King Brendan ...... ohhh how lucky we are

[Sol thewall Bamba]

His pre match comments before the Everton game show absolutely zero acknowledgment that anything's wrong, which is worrying.

[UHDrive]

Change tactics, go 5-3-1-1 and more direct. BR has seemed to want to start to play 5 at the back so we've got nothing to lose to experiment. Means we can shift the midfield are up the pitch and not lose the ball so easily as we have been doing as well. Just a thought.

[UniFox21]

1 minute ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

His pre match comments before the Everton game show absolutely zero acknowledgment that anything's wrong, which is worrying.

In a way though, why would he publicly say that? Surely best to keep a blank front to the media and air issues behind closed doors?

[Costock_Fox]

14 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

Be better than chucking Albrighton and Choudhury on just to chase shadows and pass the ball to the other team. 
 

I only mean in this situation where we have 5 subs and not one (apart from Kel) is likely to do anything. At least Diabate has some pace and tekkers and can do something outta nothing. 

It was no dig at you, it just shows how pathetic not only our attempts to source a Mahrez replacement have been but Rodgers thinking Perez was the answer.

[Ric Flair]

5 hours ago, teblin said:

Do you remember when this happened under Pearson twice.

 

we were top or 2nd in the championship, had a bad run then got into the playoffs on the last day, the next season we won the league.

 

they again when we were bottom of the league, we had a scrappy goal by king that sparked us to our survival. And we all know what happened the next season.

 

we just need a win then I’m sure we will be fine. I know it’s a bit if but if we get 2 wins this week. 6 points with 5 games left will look better.

It is indeed a huge 2 games for us. This has all the hallmarks of the wheels being off but baring in mind just how good we were under Rodgers earlier this season, we could put a few more results together and get over the line. It is essential we get over the line though because there is a huge amount of improvement needed to the squad and the project Rodgers is part of. Not getting top 5 (5th I wouldn't want to chance on a ruling from an appeal) is a disaster, it's a disaster based on the current lack of spirit, mentality and leadership in this club. I worry how the players would recover from this, it would be a huge blow and there's not enough characters in this squad to think we'd kick on next season. We'd have to accept we missed the boat and we are likely to revert to mid table bumfluffery again and the likelihood of Rodgers job being at risk within the next 12 months. All really tedious, boring and monotonous. I genuinely thought and still hope this is a bright era, we don't yet have a top 4 squad but we managed to put ourselves in a great position to secure it and grow but we are now in danger and our form over the last 15-16 games is horrible.

 

Massive week boys, time to stand up and make a name for yourselves.

[kingfox]

Rodgers always finds a way to fvck things up, whether it’s through tactics or poor recruitment, it’s in his DNA.

 

Celtic and Liverpool fans mentioning that he doesn’t have a Plan B, I think that’s been pretty evident here especially since December. You may get away with not having a Plan B at Celtic, when you’re facing teams like Motherwell and Hearts but you won’t get away with it in the Premier League. Yesterday for instance, Lampard knew exactly what needed to be changed tactically for Chelsea at half time, so he changed their midfield by bringing on Kovacic and Barkley. Rodgers did nothing to try and counteract that, he just threw on Choudhury and hoped for the best.

 

Everything we are seeing right now is exactly what Puel got hammered for...

1) Slow and boring football

2) Vardy left isolated 

3) Wingers not offering enough

4) The inability to break down teams

 

If you are a well defensively organised team, more likely than not, Leicester City will not break you down. We are easy to play against, that emerged under Puel and it’s starting to emerge under Rodgers.

 

These next 7 games are absolutely massive, our run in is a mixture, but from being in such a healthy position in 3rd, to throw it all away and fail to get Champions League football would be disastrous, the sign of bottlers.

[Costock_Fox]

This can work for many posts on here at the minute.

[JJD_LCFC]

32 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

It is indeed a huge 2 games for us. This has all the hallmarks of the wheels being off but baring in mind just how good we were under Rodgers earlier this season, we could put a few more results together and get over the line. It is essential we get over the line though because there is a huge amount of improvement needed to the squad and the project Rodgers is part of. Not getting top 5 (5th I wouldn't want to chance on a ruling from an appeal) is a disaster, it's a disaster based on the current lack of spirit, mentality and leadership in this club. I worry how the players would recover from this, it would be a huge blow and there's not enough characters in this squad to think we'd kick on next season. We'd have to accept we missed the boat and we are likely to revert to mid table bumfluffery again and the likelihood of Rodgers job being at risk within the next 12 months. All really tedious, boring and monotonous. I genuinely thought and still hope this is a bright era, we don't yet have a top 4 squad but we managed to put ourselves in a great position to secure it and grow but we are now in danger and our form over the last 15-16 games is horrible.

