach, Rogers actually has something, otherwise he would not have been spotted by a giant like Liverpool.
And his results are pretty good. Last season, he led Liverpool to the runner-up spot in the Premier League and eventually won the best coach of the year.
In addition, Rogers has won the Premier League Coach of the Month three times, which is equal to Pan Yi this season!
Therefore, Pan Yi would not study Rogers' house buying strategy. Instead, after playing in Roma, he and his coaching team began to research and collect intelligence and information on Liverpool.
And this information is very detailed!
It’s not just about Rodgers’ tactics at Liverpool, but his preferences early in his coaching career.
After all, a head coach's tactics are not static. They will always change over time. This is actually the process of a head coach revising and evolving his own tactics.
Studying their early coaching characteristics will also provide an important reference for their current tactics.
For example, it was mentioned in the report that when Rogers coached Watford and Reading in the early days, he was actually not sure about his tactical style.
Especially at Watford, he tried to add some Spanish pass-and-run style to the traditional English 4-4-2 formation, but this made his team look different.
But things took a definite turn for the better during their time at Reading.
Rogers loaned Sigurdsson to the team, an attacking midfielder who appeared behind the forward.
Sigurdsson is extremely creative. He can assist and score goals. He has become the soul of the midfielder for Rogers' team and made his team very powerful.
Later, Rogers moved to Swansea, and he also rented Sigurdsson again. His team also took shape, providing Rogers with the best platform to show his coaching philosophy.
In this formation, the team has an attacking full-back (Taylor or Rangel), a defensive midfielder (Britton), and a playmaker who moves and passes like Xavi ( Joe Allen) and an inside winger.
Obviously, this is a derivative of tiki-taka, exactly the same as Guardiola's Barcelona in the future.
His tactical system at this time was mainly based on the following three points:
1. Control the ball.
2. Move the ball frequently to open up space on the court.
3. Defend in a zone rather than in a fixed formation.
In addition, since the team lacks players with strong personal abilities like Messi, Rogers made some fine-tuning of tactics in order to improve scoring efficiency.
In the team's midfield, Rogers did not have an outstanding player like Iniesta who could pass the ball, so he arranged for Sigurdsson who was better at running and scoring goals, and he was in the team at this time. He is more like Lampard in Mourinho's Blues.
In the frontcourt, he does not use a false nine like Barcelona. The team has shooters like Danny Graham in the frontcourt.
It can be said that Rogers added Mourinho's pragmatism to Guardiola's idealism, which also ensured that he could implement the team's possession-based play and the record would not be too bad.
And when Rogers was called by Liverpool to come to Anfield in 2012, there was no player here who could perfectly embody his coaching philosophy.
For players like Henderson, Downing, Carroll and others, the more suitable formation may be the traditional 4-4-2.
So, after a difficult first six months, Rogers introduced Coutinho and Sturridge, and after realizing Suarez's top personal abilities, Rogers decided to build a team around the Uruguayan.
Rogers is based on ball control, emphasizing high pressure and quick passes between several players, hoping to suffocate his opponents in counterattacks with a speed that will suffocate him.
Suarez has excellent skills, Sturridge is amazingly fast, and Sterling has excellent passing ability, which provides an excellent running environment for the frontcourt attack group.
In the midfield, Gerrard is still the leader of the team, Coutinho is mainly responsible for organizing the offense, while Henderson runs between the two penalty areas without hesitation.
Last season, that is, the 2013-2014 season, the Red Army's quick counterattack was extremely efficient. Rogers' ability to adapt and improve was greatly demonstrated, and the good results also proved this.
When he knew that the tactics he advocated at Swansea had little chance of being implemented at Anfield, he quickly began to emphasize personnel management and build the team around the outstanding individual abilities of the Reds players.
When he first arrived at the Red Army, Rogers' ideal task was to turn the Red Army into England's Barcelona, but in the end, the Red Army seemed more like England's Borussia Dortmund!
This is exactly what a coach should do.
When the head coach's ideals don't work, he should immediately understand the strengths and weaknesses of his players. This ability to adapt is naturally part of a coach's philosophy.
In some key battles of Rogers' coaching career, the changes in this coach's coaching philosophy can also be seen.
In his first season in the Premier League, Rodgers proved doubters of his coaching philosophy unfounded.
