Brendan Rodgers Interviews

Brendan Rodgers has spoken of his intention to play attacking football at Anfield and entertain the Kop.

After seeing his Swansea team applauded off the pitch for their performance at Anfield last November, he witnessed at close hand just what a unique bunch of supporters Liverpool have.

The new boss was reserve team manager at Stamford Bridge when Liverpool beat Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final, and he insists the special atmosphere of Anfield, matched by an attacking team can intimidate opponents.

Recalling the 2005 semi-final, Rodgers said: "The (Chelsea) players said they had never experienced support like that.

"That was ultimately what won the game. I want to use the incredible support to make coming to Anfield the longest 90 minutes of an opponent's life.

"I want to see great attacking football with creativity and imagination, with relentless passing of the ball.

"I know what it's like because I had a team like that at Swansea. That was with a terrific group of players. When people came to Swansea, it was probably the longest 90 minutes in their life. So after 10 minutes, when they hadn't had a touch of the ball, they are looking at the clock and seeing only 10 minutes had gone. It's a long afternoon."

Rodgers knows the expectations at Anfield are different to those at the Liberty Stadium, but he has a strong mental approach and is eager to give the supporters something to shout about.

"When you come to a club like this one, the shirt weighs much heavier than any other shirt," he said.

"The weight of expectation is phenomenal. My job next season is to try and lift some of that weight off the shirt. I'll take the pressure.

"The players can just go and concentrate on performing and if you don't do that you'll get the result eight or nine times out of 10 because of your talent.

"The reality is that this is a club where I need to align the playing group with the supporters. There is an imbalance at the minute.

"You've got some of the world's best supporters here and the playing group is not quite at that level yet. What excities me is the motivation to get that level back up again and that is why I came."

The pass and move philosophy which has become Liverpool's trademark is what Rodgers wants to bring to the pitch on a regular basis and he insists it is important to keep those traditions.

He added: "I think every player will tell you they would love to play that way. The question is, does every player want to work that way?

"For me, a lot of our game is based on passing. Our game at Swansea was talked about a lot and lauded. What people didn't recognise is that to have the ball for 60-70 per cent of the game you have to get it back, very, very quickly.

"So our transition in the game and positioning to get the ball back became very good and that allowed us to beat Manchester City, to beat Arsenal, should have beaten Chelsea and to beat Liverpool.

"It's not starting from scratch but tweaking. I don't think it is a total rebuild.

"Obviously I have a philosophy in terms of where I want to get to but that won't happen on the first day. What we will need to do is make a number of adjustments and bring in players for key positions that will allow us to play that way.

"You can't come to Liverpool and play a direct game of football, lumping-it style.

"This is a club that is historic for the identity, style and DNA of its football."

Author: @Shunter77 from liverppolfc.tv