BRENDAN RODGERS and some of his players should be buying Mario Balotelli a pint at some point this week. It’s the least they could do for the deserved scrutiny he has unwittingly helped them to avoid.
Naively swapping shirts a few seconds too early has unsurprisingly directed the focus and ire of many supporters and the media (sadly this includes the local press as well as the nationals) on to the misfiring striker’s ‘offensive behaviour’ while the real questions that should currently be being addressed are going largely unreported. Clicks are obviously easier to come by when headlines include the word ‘Balotelli’.
The most worrying issue surrounding Liverpool right now isn’t a shirt changing hands at an inappropriate moment. It isn’t even the team’s inability to find a way to coexist and flourish with Balotelli in it (though that is certainly a bone of contention worthy of addressing).
No, the underlying problem here is that this team is about as easy to break through as a pane of sugar glass and it has been for far too long. No defensive progress is being made and it’s costing the reds week in and week out. Having to score a minimum of two or three goals per game to accumulate points is doable when you have Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in your side as we saw last season.
Without them, though? Well, it gets a lot harder. Not every opponent is going to be as accommodating as QPR. Real Madrid certainly weren’t.
Every single concern that supporters have harboured this season was cruelly laid bare on Wednesday. The goalkeeper. The centre halves. Glen Johnson. The lack of protection in midfield. Liverpool’s performance was a lethal cocktail of problems that Real Madrid dismissively downed in one go before putting their feet up for 45 minutes of relaxation in preparation of far greater tests to come.
So where to start? The man between the posts seems as good a place as any. When keepers at Anfield lose their way history tells us that they rarely find it again. David James, Sander Westerveld, Jerzy Dudek and Pepe Reina all went through severe dips in form that they never recovered from. Simon Mignolet looks as though he’s the latest Liverpool number one to suffer this fate.
For all his faults, last season the Belgian did win crucial points for his team. He was obviously flawed in many respects but by and large he was excelling in the areas that Liverpool most expected and required him to. As recently as the opening day of the current domestic campaign his stupendous save late on against Southampton secured his team two additional points. Since then it’s been all downhill.
The indecision in his game is tangible. He’s not staying on his line but he’s not dominating his box either. Seeing him diving at the ball with his feet rather than his hands as if he were an outfield player asked to fill in between the sticks last night was as sad to see as it was alarming. No confidence resides within the man these days.
Brendan Rodgers recently asserted that Victor Valdes isn’t coming to Anfield. We’re getting to the point now where we have to hope that that is only the case because someone else has already been lined up.
The relationship between Mignolet and his back four is a toxic circle of never ending doubt and distrust. Defenders don’t know if the Belgian is coming or staying. Mignolet doesn’t look as if he knows himself. How could he? When his centre halves are defending the edge of their box and through balls are still finding their way to the feet of opposing strikers (as was the case with Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal) it offers a reason at least for why the Belgian is so regularly caught in no man’s land.
Twelve months ago the keeper was no more dominant than he is now but at least he was consistent in his play. His back four seemed to be confident that he would stay on his line for better or worse whereas these days the only certainty is uncertainty.
One clean sheet since March can’t be all down to the goalkeeper, though. Real Madrid are undoubtedly a wonderful group of footballers, but at Anfield they scored two goals from build up play that Sunday League sides could have put together without too much fuss. Glen Johnson looking at Karim Benzema three times before ultimately neglecting to get tight to the striker was embarrassingly shoddy work, but sadly not untypical.
Yet another goal direct from yet another set piece minutes later was beyond frustrating. Giving young Alberto Moreno a pass for a moment, could anyone seriously point to any of Liverpool’s starting defenders on Wednesday and claim with any certainty that they are good enough for a team with genuine aspirations of success?
As with Mignolet, Johnson and Martin Skrtel’s deficiencies aren’t news to anyone. If replacements who can improve upon the standards that they offer can’t be found or aren’t being sought then we have major problems. In the summer Liverpool elected to replace Mamadou Sakho rather than Skrtel. People can debate all they want about the rights and wrongs of that but what isn’t up for debate at this juncture is whether they succeeded.
