FoxyLeon

The fact "Rodgers could keep us up" is even a discussion point, is a sackable offence. No 'New transfers' will work for Rodgers, because he coaches everyone into decline. Apart from Iheanacho, of which, his lack of selection for 2+ years is another sackable offence. I'm not convinced a manager deliberately sabotaging the Club could even be this poor. Even Fofana, who we got ridiculous money for, declined game after game here. Castagne's best game here was his debut at West Brom. Faes, as with Soyuncu, is declining. Luke Thomas has gone from huge potential, to a huge liability....There's no fix to this with Rodgers. He's causing problems, not solving them.

I feel like the same people would reply with "Brendan Rodgers has won more than you" if you criticised the Northern Irish Guardiola in the ground.

Of those who have some 'issue' with him, I believe there's a minority who don't like him because of his Personality, whilst the majority simply undersell his achievements. I do find the criticism odd though, and would liken it to criticism of Fergie at Manchester United....I simply don't understand how you can discredit the man responsible for laying the foundations for our most successful period, ever. It's vital to remember he wasn't sacked for 'Footballing reasons', neither time he was removed from his position here. For his entire reign, I felt as though we were not only constantly progressing, but also that we could compete with anyone. He was a leader and a winner. I think a lot of people confused these traits with 'Arrogance' and him having a considerable ego....You don't sign the players he did, with huge characters, if you have the ego that many believed. He also evolved as a Manager, and that's really really important, especially when we consider how Rodgers hasn't evolved in this 4 year period. I always recall him talking about his time as a player at Middlesboro, and how they didn't win enough because they lacked a balance between players of quality and players who would do the dirty hard graft. He corrected that here, as a Manager, and I think the first stage of that was signing Knockaert. It wasn't the type of signing we had made before, and it showed him changing his approach and like I said before, evolving. Compare that to Rodgers, and he's continuing to do what failed previous, by attempting to improve our Set Pieces by simply buying a big lump of a centre half, first it was Vestergaard and now it is Souttar. For me, he's our Sir Alex Ferguson, the most successful manager in our History, both on and off the pitch.

I don't think he has been bad, he certainly has been more threatening than Perez or Albrighton. The problem is that he was massively overhyped by many on here. A few were claiming he was going to be a huge difference, and it's those same few who are now taking exception when others are saying, quite rightly, that he's not as outstanding as we were being told by them. For what it's worth, his numbers in the Ukrainian League were similar to Barnes's in the Premier League. Which shows just how some are willing to overrate him because of his Nationality. His presence is offering us a bigger threat currently than his ability. This hype surrounding him wasn't the same when we brought in Lookman, who is currently proving to be a better player.

He's a shadow of his former self, because we're not playing him in the role he excelled. I called it about 3 years ago now, but the second we put someone next to him, he's not effective at all. He needs to play in front of the two CBs and have little responsibility. Under Puel it didn't work when Mendy played next to him and it hasn't worked under Rodgers with Tielemans. He's excellent as a holding midfielder, but he doesn't play there anymore.

He's so underrated on the ball. Every pass he makes up the line just looks so simple, unfortunately for him Barnes's passing and touch was shocking most of the time and he kept giving it away. I think he's the best player at the Club, and for me he's showing the same levels that Mahrez and Kante showed, you just know he's going to be a top top full back.

I'm really not seeing what everybody else is at all, he's been tore apart 1v1 every game so far. I think some are just exposing their bizarre hatred of Amartey because I've never seen Big Dan get beat 1v1 as often as Souttar has in the four games. I actually would agree with the view that 1st half he was decent, and his best for us so far....But the way he got exposed for their goal was just how he got exposed multiple times at Villa Park and Old Trafford. Like Vestergaard, you're never going to get rid of his obvious physical flaws. The Maguire comparisons aren't accurate either, as Maguire was pretty solid 1v1 for us in comparison. In fairness, Castagne has been woeful for months...But that works both ways, and Souttar isn't helping his team mate out either. His positioning needs improving dramatically. You can get caught out on occasion, that's fine and expected at this level. But he seems to lose every 1v1 battle, which is a huge worry, especially when compared to Kristiansen, who except for one moment when Saka left him, did a terrific job all game.

He wasn't exactly setting the World alight before we signed him. The expectations we've put on a lad who has done 'Ok' in the Ukrainian League is bizarre, and it must be because he's Brazilian. I'm not digging out the player, it's the expectation that's the issue. He certainly has less character than Kristiansen though.

Well hasn't this season proved Kasper wasn't the issue? As was clear at the time, it's poor coaching.