That season, Swansea finished 11th in the league. Despite a mediocre finish, Rodgers' side defeated Chelsea and eventual champions Manchester City and drew with the Reds at Anfield.
His greatest achievement was the 3-2 home victory over Arsenal.
You know, for the past 10 years or so, the Gunners have been the advocates of passing and controlling play in the Premier League. After defeating the Gunners, Rogers and his Swansea can proudly tell the world that they are also capable of winning games in the Premier League with passing control!
After switching to Liverpool, Rogers used a completely opposite style of play to defeat Arsenal.
They beat the Gunners 5-1 at Anfield. The Red Army's quick counterattack quickly defeated their opponents. Four goals in the first 20 minutes ended the suspense of the game early.
These examples also prove once again that Rogers is also very flexible in tactics and is very good at using the resources at hand to achieve maximum results.
Each Chelsea coach will know this information well, but only a relatively small part will be passed on to the players' heads after further analysis and screening by the coaches.
After all, the players don't need to know that much, they just need the coach to tell them how to play the game.
As for the specific implementation of "how to play", the coaching staff needs to discuss based on this information and then come up with a targeted tactical plan.
"Liverpool's ball control combined with defensive counter-attacking style was very sharp last season, which gave them the possibility of winning the Premier League championship."
Pan Yi pointed to the tactical board and started talking about Liverpool's current problems, which are the points that Chelsea can take advantage of now.
This is the pre-game preparation meeting, or the most important part of a tactics class. All coaches listened carefully and took notes carefully.
After all, no matter how complete the information is, it is just dead words and pictures. Only by seeing the truth in it and then deciphering it can these words and pictures come alive and become a weapon in actual combat.
And Pan Yi is obviously the best master at this.
"But it's a pity that it took Rodgers at least a year and a half to develop this style of play at Liverpool. Their core is Suarez."
"After Suarez moved to Barcelona, there was a lack of such a top striker, and Rogers' tactics were a bit dysfunctional. Liverpool's performance this season has also begun to decline significantly."
"The main reason is that his tactical play requires too much ability from forwards. Not only must they move reasonably to prepare for long passes from Gerrard and Henderson for quick counterattacks, but they must also have enough football intelligence. Cooperate with teammates in the frontcourt through short passes, penetrations, cuts, etc. In addition, the shooting skills should not be too bad.”
"And their current forwards, whether Balotelli or Sturridge, are unable to reach Suarez's level. In addition, Sturridge's recent injury has aggravated the situation."
"It's not that Rogers doesn't understand his problem, but firstly, Liverpool's results in recent years have been too average, and good stars are not very willing to come; secondly, he also needs time to adjust his tactics, and then slowly come up with a new team. The set does not require Suarez’s tactics.”
"And this, that's what we can exploit, is the guarantee that we can beat Liverpool at Anfield."
Everyone nodded after hearing this.
Everyone knows that if the players were not extremely adaptable and the coach had strong training abilities, it would be almost impossible for a team to complete the transformation of the tactical system in a very short period of time.
This is not just a matter of coaching style. Changing common tactics requires a lot of running-in among teammates, which is likely to take a long time and run the risk of experimental failure.
At that time, after selling Suarez, he was about to face the Premier League. The pressure of performance made it impossible for Rogers to do so.
Since we don't plan to drastically change the tactical system, we can only do what Rogers is doing now, constantly changing personnel and positions on a small scale to fine-tune and experiment with tactics.
But obviously, this is still very difficult.
After all, not every coach is Pan Yi. All coaching knowledge is almost full, and you can also switch between various divine formations...
Suarez was to Liverpool last season what Messi was to Barcelona. Everyone revolved around Suarez, including Sterling, who was the younger brother. Suarez was the core, Sturridge was the helper + deputy output, and the rest All are green leaves.
As soon as Suarez left this season, the Green Leaf boys immediately couldn't move without the support of their thighs.
"It is said that bringing in Balotelli was not Rogers' original intention." Scaloni also said:
"During the pre-season warm-up match in the United States, Rodgers also made it clear that he would not introduce Balotelli."
"In the end, I think I still didn't find my favorite striker before closing the window. I had no choice but to seek medical treatment in a hurry."
"There is no doubt about Balotelli's talent, but he plays more casually on the court. Coupled with the decline in form in recent years, it is obviously difficult to meet the requirements of a center in Rogers' tactical system."
