Brendan Rodgers

[StriderHiryu]

He hasn't got an official thread for this season yet, so let's put that right!

After a slow start, I think even the most begrudging Leicester supporter must be fairly pleased with him at the moment. Unbeaten, 3rd in the league, played a strong team in the cup and through to the next round. I think a number of fans have questioned the formation and lineup against Wolves and Chelsea but we got points in both matches and won the next two games. Perhaps a cautious approach, but it has us in a good position so far.

 

Anyway I came across this today, and I think it's very revealing as to what the manager is trying to achieve here:

 

 

Since Rodgers has come in, we have definitely noticed a few really good changes to our style of play:
- We tend to concede early goals less often than under Puel. It still happens, but in general I feel like we start games at a higher intensity which keeps the scoreline down in the first 20 minutes. Well unless we score first like at the weekend!

- Winning the ball high up the pitch to start an offensive counter attack is becoming common to our play. Perez winning the ball back for Maddison to play in Vardy against the Blades, Maddison winning the ball back for Tielemans to play in Vardy at the weekend, etc.

 

What do you think of the manager's performance so far this season?

 

 

Edited 5 September 2019 by StriderHiryu

[urban.spaceman]

I think the most telling thing is to look at the players. They’re collectively hungrier and seem to have welcomed Brendan’s philosophy with open arms. Hell just look at Vardy last week - can anyone remember him being as relentlessly Vardy under Puel?

 

I loved the huddle after Bournemouth - these players and manager are all together. They believe in each other. They’re focused. And they’re ready to perform. 

 

Good things are about to happen. I can feel it. 

[StriderHiryu]

5 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

I think the most telling thing is to look at the players. They’re collectively hungrier and seem to have welcomed Brendan’s philosophy with open arms. Hell just look at Vardy last week - can anyone remember him being as relentlessly Vardy under Puel?

 

I loved the huddle after Bournemouth - these players and manager are all together. They believe in each other. They’re focused. And they’re ready to perform. 

 

Good things are about to happen. I can feel it. 

Yes very good points! Fitness has also dramatically improved too. Remember how Maddison always looked spent after 70-80 under Puel? Jamie Vardy played 3 games of 90 minutes in a week and yet at the end of the Bournemouth game was still chasing their keeper down at every opportunity.

 

I loved that huddle as well. Team spirit is important and things like that help foster it. It's also been notable for me how in the last match players that came in for their first league appearances of the season such as Albrighton and then Gray as a sub had a high performance level, were incredibly focused and chasing down so much. You can tell they knew the level of competition is so high that when you come into the team, you HAVE to play well. I think that is very positive as it will increase the level of all of our players.

[Goober]

Before the season started I was very much against all the hype we were getting and wanted us to go under the radar. Have to say I'm loving the opposite at the minute and long may it continue.

 

Brendan has turned the club around from the moment he walked in. Definitely has more of an aura about him after his spell in Scotland. Confident that we couldn't be in better hands as a club.

Edited 5 September 2019 by Goober

[Koke]

He seems to have toned down the self promotion and self indulgence. His media pressers are very normal and not reaching fior a quote that will do the rounds on social media. Maybe he's had a bit of a realisation that he sounded like a plonker in his Liverpool days. I like our version of BR than the 2014 version.

[Ric Flair]

I simply love how much he has gotten out of Vardy after him being completely at odds with Puel. I love how he has encouraged Fuchs to do another year rather than go and be with his family and then him step up and put in two key performances away at Chelsea and Sheffield Utd. I love how he got Morgan putting in match winning displays after being in the shit at Burnley and then following it up with another goal a week later vs Bournemouth. He has a reputation as improving players, which mainly involves younger players but he has talked at length about it experienced players no matter what age still being capable of improving and it shows. His whole ethos is around respect and challenging the players to perform, he has no preconceived ideas about which players have to be moved on because of what they have done here and how we must move in to a new era, he simply allows players to prove whether they are good enough or not.

[Happy Fox]

Still early days in his tenure but the signs are encouraging, we certainly have the players that the likes of Manchester United and co envy which is a good sign, but most importantly, our players have huge growth for improvement even the likes of Kasper and Vardy seem imo to have stepped up a gear which is very encouraging.

