Brendan Rodgers

[The_weatherman]

If Rafa were to come back I think he'd buy the right sort of players we would need

Big **** off or aggressive midfielders, as he was quite fond of collecting them

That said I am not sure he would be right for us long term

Would love Rafa to come back and sort the defence and midfield out

Leave the attacking play for someone else

I think Rafa would also bring clearer instructions to the players, it's my feeling that Rodgers tends to overthink things. Under Rafa the players had a clear role in the team and although he used them sometimes in various positions I think Rodgers has taken that to a whole new level.

[The Birdman]

The formation hasn't/wasn't 'found out'

The 3 at the back worked for us well with specific players fit, so it worked well if the back 3 were Can Skrtel and Sakho as it had balance, and we were able to build attacks through Can and Sakho.
It doesn't work anywhere near as well with any other permutation of the back 3.

It's worked with pace out wide, so Moreno and Ibe and to a lesser degree Markovic and Sterling (who has the pace but is better utilised elsewhere)

It worked with Coutinho and Lallana in the 10 role(s) off Sterling.
It worked with Lucas protecting and Henderson/Allen shutting the ball down.

It didn't work so well with players out of position, Henderson as a wingback for example.
It also didn't work with Sturridge up front as he didn't work anywhere near hard enough, through fitness concerns or style of play who knows.

[Lecter]

I don't think we need all those, despite being awful defensively last season and the start of this we have only conceded 12 goals in our last 15 games (6 of which were in the games against Arsenal and Man Utd). We need to figure out the system we want to play, if we are sticking with 3 at the back we don't need a RB and a LB. If we are going to a back 4 we need a RB but more importantly we need to sort the issues with our soft centre, this is either a new CB or more likely a DM Lucas would be fine if he could stay fit. Whatever happens we need a striker

The problem is that for me it isn't obvious what system we plan to play, until we know that there is no point putting a shopping list together.

Completely disagree

Personally I think we need that no matter what system we employ

Take 3-4-3 system we will need adequate fullbacks / wingbacks I am not convinced Markovic / Ibe or Moreno offer enough cover defensively

If we play 4-4-2 we defo need to new fullbacks

In the centre of defence you will be getting rid of Toure and hopefully lovren, that leaves Can, Skrtel & Sakho whether we play 3 at the back or 4 we need to bolster this position. Can has done ok but long term hes not the solution

In midfield is we are playing 3 in there then we need a dedicated holding player that leaves Henderson, Allen and Can for the box to box roles again I think we need much more than those, even more so if we are only playing 2 in there

Its a complete rebuilding job we need

We have bought so badly last window, even someone like Lallana who on reflection has been alright we didnt really need him and should have spent the money better elsewhere

We addressed none of our major issues last summer and now we have only added to those list of issues by players being 12 months older and tipping over the hill

I hope whoever comes in starts to address some of those problem positions because imo there are lots of them

[The_weatherman]

The formation hasn't/wasn't 'found out'

The 3 at the back worked for us well with specific players fit, so it worked well if the back 3 were Can Skrtel and Sakho as it had balance, and we were able to build attacks through Can and Sakho.
It doesn't work anywhere near as well with any other permutation of the back 3.

It's worked with pace out wide, so Moreno and Ibe and to a lesser degree Markovic and Sterling (who has the pace but is better utilised elsewhere)

It worked with Coutinho and Lallana in the 10 role(s) off Sterling.
It worked with Lucas protecting and Henderson/Allen shutting the ball down.

It didn't work so well with players out of position, Henderson as a wingback for example.
It also didn't work with Sturridge up front as he didn't work anywhere near hard enough, through fitness concerns or style of play who knows.

But I think it's really difficult to maintain that formation in the long term, several players will then be surplus since they don't really fit in and we need new wingbacks who may not fit a back four. I think it's better to nail down a back four and change things up front when needed.

[Lecter]

Henderson had some great productively & his passing has improved dramatically but he his defensive game has suffered IMO & he has got caught out a bit in deep positions. IMO he spend so much energy covering Stevie & Allen in the first 3 and half months or so that his legs went a bit. Without Lucas in the side to cover, our midfield look fragile and very light weight.

Even very early on in the season Henderson looked knackered and leggy

I remember the first home game of the season v Southampton commenting to my mate that Henderson was nowhere near as energetic as he appeared last season.

I have seen little improvement (barring the odd game here and there) all season. Maybe the World Cup took a lot out of him I dont know but his energy levels have not been close this season

[The_weatherman]

Completely disagree

Personally I think we need that no matter what system we employ

Take 3-4-3 system we will need adequate fullbacks / wingbacks I am not convinced Markovic / Ibe or Moreno offer enough cover defensively

If we play 4-4-2 we defo need to new fullbacks

In the centre of defence you will be getting rid of Toure and hopefully lovren, that leaves Can, Skrtel & Sakho whether we play 3 at the back or 4 we need to bolster this position. Can has done ok but long term hes not the solution

In midfield is we are playing 3 in there then we need a dedicated holding player that leaves Henderson, Allen and Can for the box to box roles again I think we need much more than those, even more so if we are only playing 2 in there

Its a complete rebuilding job we need

We have bought so badly last window, even someone like Lallana who on reflection has been alright we didnt really need him and should have spent the money better elsewhere

We addressed none of our major issues last summer and now we have only added to those list of issues by players being 12 months older and tipping over the hill

I hope whoever comes in starts to address some of those problem positions because imo there are lots of them

I agree, I think we need to start with three major signings, CB, CM and a striker. I know said before that CB can wait but it probably cant.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Dont think Can will be that big man, hes nearer to Henderson I think in style

I dont know who is about on the continent in terms of defensive midfielders but we need someone desperately

No real shortage of players who can defend well/read the game well, but who can also play as a more traditional CM when their team is on the front foot.

