\n<\/p>\n
Chelsea are \u2018the wrong club\u2019 for Morgan Rogers. Arsenal weren\u2019t his best fit either; Liverpool and Andoni Iraola could have \u2018unleashed\u2019 him.<\/p>\n
Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Can\u2019t wait for the mental gymnastics as Liverpool fans try and defend being owned by Jeff f**king Bezos<\/strong>. Morgan Rogers is an excellent footballer. But \u00a3117 million should buy more than excellence. It should buy a player perfectly suited to your manager.<\/p>\n That is why Chelsea\u2019s decision is so questionable<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Rogers\u2019 greatest weapon is space. Give him room to turn, accelerate and attack defenders and he can be devastating. Last season he made 223 progressive carries, with 30 ending in shots and another 16 creating chances.<\/p>\n The problem is that Xabi Alonso\u2019s best football at Bayer Leverkusen was based around control. His title-winning side dominated possession, patiently pushed opponents backwards and regularly attacked compact defensive blocks.<\/p>\n That demands players who excel in tight spaces.<\/p>\n Rogers\u2019 numbers suggest something different. His dribble completion was just 34.2% last season, while his 73.4% pass completion under pressure ranked 143rd among 161 qualifying Premier League midfielders and forwards.<\/p>\n Chelsea have therefore spent \u00a3117m on a player whose greatest strength requires space \u2013 and appointed a manager whose football may frequently remove it.<\/p>\n Andoni Iraola\u2019s Bournemouth were almost the tactical opposite. They pressed ferociously, forced mistakes high up the pitch and attacked quickly once possession was won. Bournemouth led the Premier League in PPDA, dangerous losses forced, ball recoveries and goals resulting from high turnovers.<\/p>\n Iraola has even spoken previously about preferring \u201cchaos over organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n That sounds tailor-made for Rogers.<\/p>\n Instead of repeatedly receiving the ball against an established low block, Rogers could receive possession immediately after Liverpool force a turnover, with defenders out of position and space suddenly appearing ahead of him.<\/p>\n And Rogers loves space.<\/p>\n He made 258 runs in behind last season and 160 off-ball runs ending inside the penalty area. Add his powerful carrying and you have exactly the type of attacker who could flourish in Iraola\u2019s fast, vertical football.<\/p>\n There is even an interesting comparison already at Liverpool. Cody Gakpo produced 41 carries ending in shots last season; Rogers managed 30. Combining shots and chances created after carries, Gakpo recorded 57 and Rogers 46.<\/p>\n Liverpool already possess evidence that this type of direct ball-carrier can thrive in their attacking environment.<\/p>\n Rogers also brings goals. Since his Premier League debut he has scored 21 non-penalty goals from just 14.7 expected goals, an impressive +6.3 overperformance.<\/p>\n None of this means Rogers will fail at Chelsea. He\u2019s 23, hugely talented and could adapt. But \u00a3117 million changes the argument. Chelsea may have paid a British-record fee for a player Alonso needs to refine.<\/p>\n Under Iraola, Liverpool could simply have unleashed him.<\/p>\n Morgan Rogers may not be the wrong player. He may just have joined the wrong club.<\/p>\n Sincerely, The reaction to Morgan Rogers choosing Chelsea over Arsenal has fascinated me.<\/p>\n Apparently it tells us Chelsea are back. Or Arsenal have blown another big transfer. Or Rogers has made the worst decision of his career<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Football really does hate uncertainty.<\/p>\n Arsenal were the sensible choice. The champions. Stable. A squad everyone agrees is one or two players away. Chelsea were\u2026not that. No European football. A new manager who hasn\u2019t coached a game for them yet. Another expensive rebuild. Plenty of reasons to say, \u201cI\u2019ll wait.\u201d<\/p>\n Morgan Rogers didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t automatically make Chelsea the better club. Nor does it make Rogers wrong. It just means the person with the most information about Morgan Rogers\u2019 career reached a different conclusion from thousands of us watching from the outside.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the bit I can\u2019t get my head around.<\/p>\n Whenever a player rejects the club we think he should join<\/strong>our first instinct is to explain why he\u2019s mistaken. Money. Agents. Ego. Anything except the possibility that footballers might value different things from supporters. Maybe Xabi Alonso\u2019s plans genuinely appealed more than Mikel Arteta\u2019s. Maybe Cole Palmer was constantly ringing his phone. Maybe being THE signing felt better than being A signing.<\/p>\n The irony is that my Arsenal friends spent weeks telling me Rogers was the perfect Arteta player. Now some of those same people seem convinced he lacks ambition because he didn\u2019t choose Arteta. Both things can\u2019t be true.<\/p>\n Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey reminded me that the interesting part of any journey is the choice to leave home in the first place (my only takeaway after leaving the cinema, tbh).\u00a0 Consider what it would have been like if Gerrard had left the comfort of home during the peak of his career.<\/p>\n Football supporters skip straight to the ending. If Chelsea struggle, Rogers was foolish. If Chelsea succeed, he always knew what he was doing. Either way, we\u2019ll pretend the decision was obvious all along.<\/p>\n It never is. Catching up on a few days of mailboxes today, and one thing jumps out to me so much, that I simply had to respond.<\/p>\n As an Irish man, I wouldn\u2019t usually comment on the Engilsh national team stuff\u2026 but as a Spurs fan and Harry Kane admirer, I can\u2019t ignore the simply maddening coverage of Harry Kane by mailboxes, and across the English media since the end of the World Cup.<\/p>\n Incredible.<\/p>\n How simply, can we go here\u2026 Harry Kane is England\u2019s best player. Has been for years.<\/p>\n At the time of writing, he is, quite rightly, the favourite for the Ballon D\u2019Or<\/strong>. 