"Perhaps Rodgers will replenish his forward line in the winter window?"
Pan Yi shook his head: "How many forwards do you think in the world can reach Suarez's level?"
"This..." Scaloni scratched his head.
Indeed, based on Suarez's performance last season, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the number one forward in the world today, otherwise he would not have been bought by Barcelona for a high price of more than 80 million euros.
At that time, Suarez was even in the suspension period.
Just because he used his sharp teeth to take a bite of Italian "delicacy" Chiellini in the 2014 World Cup.
This is how "Su Ya on the Tip of the Tongue" was born: (please make up the background music by yourself)
The group stage hasn't ended yet, and Suarez has already started his day's work;
He decided to try his luck and go to the Italian team's backcourt in search of a precious ingredient;
The strong men of the Apennine Peninsula are a gift from God; the shoulder meat of the center back is the best food;
After exercising for 75 minutes, the shoulder meat has been fully mobilized, and the meat is tender and juicy, coupled with the salt from sweat;
Such rare ingredients, coupled with simple and direct eating methods, make this food even more precious...
In short, even if Su Ya has such a "quirk", even if Barcelona has to pay the price of not being able to use Suarez for several months, they still want to take him away at a high price, which shows the strength of the Uruguayan.
"Rogers' current strategy is actually the right one, which is to slowly adjust and experiment with a style of play that is more suitable for the current group of players." Pan Yi continued, "But unfortunately, some of his practices are wrong."
Scaloni immediately stopped talking and started to put on a serious face with the other coaches.
Pan Yirui commented on other coaches in the Premier League. This is the most rare learning opportunity!
"He is actually a bit like me, that is, he likes to use young players. For example, Joe Allen, under the training of Rogers, this extremely talented young player became a regular main player in Swansea and in 2012 Came to Liverpool with Rodgers."
"At Liverpool, Rodgers also helped Sterling grow into England's most promising star."
"Including after Rodgers went to Liverpool, he developed Henderson into an all-round midfielder. Now, Henderson is very confident, very determined and has good tactical awareness on the court."
"But the problem is that he sometimes trusts young players too much and does not trust long-established veterans or players in their prime. He also made such mistakes in the process of adjusting tactics this season."
"For example, in the last two Premier League games, Rogers used Emre Can and Joe Allen, as well as Henderson and Joe Allen to take charge of the organization work in the middle, but the results were not good."
"In fact, they have someone who is more adaptable to the attacking midfielder, and that is Lallana. His speed is slow, but his kicking is very reasonable, and his front-to-back connection is very good; in addition, his pressing is quite good. , if he plays the attacking midfielder, there will be a barrier in front of the defensive midfielder."
"It's just that Rogers now prefers to use Coutinho as an attacking midfielder. But the problem is that he is more risky in playing the ball. He likes to play behind the ball and is not stable in controlling the ball. In fact, his most outstanding position should be in On the left wing."
"As a result, some of the players in Liverpool's current lineup are incompatible. In other words, Rogers went wrong when thinking about how to establish a new system."
"When we deal with them, Coutinho is also the key point."
"Of course, in addition to what I just said, there are also the following points to pay attention to..."
Pan Yi began to make arrangements for the coaching staff's tasks, and everyone carefully recorded Pan Yi's requirements.
First, when facing Chelsea's recent strength, Liverpool should still use the defensive counterattack style that Rogers has focused on in recent seasons, but they may also take advantage of their home court to attack in the opening game.
At this time, it is necessary to take advantage of the weaknesses of several key players in Liverpool's offense, such as attacking midfielder Coutinho's unstable control of the ball and his tendency to take long shots alone, and carry out targeted defense against them.
This also includes cutting off the connection between Liverpool's midfielder and frontcourt attackers, so that Sterling, Emre Can and others can only work alone along the wing.
As for Balotelli, Pan Yi took advantage of his poor tactical discipline when he coached Hamburg and Milan last season. It will be the same this time. Let him wander in front alone.
When he does not have the support of his teammates, his role is actually limited.
At this time, you can see the power of Suarez.
Because he not only has superb shooting skills, but can also often use his personal ability to solve problems.
He can even be said to be the only forward in the world who can eat the opponent's defender alive! (physics)
Second, you can create more set-piece opportunities in the frontcourt and use set-pieces to score goals.