Dejan Lovren cost £20m. Amongst all the outrage and pontificating about shirts being swapped last night, this is a fact that too few are concentrating on. When you spend £20m on a centre back you have a right to expect top quality, yet the Croatian looks worse than any of our much maligned centre halves did during last season. If that was the best deal that the transfer committee and the manager could come up with after a summer of work in the market then one wonders exactly what they were playing at.
There are a number of people willing to write off a £16m striker in October after a poor start and I wonder how much longer our £20m centre back will be given before the same fate befalls him. His performances certainly haven’t merited any more leniency than what is currently being offered to the likes of Balotelli.
As daunting and as likely as the prospect of an even more severe hiding in the Bernabeu currently is, what remains more concerning still is the fact that Hull City are likely to have red pulses racing every time they get in to Liverpool’s half at the weekend, especially when they have dead ball situations to exploit. Set pieces haven’t been this scary since Gary Pallister was nodding them in at every opportunity against Roy Evans’ Liverpool nearly two decades ago.
Thankfully, plenty of the season still remains. The problems are obvious and now is the time to find solutions. Nothing is gone at this point. Progressing from the Champions League group remains a possibility and, Chelsea and City aside, no other teams look any less flawed than we do domestically. If Rodgers can somehow get his side’s defensive act together then this campaign could still be one of promise and expectation rather than one defined by the present mood of fear and pessimism.
Many seem to be missing the point about Balotelli. Liverpool didn’t bring him in to be the main sole striker on the squad from day 1. They brought him in to be a complimentary striker to play by Sturridge’s side. At his current level of development as a player, Balo is not someone you can just randomly throw out as the sole striker on a team and expect endless goals. Maybe if he was integrated into the system for a while and was familiar with his teammates/tactics then he could fill a void when resting Sturridge or for tactical purposes related to the schedule. If this situation we are experiencing now was toward the later part of the season then maybe some of these critiques of Balo might be more valid because he would have had experience with the quad. To just throw him out there from day 1, with no pre-preseason (or training with the squad) and to scapegoat him when there are no goals is just ignorance.
Balotelli isn’t Suarez. He is his own player. Suarez could create havoc up and down the pitch and that just is not Balotelli’s style. Balotelli may be known as a hot head, but if you watch him in big games then you see his actual football skills stay very cool. Suarez had a tendency to be mentally fragile but it would actually affect his football skills, unlike Balo. Example: Liverpool couldn’t break through against Chelsea at home. Balotelli in that environment can be even more dangerous than Suarez (if someone like Sturridge is by his side). I say this because Suarez tends to be a front-runner. Once the pressure starts to mount, his football skills start succumbing to the pressure as well. Balo has the reputation of being a hot head, but his football skills are not squandered and rendered void in moments of truth. The most recent example was against Ludogorets. Look at his goal and how calm the actual football skill was.
I am reserving judgment on Balotelli until I see him on the pitch with Sturridge, developing a partnership. Using injuries as an excuse for Liverpool’s underwhelming performances this year is unacceptable. But you have to understand that instead of bringing in new signings (like Balo) and integrating them into a system, Liverpool has been forced to simply ad-lib and wing it due to injuries. Liverpool was never going to pull a Tottenham (Bale departure). But in some ways they were actually forced to pull a Tottenham during the early part of this season because they were unable to integrate their signings into a flowing system because key hogs were injured during pre-season and then during the early part of the season.
Don’t let the Madrid result discourage you. There is still time to see what this team is made of. Liverpool is 5th in the EPL, ready to break through and there is still time in the Champions League for Liverpool to get healthy and flowing….to prepare for the knock out round.
And for Balo? I am reserving judgment until after I see him playing next to Sturridge. I believe Balo can be a back-breaker to other top squads once the threat of Sturridge is up front with him.
