Since when did you become a defeatist? Going into a massive game like that and fielding a second string on the basis that you were going to get gubbed anyway, is so wide of where you normally stand on issues of 'the art of the possible" I can't quite catch my breath tbh Dave.
From an outsiders point of view the four mentioned are all first team starters [whether they deserve to be is another story] and so according to them, should have started in Madrid. I was suggesting that Henderson was the only one a case could be made for. From our point of view as fans who follow them week in, week out, we have yet to see BR pick and stick with his strongest 11. I would also suggest, from that same perspective, that it wasn't a weakened team. Now had Jones played ....
This is so wrong that I am surprised you don't recognise it. This team's reputation is more than just Rodgers'. This was Real Madrid against Liverpool. One of the biggest matches in the CL calendar when the draw was made. The whole of Europe had been looking forward to it. Yes, real were hot favourite. So what? Barca would have been too at home and yes we could have lost even with a full strength side. But could we have won ? Of course there was a small chance we could have beaten Real or got a draw. If Rodgers doesn't recognise he made a mistake in declaring that Liverpool FC had lost the match before the first whistle then there is no hope.
So Sterling, Balotelli and Gerrard haven't formed the core of his side all season then? Yeah right oh, of course it wasn't a second string
Are there any pictures on 'tinternet of a blue spaniel licking the crusty bits off the arse of a flat-capped Woollyback, by any chance?
Even if there's no improvement, I think he SHOULD get one more season to get his signings working. We saw though with Kenny that JH more takes the view that if it needs money to fix it, he's not giving it to the bloke he considers has wasted it. Odd, as it's this moneyball malarkey behind this policy, but £20m for Markovic must make them sit up and notice. Brod may well regret that he's got nobody to blame but himself on signings - at least Kenny could always look askance at Comolli.
The whole way Sterling has been managed by Rodgers this season has shown he makes it up as he goes along. When Liverpool lost to Villa, he used international games as an excuse for resting him, which later proved to be complete bullshit as he then played Sterling for the next 6 games over a 3 week period including 120mins in a Capital One game lol. He then has another spat with Hodgson over international duty. He then plays him in the next 4 matches and then drops him for the Real Madrid game citing Sterling was too tired/didn't perform against Newcastle. And who's fault is that? Not Sterling's that's for sure. But he's the one who's paid for it by missing a dream tie. And each time he's been dropped Rodgers has gone on to show there was no rationale behind it, or if there was, his subsequent actions have undermined the bullshit he's come out with afterwards. When you look at that along with the rest of the stuff Rodgers comes out with, on the whole he seems like someone who really is making it up as he goes along. That may very well be as a result of losing a winning formula from last season, and a new squad joining, meaning he's having to find his way, but it does also show his limitations as a manager at this stage of his career as well.
Carl you are letting emotion run away with you. The world had already seen that the present Liverpool side was no match for Madrid on our own midden. So the world was expecting Liverpool to be slaughtered in the return. The rest of the world was not under the impression that we had the resources to stand toe to toe with Madrid and make a fight of it. Therefore the rest of the world would have applauded Rodgers for taking action to ensure that the slaughter did not take place and would have celebrated the performance of of those players who did turn out for us. Rodgers selection was pragmatic and the right one on the night.
It's amusing that other fans find it more outrageous than we do The very names being touted as 'must starters' in this game were the same ones who got ****ing torn apart at Anfield a fortnight before it.
This is just not emotion. It is looking at it reasonably objectively. Real is a very good team no doubting it. Are they a team of supermen ? A team in front of which we have to kneel and kiss their asses? NO. Liverpool have history and have pride. If mourinho can be pragmatic and play for a point, so can we. Of course we did better than expected with a 1-0 defeat. But we had given up before the match by saying - ok we'll get slaughtered here but this is not our full strength side. I hope (and I am confident) he won't do that again.
I can see both sides of the argument. Personally - Rodgers was right not to play Johnson, Lovren and Gerrard because quite frankly, they're dross. IF only he had played Sterling, Coutinho and Mario - I think we could have got more out of the game. Lallana, Markovic and Borini got the ball in good positions but were completely useless. At the end of the day - Rodgers rested these players, not dropped them. He got lucky because the replacements did better than what the world expected and he basically milked it and made it sound like he was ruthless by dropping big names.
At the end of the day, if we win or next 2 and qualify, all is forgotten. If we f** it, then it comes back to this of course.
