And then kicked Mings weight bearing ankle The ball was in the air, the way he fell didnt mean he had to kick Mings ankle It is an obvious dirty kick Look at the evidence I provided and dont be so naive in falling for Rooneys fake apology afterwards
I dont get whats funny, I really dont. Skrtel shoulder barges Rooney and in anger he goeas for Mings ankle I hope the FA find time to look at it, I wont be holding my breath though Totally irrelevant that Skrtel shoulder barges him fairly
So offer an arguement Do you honestly think he didnt mean to kick Mings ankle? It wasnt a result of falling over and the momentum made it happen. You clearly see him go for his ankle It wasnt going for the ball as the ball was in the air What else is there? Mings fault?
I like the positivity here and also Rodgers' putting on a brave face. He couldn't do otherwise. However, like I said during the match yesterday I was shocked by how much the mancs dominated us. We were supposed to be the form team, playing at home against a team that had been struggling away. In fact I would say they dominated us much more in the first half than they did in Manchester when we were supposed to be struggling. Had he done his homework, has he done his preparation or did he believe his own hype and that of the so called pundits? Did he underestimate the opposition? According to Rodgers himself we now need to get 20 points from 8 matches. This is 7 wins or 6 wins and 2 draws. Of course it is possible but should we not beat Arsenal the task becomes really difficult. We could win all the remaining matches and still miss out if the mancs get 75 points - which was supposed to be almost impossible but judging from their performance at Anfield is not that far fetched.
Rodgers has a habit of being outclassed in big games. He's tactically naive and we bottle it when the pressure is really on us. The pressure was off us last season and we did very well - then we got a crunch game where we had a chance to put one hand on the trophy against Chelsea, but decided to play for a win and leave us exposed. The pressure was on us at the start the season and Rodgers completely screwed us with awful selection and tactics, not to mention another poor showing in Europe. It wasn't until the chips were really down and he had nothing to lose did we start winning. The game against United was the first real pressure game in months - you can look to Soton and Man City games and we weren't favourites to win either. Against United, we were favourites and had a golden chance to get into top 4 but blew it. I think there is something inherently wrong with Rodgers management - not necessarily his coaching. But he has a lot to learn.
I see the fledgling signs of this thread meandering its way towards this over the next two weeks. http://www.not606.com/threads/the-rodgers-out-thread-well-sort-of.281642/
I was surprised by our performance at home too but there's always at least one every season isn't there, just thank goodness it was utd and not a Burnley or QPR -if you look at it that way there's no shame being outplayed by a direct rival.
People keep going on about Rodgers tactical naivety and inexperience in big games but should just stop for a minute and re-read what they are posting because it's nothing more than just stating the obvious. He has very little experience of big games / Europe / PL in general, so of course he's got a lot to learn. We skit LVG as often as possible but the man has experience by the bucket load so why is it surprising that after a poor start for him in this new league, it's coming to the fore!
But this is the issue - we always make excuses when Rodgers makes mistakes - he's young, he's inexperienced. There is actually very little evidence of him learning over the past 3 years - he has a system, uses it for ages even it's not working then changes it. It's no proactive - it's reactive. And there are a lot of other young coaches in world football who don't suffer from the same naivety. This isn't me saying I want Rodgers Out per se, but he needs someone experienced staff around him, or we bring in a top manager at the end of the season.
Even I think you're being harsh there I think he's shown he's brave enough to change it when it's not working, the 3-4-3 was brought in when you were struggling and he's made it work. OK you got beat at the weekend, but that was due to his opponent coming up with a game plan that worked to perfection, as opposed to Rodgers flunking it. He changed it at HT, but we'll never know what impact that might have had due to Gerrard's petulance. I'm still unconvinced by him, but he's gone up in my estimations this season.
I wasn't making an excuse for him because as I've said many times on here, I'm not entirely convinced by him myself - yet. I just think claiming naivety is stating the obvious. You get experience ....... by getting experience, simple really. He's developing, quite successfully, players like Henderson, Sturridge and Sterling and with Ibe, Wisdom and Rossiter coming through, he's also showing a willingness to give the youngsters who are ready, a go as well. But you hit the nail on the head with him needing experienced staff around him, that's something else I've spoken about time and again.
The issue I have is not that he changes things, or how he changes them - it's when he changes them. History shows that he persists with systems for far too long. It's been pointed out to me that we don't actually have a style of play or identity - he's been here 3 years but what has he actually implemented? Most will say we're a fast, aggressive, high pressing team but apart from a few performances this season, and Suarez leading that style for the 2nd half of last season, we don't actually play that way consistently.
Yeah, wasn't having a go at you directly. But there are other managers who are at the same age but are far more clued on tactically. As an attacking coach and youth coach, I think he's very good. But it's the rest of his game that needs support - tactics, defending, recruitment. He has a team to help him recruit so we can avoid spending £50m on Soton dross. I still feel a DoF is needed at the club and if Rodgers is going to be successful, he needs to relinquish control and get support in.
With all his failings, we missed the league by a whisker last year and are challenging for a top 4 place this, so for a team with no world class players he's accomplishing a fair amount nevertheless. I don't actually know what a DoF does, does anybody, but he definitely needs help in the areas you mentioned. Rafa
This is another issue - his ego. I don't think it would allow him to work another person, certainly one who is higher up. In most successful teams, they operate with a DoF structure. The DoF is effectively the person to ensure continuity to a club so there is little disruption whenever a key person leaves. For example, if a manager leaves, the DoF will hire someone who fits into the club's ethos and ensure the style of play remains the same. That's just one example but another key feature of these structures is that the manager is not a manager. He is a First Team coach - so things like player recruitment, academy etc is not under his jurisdiction. He can simply focus on coaching and tactics.
Weren't we linked with Txiki Begiristain before he went to City? If Rodgers hadn't insisted [and we only have paper talk that he did] on being in full control, we could have done much better in terms of transfers for a start.
