Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool -> Celtic -> Leicester)

Boss might be on to something with this new formation. Just wish he'd have went to it a bit earlier in the season.

Give him credit though for finding a way to make us more solid.

Keeper issues are still going to cost us though I fear.

Boss might be on to something with this new formation. Just wish he'd have went to it a bit earlier in the season.

Give him credit though for finding a way to make us more solid.

Keeper issues are still going to cost us though I fear.

I think he bottled it early on, Lallana and markovic signed for a reason his arse went he tried playing it safe it backfired so he put his new signings including Sakho back in. That strikes me of a man who's job was on line and said F**k it, not of a football genius which is worrying.

That strikes me of a man who's job was on line and said F**k it, not of a football genius which is worrying.

Or, you could be wrong.

Brendans job was on the line, it probably still is for all I know. One of the reasons I like him so much though is that after his brief "boring" period where we conceded two goals in four games but barely made a chance of our own, he's come out punching. For what it's worth, in y view the performances which we are about to produce are precisely because we played with the likes of Rickie Lambert as our lone front man, precisely because we bored our way to a couple of nil-nils, it had to be done after the Palace debacle. 

From there though, who could have predicted that the boss would go with a 3-4-3, a genuine 3-4-3 at that? Who could have predicted that he'd start Markovic as his most defensive left sided player, that he'd go with Sterling as the centre forward, with BOTH Lallana and Coutinho in the same team? This is probably the most attacking team in whole of the Premiership on paper, attacking bordering on reckless and I admire the man for it. He could have cowered behind his defence and waited for the guillotine to drop, but he's said "f*** it" and come out all guns blazing.

Last season we re-wrote the rule book on how you approach things in the Premiership. People say our defence cost us the title, but that's bollocks in my view. Would we have won the league if we'd gone into every game with a Chelsea type approach? Would we bollocks. If Gerrard doesn't fall over we win the league (I'm not blaming him personally, it was a freak of fate which robbed us though, not the defence IMHO). But we re-wrote the rule book because we openly attacked teams and seemingly disregarded the consequences. "We'll score more than you" we said, and once Sturridge comes back if we keep playing like this we can do it again to the rest of this league. Until then, we can do it again to almost everyone in the league bar a couple.

Fair f***s to the boss though, if this were Mourinho or Van Gaal the press would be having a w@nk fest about his "tactical genius".

When your sails are burning .... you start the motors.

They'll save your arse .
They'll get you to where you want to be ... when you want to get there.


If you got a Plan B that is ?

The ship is turning however there are too many ****s who think the way to make progress is to set fire to the sails.

Perfect analogy of some of the haters on here.

Perfect analogy of some of the haters on here.

The ship is turning however there are too many ****s who think the way to make progress is to set fire to the sails.

So anyone who doesn't concur with your way of thinking regarding the manager this season is a '****' (whatever that is meant to be).

Legitimate concerns have been raised regarding the Boss this season, and some good counter points made. But one counter-point that keeps sticking in my throat is 'if Sturridge hadn't been injured we would be right up there', well he's a player who has always been injury prone and yet we didn't account for that in the summer, instead we signed Balotelli, a player whose style is so far removed from what you would consider Brendan's 'style' that it seems bizarre that we were even interested, let alone sign him. Other teams get injuries and they manage, we've been a team that rely on one or two star players for as long as I can remember and when we fail to win the league it's 'oh well we would have if Fowler/Owen/Torres/Gerrard/Sturridge hadn't been injured'.

Other clubs deal with it and don't make excuses, why do we always have to make excuses for f**king up? Learn from our mistakes and get some more quality depth in (as opposed to depth for the sake of depth) and players who are going to be a success, instead of these 'gambles' we seem to take.

Brendan earlier in the season said something along the lines of 'we've had to start again this season in our development', well again, whose fault is that? No-one made him (us) bring in all those new signings, we could have taken another approach and signed a few top class players. It's OUR choices that are impacting us, yet all I hear from the club is excuses about why things aren't as we all want them to be.

And finally, all this 'we've turned a corner' crap I've been reading due to our performance in the last 3 games, we have been humiliated by the mancs, beat Bournemouth (a good win IMO, but expected) and thrown it away against Arsenal. That isn't turning a corner to me. The same mistakes are still costing us that have been costing us for the last 2 years. We've spent a fortune on that defence and nothing has changed under Brendan, which leads me to think it's the system and I can't ever see us being defensively solid under Brendan and that's why I want him gone - not because of his teeth, or his bird or whatever the current favourite stick is to beat him with, but because I think we will always be nearly men if we concede goals at the rate we do, so why stick with it.

So anyone who doesn't concur with your way of thinking regarding the manager this season is a '****' (whatever that is meant to be).

