Mick, you go from a great opening post to this silliness and turn a good discussion about this years expectations into a Brendan vs Jürgen debate yet again. Anyway just for you I'll show you where you're wrong:
I get you mate, believe me I 100% get you. Were we not operating double standards here, the self same people who hounded the previous manager out of his job ought to be well and truly on the hounding trail by the seasons end if we didn't get fourth or a cup.
Wrong Mick, the self-same people who 'hounded' the previous manager out did so after he showed, quite clearly, that he had lost control of all transfer dealings and the football being played had devolved from scintillating to turgid. He'd shown the exact opposite of progress and by the end you, yourself (contrary to your post) said it was time for him to leave.
See much ike yourself I wasn't overly surprised that when we replaced Luis Suarez and a fit Daniel Sturridge with Ricky Lambert and Mario Ballotelli things went a bit pear shaped.
Here's where you struggle to see the reasoning behind why people could no longer support the manager because as much as the poor signings were an excuse for him, he was also culpable for them (something you've always professed to lay at a manager's feet, or are we now changing from that too?). If you go back to even after the first summer you'll see some of us picked up on this problem and were 'banging the drum' about Rodgers getting full control of the transfer committee or it would be his end. Now let's put this in perspective, when he took over he had the likes of Gerrard, Suarez, Sterling, Reina, Kuyt, Agger, Carragher etc, in his team, who were the biggest stars when he left? He turned a decent squad, one capable of challenging for the title, one that had reached two finals the year before he came in and actually delivered silverware into one where the biggest stars where really hard to identify.
So that transfer policy had to change Mick and Brendan had proven, quite conclusively, either he was part of the problem or he couldn't fix the problem, that is an absolute fact.
o to me this manager has not one huge task, but two. He has to get us competitive/winning trophies etc, but he also has to change the culture of "buy them cheap sell them dear" which the transfer committee and owners love.
What like keeping hold of Coutinho you mean, even when Barca come calling. Yeah we've done that. Also we've clearly only gone after players the manager wants, another clear improvement in the way that transfers are being handled now, another reason why Jürgen is proving to be the right man because as many of us said before he arrived he wouldn't stand for a transfer committee run like a shambles the way Rodgers would.
Once he gets his players in (namely VVD and Keita) THEN I'll be saying "come on now big fella, time to see some progress" but until then (probably next season I should think) I can wait another year. To my mind it's not his fault that he didn't get his main two targets, and just because others let themselves down in previous years calling for managers heads in similar circumstances, I'm not about to follow suit.
Total bullshit, similar circumstances and honestly pathetic of you to try and paint them the same Mick.
Differences:
Transfer committee now acting with the manager.
Progress being shown on the field.
Quality of the squad improving.
Style of football identifiable and enjoyable to watch.
Clear vision and direction in all parts of the club.
How you attempt to call that similar to the sh*t show Brendan left us with is laughable, and the attempt to rewrite history really does show how far you'll go to bend the truth.
Just a select few from the squad Brendan inherited:
Suarez
Bellamy Kuyt
Allen Gerrard
Lucas
Enrique Agger Carragher Johnson
Reina
Subs: Jones, Coates, Skrtel, Suso, Sterling, Henderson, Downing, Rodriguez, Carroll
Now go and compare it to the one he left Jürgen and realise how these similarities couldn't possibly be more different.