Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool -> Celtic -> Leicester)

Shame he didn't have 100 odd million to spend this summer or we could have been a real force and built on last season....

Oh, wait.

Got his substitutions all F***ing wrong tonight.

We need goals, so he brings off a forward for a midfielder. Brings off our best, and most influential, player of the night.

Just bad tactical decisions from the boss tonight.

Absolutely, being beaten by the class that is Real Madrid, is no shame and I will back BR all the way.

However, what will put him under pressure from fans is the performances against Basel and Ludogorets. They were simply awful.

And let's not forget, we have been outplayed by West Ham, Villa, QPR, Man City and equalled by Everton, Middlesbrough and West Brom.
It's results and performances like those that will ultimately be the downfall of Rodgers if he cannot sort our defence out.

It is when you consider the manner of the beating. The mighty Real only managed to beat Ludo 2-1. Ludo being first timers to the competition and given great credit to themselves. Yeah, Real smashed 5 past Basel but that was at the Bernabéu and Basel are more likely to give a better account of themselves when at home. Can you imagine what they're going to do to us when our keystone kops visit?

Got his substitutions all f**king wrong tonight.

We need goals, so he brings off a forward for a midfielder. Brings off our best, and most influential, player of the night.

Just bad tactical decisions from the boss tonight.

I honestly think he'd accepted defeat at that point (Coutinho).

People get carried away.. They shouldn't judge him to that standard last year but he shouldn't be written off by the start this year either.

I'm not sure what people want in all honesty? Would fans genuinely want him gone? Seriously? Bring utterly honest how many would prefer Rafa or A.N.other here instead? I'd be interested

I think calling for his head is a bit premature to be honest, it's silly at this time. However, if we end up winning nothing this season and we don't cement our place in the top 4 after spending the odd 100m in the summer then questions must be asked, and he should be judged the same way Kenny Dalglish was, then it's also fair to assume that he is completely out of his depth and another average manager who had the help of the 3rd best player in the world last season to get us to 2nd place and inches from the title.

But that's too early to judge and I prefer to wait till May

Shame he didn't have 100 odd million to spend this summer or we could have been a real force and built on last season....

Oh, wait.

 

Got his substitutions all f**king wrong tonight.

We need goals, so he brings off a forward for a midfielder. Brings off our best, and most influential, player of the night.

Just bad tactical decisions from the boss tonight.

Disagree actually.

Think it was right to take Balotelli off.  Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling played more effectively as a 3 than two good players supporting a lazy c**t.

As for taking Henderson/Coutinho off - the game was gone - no way were we scoring 3 goals tonight - made sense to look ahead to the Hull game.

I think calling for his head is a bit premature to be honest, it's silly at this time. However, if we end up winning nothing this season and we don't cement our place in the top 4 after spending the odd 100m in the summer then questions must be asked, and he should be judged the same way Kenny Dalglish was,

Agree.  Nobody should be talking about him going.  But certainly you can't say our recruitment over the past 2 years has been particularly good - something has gone wrong and somebody in the structure should be held accountable.

I think calling for his head is a bit premature to be honest, it's silly at this time. However, if we end up winning nothing this season and we don't cement our place in the top 4 after spending the odd 100m in the summer then questions must be asked, and he should be judged the same way Kenny Dalglish was, then it's also fair to assume that he is completely out of his depth and another average manager who had the help of the 3rd best player in the world last season to get us to 2nd place and inches from the title.

But that's too early to judge and I prefer to wait till May

Rodger's signings this year shouldnt be judged on this year alone - many are young so its an investment on the future more than anything. Let's remember our squad is very young. But I can't accept young players being brought in place of say a prospect from the youth squad - I mean, I will be disappointed if someone like Ibe leaves.

But on a completely different note, Rodger's should also be judged on the youth system. If his legacy is leaving a great youth setup, that would be great. But at the moment, none of us have no idea how that will work out.

I am desperate to see us have a great youth system, but looking at our standings in all the age category leagues, I'm very worried that its the same old, same old.

