Recent Interview Quotes

"Luis Suarez was held up as the only one that seemed to be doing it," Rodgers told reporters. "Whenever many other players were doing it, both British and European, it seemed to go very quiet.

"It's something that is the responsibility of the players. The managers can only guide and give their opinion to the players. I've seen it at all levels - the Premier League, reserve games, youth team games and some kids football.

"You see it now becoming a part of the game but it's certainly something we want to eradicate. It's a difficult one for the referees because they are having to make that judgement straight away."

Art Morte wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2250032/Liverpool-youngster-Suso-fined-10-000-FA-homophobic-Twitter-outburst.html

RedOranje wrote:

Art Morte wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2250032/Liverpool-youngster-Suso-fined-10-000-FA-homophobic-Twitter-outburst.html

I remember that tweet. He immediately followed it up with another apologising and attempting to explain that it wasn't meant in an offensive way. You could just tell he was going to get in trouble for it, though. Footballers really ought to be either banned from twitter or given explicit instructions on what they can, and can not, post there. Though really, this should have been obvious without explanation.

It was stupid, it was immature, and it was always going to piss people off, but it wasn't meant as homophobic (though the term itself is) and it certainly wasn't an "outburst". Kudos again to The Daily Fail on another misleading headline.

RedOranje wrote:

Art Morte wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2250032/Liverpool-youngster-Suso-fined-10-000-FA-homophobic-Twitter-outburst.html

I remember that tweet. He immediately followed it up with another apologising and attempting to explain that it wasn't meant in an offensive way. You could just tell he was going to get in trouble for it, though. Footballers really ought to be either banned from twitter or given explicit instructions on what they can, and can not, post there. Though really, this should have been obvious without explanation.

It was stupid, it was immature, and it was always going to piss people off, but it wasn't meant as homophobic (though the term itself is) and it certainly wasn't an "outburst". Kudos again to The Daily Fail on another misleading headline.

RedOranje wrote:

Art Morte wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2250032/Liverpool-youngster-Suso-fined-10-000-FA-homophobic-Twitter-outburst.html

I remember that tweet. He immediately followed it up with another apologising and attempting to explain that it wasn't meant in an offensive way. You could just tell he was going to get in trouble for it, though. Footballers really ought to be either banned from twitter or given explicit instructions on what they can, and can not, post there. Though really, this should have been obvious without explanation.

It was stupid, it was immature, and it was always going to piss people off, but it wasn't meant as homophobic (though the term itself is) and it certainly wasn't an "outburst". Kudos again to The Daily Fail on another misleading headline.

Liverpool finance director Philip Nash to stand down

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says top-scorer Luis Suarez may have to change position to accommodate new signing Daniel Sturridge.

Rodgers believes Sturridge's best position is as a central striker and that Suarez can work around him.

"Luis will play for the common good of the team," said Rogers.

"I spoke with Luis on this subject a number of times. When he played at Ajax he played in behind the central striker as a No. 10 in between the lines."

Managing director Ian Ayre has revealed that new deals are being structured to offer lower basic salaries and more performance-related bonuses.

He told the Liverpool Echo: "The attitude I'm trying to put forward when we're negotiating with agents is that we want to do a contract which is fair for both sides.

"Fair often means the right amount of reward for a player who delivers. Everyone we bring through the door, we expect to perform and do the best they can. As long as any player does that, they should be rewarded for it.

"If a player performs, then he will be rewarded. That's the philosophy of the contracts we are offering and signing."

Odd couple of hindsight and redemption could help at Anfield
Posted by Kristian Walsh


Hindsight and Redemption are not the likeliest of bedfellows.

Hindsight is devious, conniving, and heinous. It is a mustachio-twirling villain with a maniacal laugh, gleefully willing to expose every minute flaw in human nature. Redemption, however, is a knight upon a majestic steed. It respects the human condition; it is willing to work tirelessly to rectify wrongs, no matter how arduous and challenging.

Hindsight has an easy life. Hindsight smugly says your suit was the wrong shade of grey five minutes after you receive the galling job rejection. Hindsight singsongs you're too fat, ugly and stupid to ever get the girl while your heart is still tearing in two. Hindsight declares your car too blue, your music too loud, your education too mediocre. Even when you're not wrong, Hindsight knew it all along.

