Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool -> Celtic -> Leicester)

Is Brendan really clueless? Did we just fluke 2nd last season?

We've got to remember, no matter what manager takes charge of our current team right now, without Sturridge in the team, we seriously lack that dynamism up top. Balotelli just doesn't offer that to us. When Sterling or Coutinho receive the ball, they have no options ahead of them. They have no players making runs between the lines. They have no players trying to stretch the defense.

If a fully fit Sturridge and Suarez were to walk back into this team, we'd once again be destroying teams.

Can we blame the manager? Yes. His transfers were appalling this summer. That said, how much of that was influenced by the owners? We'll never know.

Not sure whether to back or support Rodgers, but one thing for sure - he didn't fluke 2nd position last season. Either J Henry backs Rodgers and gets him exactly who he wants in the transfer window, or he sacks him because being able to meet J Henry's criteria in the market clearly isn't good enough.

I would agree up to a point mate but lets remember he took this job with full knowledge of the processes involved in buying players and the need to reduce wages.
Knowing the wage structure and transfer policy he would have known full well that he would struggle to get that calibre of player.
he cant complain because he is part of the problem

I agree, Brendan made a devils deal just to get the job,  I suppose it was too good of an opportunity to turn down at the stage of his career he was at, but I would be inclined to believe he would have been made to under the impression that when we started to bring the money in, and progress in the league,  that the owners would maybe want to see that progression continue or even grow.

I remember thinking towards the end of Rafa's time here,  that he'd took us as far as he could and it was time to bring in a new man with fresh ideas. I realise now that I was maybe a little bit quick on the trigger, and maybe given time,  he could have turned things around. I feel the same way about Bringing,  time is needed.

The thing is, I'm more concerned as to where the next Gerrard or the next Carragher is going to come from.

I realise there are a lot of potential candidates for the future - I pray that the likes of Rossiter and co will be captaining the side in years to come, but it's also about the desire and willingness to play for Liverpool FC.

Local lads like Gerrard and Carragher were primed from a very early age to play for this club - it was a dream. It's not a dream of many of the imported youngsters to play for Liverpool, they haven't grown up with the culture and family and community ties with the club, therefore there's no attachment, and with that comes that little less motivation that makes all the difference.

If it weren't for local lads like Carra and Gerrard and their blood, guts and determination that local lads have, we wouldn't have won the trophies under Benitez and Houllier. If we played these competitions with just imported products that lack the mentality - we wouldn't have won a thing. Sadly, Gerrard is over the hill and cannot be relied upon but at their peak, the Scouse mentality that pervaded a team full of young whippersnappers from Merseyside really gave us an edge.

One thing for sure is local lads give us a backbone and strength in mentality that is unseen in teams built on imports. Heck, the team at the minute are striving for the guts and determination of Flanagan.

And that's why Brendan has brought back Steve Highway to work with the younger kids and why there is now an emphasis on recruiting from the local area.  For years we've lagged behind the Bitters in this area and a big reason for that was there was little or no progression through to the seniors.  It's now being addressed but as I said it's going to take years before those 5 and 6 year old locals become first team stars.  For now we have enough to make the breakthrough in the next few years as very few of the current u18's have been "bought" in.

This was our starting 11 from the EUFA Youth League match against Madrid last week.  All of them are u19's and only 3 of them were "bought" in at u15's, two from the Republic of Ireland and one from Birmingham.  I'd say that the majority of that squad have Liverpool in their blood as most of them have been here going on 10 years.

Fulton, Burnley u10
Whelan, Chester u9
Maguire, Manchester u9
Cleary, Dublin u15
Brewitt, Liverpool u9
Rossiter, Liverpool u6
Brannagan, Manchester u8
Wilson, Wrexham u6
Sinclair, Birmingham u15
Kent, Oldham u9
O’Hanlon, Rep of Ireland u15

As an aside, our great teams of the 70's and 80's were made up predominently of Scots, Irish, Welsh and Geordies.  Yes there were a few locals but hardly as you described "the Scouse mentality that pervaded a team full of young whippersnappers from Merseyside really gave us an edge."

