Brendan Rodgers

[RichC]

Well it would be stupid to argue that he had no part in it

That season our formation suited our players

Why he saw fit to change it god only knows, even with Suarez leaving he should have stuck with 2 up top and a higher line

His obsession with 4-3-3 or 1 up top is infuriating

Anyway whats done is done 13/14 counts for ****ing nothing today

FFS

1-1 at home against a Division 4 side

1-1 at home against a Division 4 side and playing 3 at the back and only 1 up top

1-1 at home against a Division 4 side that has conceded more goals than any club in all 4 divisions

1-1 at home against a Division 4 side that sat their top-scorer on the bench

1-1 at home against a Division 4 side after spending £200 million in the last 2 summers



What was his quote at his first press conference ah yes "Judge me after 3 years."....... 1-1 at home against a Division 4 side

I can't understand his unwillingness to try a 442 again especially if he took a step back and looked at our most successful period under him was playing this exact formation, even with the loss of Suarez and Gerrard you could argue we've actually got the players to make it work.

Football is all about results and based on where we currently are they've not been good enough.

[Buzzo]

I think what we can take from todays musings is it is quite possible Rodgers managed to stumble upon a winning formula that year, but he had the 'nouse' to use it and stick with it, almost winning us a title.

The fact he has come nowhere close to recapturing this or even finding one single other worthwhile formation is the reason we can probably safely say this formation was discovered more by accident than design. He has leveraged that season soo much to justify his standing and ability within the club, and has been backed by the owners which is why his current floundering has made him seem something of aa fraud.

[Alex]

I said it in my initial post, for me, it was Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling collectively as players (not just pressing).

This debate is getting circular. However, people always claim players to be brainless. So was it just some astral alignment that made all their brains greater than the sum of their parts?

Or was it Rodgers fitting those players into the best positions to get the most out of them. Something he cant seem to do anymore.

[Lecter]

but isn't that the point though Lec? Surely you wouldn't just drop a method that nearly bought you the ultimate success. Has he had a brain transplant? For me, all the evidence suggests that Suarez' pressing from the front forced the team to collectively do the same. He's had ample opportunity to try different systems, methods, tactics...but keeps reverting back to form.

And lets not forget, we weren't exactly solid in midfield and defence that season. A prime example of how we played was the 5-3 away win to Stoke.

One man doesnt do all the pressing

When you set up a press it isnt adhoc or done off the cuff a lot of work goes into the type of pressing we did that season

Yes with Suarez our pressing could be more effective (like it was with Rush in the side) but without Suarez (just like Rush) doesnt mean that you cant effectively press

The 14-15 season it was noticeable that our midfield was sat 10-15 yards deeper and that meant midfielders (such as Henderson) had to cover more ground to even be in position to commence a group pressing action

I actually think Rodgers has got caught up in his whole "death by football" / possession mantra and forgotten that the meat and bones of most things is hard work and organisation and an ability to win the ball back quickly

[redmike65]

2013/14 was not lightning in a bottle as much as some like to pretend it was - there was nothing to stop Rodgers adopting blitzkrieg football as his new template and yet he chose to not to. That is the mystery - he adapted the set up to make the most of his assets but Suarez was not the reason it worked - he was the reason it worked as well as it did which is a slightly different thing. Suarez loss should have made no fundamental difference if he had bought well two summers ago but the players were not right (regardless of individual ability) and then Sturridge got crooked. It was at this point he seemed to forget the 2013/14 season entirely and tried to find a way based on his beloved "control". Rafa understood control to the point of becoming an obsession with him and I didn't like it much to be honest but it did yield top 4 finishes and good CL runs (ironically it was Liverpool at its least disciplined that won the CL, FA Cup and ran Utd close in the league). Rodgers is therefore a bad Benitez as things stand and that's something no one wants.

[Lecter]

If it was down to Suarez and his pressing. Why didnt it happen the season before when Rodgers first came in?

Exactly

[Maxiedge]

This debate is getting circular. However, people always claim players to be brainless. So was it just some astral alignment that made all their brains greater than the sum of their parts?

Or was it Rodgers fitting those players into the best positions to get the most out of them. Something he cant seem to do anymore.

It was the self-belief they had. They just had a consistent confidence in their own ability led by team leader Suarez. We went into every game believing we could blitz the opponents in the first 15 minutes. History has now shown, this is not part of Rodger's make up. Far from it.

I do admit, we have missed Sturridge but it's still been an abject failure in terms of management when missing a key player.

