5-4-1: Brendan Rodgers' Tactical Masterclass

[HighPeakFox]

1 minute ago, StriderHiryu said:

Definitely so, though today I think criticising him for being too clever for his own good is merited. He basically admitted as much post match, which is a good sign.

 

Rather than think of it as being arrogant, let's think about WHY he might decide to line up this way?

- We are a better team than West Ham 1-11 on paper.

- If we match their setup, then the game becomes about 1 on 1 duels where we should win more than they do.

- If we play 3 at the back, I can play Amartey who had a strong game against Man City to help deal with their most dangerous player in Antonio.

- We played well with 3 at the back last week.

- Maddison and Praet have knocks so playing this way I don't have to risk them and save them for bigger games.

 

So if you look at this that way, you can see what he was thinking. But it was always a risk going this way when it's not our "usual" system. For me as mentioned above, it's got an uncanny parallel to Man City going out against Lyon in last season's Champions League knockout stages, where the changed system and it backfired when if they used their usual system they probably would have won.

 

But as you say it did not help that non one turned up, and more worryingly the game reminded us all of the collapse last season, where this happened time and time again.

Exactly. When only Mendy or Amartey look remotely decent, there's no chance. We just had a shocker, it happens. He might have gone for it at half-time, but that could well have resulted in a cricket score too. If I have to pin point why we let in 3 goals, I'd far sooner look at out-of-sorts players - it sounds like hindsight but there's was something about the body language before the game I picked up on that made me uneasy. I won't speculate as to what that might have been.

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

1 hour ago, Corky said:

I remember Pearson being criticised on here for hooking a player at half-time (we subsequently won the match) but I like that management- if you don't think it is working, change it.

 

The only time I can recall Rodgers changing something early was dragging Iheanacho off against Norwich last season when it was clear the formation wasn't working. He needs to be more proactive.

He dragged Iheanacho off against Bournemouth when it was working . 

[sacreblueits442]

2 hours ago, foxfanazer said:

He ain't gonna change though unfortunately. And he has us on enough decent runs to get the backing from most fans

...he has, he did last week!!!

His problem is he does not know when to alter the situation and has stuck to his 60 minute substitution policy, so every manager knows what he will do and when. We know now that he is no longer sticking to a philosophy that has held him back in his coaching, he just does not know how to implement his newly formed ethos.

[deanolegend1989]

It’s as simple as this. West Ham’s strengths are physical hitting Antonio and set pieces.

What should we do to prevent this?

A) Attack them and force them back?

B) Sit deep, play 5 at the back and invite crosses and pressure?

What should we do to beat West Ham?

A) Play the way we’re best

B) Adjust for West Ham and play into their hands?

 

I said pre game that this feels like a Brighton at home game incoming. The only difference was Brighton missed a pen and didn’t kill us.

 

Making the starting line up like that was very poor judgement, I knew it and so did most fans. However what’s even worse is not changing it when it’s clear it’s going wrong.

It got worst and worst as the game was going on and he changed nothing..between their opener and their 2nd, I could see it coming and there was no admittance that it was wrong. What’s really sad is when Armarty went off injured we looked better(obviously too late) but we passed it better and should of scored 2/3.

This has become a pattern I’m losing my patience with. We did it vs Brighton last year, we did it at HT vs Bournemouth and we’ve done it today. He even did it last year when we won 7 in a row and changed for Villa (A), and although we won that to make it 8 we then went bad for a long time and it’s mainly down to BR always over complicating things!

 

How an earth can he see West Ham at home and their style and think that’s the way to play vs them!? It’s absolutely farcical. I have no confidence in him. BR got it wrong by a long shot as usual. 10 million a year and he’s such a poor manager in reality.

 

I never mind losing when we do as well as we can but just arnt good enough on the day, but what makes my blood boil is knowing we’re beat before the game starts because of ineptness from 1 of the highest paid managers in the league.
Our players are as good as nearly any team in the league and I’m fed up of restricting the ability of this squad by his shocking tactics.

People will say ‘we’re Leicester and 3rd how am I daring to criticise him?’ But for me were 3rd DESPITE him. Our recruitment is second to none and we have some of the best players in the league, and on ability alone, we sometimes bail out his poor tactics. However I honestly believe he gets praise for our squad doing well and the reality is the squad make him look better by getting ‘little Leicester’ punching above our station and Brendan therefore is seen as a top manager when in reality it’s our recruitment and owners overall running of the club that keep us high despite an average manager in our corner.

 

 I don’t want him sacked as he’s on a big contract and we’re not in a mess as such, but it’s becoming a very similar pattern and it’s worrying me how thick he actually is when things are clearly going wrong.

Its for me the reason why he will never be a TOP manager for a ‘big’ club. He just gets found out too often and reads the situation all wrong.

[Dan LCFC]

8 hours ago, Corky said:

I remember Pearson being criticised on here for hooking a player at half-time (we subsequently won the match) but I like that management- if you don't think it is working, change it.

 

The only time I can recall Rodgers changing something early was dragging Iheanacho off against Norwich last season when it was clear the formation wasn't working. He needs to be more proactive.

And at Bournemouth  

[Deeg67]

The acid test here is going to be what he does when all the main MF and attacking players are healthy.  Obviously Ricardo starts as soon as he's able, but it's less obvious with the likes of Praet, Maddison, Under and Perez.  It's pretty obvious that this team functions better when Praet is on the pitch, but will BR acknowledge that and use him?  Who does he replace?  It's all well and good to talk about rotation, and with Europa that is indeed important.  But your starters still need to play most of your games, and he's going to need to get that right. 

 

One thing seems clear - with our personnel, a back five is the wrong formation against most sides.  MC maybe, and possibly Liverpool - though even the latter I'm dubious about.  We're a possession side now like it or not, and a back five leads to us having enormous amounts of unproductive possession in our defensive half.

Edited 5 October 2020 by Deeg67

[waylander]

He’s getting good at these Masterclasses