Brendan Rodgers

[Ric Flair]

19 hours ago, SO1 said:

Pragmatism in football is an interesting topic and is used all the time when it comes to criticizing Rodgers . Especially when he was at Celtic and playing in the Champions and Europa league against the huge money teams.

 

The most popular phrase on the chat board was "why can't we(Celtic) be more pragmatic" after taking a beating to PSG or Barcelona. The one thing I "remember" Rodgers saying in a press conference was something to the effect of "I never set my teams up not to lose. I always set them up to win" or setting up the team to "learn" how to beat the big teams, being fearless. To me it seemed evident that he had a long range plan for Celtic that he didn't finish for many reasons.

He obviously backs himself and his ability to build a team to win no matter where he is.

 

I know its crazy but it would be nice to try to define the word Pragmatism and its relevance to football. Most of the time I look at the word as meaning we should of sat back or played more defensively. I don't know if its possible to set a team to play like Simione one day followed by Pulis or Guardiola next. It seems to me your either attacking or counter attacking with variations in between. I'm sure its more complicated than that.

Here's an interesting writing I found that might help us find some common ground on the topic.

 

https://www.tifofootball.com/features/pragmatism-in-football-modern-misconceptions/

I suppose pragmatism might be a misconstrued word for this issue but what it comes down to is, can you as a manager and a football team always play only one way regardless of who the opposition is? To do that you have to be the very best and even then you need to be equipped to be flexible in game to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Rodgers is now at a club with ambitions to be one of the best but will come up against 4-5 teams that have to be respected for the way they play and if our usual style of football doesn't get any joy against them then you cut your cloth accordingly and look at weaknesses in their armoury that we can exploit another way. Liverpool gave very little regard for the top clubs around them in the 2013/14 season and they dismantled them, it was admirable what Rodgers did. If he can build that here to then great but if we do take a few pastings then it's fine to tweak tactics depending on who we play.

[mancunianfox]

I suppose for me it just comes down to the difference between Dogmatic and Pragmatic. The former will stick to their format no matter what and a pragmatic manager will be more adaptable.

 

There are lots of managers who are very rigid in what they expect from their team who have been very successful. Pep is the obvious example of this as his methods are proven and he has no need to change. It can be a drawback sometimes when things Plan A doesn't work - this season that has been a problem for Sarri and Puel for example and in the past Arsene Wenger would be be a good example of the positives and negatives of this approach as well.

 

For me a pragmatic manager is someone who can adapt to what they have, to the tactical developments in the sport and/or to opponents. For me Alex Ferguson was the ultimate pragmatic manager and he built at least three different title winning teams who were all quite different. I would personally put Mourinho in this category too as he is more willing to accommodate exceptional players than he is given credit for. The downside is a win now mentality can prevent building for the future and can be negative when too much respect is given to opponents.

 

I wouldn't consider Rodgers to be a pragmatist, he has a very strong idea of what he wants to do but seems able to communicate his ideas differently to many coaches who use the 'my way or the highway' method . I would be surprised if he makes that many changes when our form dips.

[HighPeakFox]

And as acknowledged elsewhere, we've missed enough sitters /decent chances ourselves. 

 

For whatever reason, the team, the squad the club was lacking in belief in themselves before. Puel was inevitably a part of the problem, but I also suspect that it's more deep rooted psychologically, and more complex than I can judge simply here, much as I'd like to try. 

 

I'll be interested to see what happens at the next downturn in fortunes, which, needless to say, I don't want to happen. 

[StriderHiryu]

Take a bow Brendan Rodgers! That was absolutely incredible!

 

I think it says it all that he brings in Hamza and drops Barnes and Gray coming into the match. Many of the fans thinking it was "too defensive" but it was a master stroke! It allowed us to dominated midfield so that TIelemans and Maddison got the ball time and again. And then at half time he has the balls to sub off Ndidi and put another forward on straight away to get us on the front foot.

 

He completely had Emery's number today, and Unai Emery is a fantastic coach.

 

Bravo!

[st albans fox]

4 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Take a bow Brendan Rodgers! That was absolutely incredible!

 

I think it says it all that he brings in Hamza and drops Barnes and Gray coming into the match. Many of the fans thinking it was "too defensive" but it was a master stroke! It allowed us to dominated midfield so that TIelemans and Maddison got the ball time and again. And then at half time he has the balls to sub off Ndidi and put another forward on straight away to get us on the front foot.

 

He completely had Emery's number today, and Unai Emery is a fantastic coach.

 

Bravo!

He took wilf off to save him a second yellow .... otherwise it may have been hamza that was hooked 

 

I wasn’t so keen to see papy brought on as our only defensive midfielder at 1-0 but we saw it out .....

[iamafox]

He's made a real difference to the mood of the club since he arrived, in a positive way. Not only have the results improved, so have the performances.

[BlueSi13]

We're a brilliant fit for each other at the minute. 

 

Real positive vibes heading in to next season regardless of what happens against Manchester City and Chelsea. 

[foxes21]

3rd in the table since Brendan took over 

[HighPeakFox]

10 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

I think it says it all that he brings in Hamza and drops Barnes and Gray

To be precise, he benched him against West Ham...

[Jattdogg]

2 hours ago, foxes21 said:

3rd in the table since Brendan took over 

Dont get spursy on us. Lol

 

Have they won the league when you spread there seasons out over 4 seasons yet?

[Wolfox]

Love his confidence 

 

 

[zealot]

17 hours ago, st albans fox said:

He took wilf off to save him a second yellow .... otherwise it may have been hamza that was hooked 

 

I wasn’t so keen to see papy brought on as our only defensive midfielder at 1-0 but we saw it out .....

I don't think he took Wilf off because of anything other than tactics. 

 

Emery bound to bring on a defender at half time so he brings on extra attacker in Barnes. No need for two holding mids anymore. Especially when Chaudury is bossing it Kante fashion.

 

I thought tactically that was very smart. Like Mr Rogers so far. Very impressed.

Edited 29 April 2019 by zealot
sp.

[Fightforever]

https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/17671476.celtic-fan-craig-docherty-went-on-rampage-after-brendan-rodgers-quit/ ?