I think this will be a good appointment for Liverpool, but I don't think it's going to be the unmitigated success that propels them to a title challenge in 2 years (although it might...covering my bases there) and it's also not going to be the monumental fudge up because he's inexperienced/because FSG are going to stick him with loads of statistically good but actually brick players. I think they will be up there, challenging for 4th if everything goes well, but Brendan Rodgers passing philosophy isn't going to suddenly turn their existing squad of players into unbeatable machines. It's a good system, but all the clubs that are consistently at the top have good systems too, so what he will do is make them compete. It won't neccessarily make them better than us or any of their direct challengers.
On the one hand, he will be good for them because A) he can sign a player that fits perfectly into the system he wants. He doesn't neccesarily need a DOF to do that. He picked out Vorm not because he was the best goalkeeper around and it was an obvious purchase, but because he had very specific skills that he needed in a goalkeeper. And B) if he can get Swansea's players having the third best possession overall in the league, then with Liverpool players he must surely be able to get better results given that they should be better individually and therefore likely to convert more chances and create more goalscoring opportunities because of their superior talent.
But on the other hand, it will be interesting to see how guys like Gerrard take to being told to playing a certain way. He loves to knock a random hollywood pass to absolutely no-one now and again, as well as run around out of position in order to do everything. I think at first there will be a nice easy going truce between Rodgers and Gerrard, just like with Terry and AVB, as the player gives the new manager a chance to see what they've got. But what will happen when Rodgers gets tinkled off with Gerrard doing what he wants and not playing to the system? Is he going to go up against him? Is he going to get mad? I'm not saying Gerrard would delibrately not listen, but on the pitch instinct will take over, and players will do what they think they are naturally good at. I'd guess that one of the reasons managers from small clubs struggle sometimes is because at the small club, everything they built was their own doing. They bought each player to fit perfectly into the system and the player respects the manager because that player is playing the best football of his career in this system that was designed to get the best out of him. You go to the big club, and you have these existing egos, and existing people that already like doing things a certain way. Gerrard is not going to be Joe Allen, who will just listen and nod along if he disagrees. What will happen if there becomes a clash? Someone will have to win.
The other point is that Andy Carrol, the ?ú35M striker won't exactly fit the Rodgers mould. He can do well enough with the ball on the floor, and it's not as if Danny Graham is somehow much better than Carrol, but Carrol played the best football of his career at Saudi Sportswashing Machine in a system designed for him. He could be a battering ram, get on the end of crosses and be a nuisance. He isn't going to be subtle and patient. He can hold the ball up but I'd guess he'd also need to be quite mobile and I'm not sure he is nimble enough to play in the tight spaces that he will inevitably have to come up against.
A final point is that the aura of what Rodgers acheived with Swansea is 'Holy fudge! Swansea are knocking it around nicely aren't they?' but that isn't really going to be the case at Liverpool. Yes they will knock it around nicely too, but that won't be enough. They will need to win games. Do they have the players to play the Rodgers way? I'm sure some of them can, and I'm sure he will bring in some of his own. Reina, Enrique, Johnson, Lucas, Henderson and Suarez I'd say should be able to play it without much problem. But Gerrard and Carrol I'm not sure fit into it too well, and it won't be as easy as just casting them off. I'm sure they will give it a good go, but maybe there will be teething problems. Maybe they will try and fit into his system because they know it can work, but instinct can take over. One of the good things about Harry's style and lack of too many instructions is that he lets the players play to their instinct, and picks a team that should naturally compliment itself. And that's a way of doing well. Doing is the Rodgers way is another good way of doing it, but you need to have the players to play the system, and they should be natural fits. Otherwise instinct will take over, or they will just be surpressing what makes them good players. I'm sure they will all give it a good go at the start, but when the initial clashes start to creep in, I wonder what will happen?
I really rate Rodgers, and I think most managers, if they were given time and money to build the side they wanted, could get success. But when a manager has to come in and pander to existing egos, it complicates things. Especially if that ego is at odds with the manager, or when the player's natural instinct is at odds with what the manager wants to implement. In a rational world, if there were clashes, you'd say remove all the obstacles to the manager doing his job, so that he can properly plan for the future. But in the real world, that isn't the case. You can't just move on Gerrard because the guy from Swansea didn't get on with him. I know I'm inventing this all in my head, but I'm just speaking hypothetically. Maybe they get on like a house on fire. But maybe Gerrard doesn't fancy learning a new way of playing this late in his career. But maybe Rodgers could ride out a storm of the first couple of years (if there is one) by getting Liverpool back in the top 6, and then Gerrard can logically be phased out. But if he doesn't last, then it could happen. I'm sure Chelsea had the best intentions of backing AVB, but in the end, if John Terry doesn't like to be embarassed because his lack of pace is awfully exposed by a high line then that's going to create a clash. And we know who won that.