Brendan Rodgers

[G]

We have 1 clean sheet since March apparently, 18 games. I haven't checked the veracity of this claim.

[Tribute]

As for fsg imposing a defensive coach to help Brendan, he wont take that so they could end up looking for someone else if he throws his toys out the pram.

...maybe at that point, Brendan will go all defensive.

#winning :-)

[alonso14]

...maybe at that point, Brendan will go all defensive.

#winning :-)

The only time in his reign.

[EwarWoo]

As for fsg imposing a defensive coach to help Brendan, he wont take that

I'm not so sure. He's a professional fella who's willing to try new things. And I'm sure he's just as aware of the issues as us.

Get in a good defensive coach for a couple of seasons they can teach BR as they go along.

[Shaggy]

Sturridge, coutinho successes, Allen does a job. Moreno has promise as has Manquillo. Too early for Markovic. Lallana will be ok. The rest of the signings made since he's come in don't inspire confidence in whoever it is picking them. Harsh?

I think that's bang on really, bar Sakho who would be ok by me, if he played. Our success rate in the transfer market since Rafa's last season has been ****ing dismal. A succession of terrible transfer windows.

Look at some of these windows since Rafa's last season:

(fees taken from http://www.lfchistory.net/Transfers/)

Summer 2009-10

Johnson - £18m
Aquilani - £17m
Kyrgiakos - £2m

(got Maxi on a free in January)

Summer 2010-11

Jovanovic - free and mega wages
Joe Cole - ditto
Danny Wilson - £2m
Fábio Aurélio - free
Poulsen - £4m
Brad Jones - £2.3m
Raul Meireles - £11.5m
Konchesky - £3.5m


January 2011

Suarez - £22.8m
Carroll - £35m


Summer 2011

Henderson - £16m
Adam - £6.75m
Doni - free
Downing - £18.5m
Enrique - £6m
Coates - £4.9m
Bellamy - free


January 2012

No signings


Summer 2012 (Rodgers)

Borini - £10.4m
Allen - £15m
Assaidi - £3m
Nuri Sahin - loan
Yesil- £1m

January 2013

Sturridge - £12m
Coutinho- £8.5m

Summer 2013

Alberto - £6.8m
Aspas - £7m
Mignolet - £9m
Kolo Touré- free
Cissokho - loan
Sakho - £15m
Ilori - £7m
Moses - loan

This summer:

Lambert - £4.5m
Lallana - £25m
Can - £9.75m
Markovic - £19.8m
Lovren - £20m
Origi- £9.8m
Manquillo - loan
Moreno - £12m
Balotelli - £16m


**** me.

[G]

Yeah I like Sakho too, don't think he's gotten a proper chance but then you all know that

When you lay out the signings like that it makes dismal reading

[PTP]

Really really worried....

I really like him. And he's got us playing some good football at times, but he's tactically inept

I said it before the game in the buildup thread...same group of players with rafa in charge and we wouldn't ship the goals we concede

It's worrying, because he just looks completely clueless about how to sort it.

I maintain, that imo as individuals our defenders aren't bad players. But they're just all over the place every single game

[Gibbo]

So in Can and Markovic we brought on £30m worth of talent.

Yikes.

[Lecter]

Real madrid are a fantastic team with threats all over the pitch, but with bale out cristiano ronaldo is their major weapon. Benzema also might be out which leaves javier hernandez as their sole striker.

Taking those two factors into account i would set up as below: in our 433 formation.

----------------------------mignolet--------------------------

----johnson-------skrtel------------lovren---------moreno-----

---------------------------allen---------------------------------

-----------henderson-------------------gerrard------------------

--------------------------coutinho-------------------------

---------<-----sterling----------------------->---------------------

--------------------------balotelli------------------------------------

I think this formation could help us to:

- keep a close eye on cristiano ronaldo who plays on their left as both johnson and henderson are good defensively and are both excellent in the air - CR is their best header of the ball especially at the back post.

