No Pep in Rodgers new plan for Liverpool

New Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has shot down suggestions that he would be imitating Barcelona's brand of football.

His Swansea side were likened to Pep Guardiola's Barcelona in terms of approach last season.

Rodgers, 39, said he was not trying to emulate Barcelona but do it the Liverpool way, according to The Sun.

He said: "I suppose the tiki-taka football has come from Barcelona and that Spanish version.

“It probably came up with the players at Swansea, who referred to it a lot in our training and our work on having the ball and resting on the ball."

The Northern Irishman earned huge plaudits at Swansea after bagging victories over champions Manchester City, Arsenal, as well as Liverpool on the final day.

He added: "The way I want to play here is the Liverpool way.

“The history and tradition of this club has been about offensive football, attacking football - but always with discipline."

Rodgers is expected to resurrect the fortunes of Liverpool who finished a lowly eighth in the league despite ending a six-year trophy drought by landing the League Cup.

He hopes to continue Liverpool's philosophy of playing attractive football but insisted that winning mattered more than style.

He said: “It doesn’t matter if it’s tiki-taka football or possession football - the supporters and all of us want winning football.

"That’s what the philosophy will be about. It will be about playing attractive, attacking football full of imagination.

“The game will be based around what Liverpool are about, which is control, dominating games with the ball, working very hard when you haven’t got the ball and keeping the game as simple as possible.

“Of course I’ll bring in a certain philosophy which I’m attached to but the principles of your game are based around the players.

“For me the best thing about the game other than scoring goals is having the football, and that’ll be the idea and the fundamentals we’ll work on - but they are playing ultimately to win.

“We’re in the business of winning and hopefully we can entertain along the way.”

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