Highest profile does not mean most important though Getting out of the group stage was never about getting a result away to Real
Maybe not. But as a game in it's own right, it was your most high profile fixture for 5 years plus, and he chose to play your stiffs, as if it was some Mickey Mouse cup game - oh no, actually he played Sterling for 120 mins in the Mickey Mouse against the might of Boro...... He only got away with it amongst some of you because you avoided a drubbing. Had you been battered I doubt there'd be anyone piping up in defence of it. His only saving grace was if he managed to get a result at home to Chelsea last weekend, with all of the rested bunch back in, but he failed.
Of course he has limitations at this stage of his career. Do you know just how little experience he has though? He only has 6 years experience as a manager and is in only his 4th season in top flight. I've always said I'm unsure that he's the right fit for us but you can't really fault what he's achieved in such a short time, bringing a team up from the championship and taking us to 2nd, which gets him managing in the CL in only his 4th year of experience, it's not all luck or someone else's work, which are two of the reasons always thrown about. You could try looking at it another way, he played his 'strongest' side who were well beaten at home so why not give others a chance to see what they could do - all this bearing in mind I don't think he actually knows who his strongest 11 are yet.
He came one (two?) dodgy handball decisions away from achieving what you got at Anfield after being equally dominated. Imagine had Skrtel threw his arm in the way of Jags' thunderbolt and no pen been given. Such are the margins. On the subject of other fans and journos being more upset then us by the Madrid squad (not that they are - totally manufactured to cause distabilisation at the club in the same manner that Lynton Crosbie has the Tory media and BBC yapping about Milliband to take the spotlight away from Cameron (read Van Gaal) ) I had to laugh at fatty Samuel's latest offering in the Fail. Brendan was wrong as, in the rotund Yid's double-edged attack, he'll now never be the manager of Madrid or Barca, as he apparently really wants to be. Bet that earned Lard Arse a pat on the back from the FA and the BBC.
I truly believe that Rodgers made the right decision for the good of both the team and the club in changing the side for the Madrid match. I did not think of his changes as being defeatist. I truly believe that, had we gone into the away leg with essentially the same side that played the home leg, we would have got a right spanking. That would have done the morale of the side and the worldwide reputation of the club no good at all. The performance of the team on the night was a step change in quality from what we had been producing. Yes I admit that we looked poor in the final 3rd as a consequence but I also applaud the attacking changes made in the second half to at least attempt to secure a draw.
If that's your view then fair enough mate But if the highlighted piece is correct then why didn't he stick with the same side on Saturday? I don't follow that logic tbh. I can swallow the rest of the rationale if that was how his mind was thinking, but to then revert back to type makes no sense.
I can't answer your question so you'd better ask Rodgers. All I can say is that I wouldn't have reverted to what was palpably not working!
Toblerone is right about the strange use of Sterling by BR. The inconsistencies are blaring to the point of embarrassment unfortunately. Not only with regards to the frequency of Sterling's use, but also his position on the field, and correspondingly, the fluctuation in expectations heaped on him too. The Real Madrid game was an embarrassment from a LFC manager's perspective. And the media rightly sanctioned it that way. The fact that after a surprisingly positive performance he went back to his a-team in the last 30 mins of the Real game, and on Saturday against Chelsea, can only mean one thing: that he was resting his better players.
This No amount of spin by him or his apologists can disguise what he REALLY intended for the Madrid match. But I think he will have learnt from this episode although he won't admit it publicly.
I wasn't saying he has limitations and pointing a finger at him for that, I was identifying the limitations themselves (relating to Sterling) and saying these are pretty basic. On top of that he then masks them with bare-faced bullshit. Exactly how has he planned for life after Suarez? Ok let's give him the benefit and say he had a plan, brought these players in to suit that. Can any Liverpool fan see what it was? On the pitch? Let's say Sturridge was a part of that but got injured. But hold on, Sturridge has been injured for a couple of months, he has a whole squad. What has he done to change tactically to account for that. For me, the way he's managed Sterling is a symptom of his overall failure to adapt or plan for Liverpool after Suarez. What's even more ridiculous is he's brought in players with no idea of how he's going to use them to their strengths. It's a ruthless opinion I know but unless Sturridge saves his bacon (and Sturridge will deserve credit for that more than Rodgers) I really can't see where Liverpool are going to go under Rodgers.