Legitimate concerns have been raised regarding the Boss this season, and some good counter points made. But one counter-point that keeps sticking in my throat is 'if Sturridge hadn't been injured we would be right up there', well he's a player who has always been injury prone and yet we didn't account for that in the summer, instead we signed Balotelli, a player whose style is so far removed from what you would consider Brendan's 'style' that it seems bizarre that we were even interested, let alone sign him.
Other teams get injuries and they manage, we've been a team that rely on one or two star players for as long as I can remember and when we fail to win the league it's 'oh well we would have if Fowler/Owen/Torres/Gerrard/Sturridge hadn't been injured'.

Other clubs deal with it and don't make excuses, why do we always have to make excuses for f**king up?
Learn from our mistakes and get some more quality depth in (as opposed to depth for the sake of depth) and players who are going to be a success, instead of these 'gambles' we seem to take.

Brendan earlier in the season said something along the lines of 'we've had to start again this season in our development', well again, whose fault is that?
No-one made him (us) bring in all those new signings, we could have taken another approach and signed a few top class players. It's OUR choices that are impacting us, yet all I hear from the club is excuses about why things aren't as we all want them to be.

And finally, all this 'we've turned a corner' crap I've been reading due to our performance in the last 3 games, we have been humiliated by the mancs, beat Bournemouth (a good win IMO, but expected) and thrown it away against Arsenal.

That isn't turning a corner to me.

The same mistakes are still costing us that have been costing us for the last 2 years.

We've spent a fortune on that defence and nothing has changed under Brendan, which leads me to think it's the system and I can't ever see us being defensively solid under Brendan and that's why I want him gone - not because of his teeth, or his bird or whatever the current favourite stick is to beat him with, but because I think we will always be nearly men if we concede goals at the rate we do, so why stick with it.

Crackin Post   +1 .

Boss might be on to something with this new formation. Just wish he'd have went to it a bit earlier in the season.

Give him credit though for finding a way to make us more solid.

Keeper issues are still going to cost us though I fear.

More solid in what?

Give him credit though for finding a way to make us more solid.

How?! In the last two league games we have faced 18 shots (8 of which on target) and let in 5 goals that we gifted on a plate, whilst having 46 shots and scoring just two. That is shocking! All the while, in them two games we were made to look better than what we actually were too.

So anyone who doesn't concur with your way of thinking regarding the manager this season is a '****' (whatever that is meant to be).

Legitimate concerns have been raised regarding the Boss this season, and some good counter points made. But one counter-point that keeps sticking in my throat is 'if Sturridge hadn't been injured we would be right up there', well he's a player who has always been injury prone and yet we didn't account for that in the summer, instead we signed Balotelli, a player whose style is so far removed from what you would consider Brendan's 'style' that it seems bizarre that we were even interested, let alone sign him. Other teams get injuries and they manage, we've been a team that rely on one or two star players for as long as I can remember and when we fail to win the league it's 'oh well we would have if Fowler/Owen/Torres/Gerrard/Sturridge hadn't been injured'.

Other clubs deal with it and don't make excuses, why do we always have to make excuses for f**king up? Learn from our mistakes and get some more quality depth in (as opposed to depth for the sake of depth) and players who are going to be a success, instead of these 'gambles' we seem to take.

Brendan earlier in the season said something along the lines of 'we've had to start again this season in our development', well again, whose fault is that? No-one made him (us) bring in all those new signings, we could have taken another approach and signed a few top class players. It's OUR choices that are impacting us, yet all I hear from the club is excuses about why things aren't as we all want them to be.

And finally, all this 'we've turned a corner' crap I've been reading due to our performance in the last 3 games, we have been humiliated by the mancs, beat Bournemouth (a good win IMO, but expected) and thrown it away against Arsenal. That isn't turning a corner to me. The same mistakes are still costing us that have been costing us for the last 2 years. We've spent a fortune on that defence and nothing has changed under Brendan, which leads me to think it's the system and I can't ever see us being defensively solid under Brendan and that's why I want him gone - not because of his teeth, or his bird or whatever the current favourite stick is to beat him with, but because I think we will always be nearly men if we concede goals at the rate we do, so why stick with it.

I'd always look to the manager on his signings, failures and hits. Our club has set up something that is so muddy nobody knows for sure the involvement and extent others play in our signings.

I asked a question way back whether 'Rodgers was Balotelli's choice' in an early-ish interview he gave about the Italians transfer. Anyway, I know many like to "apportion" blame when we start losing so I'll let them carry out their speculative detective work on the hows and whys of blaming.

