Ray Houghton: 'Brendan Rodgers philosophy must stay'

Former Liverpool midfielder Ray Houghton is adamant that new Reds boss Brendan Rodgers must stick to his passing style of football.

The Swansea manager is expected to be announced as Liverpool's new chief within the next 24 hours.

The Welsh side impressed last season under Rodgers with the club receiving many plaudits for their style of play, and Houghton believes that the new coach must use the same philosophy at Anfield.

"He's a very forward-thinking manager, he certainly knows where he wants to go but he has to stick to his philosophy on the game," Houghton told talkSPORT. "I think he tried to change it slightly when he was at Reading when he was under the cosh and there were problems at the club and it didn't quite work out for him.

"But I think he has learnt from that and the question now is will he be big enough to move the club on. The Fenway Group wanted a young man to come in and now they have got to give him the tools to get on with the job, whatever they may be.

"Buying players has to be a priority for him, there are a few at the club that they are going to shift on and Brendan has got a style of football that hopefully the Liverpool fans will enjoy."

Liverpool have been searching for a new manager since sacking Kenny Dalglish earlier this month.