Brendan Rodgers

[dww]

I think that's the root cause of the comments about Rodgers teeth and all that. There have been an increasing number of them across the LFC web spectrum, along with those about his quotes and personal life. With Klopp, Ancelotti or Benitez, they're three men who come across as genuinely honest and natural with what they say and how they behave, with some great stories about them to go along with.

I've been thinking about what we need and my current feeling is that none of what are generally perceived as the very top managers (perhaps van Gaal excluded) are builders.

To my mind Rafa suffered a lot in order to try and put good long term foundations in. He had the personality but still couldn't quite get the leeway needed. Many of the things he put in place have been torn down/ripped up but in the last couple of seasons some of the players coming through look like he had been on to something.

What is difficult to tell is whether the things done to the wider squad (rather than the first XI we put out) are really improving the foundation long term. It feels a lot like the combination of Rodgers and transfer committee are disjointed and consequently it's unclear how much progress we have made (if any, or even if we haven't regressed).

[Vermilion]

I think that's the root cause of the comments about Rodgers teeth and all that. There have been an increasing number of them across the LFC web spectrum, along with those about his quotes and personal life. With Klopp, Ancelotti or Benitez, they're three men who come across as genuinely honest and natural with what they say and how they behave, with some great stories about them to go along with.

[captainfog]

Who are these scouts? Do they only watch Monday night football on sky? The lack of imagination is staggering.

[kev776]

So, to recap - Are we blaming Brendog, the scouts, the committeeeeeee, FSG or a combo of them all?

I do need some guidance so I can properly vent my miffedness.

[redmike65]

So, to recap - Are we blaming Brendog, the scouts, the committeeeeeee, FSG or a combo of them all?

I do need some guidance so I can properly vent my miffedness.

50% FSG policy
30% TC targets (which includes Rodgers as one of the TC)
20% Rogders tactical acumen

[Marvel]

So, to recap - Are we blaming Brendog, the scouts, the committeeeeeee, FSG or a combo of them all?

I do need some guidance so I can properly vent my miffedness.

before you do that what do you make of klopp ?

i love his dortmund side of 2012 which was one of the best counter attacking teams i had ever seen. The pace and directness was something to behold and the amount of runners from all angles meant that you just couldnt stop them.

For all their intensity, sometimes they look clumsy in possession of the ball. Is that since gotze left for bayern or did they look like that before too.

I know gotze is one of those few players who can slow the tempo of the game down and he was very important to dortmund. They never really replaced him but is that the reason they look a little uncomfortable when they have to keep the ball ?

[Doc_Piptorious]

before you do that what do you make of klopp ?

i love his dortmund side of 2012 which was one of the best counter attacking teams i had ever seen. The pace and directness was something to behold and the amount of runners from all angles meant that you just couldnt stop them.

For all their intensity, sometimes they look clumsy in possession of the ball. Is that since gotze left for bayern or did they look like that before too.

I know gotze is one of those few players who can slow the tempo of the game down and he was very important to dortmund. They never really replaced him but is that the reason they look a little uncomfortable when they have to keep the ball ?

Dortmund, even in their pomp, had a similar weakness to what we had last season and that is when teams came to park the bus.

Their style of play was generally enough to sweep aside most teams they played but when a team arrived with the sole intention of sitting deep and staying in their own half, then Dortmund sometimes looked a bit devoid of imagination (despite having many cracking players) and a bit stifled/clumsy as a result.

I don't think Gotze was their metronome or tempo setter back then though. For my money it was guys like Sahin and Kagawa that were dictating the tempo of their play allowing Gotze's brilliance to light up their play in the final third (especially in his final season with Dortmund)

[Marvel]

Dortmund, even in their pomp, had a similar weakness to what we had last season and that is when teams came to park the bus.

Their style of play was generally enough to sweep aside most teams they played but when a team arrived with the sole intention of sitting deep and staying in their own half, then Dortmund sometimes looked a bit devoid of imagination (despite having many cracking players) and a bit stifled/clumsy as a result.

I don't think Gotze was their metronome or tempo setter back then though. For my money it was guys like Sahin and Kagawa that were dictating the tempo of their play allowing Gotze's brilliance to light up their play in the final third (especially in his final season with Dortmund)

what worries me about klopp is that his teams have never played possession football. We have the players to go either way - possession or counter attack but the last 3 years have all been about keeping the ball bar 6 months of madness.

[rodo]

The whole image thing is something us old ****ers hate i remember gerrard getting loads of grief when he didnt have a skinhead anymore

[Vermilion]

I see BR as the type of bloke that looks in the mirror every chance he gets, just to be sure.

Klopp, well, i think he doesn't give a toss about mirrors.

Whether this effects their managerial abilities, i can't say.

[vlahka]

If we knew how to counterattack we'd destroy the league. Having some quick strikers up front knowing that a legendary Coutinho knew how to slide a ball into an empty area would just bring in so much fear. All we're doing now is playing it from the back really slowly and telegraphing passes. And that stupid horrid turn your back against the opponents to accept the ball before turning around, not only making you completely blind to what the team is doing but also slowing every single passage of the ball.

