What does Brendan have to do next season to convince his doubters?

We conceded 5 in our last 8 matches Mick.

 Just rechecked it on the Premier League website Debs and they reckon it's 4 haha. Sorry for the mistake, I was looking at games 31-38.

Who gives a f**k.

 Haha excellent response. You'll have to be a bit more specific though. Who gives a f**k about what? Our defence, league tables, whether or not we finish in Europe, the club, life in general, me, you, our posts, Brendan Rodgers, the price of fish, my posts, your posts, fence posts, zonal marking, man to man marking, the LBW rule, Ed Milliband and whether he's a better bet than his brother, capital punishment, traffic cones, the weather, Rafa Benitez, Kenny Dalglish, Mancs, scousers, what?

Just rechecked it on the Premier League website Debs and they reckon it's 4 haha. Sorry for the mistake, I was looking at games 31-38.

From the Offal

Sun - 31    Barclays Premier League    Aston Villa      A    1    2
Sun - 7    Barclays Premier League    West Ham      H    0    0               
Sat - 13    Barclays Premier League    Reading      A    0    0               
Sun - 21    Barclays Premier League    Chelsea      H    2    2    
Sat - 27    Barclays Premier League    Newcastle      A    0    6    
Sun - 5     Barclays Premier League    Everton      H    0    0    
Sun - 12    Barclays Premier League    Fulham      A    1    3               
Sun - 19    Barclays Premier League    QPR              H    1    0    

From the Offal

Sun - 31    Barclays Premier League    Aston Villa      A    1    2
Sun - 7    Barclays Premier League    West Ham      H    0    0               
Sat - 13    Barclays Premier League    Reading      A    0    0               
Sun - 21    Barclays Premier League    Chelsea      H    2    2    
Sat - 27    Barclays Premier League    Newcastle      A    0    6    
Sun - 5     Barclays Premier League    Everton      H    0    0    
Sun - 12    Barclays Premier League    Fulham      A    1    3               
Sun - 19    Barclays Premier League    QPR              H    1    0    

 I'm still making it four looking at that Debs.

As for the OP: he has to run starkers at the old toilet & goodishite ground pre season

As for the OP: he has to run starkers at the old toilet & goodishite ground pre season

 Don't think that would work mate. If he did, people would say he's got too small a cock and he didn't run fast enough anyway.

 I'm still making it four looking at that Debs.

Oh aye, my bad mate.

Haha excellent response. You'll have to be a bit more specific though. Who gives a f**k about what? Our defence, league tables, whether or not we finish in Europe, the club, life in general, me, you, our posts, Brendan Rodgers, the price of fish, my posts, your posts, fence posts, zonal marking, man to man marking, the LBW rule, Ed Milliband and whether he's a better bet than his brother, capital punishment, traffic cones, the weather, Rafa Benitez, Kenny Dalglish, Mancs, scousers, what?

Who gives a F**k about the doubters Mick, leave it all in Brendan's capable hands. No time for doubt and negativity, worry when there's somethin' to worry about.

edit:I do worry about scousers sometimes, very perceptive of you.

Oh aye, my bad mate.

 Me who f*cked it up in the first place luv, no bother.

Who gives a f**k about the doubters Mick, leave it all in Brendan's capable hands. No time for doubt and negativity, worry when there's somethin' to worry about.

 Ah right now I get you. Fair enuffski, f*ck em ;o)

Full view of the last 12 games. We must keep this form going.

I honestly think that Brendan will improve our squad over the summer and we will finish 3rd or 4th next season.

Full view of the last 12 games. We must keep this form going.

Given that run of form he's got to get in quality cover for Suarez, and start the season running to maintain the momentum of the end of season run. Also, I'd like him to do a bit of work on his post match comments and to stop telling us how good we were when we were sh*t, I'm not saying blast the players in public at all but shift the focus a bit more or tell them to do one.

Also, also, go home and take down that self portrait from your lobby.

Team    GF  GA  Points.
________________________ _______

 1. Man U   65  32  71

 2. Arse'     59  32  61

 3. Man C   49  25  60

 4. Tott'     51  34  58

 5. Chel'    56  33  53

 6. Livp'l    61  31  52

 7. Evtn     40  31  48

Shows the poor level of defending across the league that even the top 7 concede, on average, a goal a game.

I want to see tangible progress and stop hearing about how we're 'in transition'. Put your neck on the line and aim high, I'd rather fail to reach a top target, than successfully reach a lesser target (does that make sense?).

I said in another thread top 4 and a good cup run/win a cup will be a success in my eyes, anything less than that is a failure.

 Don't think that would work mate. If he did, people would say he's got too small a cock and he didn't run fast enough anyway.

