Brendan Rodgers

[RichC]

What a surprise this has come out just after Rodgers comments on Sturridge and England

It's not been the best of starts by any means, in fact it's been pretty poor however in terms of our aim of being in the top 4 come the end of the season we are currently 3 points off 4th.

[Slinky Skills]

I'm not worried, BR will sort us out.

I'm confident in the coming games we will see more improvement from the players I reckon.

I actually believe Markovic will get better, I'm hoping Ballotelli will too but he needs to work harder and buy into the ideas of this club - once he does he will be fine.

[RichC]

I think we'll get better as well whilst Suarez was a huge driving force for us last year BR was equally important if not more so and got us playing some amazing football.

These players will bed in and he'll get them playing the football he wants again.

[red g]

anyone who thought it was going to be easy replacing the best player in the world last year and not have an effect was deluding themselves. Suarez probably got 20% more out of every player to, Due to his desire and will to win.

pretty confident Brendan will get it right.....Our injury crisis has been a nightmare too with our most important players injured.

Some of our new players aree struggling to settle and the 2 that I thought would have the biggest impact Can/Llallana have been injured.

[Bender]

BBC
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said his team are in a period of "transition" and will face more "pain" before they start to turn the corner.
Last year's runners-up have won only two of their first six Premier League matches and lost 1-0 to Basel in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Rodgers said: "We had to improve the squad and unfortunately we've lost a number of our key players to injuries.
"It brings us into a little period of transition again."

The departure of Luis Suarez to Barcelona and an injury to Daniel Sturridge has deprived Rodgers of a strike force that scored 53 league goals between them last season.

In their absence, new attacking signings Mario Balotelli, Lazar Markovic and Adam Lallana have struggled to make an impact, with the Reds scoring only eight times in six league matches.

There have also been problems at the back, with just one clean sheet in nine games this season.
Liverpool's last six games
FC Basel 1-0 Liverpool
Liverpool 1-1 Everton
Liverpool 2-2 Middlesbrough (Liverpool win 14-13 on penalties)
West Ham 3-1 Liverpool
Liverpool 2-1 Ludogorets Razgrad
Liverpool 0-1 Aston Villa

Rodgers compared the unsettled situation to the one he inherited two years ago before the team set off on a "magic carpet ride".

Asked if he was facing the biggest challenge of his managerial career he replied: "No, not really. It's an exciting challenge. This is an incredible job and nothing has changed.
"The first six months were difficult here but for 18 months we've been on a magic carpet ride in terms of our performance level and everything improving.
"For me it would have been a case of keeping the squad we had and adding a few bodies to thicken up the squad.

"But that wasn't the case. There was big change here in the summer and we lost a world-class player (Suarez)."

On coping with the transition, he added: "It's something that was difficult in the first few months when I got here.
"You have to go through some pain along the way. We are in a difficult moment but that's the great challenge for myself and the players."

Rodgers said the return from injury of players such as Sturridge and midfielders Emre Can and Joe Allen would give him more "flexibility" in tactics.
Allen's absence through a knee injury has been particularly costly, he said.

"He's a player who never gets mentioned but he's a player who rarely turns over the ball," Rodgers added. "He loves the football and gets other people playing.

"The key feature for Joe on top of that is the intensity in his pressure. He's an intelligent footballer. Tactically he's outstanding and we've really missed his energy and his quality since he's been out."
Allen is expected to be fit to face QPR on 19 October.

[baronvonskidmark]

The argument that we are in 'transition' and face more 'pain' seems to contradict the idea from earlier in the summer that we will not have a season like Spurs did after selling Bale.

[G]

Seem to remember Brendan having a pop at Spurs last season saying they should be challenging after spending so much. Won't take long for a rag to bring that up.

[Shaggy]

I hate having a pop at Brendan but he's been pretty contradictory of late. We look a confused club at the moment.

[Tee]

I hate having a pop at Brendan but he's been pretty contradictory of late. We look a confused club at the moment.

So many questions around all parts of the pitch; where to start?

[Bender]

Very similar to The Hodgson era at Anfield and Rodgers first season at Liverpool....doom and gloom.....Someone hire The A-Team and bring back Suarez,becuase we ain't gonna be spending £100million again,Rodgers now needs to show he was the brains behind last season and not Suarez!And this might be very diificult

[kingfunk]

Brendan Rodgers

I think it would be fair to say our start has caught Brendan by surprise. None of us expected it. Apart from Suarez, we replaced others with what we thought we're obvious upgrades. IMHO Lambert cannot play in our system he is sticking out like a square snooker ball when he plays. Ballotelli, I believe will get better given more time, as will Markovic.. The center backs need help at the back, Gerard is not a defensive midfielder, we need a proper DM going forward, I'd play Lucas in that position and allow Gerrard dictate the forward play from the centre circle in a 4-1-3-2 or a 4-1-1-2-2 with a diamond in the centre and high full backs.

------------------------Mig

Mankini ------- Lovern------Sakho------Moreno

----------------------Lucas

---------------------Gerrard/Can

--------Coutinho------------------Sterling

--------------------------Ballotelli

------------------Sturridge

[alonso14]

last season we all hailed the genius of the manager and rightly so because we were great to watch and we got results. we cant turn on him because our first few games post luis suarez havent been great. we also have to realise that even if we hadnt sold luis he still couldnt play for anyway because of his ban.

we can only make judgements after christmas. at the moment we have some key injuries but if we continue to struggle after daniel sturridge and joe allen come back then that is a different matter. but i dont think we will. i didnt like his comments about mario being a calculated risk because as a young player you dont need to hear your manager saying stuff like that. even if he wasnt convinced about mario you still shouldnt say it to the press because it puts mario under pressure but it also looks like you are laying the blame elsewhere.

[kingfunk]

last season we all hailed the genius of the manager and rightly so because we were great to watch and we got results. we cant turn on him because our first few games post luis suarez havent been great. we also have to realise that even if we hadnt sold luis he still couldnt play for anyway because of his ban.

we can only make judgements after christmas. at the moment we have some key injuries but if we continue to struggle after daniel sturridge and joe allen come back then that is a different matter. but i dont think we will.

[G]

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[ame="https://twitter.com/goat_boy_1959/status/518135048592449537"]https://twitter.com/goat_boy_1959/status/518135048592449537[/ame]

[Mello]

The argument that we are in 'transition' and face more 'pain' seems to contradict the idea from earlier in the summer that we will not have a season like Spurs did after selling Bale.

It does...