I'm more worried about the state of the youth system as long as it continues to produce absolutely nobody. Flangan looks a treat at the moment, but the others are just 'prospects'. It's imperative that Rodgers gives lads like Rossiter and co a chance over current failing players at the moment (e.g. Lucas, Skrtel, Balotelli). But how good are they I wonder?

For all the great players we've produced, I think it's the greatest pain for me as a supporter to see our youth system being futile. Our negligence towards it has been upsetting. It's imperative that we build a great foundation for this club to succeed with this. I dream of us having a system like Ajax or Barca with players trademarked as 'Made In Liverpool'.

That to me is the ultimate dream as a fan. But I am very worried about the state of it though. Rafa tried to change things, but with no luck. Likewise, Rodgers has changed things, but to what extent will that produce great players? No manager has a legacy of a good bunch of homegrown talent since really Roy Evans, a legacy that perhaps owes as much to the previous regimes workings. The longer it goes on, the less likely it seems for any manager to do it.

How on earth do we solve this major problem? I think if the fans give it serious thought, then I hope it will pressurise the club into doing something about it.

Managers are judged on trophies of course, but shouldn't be restricted to just that. I pray to god that Rodgers sorts out the youth system. How? That's where I'm stumped to be honest.

Disagree actually.

Think it was right to take Balotelli off.  Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling played more effectively as a 3 than two good players supporting a lazy c**t.

As for taking Henderson/Coutinho off - the game was gone - no way were we scoring 3 goals tonight - made sense to look ahead to the Hull game.

I agree bringing Balotelli off was right, I just thought it was wrong to swap him for Lallana. At half time, Lambert should of been thrown out. (maybe Lallana for Allen/Henderson/Gerrard as well)

But bringing Coutinho off was strange to say the least. If it was looking ahead to Hull, surely bringing Sterling off (our most important player and the fella "in need of a rest" and felling "tired" at times this season) was the logical solution?

I just found his subs tonight poor.

Rodger's signings this year shouldnt be judged on this year alone

Should we judge last years then?

Luis Alberto
Iago Aspas
Tiago Ilori
Kolo Toure
Simon Mignolet
Mamadou Sakho
Aly Cissokho
Victor Moses

Should we judge last years then?

Luis Alberto
Iago Aspas
Tiago Ilori
Kolo Toure
Simon Mignolet
Mamadou Sakho
Aly Cissokho
Victor Moses

Call me an optimist, but I think we are yet to see the best of Sakho and Illori of course. Although some like Alberto are mind boggling. Some were more convenience than anything (who, as a matter of fact, turned to be an inconvenience) such as the loanees and I still think Toure's contribution at the start of the season was decent which helped us to 9 points in 3 games.

But I don't know what happened there. If FSG bring in a technical director, then that will be confirmation that Rodgers is culpable, but I still don't know what this 'committee' thing is up to. Because if you think Rodgers is useless, the whole damn lot of them are pretty useless at it too.

But like I said, I'd rather see us produce our own players rather than import others. I'd be more disappointed if Rodgers regime doesn't produce homegrown talent rather than the duds we've bought.

Call me an optimist, but I think we are yet to see the best of Sakho and Illori of course.

Wasn't disagreeing with you.  I think Sakho is our best centre-back - despite how 'uncool' that may be.  Six of the eight are definite shites though.

Should we judge last years then?

Luis Alberto
Iago Aspas
Tiago Ilori
Kolo Toure
Simon Mignolet
Mamadou Sakho
Aly Cissokho
Victor Moses

Then you can look back a little further with Borini and Assaidi. Simply put, it's a shambles. 

Disagree actually.

Think it was right to take Balotelli off.  Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling played more effectively as a 3 than two good players supporting a lazy c**t.

As for taking Henderson/Coutinho off - the game was gone - no way were we scoring 3 goals tonight - made sense to look ahead to the Hull game.


Agree.  Nobody should be talking about him going.  But certainly you can't say our recruitment over the past 2 years has been particularly good - something has gone wrong and somebody in the structure should be held accountable.

