I think it's unfair to compare our current level with last year level, considering the number of new players we field.
We know Rodgers tactical approach isn't simple and it took 6 or 7 months when he arrived to start to get regular results, that even with Suarez. If our current team can take only 2 or 3 months to start rolling it should be labelled a success even if we get some more results like this one on our way. It's far too early for me to label our recruitment a failure.
A lot like in early Rodgers days we did dominate possession (62%) but failed to translate it into clear cut chances and goals. It's a question of movements in the final third, which are either too predictible by opposition, or not understood by our own players.
I think it's the issue more than our defense (we know Rodgers has never been about getting many clean sheats but scoring more than the opposition) even if of course having kept Mignollet as number one goalkeeper can be questionned, as even in our best spell last year his distribution and skill out of reflex shot stopping on the line looked very limited (I hope we get Valdes to at least provide him some competition).
Our new defenders pair on the other hand (Lovren and Sakho) don't look weaker than what we had in the last 5 years (complaining about the sale of Agger look a bit ridiculous for me... do you think he would be playing for Brondby if he still had the level to be a starter in a major league ?). It's just a question for them to get used to play together and stop making 2 or 3 critical mistakes in the middle of globally good games. And our wing backs look already as good or better than any one we fielded since Benitez era or so.
So I'll stay positive for the moment and try not to judge the team and manager before a dozen of games are played.
« Last Edit: Sep 21, 2014 11:36:58 am by TonioLerouge »
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