Questions for Brendan Rodgers

[Muzzy_Larsson]

16 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Yes, that is possible and it is essential that we continue our progressive model of signing younger unproven players and develop them. The focus on our new training facilities being the best in Europe is further weight behind this, however longer term we have to generate more income as well. We want to be an efficient club rather than a club that just generates obscene money and throws it around recklessly but to remain efficient there can be very little room for error, if we suddenly lose to of the young stars and we fail to replace them with players who can develop to a similar standard then the game is over. Spurs have done very well to break in to the top 4 and stay there for a few years whilst their commercial income is much much lower than those around them, they now have a ground that puts them in the mix but if some trophies don't follow and Poch and some of the players go elsewhere they will lose touch with the top 4 once again. It is so difficult but we are ambitious and have one of the best owners in the game bar none.

Yeah all fair points.

 

I guess bar expanding the stadium significantly there isn't much scope to bring in considerable extra revenue would that be fair?  Is there a stadium expansion planned?

[Babylon]

4 minutes ago, henrik_62 said:

Yeah all fair points.

 

I guess bar expanding the stadium significantly there isn't much scope to bring in considerable extra revenue would that be fair?  Is there a stadium expansion planned?

Yeah, we should be expanding to 42,000. So you'll get extra match day and commercial income from that. We're also building an 6000 seater arena and fan zone next to the ground. 

 

The club will do what it can, but it's going to take time to grow the off the field commercials, and all the time the other clubs are doing the same. Everton will get a new stadium, West Ham have rinsed the tax payer to get a free ground. Wolves want to expand, Palace are expanding etc etc. 

[StriderHiryu]

30 minutes ago, lcfc sheff said:

Without even getting out the traps at all this season, we are currently 7th. I truly think if we keep the right players we’ll be top 6 next season.

We are currently 14 (!) points off 6th place. More than possibly any other team, we know the power of "daring to dream" and the effect it can have on a team, so it's not an impossible gap to make up, but just closing that gap to say 6 points would constitute massive progress. This is like being in a marathon and we need to run a few 10Ks before we can realistically think about breaking into that top group. And other teams around us have the same idea, Wolves, Watford, Everton, West Ham which will make this even harder.

That said it is possible one of the bigger teams regress. Arsenal's squad is quite poor and they are losing Aaron Ramsey who is one of their best players.

I think our club strategy of getting an exciting young crop of players and developing them all at once with a very good manager gives us a better shot at it than the others around us.

[Gamble92]

If he achieves it or not, it's very refreshing to hear Rodgers say the aim is top 6 and a trophy.

 

Compared to Puel who said we all need to get more realistic and rests most the team for both cups.

[Muzzy_Larsson]

34 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Yeah, we should be expanding to 42,000. So you'll get extra match day and commercial income from that. We're also building an 6000 seater arena and fan zone next to the ground. 

 

The club will do what it can, but it's going to take time to grow the off the field commercials, and all the time the other clubs are doing the same. Everton will get a new stadium, West Ham have rinsed the tax payer to get a free ground. Wolves want to expand, Palace are expanding etc etc. 

Sounds pretty impressive.

[Tom12345]

The bloke has come in, made no change to the starting 11, benefited from Puel’s youth promotion policy (eg. Barnes and Chilwell) and Puel’s signings (including Maddison, Tielemans, McGuire, Ricardo), although he has instilled a more positive attitude and aggression to the side. All good, but it is way too early to tell if he will be a success here.

 

I have to say, Puel was really on to something last few games before he was sacked (and of course pre-Xmas). We had a lot of chances, but we were pulled back by unluckiness, Ndidi (he is doing much better now) and one dimensional plays. We always knew, and we were all frustrated by this, that we were a few tweaks away from being great - the problem was the extremely defensively minded CM - with Ndidi in particular being very nervous and wasteful when in possession. Rogers saw this (in fairness Puel too which is why he got Tielemans in) and unlocked the creativity from the middle which is now what makes us a lot more harder to defend against. We now need a decent wide man on the left (not Chilwell) to make us even more unpredictable.

Edited 11 April 2019 by Tom12345

[Stevosevic]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

Finding a Vardy replacement is going to be our biggest issue the next year or so, we muck that up again then I think we can kiss goodbye to our hopes of a consistent challenge. 

He's going nowhere until he's at least 40 Babs! 

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, Tom12345 said:

The bloke has come in, made no change to the starting 11, benefited from Puel’s youth promotion policy (eg. Barnes and Chilwell) and Puel’s signings (including Maddison, Tielemans, McGuire, Ricardo), although he has instilled a more positive attitude and aggression to the side. All good, but it is way too early to tell if he will be a success here.