Isn't that Brendan himself then? He's said numerous times that no player comes into the club without his say so. If he doesn't want the player then he won't be signed. Going off his own words it's him who should be held accountable.

Sacking is 100% not the solution because by and large he is a very good manager/coach. I'm not sure what can be done because let's face it, it's not just him that has wasted money at the club as Dalglish/Comolli did the exact same thing.

One thing I completely disagreed with Brendan on this summer is the amount of individuals that got brought in to fill out the squad. 2-3 top quality additions should have been made in the summer prior to the 2013/14 season but instead it got spread amongst 6-7 'squad players'. The summer just gone, the same thing again - 3-4 (the latter at the most) top quality players should have been signed to improve the team; instead, it was spent on EIGHT players. Some of those we don't have the time to allow them to settle in for a year or two, they have to hit the ground running or we could find ourselves with no Champions League again next season.

Out of the players he has signed, Borini (never in the team), Mignolet (calamity James all over again), Assaidi (on loan at Stoke), Sakho (Bambi on ice), Alberto (on loan at Malaga?), Aspas (on loan at Sevilla), Balotelli (laziest idiot I've ever seen play football), Ilori (on loan at Bordeaux), Markovic (going to need quite a bit of time to adapt), Lambert (not good enough frankly), Lovren (no improvement on Agger who was sold for 1/7 that he cost us) etc. etc. Something needs to change in the hierarchy to stop this happening every summer. I'd much prefer to have 6-7 top quality players out of those windows than most of the average players we have signed.

Wasn't disagreeing with you.  I think Sakho is our best centre-back - despite how 'uncool' that may be.  Six of the eight are definite shites though.

Though the jury is still out on Mignolet - he has made mistakes, but if there's no communication and no trust amongst defenders, that isn't going to translate well to the keeper in fairness.

Interesting that when our defence weakened, Reina's performances weakened severely. I still think the defence has a part to play in the keepers confidence, but also coach John Achterberg must be taken to account. The introduction of him as goalkeeping coach saw only a decline in Reina, and no improvement with Mignolet at the moment either. Worrying

I'd be interested to see how Mignolet would do under a quality defence.

Wasn't disagreeing with you.  I think Sakho is our best centre-back - despite how 'uncool' that may be.  Six of the eight are definite shites though.

I agree with you ....Sakho is out best defender. Now I haven't got stats to prove it but I'm sure our record this season defensively has been better when he's been in the side. Has to be doesn't it?

Surely no1 is calling for his head, as some of the posts have suggested? Seriously?

Im happy to see him as LFC manager for a VERY long time, BUT this defense will be the undoing of him if he does not sort it.

Just bring in a defensive coach. It was fine when we were scoring for fun. Now that's gone we need a solid team from back to front.

A quarter of the way into his 3rd season and our defence is worse than it was before he came here. Studge getting injured hasn't helped him but not finding an adequate replacement for Suarez is criminal. Balo was a last week second choice signing behind Remy after 7 weeks of opportunities to do something about it.

He's spent £115m on players and our defence is worse than it has been for a long time.

Big season for the Gaffer; starts with sorting that defence out.

IMO, its not just about how much money a club has to spend, it's who they can attract to their club. Under BR we haven't been able to attract any big names, and that also includes Mario Ballotelli he has made his name through sulking around on and off the pitch and not what he does with a ball on the pitch, hence why we got him and at the price! I always believed once we got into the Champions League we had every chance of bringing in some big names and quality players.

Under Rafa we attracted, Xabi Alonso, Mascherano, Luis Garcia, Reina, Torres and brought on players like Sami Hypia and Jamie Carragher, and getting the best out of Fowler. Rafa steered us to two champions league finals, one victory and how we played with passion to pull back from three half time goals! We played out our best FA cup final come back against West Ham, beat Real Madrid 4-0 and UTD 1-4 away! We missed out in the league title by 4 points and he steered us to 3rd and 4th...

Jose Mourinho has proved being a big name manager attracts big name players, Van Gaal has proved this also this season with UTD attracting the likes of Falcao and De Maria and so on without being in the Champions
League!

