One City scarf for sale. Owner returning to Italy. If Fergie gets Utd past Real it might just irk Mourinho into taking Mancini's job to wind Fergie up. I can't see Rafa staying at Chelsea. The Real job will be available and he's in the frame. I don't think FSG will get rid of Brendan because they made it clear their expectations were low this season. John Henry said top 4 was realistic last season but not this. I dunno how he worked that out but he probably sucks at FM, too.
It would be a wonderful thing to have. I have always supported Rodgers once he was given the job (Rafa was my first choice) but like all Redmen have been extremely disappointed with us recently (even though we're creating). Our midfield and defence lacks strength, opposition players go through our defence, we pass then DON'T move, lose concentration towards latter stages of the game and we make wrong decisions in attack like Suarez dribbling when he should lay it off (but he gets away with more as he has been amazing to be fair - and also he is not a no 9 and is a lot more effective behind Sturridge - so marks to BR for moving him there) We need to switch to a 4 2 3 1 - 2 def midfielders for the time being (like we had under King Kenny when we were brilliant), to stop us leaking in my opinion. I would use Lucas and Henderson (for his energy) for now, or maybe Agger (who might relish a bit of a different challenge as he hasn't looked his brilliant best recently) Anyway, talk to any Swansea fan and they will tell you Martinez got them playing like that but I always shrugged that off. Also under BR Swansea had a leaky defence I just hope he can sort us out and fast My question is, knowing what we know now, how we have been would you have preferred Martinez to be in charge? I think the correct time to judge BR is this time next season, if he is our man we should definitely have improved and look better I hope certain players are being b ollocked behind closed doors rather than this "we are a group", "don't blame individuals" etc which is fine for the public but not behind closed doors. Did you see Nevilles comments about the Utd dressing room recently when De Gea let a late goal in?) We just need to sort ourselves out quickly, or the end of season party could be at the end of next weekend Does anyone think under Matinez we would have performed better?
Jackett did well for us in getting us promotion but we did play a bit of hoofball. Roberto started the passing revolution for the Swans, although our defence was poor. Sousa gave us defensive solidity - but it was awful to watch at times. Brendan came in and improved our passing game, playing tik tak with a squad that had been playing together for a couple of years. Laudrup has built on that, not so good on the tik tak but a slightly more direct approach by making clinical passes in the final third (ie not direct as hoofing it up the pitch) Rodgers has never achieved the level of tik tak football at Liverpool because the foundations were not in place and you haven't got the players to play it (something Liverpool fans don't like hearing but it is true) - SG for example loves playing the long pass game, but that defeats tik tak football. Rodgers is stuck with "The Old Liverpool" and "The New System" which he is trying to implement. The result is a mish mash of systems. There have been some good performances, notably against Arsenal and Man City, but Liverpool are a long way off where Rogers would like to be. For that he needs time to build - this could take two or three years. The game against Swansea is massive - for Rogers. On the back of two successive defeats it is a MUST win game. To make matters worse for Brendan it is against his old Club. To lose twice at home to his old Club will be humiliation - especially with a restless home crowd. Given time Brendan WILL be successful with Liverpool. Going back to your point about Huw Jenkins - we have a very good Board. There is a saying in Sport "You are only as good on the pitch as you are OFF it". That is where success begins.
How? I don't want Laudrup because I am happy to give Rodgers time, that comment was playing along with another posters comment!
Excellent assessment, though we have enough experience of top level still there. Part of my beef with FSG was that they should've started with a new manager at the end of the Hodgson/Dalglish season, before they got everybody's dreams up by giving Kenny a 3-year contract. They may have felt obliged to because of the excellent form, despite their own plan, but for what that man has done for the club, he deserved it, even without the excellent form. Which was excellent. In a purely business sense, Kenny represented the club's Unique Selling Point. Everything that's great about the club is embodied in him. Who else could've lifted and unified a club from the depression it was in like he did? I never once heard a glimmer of a rumour of dissatisfaction in the squad under Kenny. I could tell Reina was off within days of Brendan showing up. But FSG bottled it because of their inexperience and now they've painted us into a corner, where our future is dependent on Brendan learning on the job. But we can't afford to wait because the history, which attracts players and new fans, is fading and now we've lost the remaining symbol of all that was in Kenny. He made us winners again and FSG threw that away as of little value, which in honours terms and bragging rights the league cup is, but in squad unity and belief it's the stuff you can't buy. So, after one step up and two steps back, we're trying new-ish, Arsenal-ish ideas from mid-table, while we struggle to hold onto quality players who know they should be in the Champions League. We're in danger of getting stuck there because it seems Brendan's ideas need an entire squad overhaul that'll take years to do, which is odd because it's not like he took over Stoke. I don't see FSG getting rid of Brendan this season but I don't see Brendan getting them where they want to be soon enough, either. And even if Brendan did get there, it won't feel half as good as it would've with Kenny. The dream is gone and we're sleepwalking into a fog.
MUPPET - Stay and post! Don't disappear for days on end! (sound like your father) The big thing for me with KK is that he bought players to play a system, then the system seemed to change and I dont know why KK did that? I did really want it to work with him though, what a fairytale it COULD've been
Yeah, Carroll, wrong place wrong time? Fee was, I cant even talk about it but it was good for FSG to show they wouldnt just keep the Torres cash. We should have hung onto him though, as we all know. Someone royally ****ed up for BR to think we would get someone else in for him to Carroll go
I don't think Kenny really gave Carroll a chance, that baffled me. He built a team round him but never relay gave him a good fun in the starting XI. He had that massive price tag hanging over his head which put pressure on him, but he never really got a string of games to find his feet.
