Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool -> Celtic -> Leicester)

It's how Brendan likes his team to play.

It has us sitting top of the league with 2 left to play and if we adopted a more defensive style we could just as easy be sitting 6th or 7th right now.

I know what I prefer.

Baffled mate.

You just cannot please some people.

With 36 games played we are top of the league.  In May.  That hasn't happened since 1990.

That's 8,766 days

And in that time we've had to endure the disastrous reign of my favourite LFC captain in Souness
The inflated ego's of the Spice Boys
The false dawn, (10 games from greatness) and fall of Houllier
The -let's be completely honest here - mind boggling way Benitez approached league games
4-4-2 sh*te from that F***ing owl who's name I feel embarrassed is associated to my club
The return, and taaraa, of The King
Now the work in progress that is Rodgers.

And that's what it is, a work in progress. 

I hate to see what Rodgers can do with a big pot of money and players who want to be here because of Champions League football. 

I'm going to go all out and say the man has the makings of a FUTURE LEGEND at the club.  He's grown into a man that embraces our football clubs inner workings.  Admit's when he is wrong and is humble in victory.

It's traits like this, that makes him a likeable man.  That earns him respect from his peers.

Something that whiskey nosed arl'sh*te down the Lancs never received from any fan bar those in Salford red.

If we finish below City, then so be it. 

I'll hold my hands up and say they deserve it. 

What I will not do is blame our failure to win the league on every goal conceded, I'd rather than look forward to our bright future

I won't blame his tactics that has had us playing football that has had me proud to be a red.

KopiteLuke - No - your logic is all over the place I'm afraid mate.

Their plan was to sit deep and try and take advantage of a mistake, set piece or long shot then pull up the drawbridge. If they had scored the header that kallas had, for example, you would have been saying "we controlled the rest of the match - they were lucky etc etc"

On one hand you say it wouldn't have made any difference if we were deeper (less time to recover) but on the other hand hindsight makes it "obvious" we should have had a covering defender. Which is it?

Whichever, I don;t think it's disputable that throwing all our players into their half mde us vulnerable to a breakaway goal - in fact it happened twice in the same match! And if you look, gerrard had scoped out Lucas and Johnson to pass to immediately before receiving the ball from Sakho - our intention was to attack. Given that the only players in our half were Gerrard and the two centre-backs - virtually on the centre-line how much more gung ho could we have been?

And as you point out yourself, wining tis game didn't win us the league - it was a mistake to leave ourselves so vulnerable chasing the victory.

"On one hand you say it wouldn't have made any difference if we were deeper (less time to recover) but on the other hand hindsight makes it "obvious" we should have had a covering defender. Which is it?"

Both - Hindsight makes it obvious what would have corrected the problem, as would playing 9 defenders behind Gerrard in that situation. It wouldn't have made a difference if "we" were deeper because "we" would have set up without a covering defender and played Gerrard where he's played since he's been in that position. Therefore the mistake would have simply happened deeper and gifted Ba a simpler chance.

Whichever, I don;t think it's disputable that throwing all our players into their half mde us vulnerable to a breakaway goal - in fact it happened twice in the same match! And if you look, gerrard had scoped out Lucas and Johnson to pass to immediately before receiving the ball from Sakho - our intention was to attack. Given that the only players in our half were Gerrard and the two centre-backs - virtually on the centre-line how much more gung ho could we have been?

The second goal was a result of the desperation caused by the first and subsequent inability to score, they were not similar in any way shape or form yet you choose to band them together to try to prove a point. By the end of the match we were throwing caution to the wind and of course had to.

I'm struggling to understand why some think there's an issue with how BR set us up and/or with how we played.

He has never faltered from his philosophy of going for the win, and nor should he.
The players believe in it, the fans believe in it, the opposition are sh*t scared because they also believe in it.

We could point to any single match where we dropped points and say things should have been done differently, but the fact of the matter is that BR's way has us on top of the league with a couple of games left, and with a really good chance of winning the title.

Nope - wrong on both counts.

If we were deeper stevie almost always plays in front of the defenders besides which Mig would have been covering and the flanking defenders would have been closer to react.

Secondly - the goals were both similar in that we were vulnerable to the breakaway because all our players were pushed up and we lacked cover at the back. The difference is we HAD to do that at the end of the match because we were chasing a draw. We didn't HAVE to do that with a minute of the half to go and the score at 0-0. It was an unecessary risk we took and it backfired on us. Gerrard slips with 8 players in our half and it's much much less likely that Ba scores.

It wasn't the fact the player made the slip, it was us chasing a goal like Keegan or Wenger would have done. No chance that Rafa, Mourinho, Simeone or nearly every other successfl manager would be taking a risk like that. Brendan will definitely learn from this.