Rogers has been playing defensive counterattack tactics in Liverpool for two years and can be said to be very skilled.
Although the departure of Suarez has led to a decrease in offensive firepower this season, the defense is still very good.
The double midfielder blocking of Gerrard + Henderson, coupled with the air defense capabilities of Lovren and Skrtel, meant that Liverpool actually did not concede many goals in the first ten rounds of the Premier League.
Therefore, if Rogers is determined to put up a defensive formation when facing Chelsea, it will really be difficult for Chelsea to knock on their door.
However, the zone defense principle that Rogers has always adhered to in his coaching career has great disadvantages in set-piece defense.
Although this approach can ensure that the players with the best defensive ability always stay in the most dangerous areas, there will inevitably be gaps between the defenders in each area.
This kind of gap is often caught by opposing players with a keen sense of smell.
Moreover, since you are the best defender at this position, then instead of playing here, can't I just play to the area defended by your winger?
Of course, zone defense has such weaknesses, and in fact man-to-man defense also has weaknesses.
Because the player with the best defensive ability is likely to be pulled out of his defense zone by the opponent's players, which will lead to the situation that there are no strong enough players guarding the dangerous area, and then the opponent will take advantage of it and attack it.
Therefore, in fact, many teams now adopt a zone + man-marking method, which makes it less likely for opponents to catch weaknesses.
But Rogers still stubbornly uses the full-zone defense method because he feels that the current group of players he has do not have good marking skills.
This also resulted in Liverpool conceding a lot of set-piece goals in previous games, accounting for about 30-40%, which is already a very high proportion.
Of course Pan Yi also wants to take advantage of this.
Similarly, forwards like Balotelli often return to the penalty area to defend when defending set pieces, but his energy has never been very concentrated, which is also a weakness.
Therefore, Pan Yi predicts that set kicks may be a decisive factor in changing the trend of the game, so focused drills are needed.
Third, if the opponent's physical strength decreases in the second half, they can attack by taking advantage of the weakness of their midfielder and backfielder who are easily disconnected during offense.
This is because Gerrard is not a traditional defensive midfielder. Although he is physically strong, his defensive position selection and grasp of the opportunity to attack are still far from a truly world-class midfielder.
Moreover, in Rogers' tactical design, Henderson often moves closer to the center to help defend, but Johnson on the right often cannot return after assisting. Henderson also needs to fill Johnson's position, which gives Chelsea an opportunity to attack. Players drive straight into the opportunity to face two centre-backs.
And when Liverpool is attacking, their two full-backs need to often assist to the opponent's half to suppress the opponent.
But neither Moreno nor Johnson can compare with top full-backs (such as Robertson + Arnold in their real-world line) in terms of personal breakthrough or passing ability.
Their role is limited to increasing the number of midfielders and forming a pressing advantage, and they do not create many real opportunities.
Therefore, when Liverpool attacks aggressively, their threat is actually not great, but it gives Chelsea more space, which will be more obvious in the second half when their physical fitness declines.
In addition, although Rogers can explore the potential of the main players, on Liverpool's bench, not to mention having substitutes who can change the course of the game, there is not even a qualified rotation.
Borini, Lambert, Lucas Leiva, Kolo Toure... it can only be said that they are all ordinary people.
Therefore, once Chelsea takes advantage of the score and the situation, it will be more difficult for Rogers to change the situation on the field through substitutions and tactical adjustments.
fourth……
Generally speaking, when Pan Yi prepares the next opponent's targeted deployment, he will use one or two main plans, as well as some alternative plans.
During training, of course, the main plan is the main one, and the others are supplementary.
After all, no matter how much research and targeting is done before the game, the opponent will suddenly change his mind.
Of course, there are not too many coaches who like to live a tidy life, but sometimes accidents happen.
For example, some key players were injured while skiing or fell in the bathtub, which led to some core changes in the formation, and the head coach had no choice but to make temporary changes to the formation.
It's a bit like Manchester United's big circle tactic. If Carrick is not here, you can't let Fellaini play in the middle.
If this kind of thing really happens, Pan Yi will use alternative plans and convey the latest tactical ideas to the players' heads in the shortest possible time.
Now, everything is ready, just waiting for the Anfield battle two days later!