No such conceited behaviour from Redemption. Focus less on what went wrong, try hard to find solutions. Redemption purchases new suits and cars, no matter how expensive. Redemption loses weight and works harder at college, no matter how sweat-laden it could ultimately be. Hindsight wants to follow Redemption, but leads a life far easier.

Over the past few years, Liverpool have been ruled by hindsight. Every single problem was obvious to all but the oblivious.

In hindsight, 35 million pounds was too much to spend on a striker with little experience and a style completely dissonant with the rest of the squad. In hindsight, granting a club legend a three year contract after 18 league games was at least a year too long. In hindsight, waiting until the final day of the transfer window to eke out every shrapnel of value -- and ultimately leaving a thin squad to near-starvation -- was not the best negotiation strategy.

And so it has been over the past few decades. Hindsight stood next to Gerard Houllier as he embarked on his final lap around Anfield and said El-Hadji Diouf, Salif Diao and Bruno Cheyrou were not the final three pieces of a jigsaw needing only one small push. Hindsight lapped up the tears of Steven Gerrard after he was told the pursuit of Robbie Keane would ultimately scupper his best chance to lift the Premier League title.

But hindsight is easy. After regressing from title contenders and European giants into a mid-table side re-establishing itself on the continent within four years, stating what went wrong is merely an exercise of self-flagellation. It is the reaction to these blatant realities that defines the strength of an institution.

It should come as no surprise the past few seasons have seen Liverpool simply not react at all. Every mistake -- Joe Cole, Andy Carroll, Clint Dempsey -- brought further thickness to the club's catalogue of errors. It was soon followed by a shrug of the shoulders, a roll of the eyes and an overriding feeling of melancholy as the wait for the next dissatisfaction began.

But a clap of hooves can be heard around the corridors of Anfield. Redemption may have finally found its way to Merseyside to accompany its nemesis. For the first time in a while, Liverpool -- and all associated with the football club -- appear to be learning from their mistakes. Their work in the January transfer window, though only Daniel Sturridge has signed thus far, is testament to that.

Liverpool waited and waited for Dempsey until Fulham, in the final hour, could wait no longer. Redemption came in Sturridge's signature being secured before January's transfer window had barely allowed a breeze in. The club entered north-east negotiations for Carroll, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson with a ham-fistful of dollars. Redemption comes in the intelligent, cautious bidding for Internazionale's Philippe Coutinho and Blackpool's Tom Ince, both identified as targets by the club, but neither eliciting the expenditure Liverpool are reminded of so readily.

- Liverpool closing in on Coutinho

Truly, redemption seems to be a narrative prevalent in Liverpool's latest chapter. After just three points from the opening five games of Brendan Rodgers' reign, they had little choice. Each win now inches towards the disastrous start being that more irrelevant. The squad itself also houses some of those redeemed: Downing, Henderson and Jose Enrique all looked to be exiting Anfield at the start of the season but have found refuge, their clenched fists after good work a sight too often lacking last season.

Even Liverpool's three major January transfer targets face their own redemption for the sins of clubs past. With three goals in three games, Sturridge has already started to fire back claims he did not have the ability or disposition to be the main man at a big club. The imminent arrival of Coutinho gives a 20-year-old Brazilian a second chance in a major European league after promise and development failed to marry in Milan. Ince, meanwhile, will hope it is second-time lucky at Anfield; few get second auditions on such stages.

Forget the buzzwords and projects. Forget the master plan and grand design. Liverpool can become a haven for those seeking redemption and hoping to revive their fledging careers, improving some beyond recognition. Henderson, Downing and Enrique are proof of what the club can do in such little time, so too the manner Sturridge has started, and the excitement Coutinho has already brought.

For a club still unsure of its identity, perhaps this is what lies ahead. After so many years of heel-kicking and self-pitying over devilish hindsight, Anfield can become somewhere hindsight helps, not hinders. No longer does it mock the clothes you wear or the food you eat, but warns against the turquoise tracksuit and double cheeseburger. No longer does it cause grief at overspending on Carroll or overconfidence on Dempsey, but simply points to Coutinho and Sturridge as the way to conduct business.

