West 'AAAM Post Match

[Lecter]

Sorry Lec, but you just come across a total downer on Rodgers and I don't honestly believe that you can take that kind of view seriously

Thats fair enough I've no problem with that

[Lecter]

We don't deal well with counter attacks. We haven't got that balance right. And the defending is a bit weird. We don't play the offside trap at all. But I guess that'll be redressed at some stage.

Pressure on the ball is a big worry for me

Look at the game the other week against Villa. Not sure if it was for the goal but there was no pressure on the player on the halfway line, he was allowed to punt a hopeful ball straight down our middle which we fail to deal with

When our defenders do deal with those sort of balls there is nobody competing for second balls

Thats integral in football and the lack of that worries me greatly

[Fredo]

Can we see stats to prove this?

I don't have any stats but it's obvious. Take yesterday for example, we had so many situations when players could have passed to a player better positioned or have had a shot at goal but passed instead. Agger in the closing minutes comes to mind. He had space in the penalty area, could have passed to someone better positioned but he tried to dribble his way and lost the ball.

Suarez in particular was off key yesterday and it didn't help.

[Fredo]

Pressure on the ball is a big worry for me

Look at the game the other week against Villa. Not sure if it was for the goal but there was no pressure on the player on the halfway line, he was allowed to punt a hopeful ball straight down our middle which we fail to deal with

When our defenders do deal with those sort of balls there is nobody competing for second balls

Thats integral in football and the lack of that worries me greatly

Yeah that's something we don't do well and I don't think Rodgers has addressed it. He may address it in the summer though, we don't know. Fact is, even with those deficiencies in defence, if we'd taken more of our chances or situations and made our possession play pay more consistently, we'd have won more games.

I think the way we've played and progressed this season is quite typical of a team in transition. Rodgers is maybe taking a different route and is building from attacking positions (which has more potential to win you games) than the defensive ones.

Hopefully we see a more balanced team next season.

[dom9]

We played really nice football under Roy Evans and never achieved anything

That doesnt mean the same would happen under Brendan but its a cautionary tale none the less

As for a plan, I'm not sure. We look far better going forward than we have for sometime but defensively we dont seem to have any plan whatsoever

The midfield and defensive units are shockingly bad

The "plan" seems too laissez faire to me

In all seriousness, I'm not of the opinion that Brendan is complete useless

I'm just not as convinced as some on here that he is taking us in the right direction

I think we have major major flaws in our make up, and that worries me as there has been little or no sign of those problems being addressed

Maybe Brendan will surprise me this summer though

You can't see progress? I can. Sure there are still flaws but the attacking play has improved a hell of a lot, particularly since Christmas.

In the first half of the season, individual mistakes were leading to an alarming number of goals conceded (and points dropped). Now less so. Is that because there are fewer individual mistakes, or because we're better at coping with them when they do happen, or is it simply a question of luck? Either way, I think we're conceding fewer goals than we were.

The midfield is a puzzle. At times it looks overrun, but not as often as some people think. It just seems that on the occasions when it is overrun are more likely to be remembered by people.

Overall the possession stats are in our favour, so that surely means that the midfield is generally speaking, not being overrun.

Read what I wrote

I never said there havent been improvements in areas but what we have gained in attacking play has been to the detriment of our defensive play

Football is often a trade off, its about balancing things out

Defensively we are easy to exploit, very easy. Our shape and positional play is appalling

As for possession stats they mean **** all. Jimmy Case said something the other week that was spot on "we never wanted possession for possessions sake. we wanted it because without it you cant score goals"

Also read the above about possession stats which seems to disprove our managers theories about possession = win percentage

I did read what you wrote and responded to the bits in bold appropriately.

[dom9]

I was away from the site, and the country on business for much of February and early March so didnt comment either way apart from congratulating Brendan on the results when I returned

This is true. They were lovely one liners. Although the off the field spec forum did see a little more action.

Anyway, I'll stop stalking now.

[Lecter]

I did read what you wrote and responded to the bits in bold appropriately.

Defensively we are shockingly bad, there are so many reasons for this imo

Poor balance to the midfield, little or no pressure on the ball, poor shape, dont compete for second balls - all of those have been long standing problems that Brendan has failed to address so far

The only thing you can credit Rodgers for is leaving Allen out at times as that has been a definite improvement when hes done that

[Neil Young]

I haven't seen the game. Not a second of it.

My only comment is that it's impossible to get a picture of it from here. How can there be so many different points of view on what happened? It's like you all watched different games.

Perhaps in a sense you did.

[dom9]

I haven't seen the game. Not a second of it.

My only comment is that it's impossible to get a picture of it from here. How can there be so many different points of view on what happened? It's like you all watched different games.

Perhaps in a sense you did.

Preconceptions have a lot to do with it.

[Vermilion]

Preconceptions have a lot to do with it.

If you stopped thinking BR is a top manager we'd be fine.

[Lecter]

I haven't seen the game. Not a second of it.

My only comment is that it's impossible to get a picture of it from here. How can there be so many different points of view on what happened? It's like you all watched different games.

Perhaps in a sense you did.

You only have to look at the post match interviews

Even Brendan and Fat Sam were watching different games

Then watch MOTD and the Sky football show and you see differing views on what are contentious decisions or not

[dom9]

If you stopped thinking BR is a top manager we'd be fine.

[Vermilion]

This is exactly football though isn't it, actually it's life in general, different people have different opinions.

Only time will prove the pudding.

[Lecter]

This is exactly football though isn't it, actually it's life in general, different people have different opinions.

Only time will prove the pudding.

Yep

Personally I disagreed totally with both managers

[Neil Young]

You only have to look at the post match interviews

Even Brendan and Fat Sam were watching different games

Then watch MOTD and the Sky football show and you see differing views on what are contentious decisions or not

I don't mind people being biased, it's unavoidable. It was an observation, that's all.

Managers have good reasons for being biased and for assessing things differently in public at least.

Most pundits are totally unaware of their biases, that's why they're useless and not worth paying any attention to whatsoever.

I've got MOTD2 recorded. I might get round to watching it. It doesn't sound worth it though. But I got that from the result.