And that's why Brendan has brought back Steve Highway to work with the younger kids and why there is now an emphasis on recruiting from the local area.  For years we've lagged behind the Bitters in this area and a big reason for that was there was little or no progression through to the seniors.  It's now being addressed but as I said it's going to take years before those 5 and 6 year old locals become first team stars.  For now we have enough to make the breakthrough in the next few years as very few of the current u18's have been "bought" in.

This was our starting 11 from the EUFA Youth League match against Madrid last week.  All of them are u19's and only 3 of them were "bought" in at u15's, two from the Republic of Ireland and one from Birmingham.  I'd say that the majority of that squad have Liverpool in their blood as most of them have been here going on 10 years.

Fulton, Burnley u10
Whelan, Chester u9
Maguire, Manchester u9
Cleary, Dublin u15
Brewitt, Liverpool u9
Rossiter, Liverpool u6
Brannagan, Manchester u8
Wilson, Wrexham u6
Sinclair, Birmingham u15
Kent, Oldham u9
O’Hanlon, Rep of Ireland u15

As an aside, our great teams of the 70's and 80's were made up predominently of Scots, Irish, Welsh and Geordies.  Yes there were a few locals but hardly as you described "the Scouse mentality that pervaded a team full of young whippersnappers from Merseyside really gave us an edge."

I mentioned in the Raheem thread that this team is crying out for anew Souness to galvanise everyone together.
when Raheem took the elbow to his face we should have been all over Ramirez like a rash.
Our players need to get nasty.

Can we blame the manager? Yes. His transfers were appalling this summer. That said, how much of that was influenced by the owners? We'll never know.

Not sure all were appalling. But agree with the next bit. Some comments from SG recently seemed to say BR would've liked a Costa, a Cesc - but that wasn't going to happen unfortunately. What does that mean? To me it says BR has been limited by transfer fee. And possibly age of signings. Maybe other stuff. But basically sounds like BR was/is being restricted in some ways by FSG on transfers.

Not sure all were appalling. But agree with the next bit. Some comments from SG recently seemed to say BR would've liked a Costa, a Cesc - but that wasn't going to happen unfortunately. What does that mean? To me it says BR has been limited by transfer fee. And possibly age of signings. Maybe other stuff. But basically sounds like BR was/is being restricted in some ways by FSG on transfers.

I thought it is well established by now that FSG have a stringent model of buying young players with high market value potential. Therefore Rodgers has flexibility to a degree in spending high for young potential (Markovic, Can, Origi, Moreno, Sakho). But any player in a particular age bracket (over 25) there appear to be budget limitations. So we won't be spending £30 plus million on any established players. FSG would deem this too high risk. So Rodgers hands are tied to an extent in the players he can sign. Which is why he needs to make wiser decisions. To be fair I think he wanted Remy over Balotelli but the owners ruled out the purchase over the health risk attached. But it's hard to see us ever signing a Costa or Fabregas under FSG.

As of tonight 11 games gone and sitting in 11th place.

Im sure you have a plan Brendan.
Obviously giving everyone else a false sense of security. Hare and tortoise stuff eh?

Sturridge?   
Good plan that but what happens if he gets injured again?

Five points off a relegation place at the mo.

There is being cool ..... but this is a bit too cool for school  BR.

Thanks for the PM Luke.
Different bait ....

Always knew there were a few architects on sh*t patrol behind your naff posts.

Run along, PM each other.... Girls....

Always knew there were a few architects on sh*t patrol behind your naff posts.

Run along, PM each other.... Girls....

Time of the month Beerbelly ?

Always knew there were a few architects on sh*t patrol behind your naff posts.

Run along, PM each other.... Girls....

Not too sure Luke is the type to be in any little clique but there are a few little Karma crews on here for sure mate.

Not too sure Luke is the type to be in any little clique but there are a few little Karma crews on here for sure mate.

Correct Dave.

Not in a clique and the conspiracy theory 'Belly has cooked up just makes me thankful I've still got him on ignore, utter tripe.

Time of the month Beerbelly ?

More like constant..