So it's not only bad decisions made by BR he won't attract the big names to our club. Sorry to put a downer on our manager and would like to stick by him but I really don't see him being part of any future success.

Under Rafa we played til the bitter end pulling back late goals in important games, Fergie did this countless times with UTD. Under BR we concede countless late goals!! This says somethng about how he is stearing us.

Rodgers deserves next season even if he finishes outside the top four because he nearly pulled off a miracle last season and won 11 games in a row at the end. That was some achievement and showed the potential to be a very good manager. True, it relied heavily on Suarez and Sturridge pulling him out of the sh*t on more than a few occasions because even last season we defended like clowns.

His inability to organize a defence to consistently get clean sheets is the massive problem with him but his record and choice of player in the transfer market is also weak. 

If Ancelotti left Madrid and wanted to come to Liverpool I'd get rid of Rodgers. He'll never have the knowledge and trophies Carlo Paisley  has. But I doubt FSG would pay Carlo's wages anyway.

I wonder if his fame wasn't just luck at Swansea he took over a good team from Martinez that was already playing attractive football before he arrived before that their was Reading when he took a decent reading team from Coppel and proceeded to end up in trouble flirting with the bottom 4 before he was sacked so looking at his CV it's not that good and looking at Swansea today they are in my opinion a better team now than Rogers has gone.

I think last season was down to having Suarez having an outstanding season and now that Rogers having made a pigs ear of wasting a lot of money on a future that may never arrive has a defence that cannot defend a midfield with no leaders and an attack that has lost its way and what's worse is we may never have an amount of money like a 100mill to spend again.

It's all well and good sticking young players into a winning team but do it when the team struggles week on week and you may set them back and could destroy their confidence for years looking at the last window we bought mostly youth when in truth we should have like a lot of you have already mentioned bought quality over quantity, Rogers keeps saying we will get better and of course he's right because if we got any worse we would end up with a relegation scrap and as it is he shall be judged on the season in total like Kenny was and the way it's heading unless he does something in the next window I don't see him here next season. 100mill wow.

Rodgers is being slaughtered left right and centre by the fans.
I never wanted him. And to be honest, even if he won us the league, I'd be thinking "wish Rafa was still here".

But this isn't his fault. You can't make a silk purse out of  sow's ear. YES  we should't have been so dire this season.
But he's restricted in who we can bring in. The so called "transfer committee" is strangling him.

However, I have no sympathy for him. Is he a careerist or a fans manager ie a company man or a FOOTBALL CLUB manager?

I know what he was when he joined. So its up to him to speak up.

A quarter of the way into his 3rd season and our defence is worse than it was before he came here.

He's spent £115m on players and our defence is worse than it has been for a long time.

Big season for the Gaffer; starts with sorting that defence out.

Good Post Rush  +1

I'm starting to realise just how one dimensional our manager is. The problem with our style is that it can work against teams with less fire power than us, but when we are faced against a better version of us (which Madrid were), we get absolutely spanked. However, we didn't have to lose in the manner we did last night. Our game tactics should have been to get in their faces and rough them up a bit. I have never seen Ronaldo and co with so much time and space on the ball.

Benitez would have made us compete with Madrid last night, regardless of players available. He would have played a 4-2-3-1 with Can and Lucas in the deeper positions, with Gerrard, Coutinho and Sterling supporting Rickie Lambert.

Rodgers needs the players to get the results, whereas Benitez needed the right strategy. We didn't fluke wins against far superior teams under Benitez over the last decade. That was all down to his tactical know how - something Rodgers currently seems to lack.

I am seeing a lot of naivety in Rodgers game. I could ask why he asked his Liverpool side to push forward against Chelsea in the 46th minute just on the verge of half time. That cost us the title.

And what the F**k did he see in Balotelli. I am pleased that he's starting to see through the Balotelli hype now. The sooner we get rid of him, the better. Awful player with a terrible attitude.

I want Rodgers to learn from this summer and this season. Transfers need to improve, strategy against bigger teams needs to be adapted, and the defence and GK positions need serious addressing.