Content & Cohesion

Three things to ask/discuss to kick off this thread.

The first question only requires a one word answer (please no more than that) and doesn't really have any relevance to the rest of the topic.

1) Are you happy with our summer transfer activities this year? Yes or no will suffice.

The next two points are around discussion.

2) Last season we had a small squad with possibly much lesser games to play. Me old mate S@int, often said he thought Rodgers likes possibly working with a small-ish squad. And in this day and age of football it is a bit of an anomaly to have this remnant of old skool methodology in the game, where largely a small squad can go toe-to-toe with the other big guns in the league. Granted we only had one competition to really get through last year and that was the slog of the league. Still, we couldn't really flummox opposing managers with 'who might we use this week in attacking midfield', they pretty much knew what to expect and still for the most part couldn't handle the attacking intent of this predictability. I think this obviously gave our team lots of cohesion, a pretty underestimated tool in the modern game today I think.

This year, with the number of signings made will Rodgers have to get the 'Rafa book of rotating' out to make the challenge on all fronts? And if so, will we lose this cohesion that we had last season?

3) With a bigger squad, how easy do you think it will be for Rodgers to keep his players content? For example, IIRC Sahko left PSG because he wasn't a regular, if Skertel and Lovren become his 'go to' partnership, will Rodgers have to 'rotate for the sake of it' and break up what is the most important partnership on the field to keep Sahko happy? I mean, how often do you rotate CBs? If Sahko struggles to get a look in, how does Rodgers keep him content at Liverpool. Same with Enrique, if Moreno plays the bulk of games at LB. Or players in AM - Coutinho, Sterling, Markovic and Lallana. Essentially, how will Rodgers keep his players content, save for the fact he drastically overhauls one eleven to the next, game after game?

1/ yes

2/ I think the season may finish up in three parts.

Early season - integration of new players into the squad. We not only have a lot of new players to build into a squad, but a lot of young relatively inexperienced players (certainly in the prem)to bring in.

Hansen famously said "you win nothing with kids,"  but at least the mancs "kids" had been brought up playing in England and were used to the "English game."

Mid season - Cl, F.A. cup, League cup all become additional targets, midweek games and added pressure. I think this will be when we will see much more rotation and players given their chance.

Late season - Depending how we do in the cups and the league, I think we may stick with a more or less settled side in the league and whatever cup we are still in, unless we are still in all of them!

I don't expect to see two clearly defined teams (first team and second team) but late in the season this may become apparent with a more settled side and 7 or 8 players playing most weeks.

3/ I think a bigger squad demands success to keep them happy. If we do well in the cups and in the league I think most will get enough games eventually to keep them happy , the ones that don't will no doubt be the ones that that moan but also they will be the ones we are more likely to want to sell next summer anyway. I think the problems will be much bigger if we struggle in the league early on and/or crash out of the cups early doors.

I think we may be surprised by how few games some of our young stars ( Markovic, Can, Manquillo maybe even Moreno and Sakho ) get early in the season.