I'm struggling to understand why some think there's an issue with how BR set us up and/or with how we played.

He has never faltered from his philosophy of going for the win, and nor should he.
The players believe in it, the fans believe in it, the opposition are sh*t scared because they also believe in it.

We could point to any single match where we dropped points and say things should have been done differently, but the fact of the matter is that BR's way has us on top of the league with a couple of games left, and with a really good chance of winning the title.

*insert Keegan GIF here*

We had some good luck for our 11 game run and in the end everyone has a bad day ours was last Sunday. Our back four have not been settled this season I am sure next season we will not let in as many goals.Brendan has brought Anfield back to life why would anyone want to change that.

If we were deeper stevie almost always plays in front of the defenders besides which Mig would have been covering and the flanking defenders would have been closer to react.

No he doesn't and Mig never leaves his line, so unless you think our line should be playing inside our own 18 yard box I'm not sure how close you think Mig could have been to be "covering". The flanking defenders always push out wide in our system, the fact it happened on the halfway line gave them longer to react and still couldn't. The only way it would change the scenario is if they were deeper than Gerrard and unless you haven't watched our games recently they don't play like that when he comes deep! You didn't want a change in tactics you wanted a complete change in philosophy and that simply wont happen, so again you're beating Brendan with a stick just for the hell of it.

Secondly - the goals were both similar in that we were vulnerable to the breakaway because all our players were pushed up and we lacked cover at the back. The difference is we HAD to do that at the end of the match because we were chasing a draw. We didn't HAVE to do that with a minute of the half to go and the score at 0-0. It was an unecessary risk we took and it backfired on us. Gerrard slips with 8 players in our half and it's much much less likely that Ba scores.

Total contradiction, they didn't break on us in the first one, it was a one man mistake followed by a one man run and shot. That's not a break away, it's a slip, a mistake, a stroke of misfortune, something you cannot legislate for, something you shouldn't be beating the manager over and over again for!

It wasn't the fact the player made the slip, it was us chasing a goal like Keegan or Wenger would have done. No chance that Rafa, Mourinho, Simeone or nearly every other successfl manager would be taking a risk like that. Brendan will definitely learn from this.

Bullshit! Gerrard made mistakes playing for Rafa that resulted goals and that was playing from further up the pitch. Players make mistakes that results in a goal playing for all coaches. They happen, they are part of football and you just need to learn to deal with it. Mourinho and his bus still has his defenders on the ball at the back line, should one of them slip in a similar fashion to how Gerrard did then they will leave their keeper exposed to a one on one also. It just so happens that Brendan likes Gerrard to become the deepest player so that he can have the most time on the ball and punish the opposition most. If it wasn't Gerrard on the ball there in your deeper system it would have been one of our central defenders and had they slipped it would have been the same outcome.

It was a slip - plain and simple.

Why change a winning formula that has us top of the table with a 95% chance of winning the league?, I don't understand why we are letting one slip cloud judgement on the previous 10 game unbeaten run.

Bouncing back from Sundays disappointment will be the making of the Boss & how he sets his stall up & how the players respond.

Still ours to lose in my opinion.

*insert Keegan GIF here*

*insert head in arse*

oops, too late.

Why change a winning formula that has us top of the table with a 95% chance of winning the league?, I don't understand why we are letting one slip cloud judgement on the previous 10 game unbeaten run.

Bouncing back from Sundays disappointment will be the making of the Boss & how he sets his stall up & how the players respond.

Still ours to lose in my opinion.

It's any excuse for people to start F***ing whining again mate.

This particular whine states that BR should change the whole philosophy and ethos built up over his tenure just to emulate maureen.

Whatever, until we are mathematically out of it, I'm going to believe we will win it, and give BR the praise he is due.

2 games to go and it's possible we can win the league.

I never thought we'd be in this position and I doubt most on here did. To criticise BR for such an over-achievement is baffling.

Onwards and upwards

I see KennyIsKing/Carlos Qibal/Any other banned username he operates under has returned.

The sh*t that won't flush that fella.

Anyway, I assume Brendan's contract is already on the table. Remarkable season, whatever happens.

I'm struggling to understand why some think there's an issue with how BR set us up and/or with how we played.

He has never faltered from his philosophy of going for the win, and nor should he.
The players believe in it, the fans believe in it, the opposition are sh*t scared because they also believe in it.

We could point to any single match where we dropped points and say things should have been done differently, but the fact of the matter is that BR's way has us on top of the league with a couple of games left, and with a really good chance of winning the title.

amen to that comrade.

some of the negativity here is baffling.

