Sean O'Driscoll: An Underwhelming or Shrewd Appointment at Liverpool?

Reports this week suggest that Liverpool will appoint current England under-19s coach Sean O'Driscoll as their new assistant manager, replacing Colin Pascoe.

It is, as explained by the Liverpool Echo's James Pearce, a show of support for manager Brendan Rodgers—who has previously praised the 57-year-old former Doncaster Rovers boss, saying he is "one of the best coaches I have ever come across."

O'Driscoll's appointment "says more about owners Fenway Sports Group’s unwavering faith in Rodgers than even the £29 million swoop for Roberto Firmino," writes Pearce.

This is clearly an appointment decided by Rodgers, not forced upon him by the club's owners.

'Big Name'

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O'Driscoll's appointment may be a little underwhelming for supporters hoping for a big-name appointment after the likes of former Manchester United assistant Rene Muelensteen and former assistant to Rafa Benitez, Pako Ayestaran, were linked with the role.

The belief was that Rodgers needed a more experienced assistant after admitting to a lack of experienced personnel in his backroom staff during the club's post-season review.

Rodgers himself had just one season of experience in the top flight prior to his appointment at Anfield, while neither he, Pascoe and first-team coach Mike Marsh had coached in Europe before taking up the reigns at Anfield three years ago.

The suggestion was that having somebody who had been there and done it at a top-flight club, at the very highest level, would fill the experience void and benefit Rodgers.

O'Driscoll is neither a big-name appointment nor has he ever coached in the top flight or in Europe.

"He has never had a chance in the top flight," said Rodgers in 2013, per the Echo. "His teams were expressive, had movement, they were technical, but he will probably never get a chance at a higher level."

History

Looking through Liverpool's timeline of former assistant managers during the Premier League era, per This Is Anfield, it's a mix of semi-well-known names and many whom the majority of supporters would never have heard of.

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An assistant doesn't need to be a big name in order to be an important part of the club's coaching setup. Not many Liverpool fans will know the name of Patrice Bergues, but the assistant to Gerard Houllier was highly regarded by Robbie Fowler during his time at Anfield, per The Tomkins Times.

Nobody had heard of Ayestaran before his time at Liverpool alongside Rafael Benitez, but now he's lauded as a coach by Reds' fans who remember him fondly and heard positive stories of the fitness-focused assistant.

Phil Thompson was an assistant who had played for the club and won the European Cup, making him a well-known face in the Reds dugout. There had been suggestions that a former player would form part of Rodgers' new-look backroom, but even with O'Driscoll added, that may still happen.

Aligned Methods

Perhaps what is more important in an assistant is that his ideas and methods align with those of the manager; not the idea that he will question and challenge the manager and thus create a divide among the staff.

O'Driscoll certainly seems to have very similar philosophies to Rodgers.

Rodgers has often spoken of players needing to be brave on the ball and admitted after the FA Cup semi-final defeat: "We need to have the courage and bravery to play better in the big games."

The following quotes, via Seat Pitch, from O'Driscoll certainly echo the words of Rodgers in the past:

"

Sometimes you just need players to be brave and, as easy as it sounds to the man in the stands, having the bollocks to take a risk on a football pitch is one of the hardest things you can ask them to do.

Playing safe maybe the easy option as it stops the onus being on them if they make a mistake but how many ‘safe’ teams have won trophies over the years?

The way Spain and Barcelona play requires bravery, the way Bayern Munich play requires bravery, the way Swansea and Bournemouth play requires bravery, it’s just a different kind of bravery to what we typically view as bravery in this country.

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O'Driscoll, in that same interview, also praised Dr. Steve Peters—the sports psychologist appointed by Rodgers at Liverpool:

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Psychology is still sneered at in this country, and seen as a weakness or an emotional crutch, but all the top Olympic sports swear by mental training. The work Dr Steve Peters has done with British Cycling has been universally applauded yet in football any intervention like that is still greeted with cynicism. Players have to be convinced it works because it’s alien to them. It makes no sense.

"

Rodgers and O'Driscoll clearly share similar coaching ideas.

The former Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest manager also appears to have a similar philosophy to Pepijn Lijnders—the Dutch coach who is reported to be the new first-team coach.

This Is Anfield's Stephen McGarty explains about Lijnders' "focus on increasing player intelligence and decision-making, as well as recreating what he refers to as the 'street academy'."

This marries with what O'Driscoll believes:

"

Football intelligence is worryingly rare in this country and that stems from the coaching players have had at the youngest age where they are just told what to do, and don’t have to make decisions for themselves.

Football intelligence only comes from a player understanding the game that is actually going on around him, not the game he wants to play in his head.

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O'Driscoll will be given the chance in the top flight that he has never been offered before, working alongside Rodgers; their ideas correlate and hopefully the two of them can form a partnership to push Liverpool back towards the top four.

It could turn out to be a shrewd appointment for Liverpool—if it doesn't, Rodgers' and O'Driscoll's opportunity will come to a swift end.