Sturridge is injured 3 or 4 months a season,so in terms of being a great buy ( HE WASN’T,BECAUSE HE NEVER COMPLETES A FULL SEASON ) And your reserving your judgement on Balotelli till he plays along side him,what happens if they don’t play along side each other.This Liverpool side is a joke,and Rodgers and the transfer committee need too be made accountable,buying DROSS THEN LOANING THEM OUT BECAUSE WE CAN’T SELL THEM ;-( And whoever trains the keeper and defence needs SACKING ALSO ;-(
You are ignoring a part of what I said. I am not saying that Balotelli can’t be held accountable just because he is the sole striker right now. I am saying that he was never given a chance to integrate into the system. If Balo performed like this late in the season during a Sturridge injury then everything would be much more curious because he would have an understanding of the way the team plays. You can’t integrate people into a system when key cogs are missing. Give it time. There is still time. 5th in EPL with Arsenal, United behind. Still can easily advance from the group stages in CL.
It’s football we are talking about here, not brain surgery or rocket science. It really isn’t all that complicated. My mum could play as well as Balotelli has. Having said that, all the new signings have been poor, with the possible exception of Moreno and Manquilla, who despite making mistakes have shown some promise and stomach for the fight, and are both very young.
Whoever is buying these bunch of DROSS needs SACKING ASAP !!! Since Rodgers came we have bought nothing but DROSS,and he needs fucking off because of it.His tactics don’t make sense and the keeper and defence is the worst I’ve seen at Anfield EVER !!! He new Suarez was off but still he didn’t address the situation,Ricky Fucking Lambert for fucks sake ;-( If Hull City come too Anfield and win,then the Committee and Rodgers SHOULD BE SACKED ASAP.
I’ve not seen so much knee jerk since Lucas’ medical following his cruciate injury.
Coutinho, sturridge, Moreno all look pretty decent to start with… Others, the jury is out.
The problem with Rodgers is he looks more like a Kevin Keegan type manager very week.
Exactly. He has Keegan’s tactical skills backed up by Cloughie’s ego.
The history of football is littered by the bones of bright new managers who lasted maybe two seasons. Coleman, Jones, Jewell, Keegan himself.
When asked why he picked him when there were many better centre halves, Alf Ramsey told Jackie Charlton hex agreed there were nine toys better players, but that Ramsey picked the ‘best team.’ Buying attacking centre backs and midfielders is stupid if you need to score three or four goals even to get a point. And we are forever ‘looking at ‘wingers’. We sold a better keeper than Mignolet for reasons nobody has really identified – my view is there was a touch of spite involved. Every tmevwe concede a corner or free kick I expect to concede a goal, and it has been like that for two years now.
Good piece Dave, and very timely. You can’t blame Mario for our lack of shape or our defensive woes. We knew what we were getting.
I hope he comes good, but have my doubts. Like Gary Neville said last night, he plays in moments, his moments. That’s how I remember him at City, oscillating between moments of magic and complete disinterest. I don’t blame him for not working hard enough and I couldn’t give a shit about him swapping his shirt, these are both red herrings. I’d just be very surprised if his skill set is appropriate for our style of play. That’s not his fault, but the transfer committee’s. I wouldn’t play him until Sturridge is back, we looked far better in the second half last night, but, conversely, he didn’t play badly and was far from the worst performer in red. I just think we need a mobile presence up front, a runner who can break the lines and bring the best out of Coutinho.
I’m not sure why we spent so much on another left sided central defender when we had Sakho at the club already. The lads starts in the French national team ahead of Mangala and Kocielny and frequently stars so we know he can perform at a high level. His passing is top notch, he’s physically imposing, rarely bullied and actually quite quick although can be a little rash in the tackle at times. However for all that he still only has 18 league appearances last season, some of those arnt starts, some of those are at leftback and some of those are part of a back 3. Point being we’ve hardly gave the lad a chance to find his feet in the team yet seemingly already Rodgers is writing him off. This isn’t the only player Rodgers has done this to by the way.
How can we expect the defence to gain some sort of understanding with each other when they aren’t allowed to gel?? Lovren has had 11 appearances this season but he is now under the cosh for his performances and rightly so but the lad has played with 3 centreback partners already, a coupla different left backs and has played right sided central defender too. Hardly the best way to settle into a new team is it?!
