Players Afraid Of Failure, Says Rodgers

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers says that one of the main reasons for England not doing well in major tournaments is because of the players being afraid of failure. England went into the World Cup 2014 with higher aspirations since Roy Hodgson had decided to take a young team to the tournament. This was not an approach of previous England managers, who largely persisted with experience and campaigners. Even this ploy failed to make any impact; in fact, it resulted in one of England’s worst performances at a major tournament after they were knocked out of the group stages.

This was the first time in England had gone out of the World Cup group stages since 1958. A number of Liverpool players were involved in the England national team this time around. The likes of Raheem Sterling, Steven Gerrard, and Daniel Sturridge were some of the prominent names. This is a huge shift in recent years considering that Liverpool over the last decade only had Gerrard and Jamie Carragher representing the national team on their behalf. Rodgers’ decision to build the core of his time around English players is one of the reasons.

He says that English players should overlook the fear of failure if they are to perform well at a major tournament.
“I don't think what happened to England is a Steven Gerrard problem or a Jordan Henderson problem, or even a Frank Lampard problem. It's an England problem that has been around for many years. Brazil, South Africa, tournament after tournament. The game in England needs a radical change so that they can identify a way of playing and then pursue that way of playing. England's players are as good as any players in the world, but they are stricken with fear,” said Rodgers. Gerrard recently announced his retirement from international football.