Brendan Rodgers

[Sarb]

I dont think he has the balance between attack and defence sorted. We have some hugely gifted attacking players. With the form of Suarez it would be criminal not to make 4th

But the defence is costing us time and again. I lost count how many times Toure was kamikaze out in left back territory. It was stupid schoolboy stuff

I really dont know. Very disappointed today

[Leyton388]

Coutinho needs dropping with Gerrard slotting into that position further up the pitch.

[Sarb]

He could have made the change after 15 mins. Coutinho was shocking and we were so open

[Sarb]

Coutinho needs dropping with Gerrard slotting into that position further up the pitch.

[el matador]

Dare I say it a previous manger would have waited until 60- 65 minutes to make the change

Dare i say it a certain previous manager wouldn't have made such a massive tactical **** up in the first place.

[JohnDoe]

He needs to swallow his pride and abandon it right now. Pretty sure Gerrard doesn't want to play there. I don't get this whole moving him back thing. You need more legs - tracking, covering, pressing - in the deeper role IMO and him being there negates most of his quality. It was apparent when almost as soon as he moved forward he did a couple of great things. His passing is high risk much of the time and it's better to lose the ball nearer their goal than ours. And if he doesn't give it away in those areas, he's causing havoc.

I reckon his days as an absolute fixture in the side every week ought to be being gradually brought to a close, but he should play more often than not and when he does it has to be in an attacking role. Daniel7 made a great point - you don't see Totti playing holding mid.

The problem with Gerrard, is that in order to accommodate him in midfield, you either need to drop one striker (shouldn't happen), play Suarez or Sturridge wide in a 4-3-3 (shouldn't happen, they're our best players), or pair him with a monstrous beast who can compensate for his dying engine.

Henderson is not that player because he's not strong defensively, neither is Joe Allen. However, Lucas is also definitely not that player because he lacks pace and the kind of physical superiority necessary to dominate. The best solution we've had this season is pair him with Lucas and have Henderson act as a wide player who tucks in and gives us some sort of engine in the middle. However, moving forward, we need a better solution.

[Sarb]

Dare i say it a certain previous manager wouldn't have made such a massive tactical **** up in the first place.

Kenny's last season was tactically flawed. Played one up top most times at home

[Muddled]

Dare i say it a certain previous manager wouldn't have made such a massive tactical **** up in the first place.

Didn't Rafa lose to Aston Villa in his last season?

I think it's fair to say we had our off days under Rafa too.

[Shaggy]

When Rafa ****ed up at home against lesser sides it was usually for a lack of attacking ideas. Rodgers went the other way today and left us wide open in a way Rafa practically never would. It's that balance we're looking for, and to be fair to Rodgers this is an anomaly. The way we've dealt with teams in the bottom half has been brilliant. I'd kind of hoped, though, that Rodgers was now past the stage of having to learn on the job.

[Shanks]

Dare i say it a certain previous manager wouldn't have made such a massive tactical **** up in the first place.

Rodgers is not doing too bad though really, all things considered..

To recognise and make the change and half time is good enough..

If someone told you at the start of the season he'd get us Champions League place mid Jan, would you not have been happy with that?

Fickle fan expectations have rose, due to the Mancs decline....

[Exiled_red]

When Rafa ****ed up at home against lesser sides it was usually for a lack of attacking ideas. Rodgers went the other way today and left us wide open in a way Rafa practically never would. It's that balance we're looking for, and to be fair to Rodgers this is an anomaly. The way we've dealt with teams in the bottom half has been brilliant. I'd kind of hoped, though, that Rodgers was now past the stage of having to learn on the job.

[Hemingway]

The problem with Gerrard, is that in order to accommodate him in midfield, you either need to drop one striker (shouldn't happen), play Suarez or Sturridge wide in a 4-3-3 (shouldn't happen, they're our best players), or pair him with a monstrous beast who can compensate for his dying engine.

Henderson is not that player because he's not strong defensively, neither is Joe Allen. However, Lucas is also definitely not that player because he lacks pace and the kind of physical superiority necessary to dominate. The best solution we've had this season is pair him with Lucas and have Henderson act as a wide player who tucks in and gives us some sort of engine in the middle. However, moving forward, we need a better solution.

Or could go with three at the back, which I still think makes the fewest number of sacrifices. But I agree, the balance really is off in the midfield regardless of the formation used.

[JohnDoe]

Rafa never made a sub before the 60th minute.

He also constantly played two deep defensive midfielders sitting back at home to the point of infuriating many fans.

I love the man but he had his flaws. We had so many draws at home against lesser sides under him when we looked so incompetent going forward. Our record at home this season has been very good and I'd rather build on that than the ability to squeeze out results while being incapable of breaking down teams that park the bus against us.

[JohnDoe]

Or could go with three at the back, which I still think makes the fewest number of sacrifices. But I agree, the balance really is off in the midfield regardless of the formation used.

Three at the back concedes the middle too often. I didn't mind it at the time, but going forward, we can't rely on it.

[Exiled_red]

Rafa never made a sub before the 60th minute.

He also constantly played two deep defensive midfielders sitting back at home to the point of infuriating many fans.

I love the man but he had his flaws. We had so many draws at home against lesser sides under him when we looked so incompetent going forward. Our record at home this season has been very good and I'd rather build on that than the ability to squeeze out results while being incapable of breaking down teams that park the bus against us.

I think that Rafa and Rodgers had opposite problems, Rafa had a solid team, but attackwise we just had Gerrard and Torres who were top class in an attacking sense. Rodgers has an outstanding attacking front 3 or 4, but defensively it is poor, if we had Rafa's defensive set up (back 4 and 2 DM) with our current front 4 that would be phenomenal (and well balanced) team.