Rodgers Speaks

[davieG]

In case you've missed it or avoided it....

 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/brendan-rodgers-tears-leicester-citys-6612517

 

Brendan Rodgers tears into Leicester City's 'embarrassing' display as pre-match meeting fails

 

The Leicester City boss lambasted his players after they fell to a 4-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest as their FA Cup defence ended in humiliating circumstances at the City Ground

ByJordan Blackwell
19:48, 6 FEB 2022
 

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers reacts after the final whistle following the Emirates FA Cup fourth round match (Image: PA)

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has been left embarrassed by his side’s performance for the first time after their 4-1 humiliation at Nottingham Forest.

City, the FA Cup holders, were dumped out by the Championship side, with a torrid nine-minute period in the first half in which they conceded three goals doing the damage.

Rodgers berated his side’s display after the match, issuing an apology to the 4,000 City supporters who had travelled to Nottingham.

He also revealed that he had brought the FA Cup to the team meeting before the game to remind the players what they had been through to win it a season earlier, with the ploy failing to spark a committed display from his players.

"It was an awful performance and I have to apologise to the supporters,” Rodgers said. “To come here, the first game between the two sides for a long time, a great atmosphere, in derby games you need authority and you need physicality. Those two were sadly missing from our performance.

"I said to the players after that for the first time since I’ve been here I’ve been embarrassed. It was an embarrassing performance. I feel for the supporters and the excitement of coming to here.

“We brought the FA Cup into our team meeting today so the players could see what we went through last year to win this competition, to remind them of the day at Wembley and the journey, and what it takes to win a trophy like that.

“I was looking to provide that motivation and extra desire to come out here today.

Leicester City players react after Nottingham Forest's Joe Worrall (not pictured) scores (Image: PA)
“We went away to Stoke, away to Brentford, Brighton, Manchester United, Southampton and then Chelsea, European champions. We come here today and we were really disappointing.”

Asked to put his finger on the main issue in the side’s performance, Rodgers said there was a lack of hunger, again suggesting, as he did on Friday, that a refresh of the squad is needed in the summer to get around it.

He said: “It’s hunger. I said it before about having changes in the squad. It’s a lack of hunger.

“Ok, we are missing players but we didn’t have the physicality to press in certain areas of the pitch and then you get destabilised when you make basic errors. Collectively and individually it was not great.

Rate the players

“We still have a big part of the season to go. I hope the players can go away and reflect. I’m always very optimistic but we can’t mask over that, that’s a huge worry for me today.

“We weren’t stable in our defending and then we get rocked by the second goal. Collectively the basics and fundamentals of the game weren’t there for us.”

 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-stars-fighting-future-6612832

 

Leicester City stars fighting for their future as Brendan Rodgers gives damning verdict on squad

 

The Leicester City manager gave a highly-critical assessment of his squad after the 4-1 humiliation by Nottingham Forest in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday

ByJordan Blackwell
06:00, 7 FEB 2022
SPORT

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers reacts after the final whistle at Forest. (Image: PA)

Leicester City players have to “fight like hell” to prove they have futures at the club as Brendan Rodgers gave a damning assessment of his squad.

The City boss spoke on Friday of “big changes” to come in the summer, using the transfer market as a chance to reset.

And after a shambolic exit in the FA Cup at the hands of Nottingham Forest, Rodgers said certain players have to show over the next few months they are worthy of a place in the squad as it undergoes a rebuild.

In his critical verdict, Rodgers said “time could be up” for some players, and that the FA Cup triumph last season will be the pinnacle of their careers, while he also said some members of his squad “think they’re top players but are a long way off it".

They do not have the consistency in their desire to keep winning that is needed to be a world class star, he believes.

“We’ve had a really good two-and-a-half-year spell,” Rodgers said after the defeat to Forest.

“But that’s why a lot of these players are not top players. Because they can’t sustain it. That’s where I have admiration for the really top players who can keep that hunger and desire to win, no matter how much they achieve.

“I always judge it on the physicality of the team, the pressing, the aggression. When you stop getting it, you can’t quite get there, your time could be up.

Leicester City players react after Nottingham Forest's Joe Worrall (not pictured) scores (Image: PA)
“There are a lot of these players, between now and the end of the season, who need to prove that they are still worthy of being here. Because we’ve seen it now for a little while.

“Forget about the players who are missing. There are players here that may have achieved everything that they can here. It’s not what I want to do.

“It’s something we’ll have to look at between now and the end of the season. Until then, they’ve got to have a look at themselves in the mirror and fight like hell to prove they’re good enough to be here.”

Rodgers did not single any players out as being under threat, but did say James Justin is providing an example of how his squad should be performing.

He added: “I watch training every day and have been in the game long enough to know when, for some, it’s maybe everything they could have ever dreamed of. They bolstered their legend as a player, they won the FA Cup. But that might be it.

“But it’s not for me and not what I want to achieve here and do here. Boys like James Justin, you could see his physicality today. It’s great to have Ricky (Pereira) back. But we have too many players who think they're top players but they’re a long way off it.”

[SecretPro]

The Culture starts at the top. #BorisBrendanOut

[Lako42]

Other than the complete lack of accountability from himself I think he's absolutely spot on. And this coming from someone who has had enough of him. 

 

 

Those players need digging out in a big way. They are coasting and don't seem to have the required level of desire. 

 

 

"But we have too many players who think they're top players but they’re a long way off it.”

 

 

[Vestan Pance]

Maybe we need to ask why we have this culture and why we have so many players running their contracts down?