In the meantime, I'll stick by the manager and team and draw/clutch on any positives we have shown recently, that's what I do as a Red. I'm not sure we have 'turned a corner' yet, and suspect it could be a long curvature to navigate but if we come out of the Burnley, Swansea and Leicester fixtures with 9pts we could be on the straight for the new year. Now, even though you're not happy with some of the fundamentals displayed against the Mancs and Arsenal, the performances have been better and Stevie Wonder could see that. But as your mind has been made up and you want him gone, it appears nothing much is going to change your mind - out of interest, did you want him gone in the run-up to the Chelsea game last season at Anfield? Or is this a relatively new 'want' on your behalf? I do agree with you that the defense has looked shambolic in Rodgers' time here, however, like last season if he can get us scoring more than we're conceding and thus challenging for league titles because of it, I'll happily take that 'catch 22'. This season, hasn't been like that though but from my POV the manager deserves time to see whether he can get this team attacking again, similar to that of last season. And recently, those performances the ones you're still unhappy with, suggest he may just be doing that.

So anyone who doesn't concur with your way of thinking regarding the manager this season is a '****' (whatever that is meant to be).

That's not what he's saying at all. He's talking about the people who have sh*t all over Brendan all season for no other reason other than they dislike him. He's talking about the members of this forum who haven't limited their criticism to Rodgers from a purely footballing perspective but from a personal one. He's talking about the members who aren't posting after a couple of reasonable results (all things considered) and who didn't post for most of last year. Those 'fans' who only rear their heads when we're defeated or things get tough. No one is trying to excuse our failures this season, no one is trying to absolve Rodgers of blame, it's just that for some of us, we're able to point to the reason why we're unhappy and not simply want him sacked for not being Rafa or not being Kenny. Criticise away, just keep it balanced and about the football.

So anyone who doesn't concur with your way of thinking regarding the manager this season is a '****' (whatever that is meant to be).

Legitimate concerns have been raised regarding the Boss this season, and some good counter points made. But one counter-point that keeps sticking in my throat is 'if Sturridge hadn't been injured we would be right up there', well he's a player who has always been injury prone and yet we didn't account for that in the summer, instead we signed Balotelli, a player whose style is so far removed from what you would consider Brendan's 'style' that it seems bizarre that we were even interested, let alone sign him. Other teams get injuries and they manage, we've been a team that rely on one or two star players for as long as I can remember and when we fail to win the league it's 'oh well we would have if Fowler/Owen/Torres/Gerrard/Sturridge hadn't been injured'.

Other clubs deal with it and don't make excuses, why do we always have to make excuses for f**king up? Learn from our mistakes and get some more quality depth in (as opposed to depth for the sake of depth) and players who are going to be a success, instead of these 'gambles' we seem to take.

Brendan earlier in the season said something along the lines of 'we've had to start again this season in our development', well again, whose fault is that? No-one made him (us) bring in all those new signings, we could have taken another approach and signed a few top class players. It's OUR choices that are impacting us, yet all I hear from the club is excuses about why things aren't as we all want them to be.

5times pretty much nails it in his post above.

Nobody has any problem with criticising the manager for his coaching, tactics or selections, his treatment of the players or the direction he is taking the club. To give you two examples, Heimdall and Federer have been staunch critics of his approach in these things. I pretty much disagree with them but they have made thoughtful, and at times persuasive arguments to put their cases forward. Personally, I think the manger has handled some of the players such as Balotelli, appallingly and have said so. Dissent and counterpoint are an essential part of the discussion on a forum. In fact, there's little point logging on to spend time agreeing with each other and patting each other on the back.

I'm sorry, but those dissenters are entirely different from the substantial group of snides who take potshots at the manager on the basis of his hair, his teeth, his private life or even ridiculous psychobabble about his "ego".

These "supporters" in my eyes are directly damaging to the club. As 5times said, they go quiet and lurk when we come within a whisker of winning the league but five games later are sinking the knives between the manager's shoulderblades. Maybe because they somehow blame Brendan for Kenny getting the sack. Maybe because they feel they are entitled to win the league because they have a Liverpool postcode and we won a lot of things in the 80's. Maybe they think a rich oil sheik is desperately waiting to sweep in and buy success for us. Who knows? but it's irrelevant. You can't moan your way to victory.

We do not have the luxury of either time or money to keep chopping and changing our fundamental approach time and again if we want success back at this club. The modern game has changed; the manger is now less important to our chances than the owners however employing a man LIKE Brendan is our only viable chance of success given that we aren't going to be outspending our rivals any time soon.

As to your last point, only time will tell if we have turned a corner or not. The fact is though that Arsenal, who many people regard as favourites for the last CL spot, were battered by our performance in attack. Without playing any strikers we managed to create more chances against them than they have ever experienced in top-flight football since Opta started keeping statistics.

Yes we have problems at the back but it is far easier to solve those than work out how to outscore our opponents.

