Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 11/12 MOD POST #1130

By Chris Bascombe, in Boston

A week ago, Carragher was receiving an honorary degree at Liverpool’s John Moores University.

Here, with his club based in America’s most celebrated seat of learning, the first class football student is discussing the next semester under a new tutor.

Brendan Rodgers has just finished his latest training session on the campus. Look closely around the streets of Massachusetts and you might glimpse the statues of those Puritan founding fathers nodding in approval.

Two touch games, players urged to embrace a football to the point where they’re expected to win it back within seven seconds of losing the ball and not a gruelling 20-minute run around the perimeter of the pitch in sight.

This is not a typical pre-season drill. Rodgers’ meticulousness extends to ensuring each player is given thorough details of the passing options they must offer every team-mate, wherever he is on the pitch. All creating angles, each under order to value possession.

Carragher, now working under his sixth Liverpool manager, feels invigorated by a new voice with innovative plans, although he is wary of branding it a New England revolution. He is reminded of the early days of Gérard Houllier and Rafa Benítez when contemporary ideas gave Liverpool a similar sense of vigour.

Carragher is too deferential to those previous managers' success to suggest his current experiences are ‘better’ and it remains to be seen how effective they will be when the season starts.

“I would never put it that training is more enjoyable because it’s disrespectful to what’s gone before,” explains Carragher.

“There is always a certain degree of disappointment when a new manager comes in because it means it hasn’t worked out for the previous one, whether it was Roy, Gerard, Rafa or Kenny. There is more enthusiasm now because it's fresh and new and people are trying to impress more and it’s a clean slate, but you also have to respect the past.

“There have been slight differences to the normal pre-season. It is possession based, but we are Liverpool and we have always tried to play that way in training. It's fantastic to have a manager who has these ideas about wanting to pass the ball, but it's not like we're going from being a long-ball team.

“We've always had that in our history and DNA. We've always been a club that tried to play good football.

“Of course the manager has slightly different ideas compared to Kenny [Dalglish] or Rafa [Benítez] and 4-3-3 is a system the club has probably never tried before. Everyone has their own way they want to do things.

“Normally in pre-season you have your football work and your running. This time it is all incorporated in one, so you have the football all the time.

“All the elements have been blended into one thing rather than separated out, so we’re working really hard physically. Any footballer will tell you it’s better when you’re with the ball.

“I’ve only known the new manager for two or three weeks and he’s been fantastic with me, but also all the players, especially the young kids. I’ve learned a lot from him already because although he is relatively young he has been a coach for 20 years.

"Sometimes you wonder what it's like at other clubs and the closest you get to knowing that feeling when you’re at one club is when a new manager comes in.

“I’ve learned from the way he talks to players about what he expects, even those who are not in my position. If I’m picked, I’ll know exactly what he was expecting from the other players. It’s not just what he’s saying to me, but everyone. He is very much a coach, and it’s great to see him out there.

“The last few weeks have been great, but we can't keep saying how good training is. We need to take the enjoyment and enthusiasm the lads have shown out on to the pitch.”

If Liverpool really want to be radical, in view of Rodgers’ philosophy they should consider changing their anthem from ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ to George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass’.

Football’s buzz phrase is ‘tiki-taka’ but Carragher believes Liverpool will combine various assets.

“You can’t say we’re going to play like Spain or Barcelona,” he said. “We haven’t got the players so there’s no point us saying we want to do exactly what they do, but you want to incorporate some of it with some of your own style.

"We’ll be playing a similar system to Barcelona, that’s true, but we don’t have Xavi and Iniesta. There’s nothing wrong with trying incorporate what the best teams do, though. But we have different ideas and we’re in a different league.

“Some people are big on systems, some people are big on players.

“Some say it's the players who make the system, others say it's the system that makes the difference.

“I think systems do play a part otherwise why not all play the same system? But it's still about players and them having the confidence and the belief to get on the ball and play.”

The difference for Carragher under Rodgers is he realises his role is time sensitive. If there is a more contemplative look in his eye as Rodgers oversees training, it may be part of the deliberation as to whether he wishes to make the eventual transition from player to coach. That decision will wait until next summer.

“I've got a year to go on my contract. Whenever the manager calls upon me I'll be there, wanting to play and wanting to do as well as I possibly can,” he said.

“My only motivation is to play well for Liverpool, for Liverpool to win games, hopefully get a trophy and get into the Champions League.

“It's about playing as many games as I can and see where we go from there.

“We should be looking to challenge for the top four. It won't be easy as you look at the competition now. For us to get into the top four someone has to get out. Look at teams in it, who is coming out?

“Chelsea weren't in the top four this season and they are having a blast with the money they're spending.

“But I think it's realistic we should be challenging. Of course we want to be getting in it. The league has to improve but we still want to do well in the cups.”

“Ronnie Moran once said to me at 65 you never stop learning so I have still a lot to learn at 34,” he said.