Generally Ive backed BR with the decsions hes made,we have played some excellent footy at times this season But today HIS decsions were the main reason why we got tanked
Danilo agree about Hendo bein on pitch from 0 mins, but TOTALLY disagree about Ibe, he would have been dyin to get on, not sure how Ibes gonna get burnt out playin 20 mins,and Im sure it wouldnt effect him mentally.In fact him gettin on pitch would be better for him mentally than not gettin on, Ibe could be thinkin now he hasnt got confidence in me, where if he had played hed be thinkin the manager believes Ive got it. Ibe should have come on 100%
I'm really starting to wonder if BR's the one for the long haul. His mindset is the biggest problem here, he keeps talking about Mentality while he seems to lack it the most. His pre match conference was reminiscent of the ****ing 2nd place bollocks early on in the season. A couple of good performances and he's the first to get carried away. How are the players going react when you have manager's head stuck in the clouds. He took this game ever so lightly, The stating Lineup bears testament to that, two attack minded Mids, and No natural DM in the game. What the **** was he thinking. Really hard to take this loss. If we bottle a few more like this, could end up where we finished last season.
An unfit Lucas is a better DM than a fit Allen, so let's play an unfit Allen in the centre and leave a fit Lucas on the bench! Ta-dah! Do not understand that one bit. It's not like we have fixture congestion or Europe to worry about.
Even if Lucas has got a niggle its totally f**kin mental mate Hendo is a better option than Allen, Hendos 100% fit, the fittest player in the squad, playin with confidence and got a stone and half more bulk He seems to be FORCING Allen into the team when hes not playing well, lacking confidence and unfit, hes making it worse for the lad
Well, I guess I respectfully disagree. What would happen is this: 1. Ibe comes on (for who? Downing maybe). 2. Our play continues to be scrappy and no chances are made. 3. Ibe gets the ball, gives it away due to lack of support. 4. Repeat. 5. Game over, Ibe's first game is a slippery defeat to lowly Southampton. Fans slate his substitution as one of desperation and not taking the game seriously. His confidence drops. I've seen it happen so many times. Good players damaged because they're thrown into the deep end only to find out that the rest of the team won't cover for them. Also, Ibe knows that this game was beyond "confidence". It's got naught to do with him. It's to do with getting 3 points. I don't think subbing him on would have any positive impact on the game - which is what it comes down to.
Why the **** did he feel the need to change a winning team? A basic rule: If it's not broken, don't fix it. I like the way he likes the team to play and some of his buys (Coutinho and Sturridge) have been magnificent, but his team selection sometimes beggars belief! Skrtel and Allen, are NOT as good as Carra and Lucas. The 3rd goal when Jay was allowed to run through, Skrtel followed him and just watched the ball all the way to the net. Lucas would have picked that ball up in midfield and Carra would have intercepted it way before he'd got a chance to shoot if they were playing. I feel some blame has to lie with the scouting team too. Southampton struggle against Physical teams, and prosper against teams that try to pass - so what do we do? We try to out pass them. PLAY AGAINST THEIR WEAKNESSES BRENDAN FFS! Henderson should have started, so should Lucas and Carra - both tidy defensive players. 4-3-3; Gerrard, Lucas and Hendo midfield is not going to be overrun as easily as Allen - Gerrard.
I was going purely by the fitness but yeah, agree with all that. However, if we are going to play Allen (obviously prefer us not to) then don't tell the world he needs surgery pm a shoulder injury beforehand
BR needs a scouting team to tell him what 90% of fans on this board could tell him? If so, Rodgers needs to grow a brain. It was obvious what we needed to do - except to the man who counts. If he wants to rest players against 'weaker' oposition, get a foothold in the game first! Start your best team in the best system, get ahead, then take them off.
Your assuming Ibe would have struggled and played poor, how do you know, do you have a crystal ball, perhaps he would have played excellently and scored a wordly and contributed to winning the game. The facts are we wernt controlling the game on 70, if thats the case IMO, you have to make the change,I would have already brought Hendo on on 60, so I would have brough Ibe on on 70 he wouldnt have done worse than the players already on the pitch and he could have made the difference
Like everyone else I think the way we set up was horribly wrong today, but in that 4-3-3 who are you dropping to play Hendo? If you're dropping Downing like some have said are you playing Suarez on the right wing (like the Arsenal game?). The three man midfield was a must today whoever was left out. There was a lot of talk pre match about imposing our game etc but that's pretty tough to do when you're completely overrun in midfield and can't get hold of the ball. I'd probably have benched Sturridge and gone with Suarez up front and obviously played Henderson and Lucas from the start.
