Gareth Roberts is extremely impressed with Liverpool's appointment of Sean O'Driscoll.

O'Driscoll was given the job to be Brendan Rodgers' right hand man earlier this week, replacing the departed Colin Pascoe, and defender Roberts has been quick to speak highly of the coach.

Roberts is a product of Liverpool's youth system, winning the FA Youth Cup with them in 1996 alongside the likes of Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen. He spent five years at Anfield, between the ages of 16 and 21, before moving on having failed to make the cut on Merseyside.

A memorable seven year stint at Tranmere Rovers followed, after a unsuccessful spell in Greece, before the defender joined Doncaster Rovers in 2006, where a certain O'Driscoll was in charge.

The 37-year-old describes O'Driscoll as "the best manager [he] played under," a "100 per cent football man who lives and breathes the game."

Roberts stressed the manager's training sessions as one of the biggest reasons for this. He said that "there is no doubt [O'Driscoll] made [him] a better player," because he's a "different class on the training ground."

The player went on to explain that the coach's sessions "make you think at every stage," with them designed to make you do this, as well as having aims "to improve you as a player and to improve you as a person."

He also credited the structure of training, saying that "sessions are always plotted through the week with a focus on the match at the weekend." O'Driscoll "tailors" the sessions "to focus on the weak points of the [upcoming] opposition."

Working with the players, the manager is fantastic as "players respond to him." Roberts said he is "quietly spoken" so "when he raises his voice you listen," and if a player does not understand what he wants them to do, "he will work with them until they [do]."

Having spent his coaching career thus far mainly in the Football League, coaching in the Championship and League One but also having a short spell with England's under 19 side, Roberts believes watching him "work with top-flight players in the Premier League" will be "fascinating." He is interested to see how the manager goes about "improving" those at Liverpool, and how he finds "the weaknesses of the opposition."

He thinks that O'Driscoll will form a good partnership with Rodgers too, as they "share a similar philosophy about the way the game should be played."

Roberts described the coach as a man who is "very good at seeing things from the side of the pitch," able to "[tweak] players or [tweak] the way players are doing things." He said his ability to "change" or "adjust" tactics is wonderful as well.

The player concluded by saying that O'Driscoll is a "top guy" who "deserves this chance," and he "wish[es] him all the best."