West Brom(H) Match Thread

[Nightcat]

Why have we gone for a manager whose managerial and playing credentials are woefully unimpressive? Why, when we had European Cup winning managers lining up to work for the club be it as manager or in a DOF type of role have we appointed a guy whose level at a club like this should be the under 18's and reserves?

 

because the people on top are incompetent. Not sure what kind of shit statistics they came up with and analysed in order to draw a list with Rodgers and Martinez, whose team now sits 19th with the worst defence in the league.

[Kevin D]

Is it not? Not at ALL?? Wasn't he the one talking about how he was going to make them all feel insulted for every second they lost possession, and so sharp and subtle and patient and guileful they would subject other teams to 'death by football'? He certainly set himself up as this tactical mastermind and master motivator who could mould all players, except Carroll of course, into his own image and produce tiki-taka football on a regular basis. That doesn't sound helpless to me. It sounds like he's pretty culpable for this shambles of a season.

 

More and more it's looking like the concerns he doesn't know how to set-up a team defensively have serious substance. Certainly, the "individual mistakes" narrative has been utterly discredited. They had, by my count, three shots on target and scored twice; which makes them the 5th team in the last month to score two or more against us. That's an unmistakable and hugely alarming pattern.

[mike23]

Is it not? Not at ALL?? Wasn't he the one talking about how he was going to make them all feel insulted for every second they lost possession, and so sharp and subtle and patient and guileful they would subject other teams to 'death by football'? He certainly set himself up as this tactical mastermind and master motivator who could mould all players, except Carroll of course, into his own image and produce tiki-taka football on a regular basis. That doesn't sound helpless to me. It sounds like he's pretty culpable for this shambles of a season.

 

I don't actually remember the part of my post where I stuck up for Rodgers or made out he was doing a great job here. But he can't be entirely blamed for the current state of this club. We were pathetic in the league from January onwards last season too. There's a limit to how much a manager can do to motivate players. They have to want to really win themselves and too many of our current players really don't seem arsed either way.

[ngogswilly]

I'd be the first to hammer him for it, I think tonights team selection was fucking daft and almost guaranteed we'd struggle to score without a bit of magic from Suarez.

 

But I don't think one poor result automatically means Rodgers is shit, its his first season getting to grips with this club and the players he has at his disposal.

 

I'm extremely frustrated as I can see many traits in him we've had with other managers. Essentially stubbornness and just baffling decisions which of course can be explained with all sorts of utter bollox.

 

Regardless, theres been some positives this year. Enough to make me think theres a foundation of something which we can build on.

 

But we can't afford to keep going down this road as a club of just making daft decisions, playing players out of positions, continuously playing players so badly out of form its criminal, wasting money on players who just don't have the right attributes we need... etc... etc...

 

Its just not going to end until we get smarter and avoid making the types of decisions even the fucking dogs in the street know are stupid.

[VladimirIlyich]

 

We've got absolutely no chance of winning the Europa League' date=' way too many good teams, and Rodgers doesn't have the tactical nous.[/quote']

 

I was referring to a Europa League place in the league and not winning this years competition.

 

I hate to say I told you so but I said we were a striker short, at least, after deadline day and this helps my point. Why does Rodgers have a problem with direct play as in having a strong player up front to play to quickly? Most teams have this option even if they prefer not to play that way.

 

Still hate the set up of the team with these players and tonight was basically a 451 at home to a mid table team who have taken 6 points from us this season at an aggregate score of 5 0.

[billypilgrimnz]

Henderson is hugely important to us.....

 

And that sums up why we are a midtable team.

[LFC 6 Times]

Suso is clearly better than shelvey.

[razor]

 

 

 

 

[Guest LFD]

Oh great we lose and it is the owners fault again!

[rubberduckstyle]

Because of these £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££'s or rather these $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

 

I don't really get that though? Surly Rodgers cost more to bring in than Clarke or Laudrup? Surely he has spent more and no doubt he's paid more?

 

"Under promise and over deliver" Jokers for sure.