 

Massive week boys, time to stand up and make a name for yourselves.

Agree on all. Huge week ahead. I am gutted we didn't strengthen the side in January. Surely money was there after the sale of Maguire and a boost to the team is just what was needed. Huge missed opportunity. Look at United now with Bruno Fernandes. They look a different side to before January 1st, and so do we, unfortunately. 

[SixtiesFox]

The next couple of games are huge because if we don't turn things around soon our opportunity to qualify for the CL will evaporate, the vital momentum that we have been building will be squandered and our upward trajectory will be thrown into reverse. Because of the huge advantage that the big 6 have, the chances of any other team breaking through are remote. As Rick Flair pointed out, we have forced our way into the top four without having a top four squad. In order to have any hope of building a top four squad we have to find a way to stay in the top four for another 7 games. A chance like this is unlikely to come along again any time soon. 

[FLAN]

Bringing Hamza as we were being overrun wasn’t that bad a tactic but he played so deep that we lost more or less any connection to the forward line 

I can’t see why he didn’t tell him to move further forward. 

[cruzFOX]

2 hours ago, North Leeds Fox said:

Can understand the frustration as we have been poor for a while but I thought we started with good intent yesterday and rodgers clearly went for chelsea early and set up where we should have been at half time ahead. It is not his fault that barnes decided to not shoot, for vardy to not control the through ball he has to take him one on one, for ndidi and Evans to not finish those headers or ayoze to take too long when free in the centre and be decisive. Unfortunately he had to take praet and perez off as they were only just back from injury and lampard had a bench full of quality that overpowered us while we got weaker with our subs. 

 

I agree that we need a plan b and some of rodgers decisions like mendy playing vs brighton were bizarre but we have it in our own hands. Not spending in jan looks an awful decision but we obviously dont have the money to do it. I agree that missing out on the CL would be a big set back financially and it would be gutting not to get in, but we have 7 games now where rodgers will be judged and there was enough in that first half to suggest we can be competitive in all these last 7 games. Just need for the players and rodgers to pull together and get themselves over the line. 

Totally agree! Had we buried 2 to 3 of those chances in the 1st half that would have changed to dynamics considerable. Instead we made it welcoming & comfy for Chelski to dominate. We’ve got to get that early goal against Everton! It’s going to be crucial

[Simoken]

2 hours ago, Foxesmints said:

BR tactics/blueprint have been found out and the players seem to have lost the belief and confidence they had.

 

 

Bit of a recurring theme with our last four managers!

Utter rubbish.  sparked from speculation and no facts, you make me wanna throw up with this blueprint b.s I think we can all (except you obviously) can quite understand why confidence and belief is off this time. Look whats happening in the world and we almost beat  a team 1-0 the other day don't forget..

Edited 29 June 2020 by Simoken

[Foxesmints]

1 hour ago, Simoken said:

Utter rubbish.  sparked from speculation and no facts, you make me wanna throw up with this blueprint b.s I think we can all (except you obviously) can quite understand why confidence and belief is off this time. Look whats happening in the world and we almost beat  a team 1-0 the other day don't forget..

So why is confidence and belief off this time?

Hope you made it to the bowl.

[LinekersLugs]

4 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

..next season will be too late!!!

The cost of failing to qualify for the Champions league will be circa £70m. With the economic cost of the pandemic this is not something to turn our nose up at.

  Next season will allow Rodgers to reset his goals and attempt to bring.in the quality he believes will make a difference to his vision. He needs as much spare change as possible.

  

Owned by a billionaire, calm down  we will survive 

[volpeazzurro]

On 28/06/2020 at 11:46, pmcla26 said:

The release clause was £16 million. We used add ons to negotiate the price up as another unnamed Premier League side were in for him as were several Spanish teams, including Valencia. Similar to when Kante had a £20 million release clause but we negotiated it to £32 million as others were interested. 

Id like to know what Championship wingers you would’ve took as well by the way? Joe Lolley, Anthony Knockaert, Ivan Carvaleiro, Kamil Grosicki? They’re some of the top wingers in the Championship and I don’t think there’s any debate to be had that Ayoze Perez eclipses all of them as a talent. 
 