It would appear the club begins to edge nearer to the 21st century -- albeit 13 years behind most. The scouting system no longer identifies one player, but instead a type of player with specific attributes. In theory, gone are the days when missing out on a target prompted mass panic as somebody, anybody, would do. There are still things to figure out -- the hierarchy still feels unstable as it rests upon the wheels of inexperience, with help needed around managing director Ian Ayre.

But on the pitch, redemption abounds. And though it might be hindsight's unlikely bedfellow, it could begin a journey towards Liverpool finding its own lost love: success. For now, refusing to be held hostage by the tyrannous ties of told-you-sos is success enough.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/liverpool/id/552?cc=5901

"Even if Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League, I will stay... this is the club of my dreams

'At Liverpool you must perform every week,' says Jordan Henderson

Criticism during his first season at Anfield made the midfielder from Sunderland more determined to shine

Daniel Taylor

In the difficult times, when the sureness of touch was not there and the shoulders sagged a little under the weight of expectation, it was not always clear whether Jordan Henderson would get to this position. Even now, as he sits in a room at Liverpool's training ground and reflects on his first season and a half at Anfield, he is acutely aware there is still some way to go before he wins over everyone and English football starts to be, well, a little bit nicer about him, maybe a touch more understanding, less impatient.

Early on he explains he tends not to read the sports pages or tune into the radio or television shows where they can be so unsparing with their criticism. "I'm not on Twitter either, so I don't really see as much of it as other people do." But it isn't possible to block it all out. "Maybe one of my friends might say: 'Have you heard what they're saying?' It's probably affected my mum and dad more than me, to be honest. Like anyone's parents, I doubt they've enjoyed seeing their son criticised."

This is his first major interview and, perhaps understandably, it takes a little while for him to relax, unfold his arms and start to open up. When he does, it quickly becomes apparent Steven Gerrard's midfield partner, just like the Liverpool captain, is not short of competitive courage. There is a bristling form of self-belief that has helped put his career on an upward trajectory again and convinced Brendan Rodgers, after his initial reservations, that he was right to persevere with him.

Even after the FA Cup defeat against Oldham Athletic – when Henderson says the team were "disgusted" with how they had played – Liverpool's manager made a point of excluding him from the criticisms he directed towards the other players. Rodgers was planning to sell Henderson last August but, six months on, the midfielder has won him over. "I believe he will be a great signing for Liverpool," Rodgers saidon Friday. "It just takes time."

But first, the difficult times. Henderson was still two weeks from turning 21 when he signed from Sunderland in June 2011. Manchester City had looked closely at him. Sir Alex Ferguson had identified him as one to watch. Liverpool, however, were willing to pay £16m, with add-ons possibly taking his fee to £20m.

A new club, a new city, new team-mates; perhaps nobody should really be surprised that the settling-in period had its rough edges. Henderson, however, refuses to make excuses. Was he homesick? "No," he says matter-of-factly. "It was just different. When I was at Sunderland I didn't think I was the star or anything but here you have people like Stevie and [Luis] Suárez and Pepe Reina and Carra [Jamie Carragher], who have been the best players for many years. And straight away, you have to try to match their ability. It was a step up, a challenge. I felt I was playing well at times, just not on a consistent basis which is what you have to do at Liverpool.

"That's what I needed to get my head around the most: that I had to do it all the time, not just occasionally. When you come to a club like Liverpool you need to perform straight away and consistently. Looking back, I don't think I did that. There were games when I thought I'd played well. It just wasn't every single week and that isn't enough for a club like Liverpool. I needed to learn that."

The scrutiny was even more intense because Liverpool had also spent £20m on Stewart Downing and £35m on Andy Carroll. Rodgers made the point after Liverpool's 2-2 draw against Arsenal this week that players used to sign at Anfield then spend two years in the reserves. Henderson played 31 out of Liverpool's 38 league games last season. By his own admission, he was underwhelming.