[BrooklynRed]

If we knew how to counterattack we'd destroy the league. Having some quick strikers up front knowing that a legendary Coutinho knew how to slide a ball into an empty area would just bring in so much fear. All we're doing now is playing it from the back really slowly and telegraphing passes. And that stupid horrid turn your back against the opponents to accept the ball before turning around, not only making you completely blind to what the team is doing but also slowing every single passage of the ball.

We don't have anything up top through the middle and we seem incapable of countering-- usually a ball hammered deep and wide for Sterling to try and run on to. Suarez was the master-- his runs off the ball into space in actual dangerous areas was almost as incredible as how he put defenders on the back heel and created space on dangerous areas... he drew people to him and opened up channels for Sturridge to fill and bang them in.

I'm getting misty eyed thinking about it.

We need a player of Suarez's style (you can see why Alexis Sanchez was a player we coveted) but Sterling is not good enough technically to do this, does not have 10% of the vision of Suarez (his passes are generally poor if they aren't blocked or if they happen at all), and with Sturridge hurt, no one is making complimentary runs into space-- even when he plays, no one is able to find him in dangerous areas because no one is pressing the defense on the counter.

We have no one creating mayhem on the counter or in the box which hurts doubly because our defensive area is chaos.

Obviously, there is only one Suarez, but we should be looking at players from the same zip code and not those who play the target striker style. We have Balotelli for that and he's not nearly as poor as he's been this year, but he's being asked to play a press and counter style he is not suited to playing.

Not sure who to target, but Benteke is decidedly not this type of player-- no one on the team is, maybe no one is? You can see why BR played Sterling up top- you have to hope the light will come on and he will see how to run at defenses and find spaces, but the light has not come on.

How can the transfer committee not see this?

[Doc_Piptorious]

We don't have anything up top through the middle and we seem incapable of countering-- usually a ball hammered deep and wide for Sterling to try and run on to. Suarez was the master-- his runs off the ball into space in actual dangerous areas was almost as incredible as how he put defenders on the back heel and created space on dangerous areas... he drew people to him and opened up channels for Sturridge to fill and bang them in.

I'm getting misty eyed thinking about it.

We need a player of Suarez's style (you can see why Alexis Sanchez was a player we coveted) but Sterling is not good enough technically to do this, does not have 10% of the vision of Suarez (his passes are generally poor if they aren't blocked or if they happen at all), and with Sturridge hurt, no one is making complimentary runs into space-- even when he plays, no one is able to find him in dangerous areas because no one is pressing the defense on the counter.

We have no one creating mayhem on the counter or in the box which hurts doubly because our defensive area is chaos.

Obviously, there is only one Suarez, but we should be looking at players from the same zip code and not those who play the target striker style. We have Balotelli for that and he's not nearly as poor as he's been this year, but he's being asked to play a press and counter style he is not suited to playing.

Not sure who to target, but Benteke is decidedly not this type of player-- no one on the team is, maybe no one is? You can see why BR played Sterling up top- you have to hope the light will come on and he will see how to run at defenses and find spaces, but the light has not come on.

How can the transfer committee not see this?

Which is where someone like Vietto could potentially do a job. Then if Sterling left bring in someone like Aubameyang, and we suddenly have two players that provide different defense bothering talents that could play as an attacking duo if Sturridge was out injured or that could both fit into the same team as Sturridge when fit.


Put some quality ball players behind them (as in more than just Countinho) and there would be a nice mix of movement and pace for the ball players to thread passes to.

[BrooklynRed]

Which is where someone like Vietto could potentially do a job. Then if Sterling left bring in someone like Aubameyang, and we suddenly have two players that provide different defense bothering talents that could play as an attacking duo if Sturridge was out injured or that could both fit into the same team as Sturridge when fit.


Put some quality ball players behind them (as in more than just Countinho) and there would be a nice mix of movement and pace for the ball players to thread passes to.

Right. So, who is at fault- the manager who can't adapt the 9 players behind the wrong style of attackers, or the club's structure and buying program, who does not give the manager what he wants to succeed? I'll take fake teeth and ego every day of the week if we're ****ting people. I have no football experience other than carefully watching the team for decades-- and I think this is very obvious. How is it that no one in club management can see it? Or are they just willfully doing this for some reason?

[Venton]

There has been loads of personal snipes at the bloke.

Calling him a bull****ter, saying he's a poor manager, etc, is not an example of this. Having to trawl through snidey one liners of reference to his teeth, his tan, his partner, his personal life, etc, is.

I get it, people want Rodgers out. Posters who articulate why they think that add great debate to this forum. People who post that 'Rodgers' white teeth need to **** off out the club with 38DD' don't add anything.

Surely his teeth and tan are fair game? Whose aren't?