I said v spurs the set up was wrong and we were lucky not to be compelte out of it before he finally changed it. Today ne NEVER changed it. 4-2-4 with us being competely over run... He's a cocksure clown... I called hi ma clown when he picked shelvey after the kid had his little rant but i gave credit where it was due when he put things right v spurs.... i nthe end he's just had a howler of a game. you simply cannot call a team with coutinho and suarez and sturridge anything like 4-4-2. I have no clue why he dropped lucas... i mean we were told allen was nursing a serious shoulder injury so we drop lucas after a weeks rest and play a crock? for me i'd simply drop downing.. 4-3-3 like i said in the prematch threads. but to take out lucas and carra for a "gimmie" espeically when you bring a child o nthe bench just shows complete cocksure arrogance.
Since we have two attacking FBs, why not play Suarez alongside Sturridge with Coutinho just behind in a 4312 system? As long as Lucas and Henderson/Gerrard sit to cover.
Carra had a calf strain and Lucas had a niggle midweek. I agree Hendo should have started, but it isn't really fair to blame Rodgers for the other two. We'd have all been incredibly pissed off if Rodgers had started Lucas despite him not being fully fit and then getting a season ending injury. What went wrong today: - Allen shouldn't have played, clearly not strong enough with his current shoulder problem, absolutely Rodgers' fault - Skrtel, Agger and Johnson really let us down, I don't see how that's Rodgers' fault - Southampton played tremendously well Wish people would make their minds up. Yesterday we were going to finish 4th, now Brendan is a clueless moron. Nothing has changed. He's a young manager who made a mistake, no need to sensationalise everything and get wound up. These things happen. Let's see how next season goes and if there continues to be overall improvement (minor setbacks like today aside) then he continues to have my full support
Firstly, congratulation Southampton you deserved your win. After that what a load of rubbish! We lost today to a good Championship side and made them look like top 10 Premiership. After 3 minutes it was clear that we'd no control of the midfield; that the back 4 had little or no cohesiveness and we couldn't pass to each other. As others have said, why wasn't Allen replaced after 10-15 minutes? It was clear by then that he couldn't cope and he was unhinging any midfield play that we had. If we could foresee that our problem would be being overrun in midfield why did we leave both Lucas and Hendo on the bench?Why when Johnson was having a mare did Downing still refuse to cover? It also highlights a problem that we have with Gerrard as captain. Leading by example is fine but there are times when you need to be seen to actually lead the team and encourage others - that did not happen. Normally I would say something like let's move on but I do feel we have got to address these issues.
Agree on that, He must have had plans of even giving Ibe a run today. He's a talented kid. But BR could have atleast considered him in a home game. Just shows how lightly he took S'amton, that he even thought of giving the 17old his debut. What ****ing arrogance. And then the other shocker, was starting Allen. Even with Lucas in a 2 man mid against the spuds we struggled to gain any control, to drop our only true DM and start the bloody midget along Gerrard in this formation is just Suicide. He should have alteast started the strongest side and get a foothold of the game,then given others a chance. This was definitely there to be won. ****ing frustrating when we throw away games like this. We really could have put together a wonderful run, but with this sort of mindset I'm not surprised we haven't won more than 3league games in a row since feb2011.
Been saying similar, we should have looked to leave no space in midfield, make it physical and play them like we played Spurs as in allowing them to the half way line and choking them and letting Suarez and co worry about the goals with some good service frm Gerrard and one or two others. Did Johnson actually sh!t his pants today? I honestly think the bad play was a lot to do with being ripped a new arsehole for the first 15 minutes. We were rattled to fk by then and never recovered because BR wouldn't change it, hell I'm a stubborn **** but I still would have taken Sturridge off after 20 minutes and put on Lucas and went 451 and nullify their midfield advantage and try take the ball in the middle rather than trying to build from the back, poor Suarez coming to the halfway line to get a decent touch at times! No point in playing Downing if Johnson was not going to support and overlap, there would have been joy down that side had we held the middle as that was their main focus. Again as with Spurs, and they are not nearly as good as Spurs in the middle. We went out looking to stretch them but never got hold of it in the middle so we ended up looking like an under 12s school team. That lot pulled united apart earlier this season only to succumb to late goals as they fell back in fear of losing their lead. Not so today. We needed to go out as if we were happy with a draw, we would have got 1 goal anyway but possibly more as they were dispossessed in a tight midfield contest. 0 1 would be happy days, nothing wrong with 0 1 This was a total fkup by our manager, so bad that I sometimes wonder if he assesses the opposition or just says we'll play our game, try beat us, which is fine when you're Barca. I hope he has learned from this and I also think that the players did not believe in the system employed today, I really do!