Let' see how the next 6 league games go through to the end January before we determine a corner has been turned.

We need a minimum of 12 points in my opinion - but we should be aiming for 15+.

Can't wait to see Danny boy back in red....BR must be dreaming about it.

Nobody has any problem with criticising the manager for his coaching, tactics or selections, his treatment of the players or the direction he is taking the club.

Maybe because they somehow blame Brendan for Kenny getting the sack.
Maybe because they feel they are entitled to win the league because they have a Liverpool postcode and we won a lot of things in the 80's.
Maybe they think a rich oil sheik is desperately waiting to sweep in and buy success for us.
Who knows?

Maybe because the manager may be out of his depth.
Maybe all you need to do  just rely on the Stats and Facts.
Maybe the other stuff is no more than amusement.

Maybe we should not make any comment ...but just stick to the Stats and Facts which say everything that anyone needs to know.

Maybe because the manager may be out of his depth.

That may well turn out to be true Skip but what I think Hollywood is saying, and I agree with him, is that the stick Brendan gets for what is irrelevant to his ability as a football coach is way over the top and embarrassing at times.

Sad state of affairs when on Sky they announce both allen and Johnson are out injured that I think that is a positive...

Still I think we may have turned a corner

That may well turn out to be true Skip but what I think Hollywood is saying, and I agree with him, is that the stick Brendan gets for what is irrelevant to his ability as a football coach is way over the top and embarrassing at times.

I do agree and I havent been backward in coming forward on that.
A bit needless and as said ... fully agreed.
He does invite it though.

If it was a case of head down, mouth shut and get the success .....it would go down better.
We have been spoilt with previously successful Liverpool managers who carried humility with the job.
Bob for one.

It is in their footsteps he dares to walk.

Hope the Boss focus is to help us up the ladder & beat the plastic cu*ts for his first Trophy.

Maybe because the manager may be out of his depth.
Maybe all you need to do  just rely on the Stats and Facts.
Maybe the other stuff is no more than amusement.

Maybe we should not make any comment ...but just stick to the Stats and Facts which say everything that anyone needs to know.

I honestly have no idea what you are babbling about.

We last won the league at around the same time Everton did and we are light years behind our rivals in financial terms and squad depth. Fact.


Since we can't buy our way to success like Chelsea, City, United, PSG, Real, Barcelona and many others, the only way in which we can possibly succeed is to take a chance on doing things differently. Building the team with modern techniques and a modern manager before our rivals catch up. Fact.

Whether or not he is "out of his depth" we narrowly missed out on the league  - some would say the closest we have been for more than twenty years. Since you do not go from mid-table to storming the league in one fell swoop we will NEVER achieve success if we are going to knife him a few games after he has done that. Fact.

Frankly though I don't know why I bother even typing out replies to you - I know such a simple point is falling on deaf ears.

In a bygone age you would have been campaigning for Shankly to be given the boot when he took us from first to seventh. Part of the same contingent who were booing when Rafa took us top of the league with a draw.

You rarely write anything about the football - you're far more interested in the manager's teeth or his hairstyle or his exercise regime. You are , in truth, not really interested in the club's success at all. There is no evidence that you have any idea of the scale of the task ahead of us or of how we go about achieving success.

Funny, really, how you have the cheek to accuse the manager of having an "ego" when you express your entitlement to winning the league without having to actually bother supporting the team when it is most needed.

You never had the courage to answer the question I put to you twice before: given that you've taken every opportunity to stick the knife in, what entitles you to expecting "success" for our club ahead of CIty, United, Chelsea or Arsenal fans? Your postcode? Your collection of Panini stickers? The fact that you can moan the loudest?

The problem with facts is we aren't in possession of them all. Does Brendan Rodgers have the final say on transfers only insofar as picking from a short list as was suggested by Pearce or does he have full control over them? The answer to this makes a huge difference to the situation and the situation is, without doubt, one that is the product of the failure to secure decent keeper, a top goal scorer and a defensive midfielder. Is the situation one of his own making or he a victim of a failed policy? Was it down to poor planning or panic buying that saw a player he clearly doesn't fancy, being bought. Is he operating in the transfer market with one armed tied behind his back or is it a case of the blind leading the blind? This is the problem we have at Liverpool. In other clubs it's nice and straight forward, the gaffer has a team and attempts are made to get the players he wants. At Liverpool everything is shrouded in secrecy, the waters muddied by a committee that has rumour and counter rumour surrounding it. We don't know the facts and until we do, everything is just uninformed opinion.

The same as the facts we aren't in possession of when BR puts his teams out, yet people don't half love to have a gripe about that.

When someone tells me that they have all the same tools as BR does when assessing his lineup, when they have seen the players in training all week and when they have access to the medical notes on each player, then I'll take the moans seriously.