Really no surprise to see Albrighton struggling in the Championship. He's just not a very good player, who I'm not convinced would get into double figures for goals per season as far down as League two. He's a microcosm of why we've declined in recent years, we've allowed poor players to remain for longer than they should. Fans confuse 'Running around and getting stuck in' as a positive, when in fact, it's the actions of a player who's clueless to where they should be. Contrast to Kristiansen, for example, who has been up and down that left flank all game, in good defensive and attacking positions.

His lack of mobility is a huge contributing factor of why we play such a 'slow' and tedious style. The Tottenham game, and today until he came on, really show how Tielemans slows us down negatively. Contrast that to KDH and Tete first half, who were always playing everything first time. I said at the time that the Liverpool rumours were absolute nonsense, they'd love KDH, not Tielemans. We need more energy, Kristiansen has given us that, Tete a bit too, for me Tielemans is rapidly falling into the same category as Perez and Albrighton, as players who's lack of ability to cover ground severely limits us.

Tielemans has killed us coming on, I for one wont miss him going in the summer, he's a liability in there.

The most important thing here is no injuries, and us continuing to play in this fashion for the rest of the season. Do that, and we will be closer to Europe than Relegation. It's perhaps the least I could criticise Rodgers for years, keep it up Brendan. It's just a shame we have no other wide/number 10 options off the bench, which will hopefully be addressed this summer.

You're not going to win a Premier League title with a Championship, at best, number 9. Even though they will fade away, I think Arteta deserve a lot of credit. He's progressing them well, and considering the lack of investment compared to Guardiola and Klopp, he's doing it in tougher circumstances. They're too reliant on Saka/Jesus, the board not backing them in January was criminal in all honesty. It's the biggest reason they won't win the League this season, a lack of investment.

Not only is he proving the doubters wrong with his goal return, but against Spurs he was clearly also told to be more of a left wing back when out of Possession. I actually think the fact Kristiansen can and will get forward, means that Barnes is more willing and will be told to defend more. Before, Thomas didn't have the confidence to get so much up, whilst Justin's weak foot meant he was always looking to cut back, whereas now that we're not reliant on Barnes to be our only attacking threat, he can come back and defend. He's basically been our only counter attacking threat for 2-3 seasons, I think the Spurs game showed that previously he was asked not to track back, otherwise we would never have an outlet.

He "Didn't do much" isn't really correct, his presence means that either himself, Barnes, Maddison or Iheanacho will be 1 v 1 against a defender at some point. His presence allowed Barnes to destroy Porro 1 v 1 all game, the same can be said for Iheanacho against Dier. Had we Albrighton on that side, as we have seen for around 5 years, the opposition knows that we're not an attacking threat 1v1 down that side, which means they can focus far more strongly on Barnes especially, but also Maddison and Iheanacho.

We will need to defend much better than the last two to have a chance at even a point.

I've said for a while that we needed more players in the Dewsbury-Hall model, with an engine and desire to get around the pitch, he was absolutely superb again today. I don't agree with the comments about him needing to improve on the ball, his passing and delivery was excellent again, he actually tripped up in the 1st half when free down the wing it wasn't a poor pass like I think most assumed. The most important thing is that he has a willingness, not just to run, but to overlap and get involved....He's brave and wants to try and make things happen. Thomas badly needs a loan, and I think the criticism is unfair, but Kristiansen is miles ahead and reminds me of Fuchs but with a turn of pace.

Grew into the game, gained confidence and then had some excellent first time passes into midfield.

Can't give offside for shocking defending. This approach of 'Sign a big lump of a CB' to deal with set pieces, instead of actual coaching, is just clueless from Rodgers. Could be 2-3 down already, just like at Villa.

Clear handball

Ever since the 'Big 6' were talked about, I've always considered Chelsea to be the most boring to watch. For years they just seem to suck out the energy of every game they're in, this has been like watching a pre season friendly at times. There just never seems to be any energy or speed to their play, regardless of who manages them or plays for them.

When he came back last time he looked every bit a broken player. He was slow and cautious, which is hugely problematic as his best attributes were his attacking runs....Which he didn't do after his last injury. I think his goal against PSV has erased all the performances from people's memory. I hope, but doubt, that he will be good enough to challenge the first team. Although he might be fortunate that in the Summer we have to buy half a squad, so he won't be seen as an issue of importance.

He's our Henderson. It's glaringly obvious when he is missing, I really hope we sign a similar player in the summer so we can rest him at times. I think we could play similarly to liverpool next year, Ndidi in the fabinho role, KDH and a new signing doing the Henderson/Wijnaldum roles, and Iheanacho with two wide forwards alongside him. Tielemans hits the odd worldy, but I think you'll see us be a much better side if we had two KDH's in the engine room.

Tielemans leaving will be a blessing for Ndidi. Youri's inability to get around the pitch leads him to being so deep than Ndidi is often the one who has to do the higher pressing. Hopefully next season Ndidi will return to the number 6 role with KDH one side and then a new number 8/10 the other.