We need to tell Mignolet the 6yrd box is his, everything else is defender territory. We need to have a settled back 4 and need to drill them within a inch of their life on set pieces!
20m for Lovren is looking like a criminal waste of money for a guy that cost 8m the previous year. Yes, he looked good for saints but surely Rodgers/transfer committe/scouts noticed he was almost always shielded by not one but two genuine ball winners – schneiderlin and wanyama. It’s not a great surprise that he’s now being shown up in Rodgers system and to underine this, Saints excellent defence has continued without him.
Agreed. It’s my impression that the transfer committee/manager paradigm simply isn’t working. If memory serves Brendan wanted Ilori, Sakho was a panic buy by the committee right at the end of the window, in much the same way as Balotelli was: both were referenced as marquee signings by a beleaguered Ian Ayre. Brendan, a stubborn man, then makes a point of not playing the committee signings unless they’re immediately up to scratch, which, in Sakho’s case, may be a mistake as he’s clearly a good player.
So, Rodgers refuses to play those brought by the ‘committee’ which he is heading, btw. The Club spend tens of millions of money on new players, and he refuses to play them. To state the point, not for a football reason, but to stamp his authority. Mind you, he brought in Borini, but refuses to play him too, so that we can’t even tell if he’s good or bad. Even when Balotelli badly needs someone mobile running next to him.
If I were JW Henry and saw that the manager ultimately wastes big money signings while the team performances are not improving, but becoming worse by game, I’d be asking very serious questions.
Yea this is the big problem. If a manger isn’t really sold on a player then he’s not gonna persist with him as long as a player he wanted himself. I can understand that; doesn’t make it right but I can understand it.
Loads of people are saying it will be different when we pair Sturridge up with Balo. If that’s how we intend to play then why not pair Borini up with him now! What harm could it do?!
Fuckin’ hell: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/23/victor-valdes-offered-chance-recover-manchester-united
If we’ve screwed this one up then someone needs a serious talking to. He was free, he wanted to play for us, our keeper’s crap and doesn’t suit our style of play.
FFS!
Smacks of Remy all over again.
just like we have a recruitment committee, now we must have a team selection committee who can select players because RODGERS is shit in his team selection.
sakho, johnson and mignolet are bull-shit.
SUSO is a star and he will definitely leave us. HE is too good a player to be coached by RODGERS.
How about Brendan Rodgers hiring someone like Carragher or Steve Clarke as a defensive coach? Someone to organise them at set pieces would be a start!!
Balotelli is being made a scapegoat by too many people, and maybe it is time to give lambert or Borini a go, but I’m going to defer judgement until Sturridge is back and match fit. What is clear is that mario balotelli cannot handle the loan striker role on his own, but it also has to be noted that most of the last season the team weren’t playing with one up front either, so it seems new to everyone.
Liverpool have been shit, but at the end of the day, they’ve played city away and are sitting in equal 4th, and qualifying in runners up position is more than feasible given that Basel and ludog aren’t all that either.
Any calls for Rodgers to go are crazy.
Totally, totally agree with the thrust of this article. Balotelli is an amusing detail a journalist can hang a story on – the bigger picture and real story is the step backwards into mediocrity after massive investment.
BTW Victor Valdes (according to Spanish press) has just sold his house to a new Barca player- so he is moving now, that’s for sure. His injury is not supposed to be terminal, so why we aren’t making a move, God only knows. Then again, what was the point of alienating Pepe Reina – a proven Euro goalie? Or Daniel Agger, a proven Euro defender, for that matter?
It also pains me to point out that Real Madrid’s performance last night was in no way their best of the season – that was Ancelotti playing the (Chelsea?) diplomat. The White Storm noticeably calmed down after the first 45, subbed CR – and they were without Bale, who would have no doubt relished turning it on at Anfield.
Maybe we should be grateful for what Real Madrid did last night. They gave us total clarity on the Rodgers “Revolution” and the net return on over £100 million. Rodgers says he is learning Spanish (he could start with learning how to pronounce “Luis” Suarez) and wants to manage in Spain in the future. He may do, but on last night’s showing it’s likely to be a smaller branch of Corte Ingles, not a football club.