Lets forward life say 20 years into the future and say we ultimately did not win the league but came in 2nd / 3rd

would a 20 year old in the future (he / she wasn't born to witness this season)  see this as a manager fk up because we only got 2nd / 3rd or would this young fan see how LFC has bounced by from missing out on CL for so long and was 7th! in the previous campaign to be in 2nd / 3rd.  I think this young fan would perceive this season as a huge success and be proud of the team's accomplishment.

if you look at it this way,  BR has done a darn fine job

Hollywood Balls? More like Load of Balls.

To people who think we should have gone for a draw against Chelski:

Consider this scenario that Everton goes ahead and beat City. With your logic, we must go to Selhurst Park playing for a draw. because if are not cautious enough, we might lose and title would be out of our hands again. Am I right?

Don't let one or two idiots drag the thread down. Pretty Much everyone on this board has been 100% behind Brendan since the Chelsea game and long may that continue.

Complete tosh I'm afraid - If Stevie played between the two centre backs even when we play deep he would be the central defender rather than the deep lying midfielder.

You're twisting yourself into all sorts of knots trying to justify why throwing our players into the opposition half would have no effect on our vulnerabililty to them scoring a breakaway goal. It's clearly nonsense.

Consider this scenario that Everton goes ahead and beat City. With your logic, we must go to Selhurst Park playing for a draw. because if are not cautious enough, we might lose and title would be out of our hands again. Am I right?

No - completely wrong.

If we take a point from that game we knock Chelsea out of the race and keep our fate in our hands. Even if City win their remaining games 10-0 it makes no difference if we beat Palace and Newcastle. If, on the other hand, we beat Chelsea it makes the Newcastle game easier - which is nice - but we still have to beat Palace.

Therefore, the Chelsea game is not a game we HAVE to win since we can't win the title - but it is one we CANNOT lose if we want to keep our destiny in our own hands. It was the most crucial point we have played for this season and that's why Rafa, or Mourinho or Ferguson would have benn happy with the point in that game. Playing for the win in such a crunch match is something Keegan or Wenger would have done. It was a mistake by the manager - you can relax, believe it or not he is human and it does happen. Luckily he is canny enough to learn from it.

Well, unlike a lot of people on this forum I have been 100% behind the manager since he was appointed, not just from the Chelsea game - doesn't mean he will get it right all the time though.

EDIT: In fact - here's a good example of some genius tactical insight - shame the support for the manager wasn't there when needed it rather than when we are two games from finishing the season and challenging for the title, eh?:

I honestly don't understand the side of the argument that tries to defend playing a system that isn't working and blaming the results on the quality of players.

Stoke play to a system that allows extremely poor standard of players to sit mid table. West Ham are doing the same this year and I'd bet they'll be fine because they're playing to their strengths.

How can continuing using the same system therefore maintaining the form we're in and blaming the quality of player be the right answer, it simply cannot. Therefore Brendan is rightly coming under fire for not adapting enough to suit the players at his disposal. I like Si and Daz believe there is a system available to get more out of our squad. I'm not going to nail my colours to the mast and suggest a system because frankly I don't need to, the quality of players should simply make that statement obvious.

Brendan adapted to 3 at the back against Everton because we were getting sh*t on from a great height, never seen us get battered like that in a long time. We escaped that half level, it was not good management we went 2 up against the run of play and it would of been football suicide to continue as we were. While I have patience with Brendan the lack of adaptability and ability to get the best out of the players you have at your disposal are really the key talents of a manager, if he fails on these counts then we're unlikely to be successful.

We don't have the players Barcelona have, we don't camp outside opponents boxes creating chance after chance, we simply have to cut our cloth accordingly and I believe a change of system, at least until January would be the right approach. You know and I do that when we line up against Fulham this Saturday they will employ the same tactics Villa did and every other team that comes to Anfield will until we adapt. Also trying to compare the last 6 months of a cup winning campaign with another final thrown in with the first 6 months of a new campaign isn't fair or balanced. Try comparing Kenny's first 6 months, the most worrying comparison is if you compare it to Roy's first 6 months for which he was sacked for.

Brendan has to show that he isn't so single-minded regarding this philosophy or we're basically on a little ego trip with him waiting for him to buy the correct pieces and if those pieces don't quite fit we change again. There simply has to be some change of thinking after 42 games not 17.

EDIT: In fact - here's a good example of some genius tactical insight:

December 2012! What the F**k kind of crazy trolling is that? Either you remembered that post or went looking for it, now that's hilarious.

On the subject of the post I still stand by everything I said. Thankfully Brendan has proven that he isn't stubborn in the slightest has had us changing system time and again this since then. As you'll probably no doubt note just recently I said it was one of my earliest worries with Brendan that he was too interested in his own ideology and that could have hurt the team, but again he's proven that not to be the case.

