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Football

02nd Jul 2015

Former Liverpool player says Sean O’Driscoll is ‘the best manager I ever worked with’

High praise

SportsJOE

Simply the best

It’s fair to say that a significant number of Liverpool fans were somewhat underwhelmed when it became apparent that former Ireland international Sean O’Driscoll was going to be Brendan Rodgers’ No 2 at Anfield next season.

But it seems Liverpool may have got themselves a pretty good deal in O’Driscoll, whose last club job was as manager of Bristol City in 2013.

The appointment of O’Driscoll certainly seems to strengthen Rodgers’ hand with the Northern Irishman previously extolling his virtues.

“Look at Sean O’Driscoll. He is one of the best coaches I have ever come across. He is working at Bristol City. He has never had a chance in the top flight. His teams were expressive, had movement, they were technical, but he will probably never get a chance at the higher level.”

And it seems that players are equally impressed with O’Driscoll.

Gareth Roberts played in the same Liverpool youth side as Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher and was in the team that won the FA Youth Cup in 1996.

His career took him down the divisions and he played under O’Driscoll at Doncaster Rovers. He has nothing but praise for the 57-year-old.

“He was the best manager I played for, and I played under quite a few. There is no doubt he made me a better player,” Roberts told the Liverpool Echo.

“He’s different class on the training ground. He makes you think at every stage of a training session.

“Everything he does is designed to make you think, to improve you as a player and to improve you as a person.

“He and Brendan Rodgers seem to share a similar philosophy about the way the game should be played.

 “He is very good at seeing things from the side of the pitch, tweaking players or tweaking the way players are doing things. He’s very good at changing or adjusting tactical systems.”

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