[fox_up_north]

If I remember rightly, Pearson did something similar on the advice of Ferguson when we were really on the slide in the great escape year?

 

Certainly got results then. Let's see. 

[An Away Move]

I actually think this is what is needed from Rodgers. He needs to put a rocket under some arses. Let’s see how they respond. 

[Happy Fox]

He talks the talks but doesn’t walk the walk, that performance was on all Rodgers. He is the manager after all. I am fed up of him

[Lako42]

It might piss some of them off enough that they fire a few shots back at him and say what they think about his constant system swapping and confusing of players in games. 

 

Could be good to clear the air and have a right good ****ing go at each other.

[FuriousFox46]

I just cannot imagine him tearing in to them - and that really irritates me 

[filbertway]

 

Oh god, every time I read it, it gets worse

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10430843/Brendan-Rogers-concedes-Leicester-PEAKED-European-ambitions.html

 

Rodgers: "This is good as it's going to get"

 

1 month later

 

Rodgers: "Some players think this is as good as it's going to get"

 

I wonder why that is Brendan...

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

11 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

He talks the talks but doesn’t walk the walk, that performance was on all Rodgers. He is the manager after all. I am fed up of him

I think Rodgers must take overall  responsibility. But let's be honest, almost every player was woefully poor in both attitude and application. No fight, no desire, nothing. 

[filbertway]

I hope big Dan just lifts Rodgers up and hangs him off a clothes peg at training today

[Hales]

2 minutes ago, FuriousFox46 said:

I just cannot imagine him tearing in to them - and that really irritates me 

I had always thought that but he seems angry now!

[Spudulike]

12 minutes ago, An Away Move said:

I actually think this is what is needed from Rodgers. He needs to put a rocket under some arses. Let’s see how they respond. 

Which arses need a rocket? 

 

Tielemans? 

Soyuncu? 

Amartey? 

Barnes? 

Lookman? 

Ndidi? 

Iheanacho? 

 

[Zear0]

We've been like this for most of the season, yesterday was grim but hardly a shock.  How has he only just noticed the flat performances this year?

[Will1981]

Really strange that he has praised Justin as he was at fault and got physically bullied for two of the goals yesterday aswell as a goal in each of the previous two games, he looks like a shawow of his pre injury perfprmances.

[foxes_rule1978]

4 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

We've been like this for most of the season, yesterday was grim but hardly a shock.  How has he only just noticed the flat performances this year?

He is talking about a big overhaul and that happened before yesterday, I think he noticed sooner than what he is letting on that is for sure. 

[turlo]

"But we have too many players who think they're top players but they’re a long way off it.”

 

 

He came out with this line post match earlier in the season after we were starting games off like we didn't give a shit. Whether its him or the players 3 months later f all has changed. 

[TeamRocket]

Why say this publicly they ain't gonna wanna play for him after disrespecting them. Swear can't wait for him to be gone!

[davieG]

2 minutes ago, TeamRocket said:

Why say this publicly they ain't gonna wanna play for him after disrespecting them. Swear can't wait for him to be gone!

I'm sure he's said it privately and it hasn't worked I guess this is the next step.

 

My concern is it's not that easy to shift players on our pay levels.

 

 

[RowlattsFox]

Sounds like he's going all in. History tells us this is going one way, and the players are already on their way there. 

 

Conte has gone into Spurs and constantly said his squad isn't good enough, and I guess you can get away with that when you've just come in. However it feels different when Rodgers says it. 

 

All he has to say is that wasn't good enough, and I take full responsibility for it. Yes criticise the collective defending, attitude and mentality but he does it in a way that he thinks he is blameless. 

[filbertway]

1 minute ago, RowlattsFox said:

Sounds like he's going all in. History tells us this is going one way, and the players are already on their way there. 

 

Conte has gone into Spurs and constantly said his squad isn't good enough, and I guess you can get away with that when you've just come in. However it feels different when Rodgers says it. 

 

All he has to say is that wasn't good enough, and I take full responsibility for it. Yes criticise the collective defending, attitude and mentality but he does it in a way that he thinks he is blameless. 

He seems to genuinely think he's gods gift to football and that he's never wrong. I still remember him getting called out for set pieces and he lied about having a specialist coach and said there were no issues.

 

Ridiculous man

 

[TeamRocket]

1 minute ago, davieG said:

I'm sure he's said it privately and it hasn't worked I guess this is the next step.

 

My concern is it's not that easy to shift players on our pay levels.

 

 

I agree Maybe, but personally think the next step should have been him saying he got it wrong and will try something different. Maybe go back to basic.  

[foxfanazer]

2 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

Sounds like he's going all in. History tells us this is going one way, and the players are already on their way there. 

 

Conte has gone into Spurs and constantly said his squad isn't good enough, and I guess you can get away with that when you've just come in. However it feels different when Rodgers says it. 

 

All he has to say is that wasn't good enough, and I take full responsibility for it. Yes criticise the collective defending, attitude and mentality but he does it in a way that he thinks he is blameless. 

And Conte hasn't assembled the squad he is criticising either. His comments seemed more of a nudge to Levy that he needs funds. Brendan on the other hand has been here 3 years and is now throwing people under the bus to deflect attention from his own incompetence 

[davieG]

2 minutes ago, TeamRocket said:

I agree Maybe, but personally think the next step should have been him saying he got it wrong and will try something different. Maybe go back to basic.  

He would have been endlessly abused on here saying that. Many on here think him trying something different is half the problem.