- stop real madrid playing infront on our centre backs with a more mobile and defensive minded joe allen. he will stop madrid playing 1-2's in the danger zone. with benzema out RM wont pump the ball long so joe allen wont be under pressure to win defensive headers (if we were playing a team from the premier league he wouldnt be suitable for that position)

- keep real's two centre backs on their toes as sterling can play either side of mario balotelli. ideally he would operate down the right hand side as both marcelo and pepe are defensively poor. If marcelo goes walk abouts then raheem is the perfect player to exploit that extra space looking to go 1 v 1 against pepe. if he goes down our left hand side he is probably going to go up against dani carvajal and sergio ramos who are both excellent defenders and he could have less success.

- if sterling plays that free role either side of mario it will help stop madrids passing patterns from the back especially kroos. As with raheem there those midfield players wont have the time to take too many touches on the ball and real's centre backs will be more reluctant to play the short passes into them.

- with sterling operating more down the right, it allows alberto moreno to push forward into open space.

whatever we do it will be a very tough game, but we should concentrate on stopping ronaldo, control the space infront of our centre backs (which steven gerrard isnt brilliant at) and stop kroos / modric from picking up the ball from their back line. It might force them to pump it long in which case you would expect skrtel and lovren to dominate against hernandez.

im not very confident thought because brendan rodgers hasnt shown that he is willing to make team alterations to take into the account the oppositions strenghts. if we try and go after them i think we will get beaten soundly.

like you say, its a big game for the manager to show that he can mix it at this level.

Any system or tactic that involves Allen being on the pitch as a starter never mind in the holding role is less than appealing.

He's a squad player at best

As for Lovren & Skrtel dominating anyone that's just laughable. We are being owned from at every set piece and as Gary Neville said today we can't even cope with direct balls. These direct balls are bypassing the midfield and the two centre halves can't deal with them.

I have major worries watching us even constant pressing higher up the pitch is not going to stop defenders having to deal with direct balls

[G]

To be fair, you could go back to 1990 and our transfers have been pretty woeful in the main.

[alonso14]

I'm not so sure. He's a professional fella who's willing to try new things. And I'm sure he's just as aware of the issues as us.

Get in a good defensive coach for a couple of seasons they can teach BR as they go along.

He said he wouldn't work with a director of football and we didn't get one. Brendan isn't a manager who likes decisions made for him so I really can't see this happening although Steve Clarke would be superb.

Also someone like Clarke who has worked with mourinho and knows about defensive solidity and building from the back, is the complete opposite to Brendan who pushes his fullbacks high up the pitch and then only plays with one sitting midfield player and consistently leaves his team open to all attacks.

I can't imagine Steve Clarke reining in Moreno and Johnson when we need them to provide width.

[Shaggy]

Steve Clarke left his role as an assistant with us and became a reasonably 'successful' manager so he's never gonna want to go back to being an assistant or defensive coach. But we clearly need a lot of defensive coaching.

[Zapater]

Grim reading that.

[EwarWoo]

He said he wouldn't work with a director of football and we didn't get one.

But we're not talking about a DoF, or anyone with any real power at all, just an extra coach to advise him.

[alonso14]

Any system or tactic that involves Allen being on the pitch as a starter never mind in the holding role is less than appealing.

He's a squad player at best

As for Lovren & Skrtel dominating anyone that's just laughable. We are being owned from at every set piece and as Gary Neville said today we can't even cope with direct balls. These direct balls are bypassing the midfield and the two centre halves can't deal with them.

I have major worries watching us even constant pressing higher up the pitch is not going to stop defenders having to deal with direct balls

Second half we were wide open to real Madrid's counter attacks. Joe Allen in that position stops them getting at us easily.

We all know he cant win headers but hes very good at intercepting and breaking up play. I think I counted four Madrid counter attacks while Steven Gerrard was well behind the ball.

Steven Gerrard playing at the deepest midfielder just played into their hands. We were wide open and they should have scored a few more. Brendans lucky because if that had been 5 or 6 we couldn't have complained and he would have been under much more pressure than he is now.