Cold truth is, at this moment in time, Rodgers is just about Europa league level. Maybe in a few years time he may be able to step up successfully.
Big match at the weekend. A substantial win needed. Different striker needed, anyone really.
Apart from Ched Evans……….
I like Rodgers and want him to do well for the reds… But I would start questioning his ethos and approach to his methods. It could be the case that he spent more time with Barcelona’s trail blazers when studying the beautiful game… However his naive approach to the art of defending is becoming a bit farcical. Last season as a red fan I was treated to the most exciting football I have seen in a long time. Looking back however I cannot help to think whether sturridge and Suarez goal papered over the gaping cracks at the back. It actually cost us the title. Ok, now I have framed my thoughts… Now, without Suarez the team is getting found out. With Balotelli I would argue that he is being made a scapegoat for Liverpool’s woes, a symbol of what Liverpool represents today. But I blame Rodgers or the transfer committee or whoever decided it would be prudent for us to buy the enigma. I am astonished that Rodgers sanctioned the deal considering the the hullabaloo surrounding Andy Carroll’s departure. “Not the profile we are Looking for ” he insisted. So why change the philosophy now. The solution.. a Steve Clarke or Jamie carragher on the training pitch and cut our losses with Mario? I would like Brendan to be ruthless and admit that help is needed in order to get back on track this season. I believe in him and hope he succeeds where others have failed.
Brendan has not yet demonstrated that he can organize a defense. Late last season, he criticized Chelsea for ‘parking the bus’ at Anfield when in fact it was a master class in defending and getting a result. He didn’t immediately appreciate what Mourinho had accomplished with his lineup and tactics (although he sheepishly acknowledged that later).
It’s clear that defensive coaching is his managerial weak point as highlighted by his attempts to address this problem through player acquisition rather than any sort of coaching or tactical rethink. Not to mention, it brings into question his (or the transfer committee’s) eye for spotting defensive talent too.
Until he improves and focuses on the glaring defensive disorganization within our team, we will continue to struggle against the top teams. Even those, like Madrid, who didn’t even get out of first gear.
Lets look at the picture:
2010 – outside top 4
2011 – outside top 4
2012 – outside top 4
Brendan takes over
2013 – outside top 4
2014 – 2nd!!
2015 – let’s wait and see
Joint fourth but still early days and undoubtedly not faring well but if/when new team clicks it can only improve.
Cannot agree with this Rodgers not good enough vibe – if last season proves a flash in the pan then fair enough but we are still looking good for fight top three or four and take away last season you would have taken that scenario all day long!
It’s almost like we finished second last year with nonsensical results and score lines so same again please but finish first this time! A bit of realism and patience could actually help us break through a la utd on the early 90s. This really could be our chance albeit in a different football climate.
Faith and patience not jumping on manager’s back every bump in the road.
YNWA
At this point I’d be playing Borini ahead of Balotelli, at least the lad presses like a maniac and knows how to find a team mate with a pass. Still won’t score many goals but then I’d rather have someone setting up team mates for tap-ins than taking on 40 yard strikes into the stands.
As for the defence, we’re shit, I’m sure Brendan knows we’re shit. I mean, I don’t imagine he tells them to go out week after week to play like a pub team. In fact I’m sure of it, seeing as his job will eventually be on the line if we continue to be this shit. The thing is, all the defenders he’s bought, bar Manquillo, are full internationals, we’ve spent a fortune on defenders over the past two years and I’d expect them to play like it. Yes, he asks them to play a high risk game, but he can’t do anything about the numerous brain farts and lack of concentration. I mean they souldn’t need hand-holding, if there’s a ball to be won, win it, if you can’t win it stop your opponent from shooting or force him into a less dangerous zone of the pitch. It’s not rocket science, failing to mark players, positioning yourself poorly, and allowing runners in behind are cardinal sins. Just stop the bloody ball, they’ve been doing it their entire careers, so-what if they’re now being asked to play the ball out under pressure? Do the basics first and then once you’re in control pass it out. If Carra and Hyypia were in this team we wouldn’t even be discussing the defence, the players are at fault not the manager.