[J-V]

 

 

 

 

[RedKnight]

Utterly predictable. I knew we weren't winning that after 30 minutes. It had the hallmarks of so many dreadful home performances over the last 6-7 years that it left no doubt in my mind. Even when Gerrard stepped up to take the penalty I knew he'd miss. The only players to emerge with any credit after that were Downing and Lucas. Enrique reverted back to his worst. Johnson looked completely out of sorts. Shelvey is either feast or famine and at the moment he's going through a spell so bad Bob Geldof is doing a charity single for him. Nothing worked for Suarez tonight, Borini looked like he thought it was too cold to play, Sterling continues to barely use his pace and instead do his best to hold up play. Henderson covered a lot of ground, did two lovely flicks and that was it. Gerrard couldn't get into the game and Coutinho had ten minutes in which he did nothing but no one will take anything away from him for this game.

 

They looked like they could turn up and batter them. Maybe it's because they've had lots of good results against lesser teams or maybe it's because of the plaudits they received for the last two league games. Either way, they've conceded five to West Brom in the league this year and they ended up with two points out of nine from the last three games; so not looking that great now.

 

West Brom played us like a cheap violin and then cut the strings. Their gameplan worked perfectly. Keep it tight, frustrate, bring on Lukaku and nick it. Intolerably frustrating because it happens all the time, year in and year out. I said before the game that I thought this could be a banana skin and they duly slipped on it, down a flight of stairs and into a skip.

[BCM]

The last ten minutes or so were humiliating. It was like watching a once-decent boxer who'd finally realised he'd got a glass jaw try to avoid being hit. And Rodgers, after choosing to slam his players after Oldham, said after this that he 'couldn't fault them'. Make up your mind, Rodgers: if you're going to go public in your criticisms, then be consistent, otherwise you're going to sound like you're hopelessly confused and out of your depth. And on the forums, if we win it's all about Rodgers' great vision; if we lose it's all about the players. Well, we've lost far too often, and most of our so-called best performances have been against teams that have gone on to be beaten by our supposed inferiors. There's no real progress, just bright isolated moments pulled like the skin on Jordan's tits to cover up a sad mass of mediocrity. The defence is a shambles. The midfield is as pliable as plasticine and - aside from Suarez - the forwards are so static the wide players are made to look hesitant because there's hardly anyone in space to pass to. And all of this is presided over by a manager whose main claim to fame and respect is his coaching prowess and his tactical acumen. It's sad. There're only two apparent positions allowed this season - angry yet meek apologetics or mad ranting. Well, the mad ranting is looking more tolerable a misdescription, but some honest criticism would come in handy now. It's bad and it's bleak, and it's not going to get any better with more well-meaning but ill-conceived homespun PR.

 

Its posts like this that drown out the utter drivel from both sides in this thread. Top post Macca............ Repped

[FrenchEyeGlass]

Couldn't watch it tonight. Just got a chance to check the score. Thank fuck I missed out on the mongery, both on the pitch and in this thread.

[rubberduckstyle]

Sterling continues to barely use his pace and instead do his best to hold up play.

 

Most of our players do that ie.hold up play. We just don't get enough men into the box quick enough. We are utterly predictable in our build up play and any manager with some kind of tactical awareness can set his team up to frustrate us and hit us on the break when our midfield invariably decides to go walkabout.

 

West Brom were bossing us for a finish tonight in all aspects of the game. Same with that young lad at Oldham a few weeks ago. We are so all over the place at times it's frightening.

[G Richards]

Didn't work tonight. Shelvey is not a front three player. Plenty of the players out there tonight were sub par, plus there were individual errors.

 

Rodgers is still the man and he has my backing. Season two will reveal a lot more. Sometimes we have played great stuff. I want to persevere. I can see flaws - we all can. But I want the manager to see this through.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Bit shit wasnt it. I think Rodgers tries to be too clever, like a few managers we've had. Without pace in our front Line we are abysmal. I knew we'd fuck up, its the new liverpool way Rodgers got a little hard on with his two draws and thought his genius was shining through.

 

Too many slow players in our side physically and mentally.

[KopOut]

For me, this game was lost after the substitutions.

 

In the first half, Henderson was basically starved of ball, as the team seemed to want to continually work it up the right hand side. When Henderson finally got into the game in the second half, and started to look promising, what happens? He gets taken off !!! I was gobsmacked. Sure, bring on Stirling if you must, but Shelvey was the man who was slack, and Hendo should have moved in to play behind Suarez, with either Sterling or Borini taking the left flank. First mistake.

 

Second error was recognising that Suarez was having a BAAAAAD game and Borini should have replaced him as central striker, a little after, or at the time of the first substitution.

 

From that point, it was always going to be either a goalless draw, or West Brom would sneak it.

