Brendan Rodgers

[ntto]

he was on talksport this morning and spoke about how his training is all build around peaking for the games after Christmas

While that may be the business end of the season, we cant afford to be out of the race again by Christmas just to make sure we peak after christmas

[Shaggy]

he was on talksport this morning and spoke about how his training is all build around peaking for the games after Christmas

I love Brendan but that smells a little bit like bullshizer to me

[wiw]

Why? Rafa did it, i think a lot of managers do it. The graphic someone posted of his points per game before and after Christmas certainly backs it up.

[Mark79]

Certainly makes sense, you wouldn't choose to be peaking in October/November.

[The Village idiot]

Sometimes you need a bit of luck. He was clearly desperate after the poor start so he needed to test someting new or get sacked. No one could know how 3-4-3 would work. He got lucky but that is a part of the game.

[BG1973]

Good post. My thoughts......

LFC walked into a trap the moment they hired him. It was always going to go wrong at some point. He simply lacked the experience to be hired by a club with designs on being one which consistently competed for top honours. We all knew that when he came, and most of us accepted that. But I fear some only accepted it because of such low expectations we had at the time, in fact, that actually probably applied to all of us. I think what's happened since then is Rodgers has become a victim of his own "success" in that he has significantly raised expectations.

By the end of last season we all had stars in our eyes. We all called it a shock and that Rodgers had done a miracle to get us challenging. But..... Instead of expectations lowering when we sold the worlds third best player, instead we raised them. We expected a title challenge. No, we demanded it.

So should we feel sorry for the stick Rodgers got? Well no. He knew he was lucky to get the job and he knew what is expected of Liverpool managers. You'll get a short honeymoon period, but after that, all bets are off. Back in the day we have players & managers time, but these are different times as shown by the treatment of Hodgson (a criticism, maybe. But I wanted him out long before he got the boot) and so Rodgers could hardly expect to get years to potter around and come nowhere.

His project as such was to make top 4 by end of the third season. Does that mean he should get a free ride in this years version? Of course not. He's Liverpool manager. He worked at Chelsea and he should know expectations. And this is where he lets himself down a bit. He's too much in a rush to credit himself and stuck two fingers up at those who doubted him. A bit Jose if you like. He'd get more favours here if he stayed humble. But he's a young manager and he's learning. Maybe the older fans would point out that Shankly wasn't always so humble. He was cocky and arrogant. But he earned the right to mock others. He was wise to it all and knew when he could cross the boundary.

As it happens I can pat myself on the back here. I said I liked Rodgers as the manager as he entertains and I expected him to turn it round. I continually said he should get to the end of the season, based on what he had shown he could do. I thought it would be Sturridge that saved him (may still be the case I guess) but instead he's saved himself. Anyway, I'm thankful that our American owners who know nothing about football, know enough about sports to be able to identify a good head coach. I'd consider praising Ian Ayre as its mostly likely down to him, but I like to blame Ayre.

'Demanded a title challenge'

Speak for yourself (and quite a lot of others).

Odds were against rather than for, a title challenge this season. But footy fans by their nature, rarely manage their own expectations.

Trying desperately not to contradict myself... We will start better next and the pieces are in place for a real crack at it.

[The Birdman]

I'm not buying that, you can't train in July to get better after January when you can't control what happens between August and December (new signings, injuries, suspensions, rearranged league fixtures, Europe etc...).
Every manager trots out the same about getting stronger the longer the season goes on, the reality is the better teams have the better players so probability catches up over the season and they win more games than they lose.

A lot of it is down to players having little rest in the summer due to internationals or club tours so (most) clubs don't train them too hard pre/early season to avoid burn out, that means players aren't 100% fit or sharp until into a season and when they become 100% varies dependant on how often they train and play.

In short too many variables for managers to scientifically plan to be twice as good after Christmas.

[Shaggy]

Why? Rafa did it, i think a lot of managers do it. The graphic someone posted of his points per game before and after Christmas certainly backs it up.

He did but he was never shy of saying so, and would often say his rotation was geared towards keeping everyone fresh for a strong 2nd half of the season.

Rodgers doesn't really rotate and as far as I know has never mentioned anything about his training being geared towards peaking after Christmas. Now these stats are being trotted out he's suddenly going on about how it's deliberate.

Like I said I really like Brendan but I'm not convinced about that. I do think he can be prone to a little bit of BS.

[The Birdman]

Can't remember who (maybe Scholes) but one of the Utd players said that myth about them getting stronger was all bollocks, purely psychological to affect opponents and that it was down to them having a bigger, better squad than most (if not all) PL sides at that time.
A PL squad is 24/25 individuals, you cannot prepare a collective training plan that caters for them all to improve after Jan.

Season starts in August, play better between then and Christmas and you don't have as much ground to make up after January.

[The_weatherman]

'Demanded a title challenge'

Speak for yourself (and quite a lot of others).

Odds were against rather than for, a title challenge this season. But footy fans by their nature, rarely manage their own expectations.

Trying desperately not to contradict myself... We will start better next and the pieces are in place for a real crack at it.

I'm not sure anyone expected a title challenge, but most expected a challenge for a top four finish.

[G]

I expected a title challenge right up to the point it was clear Suarez was going. After that it was all about staying in the top 4.

[Roboklopp]

He can aye but fair play if it helps build self & team confidence.

Edit- @ shaggy that is.

[The_weatherman]

I expected a title challenge right up to the point it was clear Suarez was going. After that it was all about staying in the top 4.

Just by running through the thread Where will we finish, the clear majority were predicting a top four finish (I said fifth unless we got in a decent striker), a couple said 1st. but one of them was Bob and a few other loonies.

[john316]

he was on talksport this morning and spoke about how his training is all build around peaking for the games after Christmas

While that may be the business end of the season, we cant afford to be out of the race again by Christmas just to make sure we peak after christmas

Too much squad turnover every off season hurts us. By the time the players have been become 100% familiar with their roles in the team, we're usually a fair distance off the pace. Likely to be the same next season with Gerrard, Kolo, Lambert, Borini, Balo, Lucas, Johnson, Enrique and others all leaving or linked with moves away in the summer. Hopefully though, the first XI stays pretty much intact though and we'll see if that helps start next season off a bit better.

[ntto]

He did but he was never shy of saying so, and would often say his rotation was geared towards keeping everyone fresh for a strong 2nd half of the season.

Rodgers doesn't really rotate and as far as I know has never mentioned anything about his training being geared towards peaking after Christmas. Now these stats are being trotted out he's suddenly going on about how it's deliberate.

Like I said I really like Brendan but I'm not convinced about that. I do think he can be prone to a little bit of BS.

somebody pulled the stats out (I cant remember - I'm sure it's easy to find) and they said that all of teams Rogers has ever coached/managed have only lost a handful of games after Christmas.

it'll be in his coaching manual