And this isn’t a blind defense of the manager, I think he’s at fault for our poor attack and lack of options since Suarez left. That whole situation should have been handled better in my opinion. But the defensive f*ck ups shouldn’t be rested at his feet.
I’m not sure you can lay it solely at the players feet either. As you said they’re all internationals so they all perform at a very high level. Sakho keeps Mangala and Kocielny out of the French side and often stars for them so why is it then recently when a player comes to play for Liverpool they suddenly become shit. It can’t be just down to the personnel. The coaching and training has to play a part too.
It’s a systemic issue as well as an individual issue. No communication or trust between the CBs and GK is a massive issue. Should have purchased a top DM to shield the back four and sit next to Gerrard. Lovren was good at Southampton with Schneiderlin and Wanyama in front of him, Skrtel and Agger had their best season for Liverpool when Lucas had his best season. You can play Guardiolaesque style with Xabi pulling the strings when the rest of your team is rock solid, which we aren’t. Plus Xabi is a natural in that position, Gerrard isn’t!
BR said he needs time on the training pitch to fix the defense! This isn’t new, he had time last season, one game per week and he still couldn’t fix it. We now average 1.3 goals conceded per game under BR and we haven’t kept a clean sheet in 20 games. Top it all out of the 20 games we played last season against the “bottom 10” we kept 3 clean sheets. 3!!!!! And he says he doesn’t need a defensive coach. When you lose the top 2 goal scorers in the league, tightening up the defense should be your number 1 priority.
It’s not the players , it’s the narcissistic plonker who manages the team. ANYBODY could have succeeded last season with the blend he accidentally stumbled on. He hasn’t a clue. Came here chanting ‘tikka takka’ which Guardiola says means ‘fuck around and do nothing’.
We have leaked goals since he took over, and he’s done nothing about it because he doesn’t know how. He’s got rid of Agger, Coates, Ilori, Kelly, Wisdom etc and brought in attacking defenders. Sold a superior keeper in Reina. I could not believe it the other night when he yanked Coutino and Hendo while Johnson was appalling and Allen anonymous. Balo was no good, but it’s not his fault. It’s Rodgers’ fault.
Wow, that is a lot of stuff you have been holding on to since the start of last season just waiting for our form to dip to get out. I challenge anyone calling for Rodgers out (I can’t believe I am typing this this early in the season) to go back and watch us last season and tell me that was all about Suarez and a lucky “blend” he stumbled upon. What does “stumbled upon ” even mean in this context, isn’t that his job to come up with new formations until one works? Suarez was at the club for 2 1/2 years before last season and we finished 7-8th.
Everyone is conveniently forgetting how well the midfield worked last season in their to revise it as “only because we had Suarez” (honestly I expected this from opposing fans not Liverpool supporters, you guys aren’t opposing fans are you?). We pressed, we passed, we moved. Tottenham away, City away, we were great. Mourinho was so worried he got Eto’o to do a hatchet job on Henderson. When teams shut down Suarez and got a hold of Sturridge there would be Sterling making runs from number 10. It wasn’t everyone just pelting forward at a 100 miles per hour. You don’t even get close to 2nd in the league without playing some real quality football.
You don’t like the way Rodger’s speaks in press conferences. We get it. You are blinded by this prejudice if you can’t give him credit for last season though.
Quite right Tom. He united the club and the supporters following a very difficult period. He has plenty of credit in the bank. That doesn’t mean he’s immune from criticism, it does mean that supporters shouldn’t be calling for his head or forgetting last season: Suarez improved enormously under Brendan.
Let’s not be ingrates folks!
Financially, we have pretty much won the lottery twice in the last few years. Each time, we have headed off to the car showroom with our cash in a wheelbarrow, only to spend a fair chunk of it on Space Raiders crisps, Panda Pops, porno mags and some roller-boots that the newsagent’s son wanted shot of as he’d gone goth.
Then we panicked, went into the amusement arcade and spunked the rest of the loot on the Cops ‘n’ Robbers fruit machine in a desperate attempt to get even and buy the motor.
