Whilst it was a blatant attempt at resting players for match he knew they had next to no chance of winning, I think any backlash on Rodgers is not warranted at all. Football is a squad game, and the squad has 25 players, and a manager should be able to pick any 11 of that 25 he wants for a game. Who is anyone else to say "No, you have to pick this player because WE think he is better and he is not injured," Its utter bullshit to be fair. Managers have actually been fined for it aswell, its pathetic, Also doesn't do the ego of the players who played in that game any good either, basically their club is being fined because UEFA, The PL or whoever, thinks you're ****!
There should be no action by UEFA. It's not down to them to pick the side and this result really has very little bearing on the ultimate final positions of the group. Whether there should be a backlash on Rodgers though, well the proof of that will come soon enough. If Chelsea beat Liverpool anyway then it'll have been for nothing and they will be on a major losing streak. He deserves everything coming to him then.
The reality is he played his strongest side minus sterling. (sturridge when hes back). Passesngers like balotelli, johnson and gerrard are awful players.
Rubbish! There is more to Liverpool's team selection than how pundits or the opposition see things. Four of the six players that were rest/dropped absolutely deserved to be dropped, this is backed up by the performance of their replacements too. This isn't something that's cropped up suddenly either, it is something the fans have been saying for a while. Glen Johnson deserved to be dropped eighteen months ago but somehow continues to be picked. Gerrard shouldn't be playing every game, something Brod acknowledged in the summer but hasn't followed it through. The other two both arrived in the summer; Lovren and Mario. Although perhaps harsh on Lovren, our defence as looked much better in two of the last three games when he didn't play. Mario needs no words! Of course, all this comes back to one man, the manager. Lets see if he has the balls to play the deserving players against Chelsea, I guarantee all four I've highlighted are back in the side. You won't find many that say Sterling and Coutinho deserve to be dropped though. I think they come under the 'rested' tag.
The great shame is that Liverpool have waited several years to get back into the CL but are now treating it like the Littlewoods/Milk/Carling Cup
it is all a matter of what the manager was thinking and planning... It really does not matter whether the fans felt that Gerrrard Coutinho Lovren or Johnson should be dropped/rested anyway. All this will be confirmed when he brings Stevie and his other rested mates back. If the manager had planned for his first team to be rested and play a 2nd string then the RS would have treated the CL match in Madrid as less important than the match aginst Chelsea. Fair enough. That's what the media are saying. But the RS fans and Brenda trying to rewrite history in the light of a 1-0 defeat is laughable. As all the postings by deluded and ******ed fans on their board " we are proud of the team's performance blah blah". The press in Spain has also lambasted Brenda for his tactics. It was obvious that the football fans in Spain and in Madrid were looking forward to that match. Real v/s Liverpool looked an appetising match. 2nd of the EPL v/s 3rd of la Liga. Brenda destroying the match by fielding a 2nd string and make the match like a match against Granada in la liga did not go down in Spain. Quite rightly. That man is a buffoon and all the flak he is getting from the various football quarters here and abroad is deserved. European Royalty? my arse. European slurry more like.
And you expected honesty from the deluded dippers? At least they spared us the usual crap about "this year will be our year"
Feel free to say what I said, which is my own opinion and **** all to do with 'pundit's, is rubbish if none of those players play on Saturday and they remain 'dropped'. My money is that Gerrard, Lovren, Coutinho, Balotelli and Sterling will play. Maybe even Johnson. Therefore it will be that they were rested, not dropped, for last night as he knew you could not win. See you Saturday. If you lose I was right.
IMO if Balotelli, Johnson start and Lucas doesn't then Rodgers deserves this flak. The first two have been so bad there no excuse for their inclusion. Lucas played his way into the Chelsea game and it would be stupid to not start him based on that performance.
Seems the YSB's have a vendetta against Johnson. Never rated him myself, but it seems there are a lot of players in the dippers team that arn't putting in a shift too. And none will face up to the fact that Stevie me is well past his sell date.
TBC I doubt Johnson will but I do think Henderson, who I didn't mention, will. He was also not dropped but saved for the Chelsea game. He'll be in, as will Gerrard. So will Lucas fit in?
I see City have reciprocated CSKA by creating an atmosphere of playing behind closed doors again. Massive club though, obviously.
How many empty seats are there tonight? Joke that City think they will ever own the city. They don't even own their own stadium
Is there a fault on Sky? Can hear the commentators, but no background noise at all. Ohhh, hang on, I am sure I heard someone call "Taxi for Pellegrini"
