At what point does he move from this though? We've been awful defensively since he arrived. Do we really need to see this for another 2 years before everyone realises that you'll win nothing without clean sheets? I'm not advocating his dismissal, just wandering where the tipping point is.
I have to say that i was severely unimpressed with the length and quality of the US tour we did. I felt this was terrible preparation for a season and had too much travel in it. I thought the same of the asian tour. If we are REALLY going to do these we need to have our preseason at home then have a tightly focused travel plan of maybe at most 10 days playing 3 games not a month swanning round acting like we know what we are at. its no coincidence that van gaal whined about this before the off then had a bad start too. for me preparation is key. the signings, in general not good. The preparation... as a whole the club needs a kicking tactically he seems to need to concede a goal to make the obvious change, it takes 5/6 games for him to think about a problem everyone is seeing yes he has come up in the last two season with a bit of a change that's yielded improvements to get to "his style" or "perosnality" he keeps talking about but it was november this year and injures after a disasterous campaign and last year it was january/feb when it click albeit form a much better position in the league but with only fa cup left to us! This year he's got all the cups to go for so i think its a big test to see if he can maintain his sides "personality" so will he run into an issue and not be able to find a solution until its far too late again. we said before the off and pundits said it too he seems to need the full week to prepare a side for a game in terms of tactics and wants to rest players for 2 days after a game. I wonder what he is doing now or what he plans to do for rest of season given he will have to I hope fill in a few league games between europa games and be playing two a week for a good while.
This is the thing. I honestly don't believe he will improve upon his defensive side. Throughout his career, his defences have regressed at every club he's worked at. 3 years on from taking the job at LFC and our defence is worse, and didn't improve until injuries forced him. And signing Lovren for £20m just compounds his lack of knowledge on defenders. The thing is - I don't expect him to be an expert in every single area. He simply needs to hire someone who is very good defensively to do it for him, but is also aligned with the team ethos. But his ego is too big to accept help it would seem.
Hopefully the amount of signings made in the summer will help us bring a trophy home as we can rotate.
If we start getting the right results (which appears to be the case for now), who gives a **** if we concede goals...? Its results that matter!
I've no idea- I can't see the future. All I can say is that if you bring in a young, relatively inexperienced person in any role, then you have to give them time to gain that experience. The only complaint we can have is with the club for employing someone like that- the man himself needs time and support, until such time as it becomes clear that he can't take us any further. Also, you can substitute words like "stubbornness" and "ego" with "belief" and "self-confidence" and they're magically transformed from bad traits to good. It all depends on how we choose to interpret what we see. In the end it's the results that decide how we assess him, so we are either impatient for success and call for his head, and go back to square one again, or give him time to show how well and how quickly he can learn. Despite what many seem to think- it isn't an easy job.
Yep, I've argued against the arrogance claim many times. All managers have arrogance, they have to have that trait to be a manager. But arrogance is very similar to self-belief/confidence as you say. When it goes right, its the positive version, going wrong and its the negative. I don't believe Brod is arrogant, if he was then Allen and Borini would play every single game which they clearly don't. I understand why people say it too but it is based purely on Johnson and Gerrard. Personally, I don't think he picks them through arrogance, he sees them every day in training and obviously believes they are capable of offering something more that others can't. He is confident enough in that belief to follow it through. Recent actions suggest Gerrard is no longer a automatic first team so again, arrogance...?
I'd still argue the opposite. If we could produce three or four of those players rather than just the one we'd be able to bring in one or two better quality main players. Shouldn't we be producing players of the level of Henderson, Manquillo, Origi and Moreno? They are decent but hardly world class and we've invested huge amounts in the academy. Why haven't we got a single youth player that can have a bigger impact than Balotelli (who's so far been a complete waste of a transfer and on big wages too)? Even worse is that we can't even produce youth players better than Aspas and Allen Not one youth team centre half has come even close to the first team since Carra (not counting Wisdom or Kelly as they played full back). Add up the cost of centre backs we've bought in that period and it's mind blowing. Wasting money on the likes of Wilson, Ilori, Coates, Lovren etc. Having one or two youth players who make the grade every season should be a MINIMUM requirement given the investment the academy has had. That does not mean they always fulfill potential in the long run but neither does buying in youth at great cost. Buying good young players should compliment the ones coming through not make the academy irrelevant. Lads who come through the ranks understand the club, they work hard, they are much more likely to stick around longer, cost nothing in transfer fees and rarely get top wages UNTIL they prove themselves good enough. As a club that has so often got their transfers wrong over recent years surely that's all the more reason to be producing a better quality from the youth set up.
Never called for him to be sacked, but I'm still nowhere near convinced of his ability. He's getting praise now for things we (on this board) identified weeks/months ago and would have changed ourselves - starting Lucas at DM, playing Sakho even through his mistakes so he can grow, playing Can in the team, dropping/managing Gerrard or shoving him upfield out of the way, playing Henderson in the middle instead of Lucas, playing anyone up front rather than Mario or Lambert so we have some movement and pressing up top. I mean, we've literally been wanting these changes for months through the awful football, performances and losses, so my worry is why it takes Brendan so long to get there? Praise him all you want, but he should spot these things within a few weeks at the most... Formation changes I put down to luck and forced through injury, but I guess in the absence of evidence we should go with the benefit of the doubt. He got a formation which works eventually.
