Tom12345

Let’s be not so sure about Justin. I remember he was becoming really good before he started to make a lot of mistakes that you mentioned. Now that we know it could be due to the coaching of Rodgers and the poor tactics Rodgers used which left a lot of players exposed including our full backs. Notice a pattern here: Justin, Castagne and even Ricardo, who we all saw how good they could all be, all suffered a drop in form and started making mistakes in particular in tracking back and defending the backpost and the like; is this due to the tactics that Rodgers used?

Indeed @StriderHiryu. By the way, Brighton is really playing amazing football with the limited resources they have. Amazing. I am not sure they are as much of a miracle compared to our 2015/16 team, but it is still incredible what they are doing. I hope small teams like them can continue to thrive without the big team picking them off to oblivion. I have not really followed them closely enough to know if the way they play started with Potter or they got themselves to another level after Potter left?

Just look at the wages between those who play for us and other teams. We pay many many times more. I mean to have Vardy sitting on 140k a week and a bunch of other players on 50k plus (Vesty, Praet and Daka for example are on 70-80k a week), we are still paying more in salaries compared to some EPL teams!! Some in the Championship are paying peanuts, like thousands a week to first team players. Hamner who was a top player for Conventry was on like 5k a week last season.

Nah, if we are not in the races for promotion, we will very quickly fall disillusioned with the Championship. We love it because we are favourites and we can attack freely while our mistakes are often no punished. And yes, absolutely love not having VAR!!!

Yes, same here! I still get nervous every time we concede a corner but it is slowly getting better!

Certainly more enjoyable this season, even though we are in the Championship, compared to the last 2 seasons.

We had a squad last year that should have finished top half. No one expected us to be relegated even for the most pessimistic fans. But we got Rodgered and Rodgers talked down on the team so much for self preservation that the team spiraled down into relegation. Plus his Rodgerball was so bad with Ndidi as pivot that we could hardly get out of our own half. Of course we lost plenty of proper Premier League quality players during the summer, so this goes to show how good the squad was actually last year (though we did make some good recruitments especially in Winks and our new goal keeper). People don’t talk about Leeds and Southampton as much because we really did have a very good squad to begin with. Admittedly, there were also mistakes the Board made last year - they didn’t keep Lookman for a mere 12m and they didn’t sack Rodgers early enough.

Still not working?

Maybe this is Pep 2.0: More attacking. Simpler and less complicated. Just need all players to form the same pattern and less reliant on individual’s skills. Ange is renowned for being able to use substandard players and still attack - like when he was coach of the Socceroos which overachieved.

Rodgers had no idea how to fix the problems he was faced, other than ar*e covering.

To be frank, he had a great idea and it was instinctive, but his footwork was not superb. The ball was not stuck to his feet like it would for others, but this time it worked. At other times, the ball may bounce off further away and he misses the opportunity. But in a more advanced role it is seemingly paying off even if he wastes half of them as he seems to be growing into the role.

Simply we should have kept Lookman. He was the only right winger we had who was proven to be EPL level (and now ripping it in Italy). We lost whatever balance we had left and given Rodgers’ boring one dimensional football and his negative mindset we were doomed.

I have to say I am still not convinced by Ndidi with his lack of ball control - he is unable to keep the ball within 2 feet of his feet - but he does have good instincts and so in the final third where we can gamble a bit with losing the ball Maresca is onto something here. Ndidi in pivot role or DM is just too risky and a handicap in beating the press. Now without that pressure he can do his pressing and running up top. Talk about improving players - Rodgers just talks while Maresca actually do.

I am happy we didn’t try to defend a 1-0 lead.

He said that Exactly because he is that kind of team player to give Mavididi confidence because he is the captain. He was instantly frustrated at the time. Vardy would have squared it for sure.

Too selfish though.

Entertaining first half. Second a bit dull. Mavididi is a decent player but too selfish. He twice shot when he should have passed for a certain goal. Vardy could have got a second if he did. He was lucky he scored the second time with KDH running on the other side. Vardy seems to be back. Nacho should have scored at the end. Justin what a game from him. Vesty MOTM.

Wow. His best performance for us.

KDH needs to come off

KDH always get the ball trapped under his feet …

KDH always get the ball trapped under his feet …

Our play from the back is so dangerous, especially when we make that central pass to Winks. But boy that was an entertaining half. Against better opposition, it may well be 3-3 now. Ndidi can’t keep the ball within 2 feet of his feet, but he is finding his turns! Still not convinced by him, but we are are playing leaky Southampton. I want to see Daka on at some stage. His pace will destroy Southampton.

We know how that will turn out. Easy goals to opposition and we can’t get out of our half.

Neither was Kane who went for 100m. I guess we showed more desperation to sell compared to Spurs was.

I talked about Ange Postecoglou before and how we should aim to play with his positivity: Never Stop. Watch this to see how he is transforming Spurs. It is not just about creating space and possession, it is about always seeking to destroy (score as many goals as possible rather than running to the corner flag when leading 1-0) and exploiting the space created and possession to create chances, which we don’t do very well so far. Rodgers was simply anti-football. Ange has just about the same amount of time as Enzo, but admittedly he has a lot of anti-football to undo due to Rodgerism. Admist all of this is Maddison who is an absolute bargain, at our loss, for Spurs. Spurs fans cannot believe they got him for 40m (and as it turns out by installments!), when others went for a lot lot more. Havertz went for 105m (not as good as Maddison). Kane, at 31 and with only 1 year left on his contract, Spurs held on for 100m. We remain affected by our poor transfer strategy. But most importantly, it is still unbelievable we managed to be relegated with players like Madders, Barnes, etc in the team. Here is the link: