Brendan Rodgers

[Fosterbloke]

We did

Progress!

[Alex]

Only lost 3 times since the new year, one of those was to the league Champions too.

Too many draws, but over all 9 losses in a league season is not terrible. Its not good either. But perspective is needed here.

We've not lost a football game since mid March

[Shaggy]

It's a lot better than 14 defeats. Losing is a habit and we're starting to break it, at last. Brendan has done some good work since Christmas and has a great chance to build on it now. Hope he can deliver.

[Alex]

We lost 11 after the new year last season. That was relegation form.

[The Birdman]

It's a lot better than 14 defeats. Losing is a habit and we're starting to break it, at last. Brendan has done some good work since Christmas and has a great chance to build on it now. Hope he can deliver.

This is why I'm baffled that some fans continue to hammer Rodgers, he isn't perfect and he has made mistakes but it's blatant for everyone to see that he has improved us in multiple areas and most importantly opened up the route for young players to feature in the first team.

We're winning games from a losing position now, our record is practically identical to Spurs's so as long as we buy the right defensive players in the summer I'm more than confident we'll be around the top 4.

You can't over estimate how important it is to play young kids in the first team.

[Fredo]

I would be curious to see our stats, results wise, in the league since around Christmas. I'm pretty sure our form since the turn of the year has been top 4 or better. We've become much more consistent now - haven't lost for 7 games or so.

[The Birdman]

I'm sure I read somewhere this morning that we've got 36 points in the 2nd half of the season or the last 18 games (however it's worked out)

[red g]

thats since Jan 1st.

1 Manchester United 17 12 3 2 9 1 31 10 +21 39 2.29
2 Manchester City 16 10 3 3 10 3 24 12 +12 33 2.06
3 Arsenal 17 10 4 3 6 2 28 15 +13 34 2.00
4 Tottenham Hotspur 17 9 6 2 3 2 29 20 +9 33 1.94
5 Chelsea 18 10 4 4 6 2 34 20 +14 34 1.89
6 Liverpool 17 8 6 3 8 4 39 17 +22 30 1.76
7 Everton 17 8 6 3 9 6 21 13 +8 30 1.76
8 Aston Villa 17 6 4 7 0 3 30 28 +2 22 1.29
9 Southampton 18 5 8 5 5 5 22 22 0 23 1.28
10 Newcastle United 17 6 3 8 3 6 19 30 -11 21 1.24
11 Fulham 17 5 4 8 3 7 17 24 -7 19 1.12
12 West Ham United 18 5 5 8 5 5 19 28 -9 20 1.11
13 Wigan Athletic 16 4 5 7 2 4 22 32 -10 17 1.06
14 Swansea City 17 4 6 7 5 8 18 24 -6 18 1.06
15 Sunderland 17 4 5 8 4 4 20 27 -7 17 1.00
16 Norwich City 17 3 7 7 5 8 15 24 -9 16 0.94
17 Reading 16 4 3 9 2 5 19 30 -11 15 0.94
18 West Bromwich Albion 17 4 3 10 3 5 20 27 -7 15 0.88
19 Queens Park Rangers 17 3 6 8 5 8 14 23 -9 15 0.88
20 Stoke City 17 3 3 11 3 8 12 27 -15 12 0.71

3 points for a win
Points per game, average goal difference then average goals scored applies

[Fredo]

Cheers for that. Thought we we would be higher than that.

[Gingawaria]

thats since Jan 1st.

1 Manchester United 17 12 3 2 9 1 31 10 +21 39 2.29
2 Manchester City 16 10 3 3 10 3 24 12 +12 33 2.06
3 Arsenal 17 10 4 3 6 2 28 15 +13 34 2.00
4 Tottenham Hotspur 17 9 6 2 3 2 29 20 +9 33 1.94
5 Chelsea 18 10 4 4 6 2 34 20 +14 34 1.89
6 Liverpool 17 8 6 3 8 4 39 17 +22 30 1.76
7 Everton 17 8 6 3 9 6 21 13 +8 30 1.76
8 Aston Villa 17 6 4 7 0 3 30 28 +2 22 1.29
9 Southampton 18 5 8 5 5 5 22 22 0 23 1.28
10 Newcastle United 17 6 3 8 3 6 19 30 -11 21 1.24
11 Fulham 17 5 4 8 3 7 17 24 -7 19 1.12
12 West Ham United 18 5 5 8 5 5 19 28 -9 20 1.11
13 Wigan Athletic 16 4 5 7 2 4 22 32 -10 17 1.06
14 Swansea City 17 4 6 7 5 8 18 24 -6 18 1.06
15 Sunderland 17 4 5 8 4 4 20 27 -7 17 1.00
16 Norwich City 17 3 7 7 5 8 15 24 -9 16 0.94
17 Reading 16 4 3 9 2 5 19 30 -11 15 0.94
18 West Bromwich Albion 17 4 3 10 3 5 20 27 -7 15 0.88
19 Queens Park Rangers 17 3 6 8 5 8 14 23 -9 15 0.88
20 Stoke City 17 3 3 11 3 8 12 27 -15 12 0.71

3 points for a win
Points per game, average goal difference then average goals scored applies

Stoke are the shocker there, good thing for them that they had a decent start otherwise they'd be certs to go down.

I seem to remember us being close to bottom of that table last year.

[dww]

Only lost 3 times since the new year, one of those was to the league Champions too.

Too many draws, but over all 9 losses in a league season is not terrible. Its not good either. But perspective is needed here.

We've not lost a football game since mid March

I think one of the issues is that before we collapsed post-cup win last season we also looked like a coming force in the league. It's nice that we have had a decent run but I don't think we look like we have gone onto a different level to last year at present.

[Mattshark]

Cheers for that. Thought we we would be higher than that.

It is a massive improvement from how we ended last season. Last year after going a goal down we'd have almost certainly have lost that game.
Brendan has instilled a lot more confidence in the team and if we can build upon that we can improve again next season.

[Gingawaria]

I think one of the issues is that before we collapsed post-cup win last season we also looked like a coming force in the league. It's nice that we have had a decent run but I don't think we look like we have gone onto a different level to last year at present.

I completely disagree, we lost 11 times after Christmas last year and would have been in a relegation fight had we not started the season as well as we did.

This season, we've looked a lot stronger after Christmas. Taking 30 points from 51 available isn't a bad tally at all. Our average points total over the second half of the season if you average it over the season would've put us on 67 points, not quite good enough for a Champions League place but not that far off.

I can see us being much more consistent next season and really pushing for top 4.

[Neil Young]

I think one of the issues is that before we collapsed post-cup win last season we also looked like a coming force in the league. It's nice that we have had a decent run but I don't think we look like we have gone onto a different level to last year at present.

Not a different level certainly but I think guarded optimism is justified.

It is a massive improvement from how we ended last season. Last year after going a goal down we'd have almost certainly have lost that game.
Brendan has instilled a lot more confidence in the team and if we can build upon that we can improve again next season.

If there's a trend, yes. If it's just a reversal of the previous season's pattern, no.

There's no logical reason of course why the trend should survive the summer break when it doesn't survive the calendar flicking over from one year to the next. Having said that, breaking a negative run is hard to do - as you say confidence has to be a significant part of it - and for that reason I think we can be cautiously optimistic that the upward trend will continue (assuming we can improve the squad and hold on to Suárez).

[red g]

[QUOTE=Gingawaria;2646376]Stoke are the shocker there, good thing for them that they had a decent start otherwise they'd be certs to go down.

I seem to remember us being close to bottom of that table last year.[/QUOTE]

Here is since Jan 1st to close of season last year.

1 Manchester United 19 14 2 3 10 3 40 16 +24 44 2.32
2 Manchester City 20 14 2 4 10 4 40 14 +26 44 2.20
3 Newcastle United 19 11 2 6 9 3 30 26 +4 35 1.84
4 Arsenal 19 10 4 5 6 2 39 23 +16 34 1.79
5 Fulham 19 10 2 7 4 6 28 26 +2 32 1.68
6 Everton 21 9 8 4 9 4 32 20 +12 35 1.67
7 Chelsea 19 8 6 5 6 6 28 22 +6 30 1.58
8 Tottenham Hotspur 20 8 6 6 8 5 31 21 +10 30 1.50
9 Wigan Athletic 19 8 4 7 5 3 25 25 0 28 1.47
10 Swansea City 19 8 3 8 6 6 26 28 -2 27 1.42
11 Sunderland 20 7 6 7 8 8 23 24 -1 27 1.35
12 Norwich City 19 7 4 8 3 6 24 32 -8 25 1.32
13 West Bromwich Albion 20 7 4 9 6 6 26 26 0 25 1.25
14 Bolton Wanderers 19 6 5 8 1 7 23 35 -12 23 1.21
15 Queens Park Rangers 19 6 2 11 3 4 25 33 -8 20 1.05
16 Stoke City 19 4 7 8 3 7 16 23 -7 19 1.00
17 Liverpool 19 5 3 11 5 8 23 25 -2 18 0.95
18 Blackburn Rovers 19 5 2 12 3 7 20 37 -17 17 0.89
19 Aston Villa 19 2 9 8 4 8 15 29 -14 15 0.79
20 Wolverhampton Wndrs 19 1 5 13 2 8 19 48 -29 8 0.42

3 points for a win
Points per game, average goal difference then average goals scored applies