Unsurprisingly mate I don't agree with any of what you say really. Neither do I agree with "excuses" being thrown in. I'll deal with that in a sec', but first of all the "contradictions" and "confusion".
Well I can only elaborate and demonstrate where I got my interpretation from Mick, if you choose not to agree with it then I've no worries at all. At least you present your side of the argument so I can at least see where you're coming from.
Like I said though I think you're quick to make excuses for some clear contradictions and confusion.
"After the weekend the focus was not to dwell on it" but to "learn from our mistakes"
Of course you agree with both statements because taken in isolation they're just cliches but when observed over a period of time they don't hold true. Perhaps a more accurate assessment should be we need to learn from our mistakes much quicker than we are doing and in order to learn from our mistakes we do need to understand what we've done wrong which does indeed need some level of focus.
As for "losing can be the making of you" and "we've lost more than we like", lets look at that. The second bit surely nobody can argue with, because we have. The other part though is an attempt to see some positive in a pretty bleak situation, and to an extent I agree with him. Losing ought to hurt, a lot, and should make your desire to avoid it happening again even greater. I don't think there's too much to see here really, this is probably just another attempt to find an issue in something harmless mate if I'm honest.
You see the contradiction here is that if losing was indeed the making of us, we'd have been made by now. We most certainly wouldn't have lost 4 in a row. So losing isn't the making of this group, no amount of losing is going to make things better it's the drawing and the winning that will indeed make us, the losing will simply break us.
"we've lost more than we'd like" is the true part of the statement and yes we can all agree with that.
The excuses I was referring to were from you Mick, not Brendan.
What is abundantly clear to me is that Brendan is struggling to adapt to the pressures of managing a team who are struggling. His constant calls for more coaching time, as if this was a shock to him, suggest the stress of things are indeed affecting him a lot more than are currently showing. The same can be interpreted with his suggestions that there needs to be less time on psychology and more time on physical training, he understands that if he doesn't get the results now it's his job on the line. Personally I think it's his lack of experience that is shining through at the moment and it's harsh place to learn under all the pressure and spotlights but that's essentially what he signed up for and what enjoyed so much last season.
I also understand that you're going to make excuses for him Mick and we're never likely to agree, I've no problem with that.
Why don't I want to get rid then (or criticise his choice of breakfast cereal if I haven't got the bollocks to admit it)? Because I've seen what a great job he CAN do, I can remember six months ago. I also remember that in the two and a half seasons he's been here we've been a really good side for 70% of that. I think we will be again under him, AND I don't think you should change a manager mid season OR give the w@nkers in the press any ammunition.
I've also seen what he CAN do at the start of his tenure with us (before Sturridge and Coutinho) and what he CAN do at the start of this season. One season with all circumstances aligning in our favour doesn't give me total and unequivocol knowledge that he CAN produce that consistently. I have also seen what he CAN do with our defence over his entire time with us. Added to that what he CAN do under the restrictions of FSG in the transfer market. So I CAN and do have doubts.
As for changing manager mid-season, you change when circumstances suit you best, whether that's mid/start/end/certainly no consideration should be made for the manager you've already deemed not up to the task. At the moment I don't think Brendan should be under threat for losing his job but I believe he is, as I've stated before I think should he lose CL qualification FSG may well pull the trigger. Would I, no, would 80% of this forum, no, but do they really care what we think, no.