Rodgers

[turtmcfly 1,866]

2 hours ago, Ceirboy said:

The club don’t have the funds because somehow, Brendan and his fantastic managerial nous, presided over the biggest and mostly costly dip in form this club has ever undergone in recent times and somehow managed to grab defeat from the jaws of Champions League qualification victory! 
That should be a criminal offence.

 

That is some one-eyed shit right there

[Muzzy_Larsson 3,346]

3 hours ago, Le Renard said:

Although I find Rodgers and his David Brentism's too much sometimes, I really don't see an alternative out there.  Just remember he wanted 5 players during the transfer window and the club didn't have the money to spend on his targets, also we have an injury list that would give most clubs our size problems!  Villa & Leeds have owners who are prepared to put a lot of money into the club, it is only going to get harder for us to compete.

No manager in the land ever gets anything they want every window, he got three vey good signings this window and when you consider the backdrop of Covid the board have done they're bit in backing him.

[Shane 1,384]

3 hours ago, Col city fan said:

The important question is do you think anybody else could do a better job with this squad?

I think it was Finnegan who made a great point a few weeks back, that this Tika Taka style is getting old fashioned. Nowadays it’s all about pressing, high energy, compact, direct football. We’ve built a squad based on tika taka possession & it’s outdated. So it doesn’t matter if the new manager is another tika taka manager or wants to implement a new style, they will struggle after the initial ‘new manager bounce’.

 
There are plenty of teams in the league who’ve gone the opposite direction of possession tika taka football: Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Villa, West Ham, Leeds, Man Utd, Southampton, Palace, Wolves, Arsenal. Most of these teams can keep possession too of course, but the majority of the time its about gegenpress and counter attack. Nowadays it’s the tika taka possession teams that are inconsistent: Man City, Chelsea, Brighton & Us. 
 

The main issue why we we can’t play a gegenpress/counter attack style similar to our rivals, on a consistent basis is the midfield. Apart from Ndidi (& Hamza) the rest aren’t physical enough, very soft and like to play sideways/backwards the majority of the time. 

Edited 19 October 2020 by Shane

[volpeazzurro 3,533]

8 hours ago, Guy said:

Hmmm, I suppose he considered Under as better vfm perhaps re the paying heavily over the odds for English based players like Benrahma? As you said though, it's strange that he didn't play Under today. even for the last few minutes of the game when it remained goalless as anything could've happened. Maybe Rodgers is playing safe in games where we've been beset by injuries and don't look like winning it - and maybe considers a point (or a last gasp winner on a good day) worth playing the game out for without being adventurous or even pragmatic/logical. Ironically Villa punished our toothless display and got that crucial 90+ 'er' today instead. I see they're 66-1 to win the Prem.....

The problem is that Rodgers used this cautious approach last season with terrible consequences.

 

At the start of the season our players were excelling with free flowing, high pressing fast football. Oddly though, when we'd not long before beaten a woeful Southampton 9-0, on the return leg Rodgers weaved his cautious magic. The second best defence is the Premiership was tweaked (Soyuncu and Evans swapped positions) and other changes for some micromanaging perceived threat. Surely, they should be the ones worrying with our tactics being more of the same. Pure micro-managing and overthinking at its visible best. A woeful, unable to score Norwich were also taken on with semi cautious tactics dreamed up to combat what threat? We were 2nd in the league, they should be worried about us not visa versa!

 

When he should have offered more negative tactics against teams like Man City and Liverpool, there were seemingly no tactics whatsoever. The rest is history. I thought after the tactics against Man City a couple of weeks ago and his subsequent comments that we'd turned a corner after a summer of retrospect. Possibly not it would appear.

[Dahnsouff 5,303]

2 minutes ago, Muzzy_Larsson said:

No manager in the land ever gets anything they want every window, he got three vey good signings this window and when you consider the backdrop of Covid the board have done they're bit in backing him.

Fully agree with this, we have managed to land some good players in a difficult environment, but the bigger issue is looking like it will be injuries!

However, even with injuries, his job remains the same, get the best out of what you have, and we have a decent amount most areas except defence maybe.

Make me irritated though when we have no drive/pashun once Vardy is not playing, fix that Brendan please.

 

Fofana looks quality though

[lcfc sheff 1,329]

Put it this way, I look at the way Marco Rose gets gladbach playing and get extremely jealous. For me he’d be perfect 

[Muzzy_Larsson 3,346]

Just now, lcfc sheff said:

Put it this way, I look at the way Marco Rose gets gladbach playing and get extremely jealous. For me he’d be perfect 

He was open to coming to Celtic and we opted to ignore him and go for Lennon instead.

 

[foxfanazer 12,907]

He just doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes. We'll end up being a midtable premier league (we've been far worse) with a hideously overpaid manager 

[lcfc sheff 1,329]

8 minutes ago, Muzzy_Larsson said:

He was open to coming to Celtic and we opted to ignore him and go for Lennon instead.