70 goals in 58 games for club and country this year will do that. He is one of maybe 2 (with Bellingham) English players who *any* other country would want in their team.<\/p>\n Spain, world champions, would bite your hand off for Harry Kane. Brazil, Portugal? They\u2019d beg. Even France, with their embarrassment\u00a0of riches up front, would love him. They\u2019d make it work.<\/p>\n And\u00a0yet in England, the narrative is:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ll win nothing with that lump up front. He\u2019s holding us back. When has he ever actually been good for us?\u201d. An amazing reaction<\/strong>when every other nation thinks he\u2019s one of the only reasons you\u2019re even competing at that top tier.<\/p>\n The swing of opinion is hilarious. After his goal in the group stages and his heroics v DR Congo, I was reading: \u201cIs Kane the greatest English player of all time?\u201d and after a semi final defeat to Arg, it\u2019s a question of\u00a0\u201cHow quickly can we get rid of this washed up, overrated, goalhanger.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a great example of the fine margins in Sport. England were genuinely within inches of success in this World Cup. Sure, Kane, among others, didn\u2019t look great against Arg, but if Tuchel hadn\u2019t completely folded, and England maintained some semblance of football for the last 25 mins, they could\u2019ve seen out that game. They were in a wonderful position to get to their first final since 66. In a final against Spain? Who knows! Although I\u2019d have backed\u00a0England to play more football against Spain than Argentina did!<\/p>\n In that case, we\u2019d be talking about \u2018Sir Harry Kane\u2019, all time great. Such tiny margins, but such a wild difference of opinions as a result!<\/p>\n Other countries would build around Kane. Look at Argentina, they\u2019ve got the greatest player ever, but he\u2019s 7 years older than Kane and far less fit and mobile right now. But Argentina build a system to help him succeed, and they fight for him, not vilify him\u2026 and it almost worked!<\/p>\n England are lucky to have Kane. Enjoy him while you can, because I\u2019m not sure the Liam Delap era will be as much fun<\/strong>. Picking up on yesterday\u2019s mail regarding City\u2019s charges and the delay in the outcome<\/strong>I tend to think that there will never be a conclusion. Basically, the EPL can\u2019t handle City as has been proved when City took them to a tribunal before and refused to back down straining the EPL\u2019s finances to a degree.<\/p>\n The reason certain other clubs were penalised relatively quickly was because of the number of alleged charges. Where City appear to have been clever here is by supposedly breaking a large number of rules resulting in a lot of alleged charges (it\u2019s about 130 now I think) so if they are found guilty of breaking these rules and hence the charges then they will probably appeal against the decisions individually and take the EPL to the cleaners as it could result in who has the most money and with a not so educated guess I would say that wouldn\u2019t be the EPL so they would probably have to back down. Just a thought. OK, you have noticed that I now live in Canada (Montreal specifically) but I only moved here 6 years ago, from Liverpool.<\/p>\n The BBC v ITV bullshit<\/strong> was alive and well (will not really well, but sickly bullshit) then, as it appears to be now.<\/p>\n I still maintain this is a debate being held only in the media, in previous times for lack of anything else to fill pages and now for content and clicks! Does anyone outside of the media really give a shit?<\/p>\n I\u2019d be genuinely interested to hear if any other, UK based readers of this fine page care about the BBC v ITV \u2018debate\u2019 at all! \u201cIt is my mission to make the national team squad a better team and hope the pool for me to choose from will be bigger, but it is not something I am doing against you, I am doing it for you. It is an honour,\u201d<\/p>\n Oh thank you Jurgen! The German nation are truly blessed that you are putting yourself out for them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cI will be remunerated very graciously and if tomorrow Jurgen Klopp is s***, I will be gone. But if the DFB says let us discontinue the job, then that\u2019s it. And if you behave badly and don\u2019t leave my family in peace, I\u2019ll be gone. I\u2019ll just turn away. I know there are other countries where national team head coaches are treated even worse. I love this job but I am also ready to call it quits if needs be.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes Jurgen, you are special and different, so naturally the world will bend to your will because you said so.<\/p>\n I get that his was a virulent and full on mind & body infection case of Kopitis, but I didn\u2019t realise it was that bad he\u2019d still have it this long after leaving.<\/p>\n I\u2019m all for the gutter press not being permac**ts, but clearly it ain\u2019t happening just because Saint Jurgen said so \u2013 they\u2019ll probably just double down as a result of this outburst. Which begs the question, why even say it? <\/div>\n
Will (I\u2019m sure it will mean more) Wymant<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nRogers to Liverpool would have been better<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Esco Pablabar IV<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nRogers didn\u2019t choose Chelsea, he rejected certainty<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Gaptoothfreak, Man. Utd., New York (Yes, it was as disappointing as The Dark Knight Rises)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nThe incredible English coverage of Harry Kane<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Andy, Spurs, Eire<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nCity will never be punished<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Chris, Croydon <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nBBC v ITV is a nonsense (says man in Canada)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
A, LFC, Montreal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\nSaint Jurgen<\/strong><\/h2>\n
RHT\/TS x (It\u2019s definitely not to give him an out in case he gets tired again \u2013 poor wee lad)<\/strong><\/p>\n