On the second part you've bolded, Brendan has adapted the system to suit the players now, so again my fears have fallen by the wayside.

The third part again reflects on the points above and again Brendan has proven both adaptable and able to get the best out of his players so your points, despite this epic find are what?

The final part is a conclusion summing up the parts above and again Brendan has quite clearly proven this is not an ego trip, he has changed his system to fit the players at his disposal and got the best out of them.

What you want is to him to abandon his whole philosophy about how the game should be played and I think that's harsh in the extreme when the reasoning of your post basically hangs on one incident that could have happened in any system on any day under any manager, which I've already explained to you.

It was a slip.

I remembered it because I recall thinking that we wouldn't achieve anything without sticking by the manager to enact a new philosophy = particularly in the difficult times - I'm happy to look through the rest of your post history if you want. I'm sure you're gratified he has finally come round to your way of thinking 

Point is - Brendan himself acknowledges he is not yet the finished article. I've got no doubt he will get there but he is right at the beginning of his career with us. As I said, every successful manager I can think of would not have set up like we did to throw all our players into the opposition half (apart from our backline virtually on the centre-half line) with a minute of the first half to go. Just like sending the keeper up for a corner it was a risk that might be appropriate in some circumstances - not this one. That's why I don't blame Stevie at all. Players make mistakes and - with Skrtel - Brendan has said he asked them to play that way and therefore takes responsibility. But that means actually acknowledging and being responsible for the error not ignoring it.

You will never see Mourinho, who is undeniably in the elite group of world managers, as acknowledged by Brendan, doing something like that. Even with his experience, his budget, his players and his record of winning every major honour, he set out to beat us by addressing our strengths as a team. We should have played him the same compliment.

A clean sheet from that game - against a team determined to stay in their own half - knocks Chelsea out and makes City's remaining games irrelevant as long as we beat Palace and Newcastle. Champions do what they need to to get the result.

you misunderstood my point. IF Everton win on Saturday, we would win the league gaining four points from our last two games. So technically we don't HAVE to beat Palace to be champions. It would be exactly the same situation against Chelsea. So make your stance clear here. would you like us to go for a draw on Monday if that happens?

I remembered it because I recall thinking that we wouldn't achieve anything without sticking by the manager to enact a new philosophy = particularly in the difficult times - I'm happy to look through the rest of your post history if you want. I'm sure you're gratified he has finally come round to your way of thinking 

Point is - Brendan himself acknowledges he is not yet the finished article. I've got no doubt he will get there but he is right at the beginning of his career with us. As I said, every successful manager I can think of would not have set up like we did to throw all our players into the opposition half (apart from our backline virtually on the centre-half line) with a minute of the first half to go. Just like sending the keeper up for a corner it was a risk that might be appropriate in some circumstances - not this one. That's why I don't blame Stevie at all. Players make mistakes and - with Skrtel - Brendan has said he asked them to play that way and therefore takes responsibility. But that means actually acknowledging and being responsible for the error not ignoring it.

You will never see Mourinho, who is undeniably in the elite group of world managers, as acknowledged by Brendan, doing something like that. Even with his experience, his budget, his players and his record of winning every major honour, he set out to beat us by addressing our strengths as a team. We should have played him the same compliment.

A clean sheet from that game - against a team determined to stay in their own half - knocks Chelsea out and makes City's remaining games irrelevant as long as we beat Palace and Newcastle. Champions do what they need to to get the result.

Firstly you're over egging the point of Chelsea wanting to stay in their own half or Ba could never have got on the end of the ball.

Secondly great memory you have there, forgive me if I'm slightly suspicious of it though.

Finally this argument is becoming tediously circular the points are very simple and not hard to follow:

a) The distance from goal is irrelevant as he was the last man. Either there was time to recover or there wasn't, the fact that he was further out actually gave MORE time and still he couldn't recover such was the slip. The only caveat on this is if he were within range for Mig to assist and seriously you can't be suggesting that we never push our back-line further than the 6 yard line.

b) The "split" of the defenders is irrelevant in this argument because in your scenario we would have been deeper = less time and only 2 defenders would have been there not 3 (if you count Gerrard as the 3rd CB which is what Brendan asks him to do and actually believes he could finish his career at CB).

c) The only way a change could have come about is if the defenders had played extremely narrow to the point that they'd almost be stood on top of each other. That is unrealistic and I don't see any side in the league play that way, not even the one managed by "one of the undeniable elite managers in world football. (*when in comfortable possession of the ball)

d) Or there was a defender behind Gerrard.... in which case he is no longer the last man and the argument becomes less based on the facts of the event and more on fantasy of which I'm not personally interested in discussing.

Conclusion: It was a slip!