Football’s First Defender

As a Northern Irishman, Rogers was only 39 years old when he took over as Liverpool coach.

In the business of coaching, Rodgers is absolutely young and frighteningly young.

However, there may be a huge gap in age with the old coaches who have taken root in Premier League football, but in terms of personal football philosophy, the "young" Rogers is not necessarily much worse than other long-established coaches.

Rogers' struggle experience is the only one that the public can learn from, and it is in line with the growth trajectory of many people who have dreams of becoming football coaches.

After all, those who stand at the top of the football pyramid like Ronaldo and Messi are only a handful. More children who dream of becoming football stars may end up in the same way as Rogers: no hope of becoming a professional player, and then engage in a second career.

Rogers, who retired at the age of 20, can only get up at 6 o'clock every morning, go to a warehouse not far from home to work as an administrator, move goods, keep records, and then use his free time at night to train.

The 22-year-old Rogers has just become the coach of the Reading Youth Academy, leading a group of young children to play football every day.

Rogers is a hardworking person. After becoming the coach of Reading College, he began to use his time for study tours.

Spanish football is what Rodgers appreciates most. From 1995 to 2003, the style of 4231 prevailed in Spanish football. Real Madrid, Barcelona in the Rivaldo era, and Valencia in the Mendieta era all left a deep impression on Rodgers.

In addition to Spain, Dutch football is also the goal of Rodgers' study. In a personal interview with Rodgers, he said, "Spain and Dutch football have the greatest influence on me. This is the foundation of my entire football theory. In my As a player, I was interested in possession of the ball, not English football. Because when we played against Spanish and French teams, we could only run after the ball but not get it. I wanted to change. "

Rogers is farsighted. During the years of playing wild football, Rogers learned Spanish and humbly consulted the best teams and best coaches.

During his eight years in Reading, Rogers was gradually promoted from the most ordinary youth training coach to the position of Reading Youth Training Supervisor.

It turns out that gold always shines.

Rogers was introduced by Clark, the assistant coach of Chelsea at the time. Clark recommended Rogers to Mourinho. Rogers left the position of head of Reading's youth training and became the coach of the Chelsea youth team.

Rogers has followed Mourinho for 3 years and naturally learned a lot. "Following Jose, I learned a lot of experience. He trusted me very much and always encouraged me to go solo as a head coach. After working with him for 3 years, it felt like I was studying at Harvard University. After he left Chelsea, I was so sad. "Rodgers is grateful for Mourinho's advice.

Diligent, studious, and meticulous Rogers is also the type Mourinho likes. Rogers can see the shadow of Mourinho. For example, he likes to take a small book to record the game, and he got the true biography of Mourinho's "study hard".

But Rodgers has many differences from Mourinho. In handling interpersonal relationships and dealing with the media, Rogers is quite self-cultivated, with decent language, watertight, and the demeanor of a diplomat.

In Chelsea, Rodgers played his own coaching stage. In 2006, Rodgers, who was trusted by Mourinho, became the coach of the Chelsea reserve team.

From Reading leading a group of kids, to becoming the coach of the Chelsea reserve team, Rodgers ushered in a huge take-off. "I started coaching with a group of 5-year-old dolls, and now (Chelsea's reserve team) Shevchenko is playing under me." Rodgers definitely staged the coach's "hanging silk counterattack" at that time myth.

With Mourinho and Chelsea parting ways, Rodgers also chose to fly solo soon to chase his dream of being a head coach.

On November 24, 2008, Rodgers was hired as the head coach by the Championship team Watford. This was his first top-level management job. At the time, Rodgers was only 35 years old and was the youngest head coach in the Championship. The team was 21st when he took over, only two points above the relegation zone. In the end, Rodgers led the team to a mid-range 13th place at the end of the 2008-2009 season.

The very exciting half-season coaching experience also made the young Rogers a hot new star in the English coaching circle.

It was his old club Reading who took the lead in extending an olive branch to Rogers.

The previous eight years of working experience enabled Reading to successfully hire this outstanding young coach.

It's just that the young Rogers was limited by the composition of the player lineup in Reading and did not lead the team to an extremely impressive performance.

In the 6 months since he took office, he has led 23 games, won 5 games in the league, and only won 1 game at home. The team is only 1 place away from the relegation zone. In the extremely cruel Championship competition, Rodgers' performance in half a season Definitely a fail.

On December 17, 2009, Rodgers and Reading agreed to terminate the contract early.

After that, Rodgers did not rush to find the next coaching job immediately, but used half a year to summarize his coaching experience of coaching two Championship teams for half a season each, to explore and improve his established tactical style.

After half a year of theoretical accumulation, on July 16, 2010, Rogers was appointed as the head coach by the Welsh club Swansea in the British Championship, replacing Paul Sosa who left the team and switched to Leicester City.

Coaching at Swansea, the ball possession philosophy advocated by Rodgers has won recognition from the outside world. The team's offense starts from the backcourt and passes through the ground to the frontcourt. Focus on ball possession and keep the ball at your feet, unlike other teams that frequently use wide crosses.

In his first season in charge of Swansea, he led the team to the Premier League for the first time in history.

We must know that in the 46 rounds of the British Championship, the income stimulus of hundreds of millions of pounds, in the British Championship, which is known for more physical confrontation and rougher game methods, Swansea's success in promotion is the result of a technical style. How difficult it is.

And just last season, on his first trip to the Premier League, Rodgers led the newly promoted Swansea to 12 wins, 11 draws and 15 losses, ranking 11th with 47 points.

Last season, Rodgers' Swansea possession rate of 58.0% ranked third in the Premier League, second only to Manchester City's 60.2% and Arsenal's 58.2%; in terms of pass success rate, Swansea's 83.5% tied for the highest with Manchester City .

Rodgers' Swansea has the highest pass success rate and ball possession rate in the Premier League, and the number of fouls and yellow cards is the least in the Premier League. Swansea also won the reputation of "Barcelona in the Premier League".

And behind these outstanding coaching statistics, it is only Rodgers' first Premier League season. In a small club with a non-traditional giant, Rogers contributed a nearly perfect coaching season.

Last season, when Dalglish made it clear that he would resign after the end of the season, Liverpool's management was also considering whether to hire a world-renowned coach or find a British "local coach".

However, many famous coaches in today's football are carrots and pits. While the season is still in progress, Liverpool's private poaching behavior did not impress many famous coaches including Klopp, and Liverpool could only Execute plan B and recruit coaches from small and medium teams that are easier to start.

Rodgers, who was young and full of tactical ideas, became Liverpool's favorite candidate at the time.

In an ordinary Premier League team, being called by England's traditional giants Liverpool, this is also regarded by Rogers as an important turning point in his coaching career.

Without any hesitation, Rodgers took over the fairly good Liverpool left by Dalglish, and what Rodgers has to do is, on the original planning map, describe his own demeanor.