I think the main issue people were critical was the continue use of players that didn't seem to be deserving of a spot in the team. Players like Johnson, Gerrard, Lovren who kept their place despite playing poorly and their replacements (Manquillo, Can/Lucas & Sakho) performing as well and better when given the rare chance. I like Rodgers and think he is a good coach and can get the best out of young players but if you were a cynic, you could also say that he's also only come about this change of fortune by being forced to do something different. With Balotelli out injured as well as Sturridge he was forced to chance the formation and try Sterling upfront given how he obviously doesn't feel Lambert can do that role on hi own and seemingly losing faith with Borini. Would Markovic have been given as much game time if Johnson had not been injured? Maybe... but probably not. Would Sakho have been given as much time if Lovren not got injured? Who knows... I'm not 100% on this formation as I did think that coming up against a top team like Chelsea that it may expose weaknesses with Markovic at WB but he's actually been the best WB out of all those that have played like (much like Sterling was a couple of years ago when played there!). All the time the formation works, I'm happy to keep it 3 clean sheets in last 7 compared to, what was it about 4 in 37?? The back 3 or 5 have really started to gel after playing a good run of games together as well and it's reflected in us looking more solid, with the added protection in Lucas in front. I'm intrigued to see how it works when Sturridge is back and if he moves upfront with Sterling dropping back next to Coutinho but that means Lucas/Hendo/Gerrard fighting for 2 of those remaining CM positions and can anyone really see Gerrard being the odd one out?
I wonder if during training, players are subconsciously still in ore of Gerrard and maybe give him more time rather than go in and close him down quickly? When given time, in our midfield he is still a brilliant player and our best CM, but it's when teams pressure him quickly and don't give him time on the ball he's struggling. This might mean in training he isn't looking as bad as he does during games at time?
It amazes me that there are people here saying he's now doing things that we told him to ages ago. And accuse him of arrogance.
With most of our players performing the pressing game well every week, I'd be surprised if that was the case.
People seem to have the solutions when ultimate responsibility does not sit with them. Rodgers like most of the players we sign, was brought because of his potential to be a very good coach. He showed that with the right players we can challenge the powers that be. Last season when we challenged for the title and qualified for the CL, the owners admitted that we were way ahead of schedule. Even then, it was apparent we had some issues with our defense as well as squad depth. While the teams around us did not lose any star players we lost Suarez to Barca and Sturridge to injury. Without even signing a player we were already behind our competitors. So we have a squad weak in depth thus requiring bodies as well as more matches due to CL commitments. So the gaffer has to sign players who came in late during pre-season develop a philosophy based on the new team dynamics while still having to win matches. To compound all of this, there is a section of the fans who ignore our previous seasons and now use the 2013/14 one as the benchmark. Rodgers struggles initially at the beginning of the season are no surprise then. Not many would have done much better. He is a very young manager and one thing I will always give him is the ability to learn from his mistakes as well as adapt. I liken this season to his first and they seem to have similarities all through. I expect us to be stronger at the tail and at least challenge for those positions 3 &4.
who came in that late? I mean badontelly was a oh **** moment late on but there was a world cup too to consider. lallana and lovern were not the guys but came in and were on tour. I'm sorry but the start of the year was very poor indeed and the team selection made no sense. It seems to me still rodgers took and age to see the layers he was picking and the way he was picking them was totally wrong. His 3-4-3 could be 4-3-3 just as easy with the players he's cpcked who are runners and willing workers but i'll still contend... if he had johnson fit we'd still be watching him waddle back while the defense gets torn apart I felt our US toour was far too long and badly run to prepare players and sorry but that is in year 3 so also should not ever have happened. I expect injuries to play a big part in our form coming up and frankly we'll need a good run of luck to keep the ****s out of the team cos i jsut feel if can or markoivc get an injury the old heads who don't work will swan in and stay in... i fear sitting here in 10 games time wondering where did it go wrong after our good form and be looking at 9men or 8 men working and the other 3 trotting again.
Our squad is better this season. But the first team is weaker. Losing Suarez was massive and I don't think Rodgers truly appreciated how much Suarez did for this team. I agree with some, I don't think he deserves much praise just yet. Our results coincided with injuries to sh*t players thus forcing him to pick better players, easier results and no european football as a distraction. However, I will credit him for picking Markovic at RWB. I really didn't see him performing in that role but it's a great way of getting him used to the pace of the English game, but also identifying the lads defensive ability. Also, playing Can at centre back as well.
I have been singing it that he should play Sterling as Emergency striker. He just did that recently- see the result. Stubborn Rodgers.!
Let's sack him and get this board as manager it's not always that cut and dry. Let's be honest, we didn't just lose Suarez this season, we lost Sturridge too.