 

I think personally we will finish in the Top 4 and win a cup which will be a fantastic season.

[gerrytaggart]

[HighPeakFox]

The integration of all the players that he values seems key to me. 

[norwichfox]

13 minutes ago, gerrytaggart said:

I've just sicked up all over mt monitor and keyboard...

[ThaiFox]

I like BR. He's personable and he's great with the media. It's also obvious the players like him. Our playing style is still quite ponderous, but I'm hoping we'll become more of a positive side as confidence builds.

 

But for sure, it's so far so good. 

 

Without wanting to go back to the Puel/Rodgers debate in too much detail, it should be mentioned he had a little fortune following Puel, for two reasons.

 

Firstly, 80%+ of fans (and the senior players) were so relieved to see the back of Puel it gave him a great initial boost.

 

Secondly, he took over a squad which Puel had already bedded in many youngsters and discarded a lot of the older players, meaning BR didn't have that situation to deal with.

 

It's still very early days and his start is very encouraging. Long may it continue, as I loathe changing managers and I'd really like to see some stability at the club for a few seasons.

[urban.spaceman]

42 minutes ago, norwichfox said:

I've just sicked up all over mt monitor and keyboard...

Too much mashed potato?

[Babylon]

Felt like he's been over cautious at times and I'm a tad worried the press are hyping up our start quite a bit, it's really not been entirely convincing, despite the league position. Come the end of October I think we'll have a better reflection of where we are and how we're progressing. But it's positive and nice to not have people digging him out over every little thing. 

[FoxInTheBirstallBox]

Remember all the goals we used to concede at the first and last 5 mins of each half, I'm glad that crap has stopped 

[MarriedaLeicesterGirl]

36 minutes ago, FoxInTheBirstallBox said:

Remember all the goals we used to concede at the first and last 5 mins of each half, I'm glad that crap has stopped 

THIS! And let's face it, this didn't begin with Puel, but he didn't stop it. Conceding early can become a habit, and a team can just learn to find a way to go down a goal early. Breaking that habit has got to be Rogers single greatest achievement.

[SecretPro]

Love Brendan.

[SecretPro]

57 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Felt like he's been over cautious at times and I'm a tad worried the press are hyping up our start quite a bit, it's really not been entirely convincing, despite the league position. Come the end of October I think we'll have a better reflection of where we are and how we're progressing. But it's positive and nice to not have people digging him out over every little thing. 

 

[norwichfox]

so far, so good. I'll wait a few more weeks/months before saying he's an exceptional manager (or whether the veneer has started to peel off). If I see him hiding behind a tree with a shirt on like above (so embarrassing), I'll be pelting him with rotten eggs and tomatoes.

[Guest SO1]

2 hours ago, Koke said:

He seems to have toned down the self promotion and self indulgence. His media pressers are very normal and not reaching fior a quote that will do the rounds on social media. Maybe he's had a bit of a realisation that he sounded like a plonker in his Liverpool days. I like our version of BR than the 2014 version.

To be honest it was a big jump from Swansea to Liverpool. What happens on the field and the way it gets done is all I care about.

I think he did a bit of self reflection after Liverpool. At Celtic his pressers became very boiler plate with just enough info for the media to get their stories.

Same as here.

[urban.spaceman]

3 hours ago, gerrytaggart said:

I've got ****ing Rodgers and Badger going round my head now.

[urban.spaceman]

Everywhere he goes, Rodgers always knows

Badger, his badger mate, is never far away

Rodgers and Badger, Rodgers and Badger

La la la la la, Badger's never far away

Everybody knows, Badger loves MASHED POTATO!

He makes it into shapes and eats it every day

Rodgers and Badger, Rodgers and Badger

La la la la la, la la la la la

Everywhere he goes, Rodgers always knows

Badger, his badger mate, is never far away

Rodgers and Badger, Rodgers and Badger

La la la la la, la la la la la

Rodgers and Badger are never far away!

 

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

 

[norwichfox]

9 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

Everywhere he goes, Rodgers always knows

Badger, his badger mate, is never far away

Rodgers and Badger, Rodgers and Badger

La la la la la, Badger's never far away

Everybody knows, Badger loves MASHED POTATO!