Even if we had won on the bandit, we would have had to pay off the scally who was hanging around and diving in to help every time we got nudges (mind-out lad, I know the reels!).
Sad times.
What about something constructive? We can go back to the tried and trusted diamond formation when Sturridge is back but what are we going to do now?
Swap Lovren for Sakho (when he is fit) I hear you saying. I’m not sure that is going to achieve all that much in the end, as much as Lovren is in a bad rut at the moment. Not start Enrique unless both Flanagan and Moreno are injured? I’m on board with that. Ask Carragher or Clarke back to the club to coach the defence? Don’t know, how many cooks in the kitchen before it becomes too many?
What do you do with Gerrard, bench him? That is a big call, can you really imagine him being happy watching on from the bench? The mood in the dressing room seems pretty strained at the moment, I am not sure you want to rock the boat any further by pulling moves like that at this stage. Even if you do, what then? Try him up front again, it looked as though it could work okay but then didn’t against QPR. Maybe it just needs more time.
Can is still very raw and I don’t know whether he is going to be much more of an effective screen for the defence. I still remember Lucas, Allen and Henderson playing some really nice football in the period when Gerrard was injured last season.
Bring on Borini or Lambert instead of Balotelli? Because lets face it, we all want him to do well but his lack of movement/pressing/link up play (which are all the things we were good at last season) is killing us.
These are the sort of articles/discussions I am interested in reading/having, not hysterical attacks on the manager and the transfer committee for signings they should or shouldn’t have made. Especially when at the start of the season everyone seemed pretty happy with it and they still have a long way to go before they can be properly judged as a success or a failure.
Rodgers will work something out I am sure of it. He proved he could last season and the club has been generally progressing in the right direction ever since he came in.
Whether Stevie’s happy on the bench is neither here nor there. He plays if he’s worth a first team place, that should be the only criterion.
If we are intent in playing the diamond with 2 up front when Sturridge returns then why not play it now?! Balo and Borini or Lambert and Borini. All 4 strikers at the club have been bought by the current regime, they are their choice so why not play them!
I’d defo have Sakho in. Clean sheet against Spurs Sakho was playing. The guy has hardly been given a chance since he’s came. 18 appearances last season, not all of them starts, some of them at leftback, some left of a 3 and with various defensive partners and yet he’s meant to fit in seemlessly to a defensive unit. Strong, dominant in the air, rarely bullied, very good passer, quick, good tackler although sometimes rash. Why not give him a run of 10 games and let him prove his worth. The guy keeps Mangala and Kocielny out of the French team for gods sake!
I like Sakho too and would like to see him in the starting line up. But it isn’t like Rodgers has been ignoring him. I think he got dropped for one game after which he stormed out of the stadium and then pulled his hamstring in training.
I think Sterling was playing pretty close to Balotelli on Wednesday, even if it wasn’t technically a diamond. By the way, didn’t think Balotelli played all that badly, it is just that we can’t really press with him in the side.
Tom C – nail on the head my friend, again!
Cheers mate
I would bench Gerrard for certain games then bring him on for the last thirty or so, Rodgers job is not to placate Gerrard. We were led to believe he would not feature in every game yet he has (I think), coming on fresh against a tiring team could work to our advantage, at the very least it could be tried. As pauloffinland says “He plays if he’s worth a first team place, that should be the only criterion”. Fat Frank has been coming on as sub for a couple of seasons now and it hasn’t harmed his game. There are other options (that being the point of the summer spending) as you say Can is raw but does look powerful enough.
I was surprised however that Sterling remained on for the whole game, a game that was essentially lost after the second goal, it’s hard to be critical of the Hodge (well it’s not but you know what I mean) when Rodgers runs the lad into the ground, I understand he was one of the better performers but Rodgers cannot expect Sterling to save the day in every match.
Brendan Rodgers has yet to convince me he is the One to take us forward. As someone else has mentioned here, last season’s combination was stumbled upon, a successful accident. All the tiki taka which was his selling point was quickly forgotten. And he was lauded for being the genius behind the surge forward. Fair enough, he is the Manager. Although, it felt like it was Suarez who actually gave the team so much confidence, even when he was not on the pitch!
