Not reading the comments but replying to the OP.... Hendo had potential but he wasn't doing what he does now at a time when Rodgers wanted someone to make an impact straight away which is why he courted Dempsey. He bought in Borini after letting Carroll go (and Borini had a pretty good season the year before for Roma) but he couldn't adapt to the premier league. We couldn't buy anyone else as no-one would touch us. Even Gyfil Sigurrsson went to Spurs over us Suarez was amazing but don't forget we were top when Suarez came back from his Ban, any half decent striker would have scored half his tally so that combined with Sturridge and the others would have seen us get top 4 - not 2nd though (esp. as Spurs & Man Utd were awful last season) We replaced Suarez with a multitude of attacking options. Balotelli, Lallana & Lambert were all signed. Lambert scored regularly for Southampton, Balotelli has always scored and done well off the pitch (not so great off it) so to say he didn't try to replace Suarez is a lie. I think Balo will improve loads once Sturridge is back. His movement will open up defences. An attacking line of Lallana, Balo, Sturridge, Henderson, Sterling should frighten most defences (movement, speed and pressing!) - Even more so if we recall Origi or Ibe Our problem is defence. Lovren and Sakho need to improve. Johnson needs to be dropped for Manquillo, I have no problem at all with Moreno, he's been very good. We also need 2 new keepers. I have no confidence in Migs (he wasn't very good last season either) and Brad Jones is nearly 33 years old. Nice guy, Nice hair but shouldn't be near our squad
I'm going to throw a curve ball here and look at it from a different angle. IF Rodgers had taken over a club with a quality squad of players able to compete at the highest level, does he have the nouse to bring success e.g. City, Chelsea, Ajax, Bayern, even United with the squad they have. I think the answer is yes. All criticisms aside he is a decent manager and knows how to adapt/play to a team's strengths provided it is a good team with real quality. What he can't do is take a team just below the cusp and build them up to achieve greatness or success. That tells his strength and his ability and the level he's at. But that doesnt make him a spent force, you have to be pretty good to bring success to even good teams and I believe he has that. Maybe we're all being a bit premature in our judgement but for me, it just shows where Rodgers is right now and in years to come he has enough about him to develop into a manager capable of building successful teams. The trouble is Liverpool cant wait around for him to get to that level nor can they be the guinea pig for him to cut his teeth. You need that type of manager now.
Watch Maureen's post match interview from yesterday, should cheer you right up. He was so angry on the touchline during the Spurs game, the repressed rage made his skin look like water in motion.
I never wanted Rodgers as manager and the tv series shot in the US made me realise his man management and ego wasnt for us. He is too quick to open his gob and slag off players. Washing dirty linen in public is alien to this club but not since Rodger's started here. His tactics have been dictated by injuries and only then he stumbles on a formation that works. His signings have been atrocious for the main part. His first signing, Borini, played out of position all first season only to be shipped out for the second. Henderson also played out of position if at all first season then used as a make weight for Clint Dempsey. Thank god that didnt go through.
yeah screw that, we should have stuck with Woy of the Wovers. Who else wanted the job at that time? Did Martinez turn us down before we asked Rodgers? Glad he did, phew!
The recruitment this summer wasn't that bad. Once used, the youngsters have all come into the team and contributed. The problem is with the seniors or 'first teamers'. Rodgers spent £45m on two Soton lads who were supposed to slot into the first team and elevate us. What became apparent is that we already had a superior LCB in Sakho and we have Sterling and Coutinho who are better than Lallana. If Lallana was THAT good, there is no way we'd be signing Shaqiri in January. Lallana hasnt been a flop but he certainly hasn't been a hit. Then the Baloteli and Lambert signings are just embarrassing although for £16m, I can see why we took the risk. As proven in some recent matches, if Rodgers sets his team up correctly, then we have a very good team at this disposal. This is a young squad which can grow for many years to come. Rodgers simply needs to grow a pair and realise that the seniors are the ones who are letting us down.
Will have to dig out the stats but every defence he has managed has regressed. It's fact. He simply cannot coach a defence or even spot good defensive player - proven by signing Lovren, sticking with Skrtel and Johnson, alienating Sakho and thinking that Gerrard can play in a deep position. You cannot win titles without a solid defence. Unless Rodgers addresses this, he won't be a success.
Rodgers planned or plans to defend by keeping the ball for long spells which prevents opposition momentum. Not comparing us to Barca AT ALL! but this is how Barca were not as leaky as they should have been, in games where Barca didn't actually have the ball so much they did lose a few games even at their zenith. This was why all the pundits come CL time were all "oh you can get at them" but then Barca would just keep the ball for minutes at a time and press like madmen to get it back, because they were not great without and facing pressure on the defence. Our possession football has been pretty dire this season,barely able to keep it for long and give it up too easily under pressure. This is why I think Rodgers's setup is leaky, because we are set up to keep the ball and fail to do so. Then there's the individual errors which is where most of the goals against come from.
Really? City mainly played Aguero with nasty silva navas supporting and Toure and Fernandinho behind? United mainly played 1 up top from what I remember, possibly because RVP was always injured through. Plus i said top clubs... United barely come into that category last year so werebt in my thinking
rodgers has tried to play like barca with piss poor defenders who can't pass it at all. barca keep with woth worldies like xavi and iniesta WERE not with pique and puyol. they were not the guys making plays like we expect our cbs to. Barca also kept a higher line and they played slow slow slow... quick. we don't even d that we play back, bakc, back... long pass thats hard to control... back back.. hooooof... we really struggled against real cos our lines were deep and the couple of short arses we did play were all isolated and just got mobbed and pushed off it. barca lost this weeked via early goal and then had 80% possession or something.
Thats true and to do that you need a defence and keeper with brilliant concentration because they may only need to do 2 or 3 things a game after going 30inutes doing nothing. O wouldn't trust our defence To be able to do that..
Ain't that the truth, plus you need footballers back there too, Sahko Skrtel Lovren Ming and Toure are not footballers. Agger was a footballer, albeit made of glass
Disagree woth Sakho. Think he's as good with the ball at his feet as Agger. Looks awkward but his passing is top notch (albeit he does make the occasional bad decision)
The key observation at half stage is that the new recruits have not been nearly good enough. When a set of players leave (reina, agger, ) you are hoping to replace them with better players. I have deliberately left Suarez out because it was too much to try to get a direct replacement. But for other more normal players if you can't better you need at least replacements of equal skill or you are going backwards. I said after the first few matches I couldn't see the difference between any of the other mid table sides line ups at 300 pm and ours. Honestly I couldn't say that our 11 were better than theirs. Which was really obvious last season. So that with every match it was a toss of a coin. Rodgers has now got to decide how to replace Gerrard. He has surely got to look for a very top midfielder. The one that makes the difference.
Barcelona were very good defensively - they aren't given enough credit for their defensive work, especially off the ball (Under Pep). They have arguably the best DM in the world in Busquets - as you say, for a team that attacks so much, they can be vulnerable to counter attacks however they were incredibly solid at the back. (All of this applies to the Barca team under Pep)
As a defensive unit, they were not so accomplished at the back without the manic midfield pressing and tackling to get the ball back.They could be as bad defending counters with a high line as we are, I've seen it. If you could get between the defenders and midfield and disrupt you caused them a lot of problems. Chelsea did the same sort of thing at the Etihad last season when they beat City. It's just truth that barca's defenders just did infinitely less defending than defenders in most other teams. They played more football than doing the unpretty stuff. Not a criticism though, keeping the ball is the best form of defence
