Former Liverpool defender Daniel Agger has opened up on Rodgers’ era at Anfield.
Brendan Rodgers spent three seasons at Liverpool between 2012 and 2015. The Irish boss improved the Reds’ performances and was even close to winning the Premier League title in 2014.
The 2013-14 season was the highlight of Rodgers’ work at Liverpool, with the Reds scoring 101 goals in the league. Upfront, the trio of Raheem Sterling, Luis Suarez, and Daniel Sturridge was irreplaceable. However, the fight for the defensive spots on the lineup generated controversy as some players demanded more game time.
Daniel Agger played 20 Premier League games but was still behind Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho in the pecking order.
In a new interview with the Athletic, Agger opened up on his game time frustrations under Rodgers.
“At the time I was shocked and I wanted an explanation but no one could give me one,” he told The Athletic.
“Still to this day I’d like to know what happened. Why did I go from being the new vice-captain and first choice to being fourth centre-back in the space of a few weeks? It was very strange.
“I tried to speak to Brendan back then but he told me that nothing was wrong. He said I was a big part of his plans but he didn’t show that.”
Rodgers made Gerrard leave!
Agger has a theory on why he and others departed the club around the same time.
He added: “I don’t know, maybe because I can be quite direct and I’m a strong character,” he says,
“All the other players in that team who had a big voice and spoke their mind, everybody went out either that season or shortly before or after — me, Pepe Reina, Dirk Kuyt, Glen Johnson, Stevie [Gerrard] and Carra[agher].
“Maybe it was part of changing the whole team. I met Brendan a few years ago at a charity event that Kasper Schmeichel and his wife put on in Denmark.
“I asked Brendan if I could speak to him after and he said ‘yeah’ but then he disappeared before we could talk.
“I still want to speak with him. There are no bad feelings now but there must be something he can tell me about what changed.
“From what I hear, he’s a different manager now. You learn from your mistakes.
“The media at the time wrote that I went into see Brendan crying, saying that I wanted to go home to Denmark to play. But the exact opposite was true.
“I went to see Brendan and said I didn’t understand why I wasn’t playing but I respected his decision.
“I did everything I could in training to force my way back into the team. Every time I played I delivered but in the end I just had enough.”
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