Correct Dave.

Not in a clique and the conspiracy theory 'Belly has cooked up just makes me thankful I've still got him on ignore, utter tripe.

 

but there are a few little Karma crews on here for sure mate.

Well that's obvious from the fact you've nearly got 500 plusses and you've never written anything of any worth

Quite. An out and out lie isn't it Georgered?

Continued lessons not learned in tactics and team selection not helped by the subs he made on Saturday.

Personally, makes the Madrid selection issue even more damning for the boss.

On a side note, the booing on Saturday was a disgrace. Couldn't get a ticket for the game and this just confirmed to me that we are generally now like every other fan base in the country. Very sad!

Quite. An out and out lie isn't it Georgered?

wot ? did someone mentioned me )

on another note, i dont get this thing with karma points, what is the point of hoping to receive those in an online community ? do you feel better about yourself if you have so many ? do you feel important on the forum, for me it's kinda pathetic having karma crews as someone said above, in what way does this make you a better person , fucks sake 

His interview confirms our season hinges on a fit Sturridge

F**k.

wot ? did someone mentioned me )

on another note, i dont get this thing with karma points, what is the point of hoping to receive those in an online community ? do you feel better about yourself if you have so many ? do you feel important on the forum, for me it's kinda pathetic having karma crews as someone said above, in what way does this make you a better person , fucks sake 

There are a number of things you will never 'get' about this forum.
Essentially that state of affairs is of no consequence whatever and affects nobody, very much a description of yourself coincidentally.

His interview confirms our season hinges on a fit Sturridge

F**k.

out of a possible 65(approx. since jan 13) league games he has played in 40. As good as he is and he is very very good he is injury prone.

out of a possible 65(approx. since jan 13) league games he has played in 40. As good as he is and he is very very good he is injury prone.

And we knew that coming into the summer.
The same summer we knew Suarez was leaving.

Remember when people said we should have just replaced Torres with Suarez?
Well this is what it would be like if we have replaced Torres with Carroll.

On one hand I can totally sympathise with Brendan as it is clear he wasn't able to bring in many players he has wanted during his time here. We wanted Micky, Costa and Willian here. We wanted Konoplyanka and Salah here. We wanted Alexis Sanchez here. These are top top players that would have made a difference here. Our owners needed to do more to support Brendan bring in the big names but they didn't.

On the other hand, Brendan has signed poorly even if some of the players were not his first choice. Are the scouts to blame? Or were these Brendan's second choice players anyway? And then we ignore his transfer making momentarily and focus on the tactics and decision making he is guilty of before and during a game. The midweek game imo was bigger than the Chelsea game. We already defeated ourselves against Madrid before the game even kicked off. To rub salt into the wounds of the fans and some of those players who did perform well against Madrid, we went back to playing complete rubbish like Lovren and Balotelli. These have been consistently our worst two players of the season. How are they automatic selections?

Brendan needs to go back to basics. He needs to evaluate the season up until now and consider his team selection based on form. He needs to put the price tag and profile of player aside, and just worry about who will have the greatest impact when they are on the pitch. Forget that Lovren cost £20m - he has been awful. Same with Markovic and Balotelli. Forget Steven Gerrard is the captain for a moment - what has he done for us this season? Or Jordan Henderson for that matter.

Right now only a handful of players would walk into a team selected by me: Toure, Moreno, Can, Coutinho, Sterling and Borini. Maybe Lallana too as he's shown glimpses of what he can do. The others, as far as I'm concerned, have been piss poor and deserve not to be representing the colours of this club.

On one hand I can totally sympathise with Brendan as it is clear he wasn't able to bring in many players he has wanted during his time here. We wanted Micky, Costa and Willian here. We wanted Konoplyanka and Salah here. We wanted Alexis Sanchez here. These are top top players that would have made a difference here. Our owners needed to do more to support Brendan bring in the big names but they didn't.

It's clear the club isn't offering the wages to entice established players to come to the club.
Look at Liverpool and Dortmund this season. Eventually the gambles on players stop paying off,
because every time you find a great player other clubs come in and take them putting you back
to square one.