Ignored were the number of goals conceded. Rather than strengthening the team, Rodgers has actually weaken it. How did he manage to do that? By being the mediocre mananger that he is, buying mediocre players. And all the while hoping that he stumbles onto another successful combination. He looks to be clueless, doesn’t have the ideas to change the game nor the shape of the team during a game. Throwing in players while hoping something clicks. And on top of all this, not having the balls to bench or take out an effective Gerrard when he needs to.
When the outcome is clearly not favourable, blame the Balotellis and their pet dogs!
An earlier post of mine contained a number of typos which autocorrect morphed into nonsense. Many think my post was nonsense anyway, but we are all entitled to a view.
My take on Rodgers lack if tactical sense is based on his penchant for taking a player off and substituting him with another similar player – like for like. If you are not making headway with a particular style of player you won’t he any by putting a clone on. And I thought we had a different kind of player in Shelvey and should have kept him.
I confess that I don’t like BR, and now have difficulty being objective. I am, however, more than happy to admit to being wrong. I said a year or so ago that Sterling would never make it…
Play Sakho.
Statistically, Theoretically, and Practically better than Lovren. This merit system is going tits up. Admittedly our backline isn’t one that smells of roses from left to right and consistency is needed but let the Defender that pays back your trust play…when he’s fit again.
Play Sakho. End of.
Lost our talisman,
His sidekick extraoidinaire gets crocked at worst poss time,
Others get crocked both pre season or just start of new campaign,
Bedding in lots of new faces,
It’s still only October,
Let’s judge everyone at the end of the season shall we,
Plenty of our now legendary teams looked like pub outfits early doors.
But it doesn’t rhyme……
Good points. Doesn’t explain the long-term structural issues though. Our defence has been poor for 2-3 years.
Should never had painted the training ground walls green. There I’ve said it! It could only go down hill after that.
Bravo Sir, some sense finally.
Great article, Dave. Needed to read some sense today to try and wipe the back page of yesterday’s Echo from my mind. We’ve had a lad getting banned 10 games a season that we defended because he was a genius but someone who’s been crap swaps a shirt and he’s ‘disgraced the club’. The moral arbiters need to turn it in.
There’s nothing like a comprehensive but understandable beating (they’re alright the European Champions like) to bring out the hysterical idiocy in people in the comments sections of these articles either. “Rodgers is obviously incompetent because I’ve already forgotten how we were the best we’ve been in years between January and April!”, “Get rid of Balotelli and the amateur defending will magically sort itself out!”, etc.
I thought Lovren played pretty well on Wednesday night. Can’t really fault him for any of the goals and he broke up a few of their more dangerous looking counters. I reckon if Sturridge was playing we would have made them sweat in that first 20 as well the way we started with the crowd. It is easy to forget with how the game petered out that we actually played some good football until Ronaldo slipped Gerrard and came up with that classy finish.
PaulifFinkand said, earlier, that “…he united the club and supporters…”. I beg to differ: Kenny Dalglish ‘united the club and supporters’, not Brendan Rodgers. And although his management style was outdated, he bought Henderson and Suarez. Certainly Carroll was a mistake but might have been a winner. Rodgers success was principally on Kenny’s back, and Kenny was without Lucas and Gerrard much if the season. Don’t give me this ‘boy genius ‘ shite – he’s not. He’s just a lucky boy.
Talk about an agenda, what about sturridge and coutinho? Way too early to call on this seasons signings but moreno, lallana, manquillo and can all look to be settling in well (markovic has big wraps on him so I wouldn’t write him off a la sterling, Henderson, Lucas, etc…). What’s more Suarez, sterling and Henderson were shadows of the players they are now under dalglish. How much of that is down to natural progression is hard to say but I’m giving him a lot of credit for it. Didn’t see you commenting at the end of last season after bagging out Rodgers for a season and a half, and low and behold we have a shaky start and here you are again having a go at his personality which is neither here nor there.