Im not just labouring a point regarding stats either, I’ve expressed an opinion that he contributes to the success of other players playing better this season, such as Ricardo, who he has linked up well with throughout the season, and Vardy and Barnes, who he creates space for for their direct running (you can’t have 3 players all trying to get in behind). 
 

Rodgers’ possession style is much better suited with Perez in the side than Gray or Albrighton as well. You take Perez and Tielemans out the team and a lot of the tempo goes too as some of the other options within the squad don’t possess the technical skill of either to play the possession game successfully. Without them we are slower and more laboured. 
 

In my original post I said Perez has his faults, he isn’t a world class player or anywhere near. I just think for what we paid and for what he is, can you ask for much more? I really wish he was quicker and could be the out and out winger our fans want so badly, but he ain’t and won’t ever be that. But the amount of negativity surrounding him is uncalled for really, I wouldn’t be so persistent in backing him if people just took him for what he is. 
 

At the end of the day, he’s a good player and we’re a worse side without him. 

From the media I was led to believe that his release clause was 30m,  not 16m plus add ons. Can you provenance your source so we can know either way as there's a huge difference. There can be an end to it then. 

[volpeazzurro]

On 28/06/2020 at 18:16, Beechey said:

Do you expect him to work miracles when our bench has such illustrious, match winning players as Marc Albrighton, Hamza Choudhury, Ryan Bennett, Christian Fuchs, Nampalys Mendy, Demarai Gray, Wes Morgan and Kelechi Iheanacho?

Who do we bring off the bench to help us turn a game around? Maybe Kelechi and go two up front, but that's basically it, right?

Beyond Justin (probably) and Praet, I can't seriously say I'd be happy for many of them to start a major league game and not be worried about them.

 

Our squad depth is so poor. We have to temper expectations and realise where we are as a team. When Vardy's not firing we don't score goals, for example.

Southampton, Norwich, Villa, Watford, Brighton etc etc etc, how does our squad and bench compare with theirs? Tin pot tactics.

[volpeazzurro]

18 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

I'm getting increasingly concerned that he doesn't know how to fix this. Look at his reaction in that Brighton game to a shit 45 minutes against Lampard's earlier.

 

He is obviously a good coach but he has his limitations and we're seeing them.

 

I'm not saying sack him by any stretch but I wouldn't be shocked if it ends up happening before Christmas.

Is he obviously a good coach though?

[Beechey]

1 hour ago, volpeazzurro said:

Southampton, Norwich, Villa, Watford, Brighton etc etc etc, how does our squad and bench compare with theirs? Tin pot tactics.

Err, unless those games played out exactly like the Chelsea game did, it holds absolutely no relevance to the discussion about how Chelsea’s half time changes turned the tide of this game. Our squads are not even comparable. 

 

You can argue about those games in isolation (and I advise we do to judge our playing staff and management), but to compare them directly to this game and pretend they're identical or played out even remotely similar is frankly quite ridiculous.

Edited 29 June 2020 by Beechey

[JJD_LCFC]

56 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

Is he obviously a good coach though?

Fair question. He has a great reputation in the game. And does set his teams up well. His starting 11 are usually pretty good and his first year we were excellent it has to be said. So for that I would say he is a good coach. 

 

However, Since January 1st we have been pathetic so he certainly has his issues. He has no idea with his subs during games and doesn't change the game in our favour. He won lots at Celtic but without trying to be rude to their league, there is only 1 team there. No matter who is manager they will win. These last 7 games will say a lot about him and his tenure here. 

 

 

[volpeazzurro]

59 minutes ago, Beechey said:

Err, unless those games played out exactly like the Chelsea game did, it holds absolutely no relevance to the discussion about how Chelsea’s half time changes turned the tide of this game. That's called false equivalence.

 

You can argue about those games in isolation (and I advise we do to judge our playing staff and management), but to compare them directly to this game and pretend they're identical or played out even remotely similar is frankly quite ridiculous.

Not really is it. Your defence of Rodgers was:

Do you expect him to work miracles when our bench has such illustrious, match winning players as Marc Albrighton, Hamza Choudhury, Ryan Bennett, Christian Fuchs, Nampalys Mendy, Demarai Gray, Wes Morgan and Kelechi Iheanacho?

My point was that you can't just merely try and dig him out of the mire because of the quality of his subs bench on the strength of one example as he's fast becoming a serial failure since Christmas even when his first team and subs bench, on paper, are supposedly superior to the oppositions. You can't have it both ways.