Ok then, get him to show us the names in the 3 envelopes,that would get me onside immediately

There's more to follow. But for now I'll leave you with this. We conceded 3 goals in our last 8 league matches. Terrible defence?   

Totally understand, but the problem hasn't been keeping clean sheets so much as it has been stopping the opposition score a 2 or 3 each time.

When we concede one, more often than not we concede another.

Totally understand, but the problem hasn't been keeping clean sheets so much as it has been stopping the opposition score a 2 or 3 each time.

When we concede one, more often than not we concede another.

Carra steadied us in that respect.
The shift in defensive frailties coincides with his reinstatement as starting CB.
How we adapt without him will be vital next season.

Carra steadied us in that respect.
The shift in defensive frailties coincides with his reinstatement as starting CB.
How we adapt without him will be vital next season.

Do you think that the recent change to 3/5 at the back is in part to do with Carra retiring mate?  He's been saying for a while how difficult it will be to replace him so maybe he's looking at adapting to a different system instead.

All he needs is a good transfer window and a good start to the new season. We need to start next season like we finished this one.

If that happens there won't be many 'doubters' left.

Do you think that the recent change to 3/5 at the back is in part to do with Carra retiring mate?  He's been saying for a while how difficult it will be to replace him so maybe he's looking at adapting to a different system instead.

3 at the back may have had more to do with Carra's pace.
His organisational skills are second to none, but others are needed to do as they're told.
I think we need another CM too. Diame or Granero maybe?

So you can see from the last 30 games that our defence isn't statistically THAT bad. Particularly given how many we've conceded (or seemed to concede anyway) from set pieces, other that we're pretty sound. Also, during the last 30 matches only Man Utd scored more than us. To do well in the Prem you need to win matches, then win again. The teams which score most usually finish highest, good signs.

Statistically no, our defence wasn't that bad but statistics don't show the individual defensive mistakes made throughout the season. We drew against Arsenal and City (twice) thanks to individual defensive mistakes but due to a draw being neutral on the goal difference, they won't show on your statistics. Liverpool's problem this season has been these individual errors caused not by lack of talent but lack of concentration from the individual. That's what Rodgers has to sort out in the close season. It might mean a new defensive coach or new defensive signings or changing the way we play, but whatever the solution, it has to be solved because we cannot go in to matches, dominate for 90 minutes and fail to win just because one player took his mind off the game for a split second. Keeping your concentration until the whistle is blown is just as important as scoring goals.

Additional to this is the manner in which our goal difference has flattered us. It's come from some big wins rather than from a consistent run of wins - 5-0 against Norwich then 2-2 draws against Arsenal and City (both of which brought about by the aforementioned individual mistakes) and a 0-2 loss against West Brom. A win against Villa followed by a run of three draws. 6-0 against Newcastle then 0-0 against Everton. We're not going to win the title by scoring lots of goals in individual matches then succumbing to a series of draws, we'll win the title by winning by one or two goals in the majority of our matches. Yes, our goal difference was fantastic this season but we where still five points off a Champion's league place; to put it another way, Wigan where joint 12th on the amount of goals they scored this season but they still got relegated because they didn't win enough games. If those individual mistakes in both games against City and the game against Arsenal and the game against Southampton had not occurred then those six dropped points would have been enough for us to qualify for a Champion's league place this season.

I'm not denying there is progress, I'm just saying that scratch beneath the surface because statistics don't always show the full picture and that it's individual lapses in concentration that needs to be cut out next season if we're to kick on and break back in to the top four.

I've just been crunching some numbers and in particular looking at some numbers to see if there is any correlation between "progress" and the league tables as the season went by. I particularly had a look at the defensive figures, are we as bad as people make out? Is it really true that "Rodgers needs to get a defensive coach" as some insist? Now, we all know we got off to a pretty horrific start, but how much have we improved since then, if at all?

 Here's the league table for the last 30 matches played. If I had done the last 33 the improvement would have been greater, but 30 is enough.


    Team    GF  GA  Points.
________________________ _______

 1. Man U   65  32  71

 2. Arse'     59  32  61

 3. Man C   49  25  60

 4. Tott'     51  34  58

 5. Chel'    56  33  53

 6. Livp'l    61  31  52

 7. Evtn     40  31  48 

 So you can see from the last 30 games that our defence isn't statistically THAT bad. Particularly given how many we've conceded (or seemed to concede anyway) from set pieces, other that we're pretty sound. Also, during the last 30 matches only Man Utd scored more than us. To do well in the Prem you need to win matches, then win again. The teams which score most usually finish highest, good signs.



 There's more to follow. But for now I'll leave you with this. We conceded 3 goals in our last 8 league matches. Terrible defence?   

Interesting reading Mick but what struck me more than anything in your table is that we had almost identical goals for/against as the mancs yet accumulated 19 less points.