 

He’d been perfect for you, sooner or later celtic will need a progressive manager rather than getting trapped into O’Neil or Lennon just because they’re the easy and cheap options! 

[lcfc cowboys 58]

1 hour ago, Babylon said:

We have limitations and a budget, we aren't Manchester City. He and the club would have decided what was a priority, other areas we didn't have the numbers needed, up front we do, despite their limitations.  I

I did not say we were man City but we could have had money if we did not build a bloody new training ground. Surely the priority was a bloody striker we have shown we are shit without vardy

[Muzzy_Larsson 3,346]

1 minute ago, lcfc sheff said:

He’d been perfect for you, sooner or later celtic will need a progressive manager rather than getting trapped into O’Neil or Lennon just because they’re the easy and cheap options! 

Martin O'Neill at the time was the hottest property on the market and was an absolute legend for us though. Agree on the whole though, Lennon is the cheap option and a yes man.

[lcfc sheff 1,329]

Just now, Muzzy_Larsson said:

Martin O'Neill at the time was the hottest property on the market and was an absolute legend for us though. Agree on the whole though, Lennon is the cheap option and a yes man.

What I’m saying is if Lennon gets the sack, I know who they’ll go for again 😂😂

 

theres genuinely huge potential with celtic and the Scottish league was a whole but it is still being untapped 

[Babylon 28,594]

10 minutes ago, lcfc cowboys said:

I did not say we were man City but we could have had money if we did not build a bloody new training ground. Surely the priority was a bloody striker we have shown we are shit without vardy

We've borrowed the money for the training ground, that not being there doesn't mean money would be available for players. 

Edited 19 October 2020 by Babylon
Added the "ed" to borrowed to please Ceirboy

[lcfc cowboys 58]

Just now, Babylon said:

We've borrow the money for the training ground, that not being there doesn't mean money would be available for players. 

We will have to a agree to disagree 

[Ceirboy 103]

2 minutes ago, Babylon said:

We've borrow the money for the training ground, that not being there doesn't mean money would be available for players. 

 Have you typed that with your feet? 

[Foxy_Bear 2,152]

The issue I have with BR is that he is either unable or unwilling change it up mid game. 

 

Apart from the fact that he set us up in the exact same way that saw West ham jump us, during the game nothing changed. 

 

His first change was Maddison for Praet. Like for like, nothing changes. His second, Slim for Nacho which could change the game if we changed our style but instead of playing to his strengths like whipping in crosses, he's chasing through balls and running the channels. His third change is taking of a DM and putting on Hamza who doesn't really excel in anything which cost us the game. 

 

If he really wanted to change the game, the first change should have been Praet and Perez for Albrighton and Slim. Two up top and whip balls into them..... Slim up top on his own? SMH. 

[Babylon 28,594]

5 minutes ago, Ceirboy said:

 Have you typed that with your feet? 

 

I've added the missing ed to "borrowed" just for you. 

[The Horse's Mouth 2,789]

I hope not, but they've invested heavily, genuinely think he'll be given more time than others

[FoxinNotts 1,605]

7 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

The issue I have with BR is that he is either unable or unwilling change it up mid game. 

 

Apart from the fact that he set us up in the exact same way that saw West ham jump us, during the game nothing changed. 

 

His first change was Maddison for Praet. Like for like, nothing changes. His second, Slim for Nacho which could change the game if we changed our style but instead of playing to his strengths like whipping in crosses, he's chasing through balls and running the channels. His third change is taking of a DM and putting on Hamza who doesn't really excel in anything which cost us the game. 

 

If he really wanted to change the game, the first change should have been Praet and Perez for Albrighton and Slim. Two up top and whip balls into them..... Slim up top on his own? SMH. 

Last night, I would have liked to see, Ian off Slim on, Perez moved in behind Slim, Albrighton replacing Tielemans (who was blowing as usual in the latter stages) and go to 4-4-1-1, and get some crosses in. Maybe give Ünder a go on Barnes side, as he wasn’t having his best night!

Edited 19 October 2020 by FoxinNotts

[WigstonWanderer 2,251]

Uh oh

[Ric Flair 20,485]

I think he will be. 

 

I am as frustrated as the next fan with our inconsistency on the back of an unbelievable first 10 months in charge here but there are reasons for this thst aren't solely Rodgers failings.

 

The injuries have played a part, we need to identify what is behind this. Is it just bad luck or is there a trend where we are getting injuries that as a club we worked so hard to prevent under previous regimes. What were Rodgers injury records like at Swansea, Liverpool and Celtic? I think its a mix of the intensity of training and how peculiar this last 6-8 months have been, other clubs are seeing it happen too its just we have a fully fit XI that is up there with the top 6 clubs and then very few squad players that make us anything more than a competitive mid table team and that's the harsh reality.