Medel, Mutuidi, Khedira (free agent this summer), Sven Bender, Lars Bender (can play in CM or as a DM), and Gonalons come to mind as some of the more high profile (without being in the top tier in terms of price) examples


Younger guys who look like they may be ready to step up. Kondogbia, Carvalho and especially Geis come to mind.


And that is without mentioning the top DMs or the top guys who can combine defence and attack equally well like Vidal, Pogba and so on.


Even if we wanted a short term fix there are older guys like de Jong available on a free this summer.

[The_weatherman]

No real shortage of players who can defend well/read the game well, but who can also play as a more traditional CM when their team is on the front foot.

Medel, Mutuidi, Khedira (free agent this summer), Sven Bender, Lars Bender (can play in CM or as a DM), and Gonalons come to mind as some of the more high profile (without being in the top tier in terms of price) examples


Younger guys who look like they may be ready to step up. Kondogbia, Carvalho and especially Geis come to mind.


And that is without mentioning the top DMs or the top guys who can combine defence and attack equally well like Vidal, Pogba and so on.


Even if we wanted a short term fix there are older guys like de Jong available on a free this summer.

can you forward to this to Brendan?

[Kenneth]

The formation hasn't/wasn't 'found out'

The 3 at the back worked for us well with specific players fit, so it worked well if the back 3 were Can Skrtel and Sakho as it had balance, and we were able to build attacks through Can and Sakho.
It doesn't work anywhere near as well with any other permutation of the back 3.

It's worked with pace out wide, so Moreno and Ibe and to a lesser degree Markovic and Sterling (who has the pace but is better utilised elsewhere)

It worked with Coutinho and Lallana in the 10 role(s) off Sterling.
It worked with Lucas protecting and Henderson/Allen shutting the ball down.

It didn't work so well with players out of position, Henderson as a wingback for example.
It also didn't work with Sturridge up front as he didn't work anywhere near hard enough, through fitness concerns or style of play who knows.

I don't know, Lucas was definitely integral to it, but i think that teams stopped trying to cover the wife positions as much and focused on overloading the central midfield.

[The_weatherman]

I don't know, Lucas was definitely integral to it, but i think that teams stopped trying to cover the wife positions as much and focused on overloading the central midfield.

Never seen it put like that before?

[Bender]

where is the players desire and motivation for playing for the club?then there's the manager who's unable to motivate the players!

[Lecter]

The formation hasn't/wasn't 'found out'

The 3 at the back worked for us well with specific players fit, so it worked well if the back 3 were Can Skrtel and Sakho as it had balance, and we were able to build attacks through Can and Sakho.
It doesn't work anywhere near as well with any other permutation of the back 3.

It's worked with pace out wide, so Moreno and Ibe and to a lesser degree Markovic and Sterling (who has the pace but is better utilised elsewhere)

It worked with Coutinho and Lallana in the 10 role(s) off Sterling.
It worked with Lucas protecting and Henderson/Allen shutting the ball down.

It didn't work so well with players out of position, Henderson as a wingback for example.
It also didn't work with Sturridge up front as he didn't work anywhere near hard enough, through fitness concerns or style of play who knows.

I am not sure the formation was found out

Listen to the pundits and how they say its easy to get at the system through wide play and exposing the centrehalves and pulling them out wide

In the games were we have struggled we havent been undone by wide play we have been carved open through the centre of the team

We have been undone by teams getting right on to us, pressuring us and bullying us. It hasnt been great wide play at all

Even when we went on our run we didnt hit a great level of performance

We had some very poor performances v Burnley / Leceister then we started to get a bit of a groove going for 4 or 5 games then the level dropped off v Swansea & Southampton when we really did luck out through a couple of belting goals. Then we had United & Arsenal etc.. which has exposed us for what we are

So for me the problems have never really gone away this season, they have been there frequently as we have ridden our luck at times

So all in all even with a fully fit team to pick from I dont think we would have been much better than where we are now

[Marvel]

People getting carried away by tactics and formations. It comes down to players as Luis Suarez proved last year.

Last year we played a few formations and they all worked because we had Luis Suarez. This year we've played 442, 433, 3421 etc... And none of them have worked.

You can be as clever as you like but star players make formations and managers look good.

[Muddled]

People getting carried away by tactics and formations. It comes down to players as Luis Suarez proved last year.

Last year we played a few formations and they all worked because we had Luis Suarez. This year we've played 442, 433, 3421 etc... And none of them have worked.

You can be as clever as you like but star players make formations and managers look good.

As well as the position of the stars in their life cycle.

[DannyMan2006]

I think Rodgers is a very flexible manager. When we're winning he's a genius and when we're losing he's an idiot. Football is about results and when you don't hit the required heights you have to expect criticism.

Personally, I'd rather we had a manager who had a preferred formation and tactics and stuck with it, with the odd change here and there. I'd hate to buy players for this team, one minute they'd be an ideal piece in the puzzle, the next minute we'd change formation and they'd have no part to play.

To me it looks like we lack clear direction. Tinkering with the formation is all well and good, but how can you build a squad based on that? I've yet to find out if Can is going to be a good signing. Same for Markovic. I've never seen them play in the positions they were supposed too. Markovic played as an attacking midfielder against Spurs at home and had a great game. It seems if he doesn't score or assist inside 45mins he's the first one hooked.

The issue for me is Rodgers will head into this summer not knowing what formation he should stick with and what players in the squad are good enough to play in his chosen formation. It's like he's starting afresh every year.