I think his lack of managerial experience means he's limited by definition, so it follows that he doesn't know when and how to best deploy Sterling, for example. He's managing one of the biggest clubs in the world, his appointment was always going to be risky given his lack of experience. We're getting what we bought. I don't know what people expect, I don't know what I expected but it probably isn't too far from how it's going - last season's performance taking everyone by surprise, aside.
Anyway, my problem is not Brendan sending out a team of stiffs in a game against Madrid that we were going to lose anyway (though they did a lot better than so-called best eleven minus Studge did at anfield). Why did he play Coutinho, Sterling and Moreno against Chelsea? was he REALLy thinking we'd compete with the form team in the league over 90 mins of fair play? Did Jose think like that back in April ? Did he f**. The complete lack of pragmatism by Brendan is what worries me. True, we ended up only a couple of ref's decisions away from salvaging a (underserved) point. But Jose has shown over the years that when the other team is better - get dirty. Remember the touchline instructions and pointing out Alonso to Lampard in '04 when he was running the show: five minutes later Lampard had broken his ankle, resplendent with a wink and thumbs up from Mourinho. Remember Mourinho winning the EC with Inter? Parked buses and dirty tricks at every stage. I f**ing winced when I saw us trying to take quick free kicks and throw-ins on Saturday. Every time the ball went out of play should have been an opportunity for some form of play-acting and bad-sportsmanship. Why the f** Oscar, Hazard and Faberagas were still skipping around the pitch at the end... Point is, in all seriousness, we're on our arse in terms of form and injuries and Brendan's trying to impress the media after his Madrid criticism. Ironically, the cheerleader of that, Blobby Samuel of the Mail, was the one who praised Mourinho's tactics in April to the skies. Which leads to two conclusions: Brendan doesn't know when to ignore the media, and Brendan doesn't know when cut his cloth with what's available as opposed to what is his comfortable fit. Every successful manager, from Shankly to Ferguson, from Paisley to Clough, have known when circumstances dictate that you can't play your favourite way. Grow up Brendan - we're a Premier league Club, not your f**ing vanity project.
The question you should be asking is that you were a better side than Chelsea last season with Suarez However, come the summer Mourinho went out and paid about £106m gross for Luis, Drogba, Costa, Fabregas and Matic. They're going to win the league at a canter. Brent lost Suarez but spent £115m on a bunch of average over priced crap - and you're going to struggle to get anywhere near the top 4........ Kicking lumps out of them? Come on.....
Moyes had double the experience and reverted to over reliance on Januzaj last season. Other than that tactically he was naive and one dimensional. Rodgers has done the same. Expecting to look like securing top 4 again surely. Nobody's saying 2nd again but you'd expect at least confidently competing for top 4? Or how about Rodgers putting out a team that plays to its strength instead of repeating the same tactical approach with players that don't suit. I do believe that he has enough credit in the bank to give him the benefit of the doubt. But if it's more of the same for the rest of the season...well chances are you'll be rebuilding again, and JH may just think there's nothing to lose with a new man doing it.
Haven't got much argument with much of that until the last sentence - it now is what it is, and decisions about Saturday's team and tactics should have been based upon the situation on hand, not what did/did't/should have happened in the summer transfer market. And kicking lumps, timewasting, breaking up play, six in defence, etc, should have been the pragmatic choice. as said, given the same hand, it would have been Jose's in heartbeat.
If I were coaching a side against Mourinho, the instructions to my team would be simple: "Our plan is to get one of those sneaky dirty ****ers red-carded for their cynical fouls. Exaggerate, simulate, do whatever to impress the ref. Don't fear. They will be so brainwashed that they won't be able to help themselves from fouling again and again."
Moyes had triple the experience and was the wrong fit as well, just in a different way. Thing is we'll never know what the season's start would have looked like with Sturridge in it but I'm guessing we'd be having a different conversation now. Too many new players trying to integrate is a problem, not playing the same players twice in a row compounds that problem. Our inexperienced manager surrounded himself with more inexperienced staff and has players inexperienced in the pl and a team inexperienced in playing together - given all that, if we were flying along it would be a miracle.