 

I have to say, Puel was really on to something last few games before he was sacked (and of course pre-Xmas). We had a lot of chances, but we were pulled back by unluckiness, Ndidi (he is doing much better now) and one dimensional plays. We always knew, and we were all frustrated by this, that we were a few tweaks away from being great - the problem was the extremely defensively minded CM - with Ndidi in particular being very nervous and wasteful when in possession. Rogers saw this (in fairness Puel too which is why he got Tielemans in) and unlocked the creativity from the middle which is now what makes us a lot more harder to defend against. We now need a decent wide man on the left (not Chilwell) to make us even more unpredictable.

Puel wasn't on to something at all. He had the incredible knack of making us toothless going forward but naive at the back as well, those two games you talk about we played some nice stuff in patches and yet got done 3-1 and 4-1, it was disgraceful. Rodgers has come in and immediately made a difference. Time will tell if he makes the improvement permanent but the fact we couldbt dispose of dross like Fulham, Burnley and Bournemouth under Puel would suggest there has been real change to our play.

 

Puel gave us the platform but as a coach he was severely limited here.

[Babylon]

2 hours ago, Tom12345 said:

The bloke has come in, made no change to the starting 11, benefited from Puel’s youth promotion policy (eg. Barnes and Chilwell) and Puel’s signings (including Maddison, Tielemans, McGuire, Ricardo), although he has instilled a more positive attitude and aggression to the side. All good, but it is way too early to tell if he will be a success here.

 

I have to say, Puel was really on to something last few games before he was sacked (and of course pre-Xmas). We had a lot of chances, but we were pulled back by unluckiness, Ndidi (he is doing much better now) and one dimensional plays. We always knew, and we were all frustrated by this, that we were a few tweaks away from being great - the problem was the extremely defensively minded CM - with Ndidi in particular being very nervous and wasteful when in possession. Rogers saw this (in fairness Puel too which is why he got Tielemans in) and unlocked the creativity from the middle which is now what makes us a lot more harder to defend against. We now need a decent wide man on the left (not Chilwell) to make us even more unpredictable.

I agree Puel didn't have much luck and I stood by him for as long as I did because I always felt like we weren't far off being a decent team. I just think there was too much against him here (players and fans) for him to ever achieve the right results in the end, and he certainly didn't help himself there.

 

We'd been saying it for some time that a manager coming in would benefit from the work he (plus Rudkin and the club in general) had put in place and that looks to be the case. Rodgers has really only made fractional tweaks to the team, and the good football we saw at Spurs under Puel is now achieving results.

 

[fuchsntf]

3 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

We are currently 14 (!) points off 6th place. More than possibly any other team, we know the power of "daring to dream" and the effect it can have on a team, so it's not an impossible gap to make up, but just closing that gap to say 6 points would constitute massive progress. This is like being in a marathon and we need to run a few 10Ks before we can realistically think about breaking into that top group. And other teams around us have the same idea, Wolves, Watford, Everton, West Ham which will make this even harder.

That said it is possible one of the bigger teams regress. Arsenal's squad is quite poor and they are losing Aaron Ramsey who is one of their best players.

I think our club strategy of getting an exciting young crop of players and developing them all at once with a very good manager gives us a better shot at it than the others around us.

Arsenal have lost 1-3 of their top players,every season since time immemorial....Ramseys loss won't hurt them!!!

Plus you quoted an opinion not a fact on their quality...Unless they have a few Leicester-Tigers,seasons they are not dropping away,too far soon.

[norwichfox]

Lets hope it's not all Colgate smiles and sound bites rehearsed in front of his bedroom mirror with crowd noises being played by Alexa...I would love to see him take Puel's squad to the next level and have a concerted effort at winning a cup or two.

[Koke]

3 hours ago, Tom12345 said:

The bloke has come in, made no change to the starting 11, benefited from Puel’s youth promotion policy (eg. Barnes and Chilwell) and Puel’s signings (including Maddison, Tielemans, McGuire, Ricardo), although he has instilled a more positive attitude and aggression to the side. All good, but it is way too early to tell if he will be a success here.

 

I have to say, Puel was really on to something last few games before he was sacked (and of course pre-Xmas). We had a lot of chances, but we were pulled back by unluckiness, Ndidi (he is doing much better now) and one dimensional plays. We always knew, and we were all frustrated by this, that we were a few tweaks away from being great - the problem was the extremely defensively minded CM - with Ndidi in particular being very nervous and wasteful when in possession. Rogers saw this (in fairness Puel too which is why he got Tielemans in) and unlocked the creativity from the middle which is now what makes us a lot more harder to defend against. We now need a decent wide man on the left (not Chilwell) to make us even more unpredictable.

 

I largely agree. Although he didn't help himself by playing 3 DMs (Ndidi, Mendy & Hamza) at home to the likes of Palace, but he definitely had the right blueprint, as proved by the players brought in and the ones he moved on. 

