After plenty of speculation, Liverpool have today confirmed the appointment of Sean O'Driscoll as assistant manager.

O'Driscoll joins the club from the England youth set up, where he has been the manager of the under-19 squad since September of last year. Brendan Rodgers' new right hand man has formerly managed Bournemouth, Doncaster Rovers and Bristol City, and brings with him plenty of first team coaching experience.

Rodgers full of praise for O'Driscoll

Speaking to the club's website, Rodgers acknowledged that his "admiration for Sean, as a professional, is well documented," with him having made several positive comments about the manager to the media in the past, specifically when English coaches were receiving a lot of criticism for the performances of the English players.

He described O'Driscoll as "someone with a clear vision and philosophy" and also a man who "has proved he has the ability to transfer that knowledge, through his coaching, to the players." Thus, Rodgers added that he is "looking forward to working with him" as well as "learning from his experiences and gaining valuable knowledge from his expertise."

O'Driscoll also spoke to the club's website about the move, saying that he is "excited to be joining one of the world's most iconic clubs" at which everyone involved "wants to help the club succeed."

Lijnders also earns a promotion

Another coaching change today at Anfield sees Pepijn Lijnders promoted to the first team coaching staff after a year with the club's academy. He will assume the new role of first team development coach and Rodgers believes that Lijnders "will grasp [the fantastic opportunity] with both hands."

Lijnders spent time with PSV Eindhoven and FC Porto before joining Liverpool last year, and he has watched over the club's under 16s since arriving. Rodgers believes he has "excelled at the academy" and that now is "the perfect time for him to make the step up to the first team," where he can "use his talents for the benefit of the senior squad." The manager also credited Lijnders' "passion and enthusiasm" and is confident the coach "will have a positive impact" in his new role.

Speaking about the promotion himself, the former PSV-man told Liverpool's website that he "feel[s] proud and honoured" to be offered the opportunity, and said that he "couldn't think of a better attacking manager to assist" than Rodgers.

He also thanked the owners for the chance too, who he believes "have a clear and strong philosophy" at the club, "which is based on developing top young players into elite." He concluded by saying that he is "proud to be part of the team and [he] will give everything."

Coaching changes can help the team

Rodgers "believe[s] the entire first team set up will benefit" from these appointments, which has has made "to take [the club] in a new technical direction." He is "extremely positive" about the changes and "excited about what [Liverpool] can achieve, as a group, going forward."

Lijnders and O'Driscoll assume roles with the first team after a summer full of changes at Anfield which has seen coaching departures as well as the arrivals of new players. Colin Pascoe, who was relieved of his assistant management duties earlier this summer, is the man that O'Driscoll will replace, whilst first team coach Mike Marsh also left the club recently.

These changes have occurred following an end-of-season review at Liverpool, in which Rodgers and the owners decided that the coaching team needed improvement if the club are to have a better season than that which saw them finish sixth in 2014-15.