Given some of the goals we've conceded, and how the players have performed.. hardly Rodgers fault. We lost two players that gave is over 50 goals last season. They were the main reason we were so good, reality check for the rest of the squad, we aren't much without Suarez and Studge, they made Sterling better by creating space for him. Without that Sterling has too much to do alone. Balotelli was an atrocious buy, still can't get my head around the reckoning behind that buy, dodgy mentality, wrong player for us style wise and did I mention he's a basket case? This is a reality check as to the strength of our squad. Piss poor
I would say it is - purely because of his insistence on picking dross like Skrtel week in week out, not recognising that Gerrard is a complete liability to our system, and choosing Lovren as the main defensive target.
So by taking Skrtel and Lovren out, who would be your preffered CB's? Personally I think we have to play Lovren and as soon as Sakho is avialable play them as our CB pairing. But actually stick to it, until they learn each others game. Skrtel then becomes our 3rd choice, which for me he isn't a bad 3rd choice CB to have. Toure just can't be considered in my opinion, he has the leadership skills but not the game to match it, he's a huge liability. The problem is my gut feeling is BR will stick with Skrtel and Lovren even when Sakho is available!
Skrtel has been a liability for a few years - his best performances have come during the clubs worst periods - it's not a coincidence that he looked good in a mediocre team. Disregarding the fact that an average defender like Lovren cost £20m, he has time on his side and is a proactive, aggresive defender who wants to push the line further. I would rather see him alongside Sakho. Toure has received a lot of stick from some - he has made mistakes but only when playing on the left hand side and alongside guess who ... Skrtel. Put Toure on the right hand side with Sakho - just test it out once or twice. You have one experienced leader who organises his defence alongside a potential captain/leader who can learn from him. Either way - Sakho is the only centre back at this club who is worthy of a place in the starting line.
i share your concerns and agree he prob will, skrts is a liability, and a one in every 4 yrs he has a good season lol,(he just had a good one!!)
I don't think he had a good season last season. We're seeing the same mistakes, poor positioning, poor marking etc - only this season, he's not scoring goals which masked the problem previously.
Do people realise that it is Brod that wants our defence to play deep? It makes for a bigger pitch and more room for possession football.
fair point jimmy i will re write lol, he had a good season by his usual standards, and he was pivotal to getting important goals for us last season, just a shame he was doing it at both ends
I was Skrtel's biggest critic but last season he played very well and I'd say he was in our top five best players with Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling and Henderson. And that as nothing to do with him scoring goals, especially since they are cancelled out by the own goals too!
You are taking the pis right? lets invite teh opposition on to our poor performing back line and counter with all the pace you have.................You know what, he is a visionary manager
Somehow I think Brendan does not like or trust sakho. That will come and bite him back. He will stick with lovren because he has cost a big price even though he has not played well. As long as lovren is playing CB the team will be shaky and conceding goals. Last season it didn't matter that much because Suarez made the opposition defend. I think Brendan will also regret not buying a trusted top striker rather than take a gamble on Balotelli. It is not just about money and the £16m spent. It is about creating disharmony within the team. Are some players feeling disgruntled because Mario is not putting in his own graft ?
You do realise that Sakho cost £17m don't you? Just £3m less than Lovren! As for the striker, I don't think Brod intentionally ignored all other strikers and went for Mario. I think he ran out of options and didn't want to repeat what happened with Andy Carroll in his first summer with us.
Things are bad, but we got a clean sheet on the weekend and as it funny as it sounds that was better than a win for me. Hopefully we will improve week in week out as the season goes on. Rodgers does have to show he is capable of making big decisions and getting us better
Let's look at what people were saying about one of our best players of last season (apparently) in December: Plus many more in this thread: http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/239569-What-happened-to-Sterling Basically everyone thought he wasn't good enough to play for Liverpool and needed to be loaned out for 'experience'. I am not trying to embarrass anyone, as I thought much the same (that he would benefit from being loaned out) but it goes to show that nothing is set in stone in this time of year and we shouldn't be making final judgements on players & the team at this time. And I think it shows that players like Balotelli shouldn't be written off yet, he could yet turn his season around with a little bit of confidence and luck.
Brings to mind Rodgers words about wanting players that would only immediately improve the first team. Either our base level is/was so low this is the next step up which is disgraceful or something's gone wrong in identifying our targets and we've picked out a load of dross somehow.
Very true, players needed to believe this season and carry forward the momentum we had, they have failed so far but there's time yet. We knew a lot those goals were gone and made the wrong choice (maybe) in replacing them. We've bought better defenders but the system and the understanding isn't there. I still think we'll click at some point but if it's not soon then we will not get CL again and that would be a disaster imo.