When he was called up to Roy Hodgson's squad for Euro 2012, effectively as first-choice deputy for Gerrard and Scott Brave Scotty Parker, Joey Barton spent a good part of the tournament sending out malicious tweets about the policeman's son from Sunderland. "It's something Joey likes to do," Henderson responds. "He doesn't like to play by the rules, does he?" But he is smiling, as well he might given Barton's history of criticising the long list of midfielders between himself and the England team. "I don't know him and I wouldn't ever let that affect me. Joey likes to express his feelings and that's clearly how he felt at the time. That's his opinion. It doesn't bother me at all."

What affected him far more came in August when it transpired that Liverpool were offering him as part-exchange in their attempt to sign Clint Dempsey from Fulham. "It wasn't a nice thing to hear. I didn't want to go anywhere. I wasn't playing regularly and they gave me the option if I wanted to go. I told them: 'No, I don't want to, I want to keep fighting for my place.' I came to Liverpool wanting to stay here for the rest of my career. I certainly didn't want to leave after a year."

This is one of the moments when his strength of personality is obvious. A lot of players would have considered that the beginning of the end. Henderson regarded it more as a challenge, one that he was determined to meet head-on. "OK, it might not have gone to plan at the start, but I knew I could turn around and get it right. I knew I just had to take it on the chin. Even though I wasn't in the team, I felt that if I kept going, kept working hard, kept fighting, I would get my chance again, and that I would take it."

It has been a gradual process. Henderson had to wait until the 0-0 draw at Swansea City on 25 November before starting his first league game this season. The arrival of Philippe Coutinho from Internazionale threatens his position again but Rodgers has included him on a regular basis since Christmas and Henderson has flourished. Against Arsenal on Wednesday he was unfortunate not to be named man of the match.

"The manager's been brilliant with me, to be fair. He's told me the things I need to work on and how I can get better. He's looked back on previous games and talked to me about the things I can improve tactically, how I can be more disciplined, the positions I take up. I feel as if I've done that now. I'm still working on it but I feel I'm doing better now."

He talks about the help he has had from "great people like Carra and Stevie". It is clear there have been difficult moments – "I would be more down than anyone if I hadn't played particularly well" – but if you ask him to pick the most stressful time in his football life it actually has nothing to do with his current club.

Henderson had grown up in a sporting environment. His father, Peter, played football for Durham police and his mother, Liz, was a fitness instructor. The young Henderson did not just excel at football but also at badminton and table tennis. At 16, however, he suffered a medical condition that left him wondering whether he would make it as a footballer. "It was Osgood-Schlatters. It wasn't good. It's a growing pains thing and I had to have a lot of treatment on it. I just shot up immediately and didn't have any kind of physique to deal with it physically.

"I was tall, all arms and legs, and a bit gangly. I'd been at Sunderland since I was seven but I was getting bad knees and stuff and I think they were unsure of what to do, whether to keep me or let me go. That was a really nervous time for me. Towards the end of that season I started to pick up a bit and started to fill out. They decided to stick with me, thankfully. But it did hold me back for a good while."

Six years on, he is now part of a Liverpool side that are 24 points off the top of the league and still coming to terms with the 3-2 defeat at Oldham last weekend – a result that left Rodgers, usually a fierce protector of his own, being heavily critical of his players.

"Everyone knows that he was right," Henderson says. "He didn't go too far. Everyone at this club and inside this dressing room were shocked and pretty disgusted at how we performed. No disrespect to Oldham, but we have to be going there and winning quite comfortably. What he did was good man-management in my view and it has given us all the kick up the backside we perhaps needed."

Overall, though, he is convinced Liverpool are closer to the top teams than the points gap suggests. "I don't think we are too far away. There have been a lot of good performances – Norwich, Sunderland, QPR, Man United in the second half. When we go into the big games, whether it's Arsenal, Man United, whoever, we feel we can beat anyone."

As for himself, Henderson talks about it being a "great experience so far". Football, he agrees, can be too impatient sometimes. "But I don't think what's happened will have done me any harm. I think I might have needed it, to be honest. You will get criticism throughout your career. All the best players have had it at some stage and they haven't let it ruin their careers. I won't either."

Rodgers was planning to sell Henderson last August but, six months on, the midfielder has won him over.

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:Don't you remember we offered him to Fulham for Dempsey