Last season we were a two man team, now we're a one man team. and that one man is always f**ing injured.
If Moyes had had Suarez, he'd still have a job. Without Suarez, Rodgers is looking like Moyes-lite. He bought very badly in the summer. Seven mediocre players will never equate to one world class one.
If Moyes had Di Maria and Falcao or at least some of the players he asked for he'd probably have a job too.
I hope you're right. The alternate view is that he's on a very long learning curve which will end when and if he ditches his philosophy and sets the team up the way Harry and Sherwood did. If you take a step back, what's been right and wrong with the team this year is interesting and unexpected. We've played better away and a bit better against top five teams (4 points in five games, versus five points in ten last year). But our record against non-top teams at home is awful, and Pochettino's system seems very much at fault. If there's one thing an underdog prays for, it's a favorite that plays predictably, and that's what we've been doing. Oddly enough, we had one game, Arsenal, where the shoe was on the other foot. We sat back, stayed compact, and created the better chances by taking advantage of Arsenal's undisciplined attacking. Sometimes I think there's a basic logical error among managers, especially young ones. They see the way the best teams play, and they say, well, that's the way my team should play. What they miss is that if the team isn't one of the best teams, adopting a bigger team's style may be counterproductive. The way for a team like Spurs to win more may to be to play like a smaller team, not a bigger one: sit back more, press less, etc.
Southampton are slipping down the table now and could be overtaken quite soon, the last three defeats will have done nothing for their confidence. So if at the end of the season we finish higher than Southampton(because then is the best judge, not now) then Poch will have been a good signing( I think). Or is that of no consequence? Not sure what I'm trying to say here.
I'll take that wager and say he'll last no more than two considering the average length of any manager under Levy is around 1.4 seasons! It was inevitable that the Saints would have a bad run when you consider the last three fixtures they just had. Their squad will be stretched to the limit in the latter part of the season for sure. But if, if we finish higher than them, it won't make a bit of difference. The fact remains, there was literally a fire sale at Southampton this summer and look at their season to date? We've bought crud for the past two years and looks where it's taken us? When you take into consideration where Saints were two years ago and where we were, the end of season report for us will be "must do better' and Saint's will be "performed above expectations".
And that is why I think he will last longer. Even Levy must have learned that a team needs time to develop.
'He' bought badly? So Rodgers takes the entire responsibility for the transfer committee? And why then does he similarly not take any credit for helping Suarez reach his potential? I'm not even a big Rodgers fan but come on.
If someone else is signing his players and he doesn't want them, then he's not to blame. If he's selected the players bought - or had a big say in it (which surely he has)- then his judgement is suspect. Liverpool should be signing proven star players - or not selling them in the first place. The policy appears to have been to add numbers to the squad by spending the Suarez money, rather than looking to replace him with another top quality player. Numbers have been added, but to the detriment of the overall strength of the team/squad.
Completely agree that's what we should have done... think everyone feels that way. Seeing as we don't know what happens we can't just arbitrarily blame Rodgers though.
There does seem to be a bit of a Rodgers feeding frenzy which reminds me a bit of the AVB feeding frenzy last year. The interesting thing about Rodgers is that not only is last year not mitigating the criticism, it may even work against him. People may be saying, well, sure, he was fantastic last year, but he’s been so awful this year the best thing we could do is say, What have you done for me lately? and bring in someone else to try to salvage the season. As usual, I may be a decent guide. I hope he gets sacked, so that means Liverpool should keep him. Liverpool looked good, very unfortunately, when I saw them play with Sturridge. At the very least, judgment should be postponed until he comes back (or it’s clear he ain’t coming back anytime soon.) As to the "should have bought fewer, better players" argument. Yes, true. But part of the problem is probably that both Liverpool and Spurs were unable to get those better players to want to play for them. I would argue at this point both teams would have done better to splurge half the money on all the best youth players they could find. Then they’d only have 2-3 new players to bring in, plus a bunch of kids likely to pay off big time down the road.
Rodgers is under attack for two main reasons, in my opinion. Firstly, Liverpool's performances last season set a very high bar, which they're struggling to get anywhere near in this campaign. Secondly, he mouthed off a lot and made some very silly statements, so there were a lot of people waiting for him to stumble and they're kicking him while he's down.
Worst start to a (PL ?? ) season in 15 years. <allegedly> A League Cup loss to Bournemouth (who are playing well) could be fatal.
He spent all summer claiming he wasnt gonna waste 100m on players like spurs...yet all the evidence is and has been that he has done exactly that