[Lecter]

I said it in my initial post, for me, it was Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling collectively as players (not just pressing).

and yet the player who covered more distance in terms of pressing was probably Henderson

Yet he hasnt come anywhere near that level since

Thats NOT JUST down to Suarez going

[Maxiedge]

and yet the player who covered more distance in terms of pressing was probably Henderson

Yet he hasnt come anywhere near that level since

Thats NOT JUST down to Suarez going

It wasn't just down to Suarez but he was the catalyst. I'm 100% convinced on that.

Just look at the evidence against Rodgers, there's just too much to digest

[dww]

I think what we can take from todays musings is it is quite possible Rodgers managed to stumble upon a winning formula that year, but he had the 'nouse' to use it and stick with it, almost winning us a title.

The fact he has come nowhere close to recapturing this or even finding one single other worthwhile formation is the reason we can probably safely say this formation was discovered more by accident than design. He has leveraged that season soo much to justify his standing and ability within the club, and has been backed by the owners which is why his current floundering has made him seem something of aa fraud.

Last seasons back 3 based formation was worthwhile. Albeit limited given the fact that the most efficient forward for the one up top position was Sterling, who is a natural finisher in no-one's eyes.

His unwise pronouncements have made his failings seem worse than they are. He hasn't however proved to be (at this stage of his career) the really top manager we require.

[danperkins]

one of my favorite gif's of all time

[Lecter]

It wasn't just down to Suarez but he was the catalyst. I'm 100% convinced on that.

Just look at the evidence against Rodgers, there's just too much to digest

I think catalyst is the wrong word

You dont set your pressing by 1 player, you set it by being positionally in the correct areas

One player can make your press more effective (as Suarez AND Rush have done for us) but if you are not even getting into those positions it doesnt matter whether you have Suarez or not

As someone on here has mentioned we were never anywhere near as effective at pressing in 12/13 as we were in 13/14 and Suarez was in that side

[danperkins]

I think what we can take from todays musings is it is quite possible Rodgers managed to stumble upon a winning formula that year, but he had the 'nouse' to use it and stick with it, almost winning us a title.

The fact he has come nowhere close to recapturing this or even finding one single other worthwhile formation is the reason we can probably safely say this formation was discovered more by accident than design. He has leveraged that season soo much to justify his standing and ability within the club, and has been backed by the owners which is why his current floundering has made him seem something of aa fraud.

[frank the tank]

i think that 2013/14 was a little bit of a perfect storm to be honest.

1. Our rivals were in various states of disarray.

2. We had no european football to distract us - and the full week on the training ground really helped us prepare for games.

3. We were pretty lucky with injuries.

4. But for me, we also had a ****e squad. Our first 11 looked exciting and full of goals but there was two thirds of **** all on the bench. Aly Cissoko, Moses and Aspas. Sweet jesus. This actually worked in our favour because of (a) our luck with injuries and (b) Brendan didn't have all of these players in his squad that he felt like he had to justify the purchase of them. He didn't have a £20m Lovren that he needed to prove wasnt a complete waste of money. He didn't have a £20m Markovic that he felt like he needed to play. He didn't have a £25m Lallana that he has to play..... or a £30m Firmino that he had to play. He also didn't have such a big squad so didn't actually have the possibility to chop and change the team every other game....

I think (not 100% sure) when we went through the good spell last season results wise, it was similar as well - he basically played the same team for about 3 months and we won a lot of games. (Then gerrard came back from injury!)

LFC were a close tight nit group in 2013/2014 because there wasn't that many of them. And when someone like Teixeria had to come off the bench, it was fine because he was playing with 10 other lads who were used to playing the same way and he was coming into a settled team.

And we can talk about net spend and whatever but we would be 10 times a better team and better club had we just not paid the close to £200m* we did on a load of ****e players and just ****in kept Suarez and Sterling and give them the money instead. **** we could just have recommissioned the Concorde and have let Suarez commute from Barcelona!!!

* Based on:
£20m for Markovic
£50m for the Southampton-3
£13m for Clyne
£12m for Moreno
£16m for Balotelli
£10m for Origi
£10m for Emre Can
£32.5m for Benteke
£30m for Firmino
whatever loan fee for Manquillo

[calvoboy]

I think catalyst is the wrong word

You dont set your pressing by 1 player, you set it by being positionally in the correct areas

One player can make your press more effective (as Suarez AND Rush have done for us) but if you are not even getting into those positions it doesnt matter whether you have Suarez or not

As someone on here has mentioned we were never anywhere near as effective at pressing in 12/13 as we were in 13/14 and Suarez was in that side

What's driving me mad about our current set up is that we have the players to do it again now. Ings can run all day, Sturridge was effective in 13/14, Henderson is great at it, Coutinho and Milner can do it too. But no, let's all retreat into our own half and press one at a time, Hodgson style. That'll work.