 

In the end he had too much going against him. Partly his own errors but also massively the fanbase and some players.

 

Puel was a net positive for us. He left us in a far better state than he found us in, and for that I thank him and will always wish him well where ever he goes. I will never ever understand the total disrespect and vitriol he faced here, some if it quite disgraceful tbh. He did a lot of donkey work that needed go be done, and hopefully Rodgers will continue moving the club foward.

[car1os]

Puel was the perfect manager at the perfect time - we needed to evolve, had plenty of deadwood to get rid of, and had young players with great potential. He was also the perfect fall guy as he didn’t help himself with his poor tactics and negativiteee.

 

I just hope we can keep this squad together over the summer, as this will be Rodgers’ biggest challenge (although as he is a big name manager he might just manage it - the Colgate smile, sound bites practiced in front of the mirror and boyish optimism will no doubt come in handy!!).  I wasn’t Puel’s biggest fan but there is no doubt that by giving our younger players playing time he has benefitted the club for the long term.

Edited 11 April 2019 by car1os

[urban.spaceman]

5 hours ago, Babylon said:

Yeah, we should be expanding to 42,000. So you'll get extra match day and commercial income from that. We're also building an 6000 seater arena and fan zone next to the ground. 

 

The club will do what it can, but it's going to take time to grow the off the field commercials, and all the time the other clubs are doing the same. Everton will get a new stadium, West Ham have rinsed the tax payer to get a free ground. Wolves want to expand, Palace are expanding etc etc. 

Don’t forget the hotel, plus there were some rumours of a possible ice hockey rink + ice hockey team using the arena, though I can’t remember where I read that. The biggest profits would come from the hospitality in the expansion too - this is a huge chance to maximise our profitability. 

[lcfc sheff]

5 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

We are currently 14 (!) points off 6th place. More than possibly any other team, we know the power of "daring to dream" and the effect it can have on a team, so it's not an impossible gap to make up, but just closing that gap to say 6 points would constitute massive progress. This is like being in a marathon and we need to run a few 10Ks before we can realistically think about breaking into that top group. And other teams around us have the same idea, Wolves, Watford, Everton, West Ham which will make this even harder.

That said it is possible one of the bigger teams regress. Arsenal's squad is quite poor and they are losing Aaron Ramsey who is one of their best players.

I think our club strategy of getting an exciting young crop of players and developing them all at once with a very good manager gives us a better shot at it than the others around us.

Great post btw.

 

I genuinely think the team on paper isn’t far off that, I think we’ve underperformed massively. The other teams challenging us for me aren’t as good currently so 7th is for us to lose.

 

in terms of breaking into the top 6 we just need some consistency. 

[StriderHiryu]

3 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

Arsenal have lost 1-3 of their top players,every season since time immemorial....Ramseys loss won't hurt them!!!

Plus you quoted an opinion not a fact on their quality...Unless they have a few Leicester-Tigers,seasons they are not dropping away,too far soon.

I said it's possible, not that it's probable!

In the same post I also said we were 14 points off 6th at the moment and it would be very hard to close the gap, if at all!

[mad biker]

6 hours ago, Tom12345 said:

The bloke has come in, made no change to the starting 11, benefited from Puel’s youth promotion policy (eg. Barnes and Chilwell) and Puel’s signings (including Maddison, Tielemans, McGuire, Ricardo), although he has instilled a more positive attitude and aggression to the side. All good, but it is way too early to tell if he will be a success here.

 

I have to say, Puel was really on to something last few games before he was sacked (and of course pre-Xmas). We had a lot of chances, but we were pulled back by unluckiness, Ndidi (he is doing much better now) and one dimensional plays. We always knew, and we were all frustrated by this, that we were a few tweaks away from being great - the problem was the extremely defensively minded CM - with Ndidi in particular being very nervous and wasteful when in possession. Rogers saw this (in fairness Puel too which is why he got Tielemans in) and unlocked the creativity from the middle which is now what makes us a lot more harder to defend against. We now need a decent wide man on the left (not Chilwell) to make us even more unpredictable.

Yeah Claude aquired the land and dug the foundations but unfortunately he didn`t have the ability to erect the building, hopefully Brendan can build, decorate and furnish it then put a nice collection of silver ornaments in the cabinet.

[fuchsntf]

34 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

I said it's possible, not that it's probable!

In the same post I also said we were 14 points off 6th at the moment and it would be very hard to close the gap, if at all!

Ok...In that case ,I will let you off.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time!!

[Gamble92]

15 hours ago, evil jack said:

You'll miss him when he's gone. 

 

The club's alternative pick would no doubt be the wooden, humourless chap who does all the interviews on LCFC TV.

 

No thanks.

Im still convinced that lad on lcfc who does the interviews is harry maguire. Has the exact monotone, ive just been hit on the head with a frying pan, northern voice.