 

If you read the title of the thread 'King Brendan' etc, you will note also that the content thus far is not just regarding the one game against Chelsea, it has been multifaceted. Your argument regarding false equivalence therefore, albeit that it sounds a grand and impressive put down actually isn't as it's based on a false premise.

Also, no two games are played out exactly the same, how could they be and a season is made up of many league and cup games. Therefore performance over more than one game is entirely relevant to the original thread title. 

Edited 29 June 2020 by volpeazzurro

[Deeg67]

His reputation isn’t all that great. That’s why no power club went after him after Liverpool  axed him.  I would say his rep is as a pretty good manager who struggles tactically and can’t adjust when what he’s doing isn’t working. And that’s pretty much how it’s been with us.

[Beechey]

39 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

Not really is it. Your defence of Rodgers was:

Do you expect him to work miracles when our bench has such illustrious, match winning players as Marc Albrighton, Hamza Choudhury, Ryan Bennett, Christian Fuchs, Nampalys Mendy, Demarai Gray, Wes Morgan and Kelechi Iheanacho?

My point was that you can't just merely try and dig him out of the mire because of the quality of his subs bench on the strength of one example as he's fast becoming a serial failure since Christmas even when his first team and subs bench, on paper, are supposedly superior to the oppositions. You can't have it both ways.

 

If you read the title of the thread 'King Brendan' etc, you will note also that the content thus far is not just regarding the one game against Chelsea, it has been multifaceted. Your argument regarding false equivalence therefore, albeit that it sounds a grand and impressive put down actually isn't as it's based on a false premise.

Also, no two games are played out exactly the same, how could they be and a season is made up of many league and cup games. Therefore performance over more than one game is entirely relevant to the original thread title. 

You seem to be misunderstanding my point. It's more that I'm upset at the state of our squad than it is a staunch defence of Rodgers' tactics. How Chelsea could play a decent enough team, but still have about 7 players on their bench that would all start in our first team, yet we have absolutely nobody on our bench to change the game, frankly is upsetting. Unless you disagree that Chelsea's substitutions are what changed the game, we probably don't disagree too much, but I'll elaborate.

 

I still don't want him to be sacked. Looking at his time here in the whole it's been successful. I would give him another summer to see what he can do, but I would expect improvement. I want our midfield to be playing further forward, and I think the fact we seem so reserved compared to just a few months ago is a failure of his. It's his job to motivate the players and to give them the confidence to play how he wants them to play.

 

You reference the idea of looking at performances in a wider view "Therefore performance over more than one game ...", yet seem happy enough to ignore the whole picture and to paint Rodgers as almost a "serial failure". Just for now, look at our season as a whole, rather than a subset of games. Yes, we might be playing poorly now, but even with 8 games to play, this is the most wins in a season since we won the league. We have just finished 9th twice after finishing 12th the season before. We have a middling transfer spend each year and a grossly inflated wage bill.

 

Let me ask you: where do you honestly believe this squad should finish over a full season of football in this league? Do you think we are under, or over performing?

Edited 29 June 2020 by Beechey

[HankMarvin]

9 hours ago, Simoken said:

Utter rubbish.  sparked from speculation and no facts, you make me wanna throw up with this blueprint b.s I think we can all (except you obviously) can quite understand why confidence and belief is off this time. Look whats happening in the world and we almost beat  a team 1-0 the other day don't forget..

Oh right must of missed the bit where the Wolves players all had vaccines.

 

Chelsea also?

 

 

“we almost beat a team 1-0 don’t forget”

 

classic 

 

the same team that lost to Burnley and Southampton and are a point above the relegation zone.

 

lets not use almost winning against poor teams as a badge of honour.

[Deeg67]

I wouldn't sack him, but his track record doesn't give much cause for optimism.  When things start to go south he's never been able to turn it around yet.

 

For sure give him the rest of this season and the start of next.  But if we crash out of CL (as seems very likely at the moment) and then start off in this same funk next season, I think you have to have a quick hook.  Which would really suck, given the fat contract he got out of us.

[Simoken]

7 hours ago, HankMarvin said:

Oh right must of missed the bit where the Wolves players all had vaccines.

 

Chelsea also?

 

 

“we almost beat a team 1-0 don’t forget”

 

classic 

 

the same team that lost to Burnley and Southampton and are a point above the relegation zone.

 

lets not use almost winning against poor teams as a badge of honour.

The same team that beat Liverpool 3-0  the only game Liverpool lost this season and are PL champions.... ........