He makes it into shapes and eats it every day

Rodgers and Badger, Rodgers and Badger

La la la la la, la la la la la

Everywhere he goes, Rodgers always knows

Badger, his badger mate, is never far away

Rodgers and Badger, Rodgers and Badger

La la la la la, la la la la la

Rodgers and Badger are never far away!

 

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

Rodgers and Badger

 

 

[RumbleFox]

1 hour ago, norwichfox said:

so far, so good. I'll wait a few more weeks/months before saying he's an exceptional manager (or whether the veneer has started to peel off). If I see him hiding behind a tree with a shirt on like above (so embarrassing), I'll be pelting him with rotten eggs and tomatoes.

Yeah I can't believe he posed for that photo. Cringe worthy eh? X 

Edited 5 September 2019 by RumbleFox

[KingsX]

5 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Anyway I came across this today, and I think it's very revealing as to what the manager is trying to achieve here:

Since Rodgers has come in, we have definitely noticed a few really good changes to our style of play:
- We tend to concede early goals less often than under Puel. It still happens, but in general I feel like we start games at a higher intensity which keeps the scoreline down in the first 20 minutes. Well unless we score first like at the weekend!

- Winning the ball high up the pitch to start an offensive counter attack is becoming common to our play. Perez winning the ball back for Maddison to play in Vardy against the Blades, Maddison winning the ball back for Tielemans to play in Vardy at the weekend, etc.

 

Hasn’t he sorted everything except the XI and the attacking formation?  Good work after just four matches.  And some competition / rotation is healthy. 

 

I do wish he’d settle on and perfect an Plan A for the attack.  Preferably not Maddison and Perez crowding-in-from-outside (which has a constipated, square-pegs vibe IMO).  Tanner referenced this issue in parts of an article on Perez:

 

 

In the first three games of the season, he used Perez and James Maddison as inverted wingers either side of Vardy. Before recruiting Perez, Rodgers made no secret of the fact he wanted to sign a versatile forward who could play wide but come inside and scheme as a No 10, or even lead the attack if Vardy was absent.

In the 3-1 win against Bournemouth on Saturday, Rodgers switched his attack. Instead of inside forwards, Rodgers started conventional wingers Harvey Barnes and Marc Albrighton, reverting to the 4-1-4-1 system he used in the tail end of last season, with Maddison dropping back into midfield alongside Tielemans, who had his best game of the season so far.

The formation freed up Vardy, who relished the extra space to operate across Bournemouth’s defence, which also provided a new lease of life for Tielemans. The Belgian thrived because Albrighton stayed wide, giving him space to attack. So far this season, Rodgers has encouraged Perez to drift inside from the flanks, operating in the same area Tielemans wants to drive into. Tielemans seemed confined as a result, but his goal and assist against Bournemouth was a return to the form of last season.

In a role so dependent on creating space for others, Rodgers believes it could take Perez considerable time to adjust to the way he wants his new signing to play. “It is not a combination,” Rodgers said of Perez and Vardy’s link-up. “Ayoze is playing wide but coming more inside, I suppose. If you are linking those two, then you have to link the left side as well, whether it is Harvey or Maddison.” *

 

This confirms that Perez is BR’s signing and gives the impression that MVP up front is the preferred approach, not  4-1-4-1 where he’s the odd man out.  Is Rodgers saying it hasn’t worked because Perez has yet to learn his role?  That’s OK; I don’t expect a perfectly oiled machine in August.  But I do want our guys to be able to play to their strengths.  So my main concern is tactics fitting the squad.

 

* https://theathletic.com/1176605/2019/09/02/perez-must-remain-patient-as-rodgers-gets-joy-after-shuffling-his-pack/

 

 

Edited 5 September 2019 by KingsX

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

3 hours ago, FoxInTheBirstallBox said:

Remember all the goals we used to concede at the first and last 5 mins of each half, I'm glad that crap has stopped 

I’d forgotten about that!!! What slow starters we were, asleep for the first 10 minutes, BR has definitely sorted that out 👍🏼🦊