[Gamble92]

1 hour ago, mad biker said:

Yeah Claude aquired the land and dug the foundations but unfortunately he didn`t have the ability to erect the building, hopefully Brendan can build, decorate and furnish it then put a nice collection of silver ornaments in the cabinet.

You could say Claude took the woman out to all the nice restaraunts, got the nice jewellery, married her, got her the house...

 

But then had to watch Rodgers do her doggy style whilst he watches tied up from afar 

[Leeds Fox]

2 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

Im still convinced that lad on lcfc who does the interviews is harry maguire. Has the exact monotone, ive just been hit on the head with a frying pan, northern voice.

 

We don’t all sound like that... just the majority!

[Freeman's Wharfer]

13 hours ago, Kilworthfox said:

I'm surprised about all this top 6 talk, hes already got a top 6 Job! We are just sitting in 7th after a massively underachieving season.

 

If you look at how the club has been progressed since the Thais bought the club, especially with the new training ground, we are behaving like a Top European club, even taking away the fact that the whole world now knows who we are because we won the League & played in the Champions League quarters.

 

I find many our fan base, mentality stuck in the championship, believing that we are little old Leicester. Even the media constantly compare us to West Ham & Everton, who are going to be miles behind us after 2020.

 

The proof will be after the training ground is finished, as you can not build a £100 million state of the art training facility & fill it with average players, We will be one of the top 20 clubs based on Finances & facilities, the Stadium will be enlarged after... not that it really matters, so welcome to the future of you club, with or without Rogers.

 

 

Spot on. One of the biggest things that could hamper us over the next 20 years is fan mentality.

 

I firmly believe there’s a football hierarchy that is very hard to break. Bournemouth will find their way back to League One/League Two, Notts County will find their way back up to League One/The Championship, Sheffield Wednesday will find their way back to the Premier League.

 

The only way you break this, in my opinion, is with an extraordinary event such as Man City’s investment or our Premier League title win. Yes, without that I’d accept that we should be bobbing between the top two tiers (as has been our history), but we have a worldwide profile and sizeable investment to change that.

 

We should be moving beyond that Southampton/Sheffield Wednesday/Derby County category  (or any previously comparable club) to sit alongside a club like Everton or West Ham - those who you expect to see in Europe and late stages of Cups every few years.

 

The mentality of many fans in the Puel era told me that many weren’t willing to think that way and simply be happy with survival.

 

Rodgers is speaking like he’s ready for the challenge of putting us on that next level which is great.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

8 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Puel wasn't on to something at all. He had the incredible knack of making us toothless going forward but naive at the back as well, those two games you talk about we played some nice stuff in patches and yet got done 3-1 and 4-1, it was disgraceful. Rodgers has come in and immediately made a difference. Time will tell if he makes the improvement permanent but the fact we couldbt dispose of dross like Fulham, Burnley and Bournemouth under Puel would suggest there has been real change to our play.

 

Puel gave us the platform but as a coach he was severely limited here.

Spot on, Ric.

Obviously I have an anti-Puel agenda (mainly because he was 10% good and 90% shiit) and I keep seeing this "He laid the foundations" bolllocks.

He drained the club - players, staff (football and non-football) and fans. He was stubborn and arrogant and because of that wouldn't make a number of tweaks which might have given him a longer reign.

Someone said he was "was really on to something last few games before he was sacked" which is patently rubbish given we took one point from six league games and were dumped out of the FA Cup by L2 opposition.

He was out of his depth in English football - as proved with us and Southampton. He just didn't "get" it.

He got a few things correct - then again a stopped clock is right twice a day.

The stories from players (and we're talking regulars not just those on the fringes) about what he was constantly doing wrong were mind boggling at times.

Let's not over emphasise his part in the Rodgers revolution.

We're well shot of him.

[Koke]

57 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

Spot on, Ric.

Obviously I have an anti-Puel agenda (mainly because he was 10% good and 90% shiit) and I keep seeing this "He laid the foundations" bolllocks.

He drained the club - players, staff (football and non-football) and fans. He was stubborn and arrogant and because of that wouldn't make a number of tweaks which might have given him a longer reign.

Someone said he was "was really on to something last few games before he was sacked" which is patently rubbish given we took one point from six league games and were dumped out of the FA Cup by L2 opposition.

He was out of his depth in English football - as proved with us and Southampton. He just didn't "get" it.

He got a few things correct - then again a stopped clock is right twice a day.

The stories from players (and we're talking regulars not just those on the fringes) about what he was constantly doing wrong were mind boggling at times.

Let's not over emphasise his part in the Rodgers revolution.

We're well shot of him.

 

90% shit Christ almighty 

[HighPeakFox]

4 hours ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

The stories from players (and we're talking regulars not just those on the fringes) about what he was constantly doing wrong were mind boggling at times.

Do tell, please.