 

Should we be surprised? Not really, before Rodgers got here we were a mid table team without injuries and although we recruit shrewdly at times we haven't aggressively changed personnel like a lot of new regimes do. Are we being left behind or at least allowing the clubs aspiring to be as good as us to have closed the gap in quality? Most possible. Villa have signed very well but had the resources to do so from a small wage bill and then access to the £150-200m a season that PL football brings. Everton have spent insane money and look to be the team we hoped we would be under Rodgers long term, we are still a huge work in progress though and its uncertain we will get there given how difficult it is to be the best of the rest. 

 

There are a lot of things we need to improve on though, we are such a strange team. I've never known an era where we can be absolutely phenomenal and leather teams by 4-5 (sometimes 9) and then out of nowhere be so clueless on how to break a team down and go to rat shit defensively. Rodgers has to find the solution to this but I'm not unrealistic enough to think that happens immediately. He has strong principles, principles and methods that have got him to where he's got to and if he chopped and changed so easily then that might lessen the times we hammer teams and are no more likely to reduce the times we are laboured and easy to play against.

 

Whatever his way of playing is, he has to make us better at it and more able to dismiss the potential strengths of the opposition. He sometimes gives too much credit to how the opposition might play who are perhaps inferior to us (Brighton at home last season, Villa in both cup games last season, West Ham this season) and then against the top sides neither changes the game plan and personnel radically nor demands any attacking conviction from the way we usually play (a sort of containment job) and the results have been as expected - poor. The exception being Man City away where we all hoped had been the mark of a new dawn bit since then we've hit the buffers.

 

I'm still firmly behind the Rodgers regime, fans don't appreciate enough just how good we are at times. Yes, that only stretches so far when there's performances and results like the last couple but try and be balanced and be careful what you wish for. What other regimes gave us the sort of results pattern and goals that Rodgers has? Did Puel? Did Shakespeare? Did Pearson? Probably Sven was the closest to this but there's far more stability and planning under Rodgers than the fanny merchant, however much I loved Sven and still do.

 

Big 2 months ahead, buzzing for Europe regardless of how negative some of you prats are right now. A huge win this Thursday and we will get a result at Arsenal and we will be back in a better frame of mind. 

[nettle 208]

One thing about last night that confirmed my suspicion was neither Iheanacho or Slimani can play up top on there own. 

[ttfn 5,098]

I do think that for all the praise Mendy gets (and he has been good in possession) we’re really seeing the impact of not having a fully fit Ndidi, which of course we arguably haven’t had for almost a year now.

 

It’s a recurring theme that despite not being able to create a chance we’re caught on the counter attack. Villa had 3 or 4 counter attacking chances yesterday that ought to have led to chances and of course the goal came from a quick pass into the centre of the pitch.
 

This came up repeatedly at the end of last season and has been again in the last two games. 
 

We’ve shifted away from an Ndidi-driven 4-1-4-1 where we could control the game and get players into attacking areas and replaced it with a 4-2-3-1 where somehow despite having 2 players in notionally defensive midfield positions we keep getting done on the counter.  So right now we’re getting the worst of both worlds - no players supporting the attack and nobody protecting the defence.

 

There’s no point in getting angry about Rodgers, he is what he is - we will go on hot streaks and cold streaks this season and the injury situation certainly isn’t helping.
 

He’s definitely not going anywhere soon with that contract though, so we just need to buckle up and get on with it. The club made a big mistake in giving him that new deal last year, they’ve done a lot right but offering long-term deals to anybody who flutters their eyelashes at another club was not sustainable pre-Covid and certainly won’t be now.
 

He seems to be at his best with something to prove. Not sure that he feels that’s the case at the moment.

[PaulW 420]

11 hours ago, jayfox26 said:

I dont think we should be getting the pitch forks out just yet but I also dont think we can just keep blaming injuries. Of course it is easier to win games when we have Vardy, Ricardo, Soyuncu and Ndidi but the team we had out today should have been more than good enough to beat Villa. The last 2 results have been very poor and so have the performances. Rodgers doesn't do himself any favours when he makes poor substitutions and keeps starting Perez when he has offered very little so far this season. We have been pretty poor for large parts since last xmas with the odd decent performance thrown in and our first 3 games of the season gave us hope that we had turned the corner, but the last games have been back to square 1. We can blame injuries, we can blame lack of signings, but Rodgers still has a better starting 11 than at least 12 teams in this league at the moment, including Villa and West Ham. 

 

I'm also sick of people saying "its not that bad, they scored 7 against liverpool". That game was a freak like when we beat Man City 5-2. You cannot read anything into games like that and it does not make Villa a world class team because of 1 freak result. Regardless of them beating Liverpool 7-2, us losing to them at home is an very very poor result! 

"Rodgers has a better starting 11 than at least 12 teams in this league".......we're above 16 of them!

 

[Dahnsouff 5,303]

31 minutes ago, lcfc cowboys said:

I did not say we were man City but we could have had money if we did not build a bloody new training ground. Surely the priority was a bloody striker we have shown we are shit without vardy

Good Lord no, Long term thinking every time, not filling holes as and when they occur. The reason you have a new fancy ass training ground is make your next Vardy, your next Youri, or at the very least, have a good shot at tempting youngsters to join.