FA Cup - Aston Villa: Post Match

[frank the tank]

in his own words....

"Look at Tottenham. If you spend more than £100 million, you expect to be challenging for the league."

New attacking signings Mario Balotelli, Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic - who arrived in a summer which saw Liverpool spend in excess of £100m - have not lived up to expectations while the Reds' defence is even worse with just two clean sheets in 18 league and cup games.

Rodgers has spent a princely £215.2m on new players since the summer of 2012 but has had only two confirmed hits: Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho, both signed in the January transfer window in 2013.

This will be his biggest problem......why would fsg give him cash to spend after this???

Brendans sucesses have been getting sterling Ibe flanagan into the first team and making henderson a proper first teamer as opposed to an expensive mistake. His best approach will be to go in with the whole "emre can, markovic, moreno and origi will become world class under me" speil and it might get him maybe 2 or 3 players in the summer again........ however if he goes in and asks for another 6 or 7 players then he is sacking himself because there is no way he could be trusted with another 100m.

I think if brendan stays on, then he needs to start next season well.... if we have a similar start to last season then he could be out by the end of October.

That scenario would suit Rafa Benitez. If brendans sacked in the summer then surely FSG would go with the likes of Klopp DeBoer or Koeman. However if Brendan was sacked during the season, then Rafa might get the gig if he was available next day. That would be the same for any top job so he might decide to sit tight in his house on the Wirral, do some media work to keep his face on the telly and see who is the first high casualty manager to leave his position. Similar to how he ended up with the chelsea job. if brendan got the bullet in say October, then it is almost guaranteed that JohnW would ask Kenny his advice. And if Benitez is available then it would be a no brainer.

And you know what, I think sticking with Brendan might not be a bad shout either....because Emre Can, Markovic, Moreno, Ibe will all be better players next season And maybe he should be given the chance to get a song out of them. Maybe Origi will be a sucess and brendan shoukd get the chance to work with that. Coutinho,Henderson and sterling if he stays will be better players. Maybe Sturridge and Lucas can stay fit for more than 70% of the season.... perhaps brendan can integrate harry wilson, rossiter, wisdom, canes et al to the first team squad....... Maybe even Lallana and Lovren can become half decent squad players (im losing even self-credibikity here)

My point is, there are a number of variables and perhaps Brendan has proved that he is a good manager to get a song out of young players and possibly deserves half a chance to do that with all the young players at the club.

I dont think the club will trust him with another 100m in the summer.....but maybe if we could get Milner, Konoplyanka, Vlaar and Ings or Gignac on free transfers then FSG wont see giving Brendan another season as such a big risk. Let him get a chance to show that the young players signed for big cash last summer are not a waste of money and can be good players for lfc for years to come....

[baitman]

our normal excuse is that we get beat by a team that can outspend us in transfer fees or wages...
outplayed by villa.
they are not a club known for spending millions. not many on huge wages either.
they fought and battled. we were weak.
they closed down the space and had other players to pass to. ours were invisible.

i am in shock. i cant believe a Liverpool team could roll over so easily. there is no shame being beaten if we have given our best, but this looked like a light training session.
if thats the best a team can be motivated then the manager needs to take a long look at himself in the mirror and realise that whatever he is doing just isnt enough.

we got second last year, maybe it wasnt rodgers that was the driving force, maybe suarez drove the others to lift themselves.
we have looked good in patches this year, but too often we fall back into sub standard and that really is our level. the odd good blip, but too often we have been a shambles.

[wiw]

The disappointing thing for me was that we didn't stick with Coutinho as a false nine and stick to a winning formula. Instead we had Gerrard running around a lot and our midfield being completely overrun. I haven't seen it back but did we start 3-4-3? Did Villa play a diamond? Regardless of formations anyway we just didn't turn up, get near anyone or make any tackles. Second to every loose ball. So disappointing.

[Lecter]

We started 3-4-3 with Allen / Henderson deeper

We later switched and had Gerrard playing deeper

Villa's midfield bossed us, it really didnt matter what formation they put out they had midfield players who showed desire, passion and a willingness to compete

None of ours did

To me this has been a constant problem all through the season, sometimes it has been overlooked by a good result but generally our midfield has been terrible most of the season