 

Rodgers is tactically inept, and any improvement by the team this season, is in spite of him, on a tactical level.

 

Congratulations Steve Clarke and West Brom. You played it to perfection; of course Steve knows where our soft underbelly is, and he aimed his spear with precision accuracy and impeccable timing.

[Pan77]

1 step forward 2 steps back. Rogers is trying to be way to clever. I thought he'd stumbled on a formation and a set of players that worked for the Arse and Citeh games. So why the fuck change it for this game. If Sturridge is injured then replace him with Borini and leave the rest alone (especially our midfield which as been dog wank with all the chopping and changing).

 

I wasn't keen on his appointment but I really hope it works out for him. It's not looking too bright at the moment though considering we're regressing. We'll end up in a worse league position than last year despite having Gerrard and Suarez playing all season (so far). His signings haven't been great (Sturridge aside). Also the one player who has contributed recently is Henderson and he tried to ship him out to Fulham! Fingers crossed Coutinho adds something otherwise Brendan's purchases will have been on a par with Kenny's.

 

We have played some decent football at times this season but its generally been against wank teams in the shittest standard of top division football I can remember. Rogers needs to learn very quickly from his mistakes and he needs to play to the players strengths rather than trying to mould players into a formation they don't know. Otherwise by Christmas he'll be unemployed and have plenty of time to draft another 800 page dossier on reinventing the the cunting wheel.

[dickie mint]

He got carried away with the result against a city team not playing well.

[Paco]

Utterly predictable. I knew we weren't winning that after 30 minutes. It had the hallmarks of so many dreadful home performances over the last 6-7 years that it left no doubt in my mind. Even when Gerrard stepped up to take the penalty I knew he'd miss. The only players to emerge with any credit after that were Downing and Lucas. Enrique reverted back to his worst. Johnson looked completely out of sorts. Shelvey is either feast or famine and at the moment he's going through a spell so bad Bob Geldof is doing a charity single for him. Nothing worked for Suarez tonight, Borini looked like he thought it was too cold to play, Sterling continues to barely use his pace and instead do his best to hold up play. Henderson covered a lot of ground, did two lovely flicks and that was it. Gerrard couldn't get into the game and Coutinho had ten minutes in which he did nothing but no one will take anything away from him for this game.

 

They looked like they could turn up and batter them. Maybe it's because they've had lots of good results against lesser teams or maybe it's because of the plaudits they received for the last two league games. Either way, they've conceded five to West Brom in the league this year and they ended up with two points out of nine from the last three games; so not looking that great now.

 

West Brom played us like a cheap violin and then cut the strings. Their gameplan worked perfectly. Keep it tight, frustrate, bring on Lukaku and nick it. Intolerably frustrating because it happens all the time, year in and year out. I said before the game that I thought this could be a banana skin and they duly slipped on it, down a flight of stairs and into a skip.

 

I had us not winning this game after 10 mins.we just werent at it.even when we got the pen I knew he d miss.

 

This was a relapse. 20 odd attdmpts on goal 10 corners missed penalty keeper plays out of his skin and they score from every other chance they create. How many times did that happen last season.

 

Johnsons worst game in a red shirt.

[The Acolyte]

You've just described Rodgers.....:whistle:

 

Yep.

Thinks he's smarter than he actually is.

Not saying that one day he won't be a good manager. Only trouble is he's making all his cock ups with us and its damaging the team, our moral, our standing in the league, and our strength in attracting better players to the club.

I've also got the sneaking suspicion that a fair few players in that squad don't respect either him, his tactics/philosophy, or both.

[zigackly]

King Brenny

 

Negged.

[s(k)aturation]

He got carried away with the result against a city team not playing well.

 

Getting carried away with a draw is mid-to-lower-reach table thinking.

I hope he wasn't.

[Guest davelfc]

1 step forward 2 steps back.

 

A lot more than 2 steps back, last night showed us for what we are, a mid table team. Hard for some to accept and I don't believe in the current circumstances that we can expect to get any better any time soon.

 

Last night was a trip back to early on in the season, back the old script where we batter teams who sit back and let us and then they come forward and score with very few chances needed. It's schoolboy stuff and so predictable.

 

It's an absolute disgrace that our current manager is not getting even 50% of the potential from his players, I don't believe he ever will get more than that. But we're stuck with him and that's all there is to it.