Does Rodgers deserve another season.

[ritchie]

Yeah, they did. You only need to google it to see the amount of headlines and articles talking about exactly that. He is clearly mocking the extremes on both sides, you trying to twist it into him calling himself a genius says quite a bit more about you and your angle than it does about the manager.

He was tactically inept for the first half of the season, persisting with the lone striker of Balotelli or Lambert while Gerrard was getting the run around in that deep midfield position every week while the genius did nothing about it until after Palace when even Carragher was on the telly imploring him to change it. Then he waited till the nadir of the Basle performance to change the tactics, which came too late for the CL season.

 

A good couple of months of form followed with 3 at the back until the likes of Koeman, Monk, Billic, Van Gaal, Wenger and Tim fucking Sherwood figured how to make us look shit. We sneaked out wins at Southampton and Swansea, good results, but we were all over the place and that was going to catch up with us. A real genius.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

He was tactically inept for the first half of the season, persisting with the lone striker of Balotelli or Lambert while Gerrard was getting the run around in that deep midfield position every week while the genius did nothing about it until after Palace when even Carragher was on the telly imploring him to change it. Then he waited till the nadir of the Basle performance to change the tactics, which came too late for the CL season.

 

A good couple of months of form followed with 3 at the back until the likes of Koeman, Monk, Billic, Van Gaal, Wenger and Tim fucking Sherwood figured how to make us look shit. We sneaked out wins at Southampton and Swansea, good results, but we were all over the place and that was going to catch up with us. A real genius.

To quote myself, in true Code fashion, this post says quite a bit more about you and your angle than it does about the manager.

[skend04]

A dreadful start, a good run in the new year, bottle the cup competitions at the crunch, bottle every big game and finish 5th-7th was basically David Moyes' typical season with Everton. We've had it two out of three under Rodgers and it's apparently par and as good as we can hope for.

 

It's the big games that make and break a season. Not a good run of form beating mostly teams you'd expect to beat. We had to win all those games just to get us in any kind of contention after the first half of the season. We did and then blew it when it mattered.

Exactly but that's all okay because he finished second a season ago and next season all these top signings we are going to make, the ones we couldn't whilst hindered by the Champions League, are going to help us achieve par position or challenge for the title.

[Brownie]

In the summer we'll buy some more young players and next season we'll be trying to finish 4th and win a cup.

[skend04]

In the summer we'll buy some more young players and next season we'll be trying to finish 4th and win a cup.

But Rodgers has gone on record saying we will challenge for the title, so that's what he should be marked against. Can't go shifting goalposts now.

[Kevin D]

He obviously has a say but I can only guess at the politics.

 

We knew Suarez was leaving at the end of 2013. By the end of August 2014 we were still looking for a striker ending up with Balotelli, a player the manager was clearly not keen on signing.

The reason I was curious, is because we tend to agree on matters like this. I think that the entire Committee should be sacked, independant of BR's position.

 

It utterly unforgivable that after Suarez tried to sue us so he could move to Arsenal that contingency plans to replace our best player were not immediately drawn up. It has cost Champions League qualification, the League cup and the FA cup.

 

That said, I've lost confidence in Rodgers.

[Brownie]

But Rodgers has gone on record saying we will challenge for the title, so that's what he should be marked against. Can't go shifting goalposts now.

I think he actually said that if we get top 4 then next season we could challenge for the league.

 

Which I completely disagreed with at the time anyway as it was ridiculously fanciful. But I know why he's saying it.

[skend04]

I think he actually said that if we get top 4 then next season we could challenge for the league.

 

Which I completely disagreed with at the time anyway as it was ridiculously fanciful. But I know why he's saying it.

Nah, he didn't give any caveats and yes you are correct he was ridiculously fanciful.

[ritchie]

To quote myself, in true Code fashion, this post says quite a bit more about you and your angle than it does about the manager.

Was Rodgers tactically inept for the first half of the season?

 

Did he eventually find a formation that worked for a bit and got us on a good run?

 

Did that formation soon get found out, with us outclassed by United and Arsenal in the vital league games, knocked out of Europe and out-thought by another team with a fraction of our budget and turned over by tactics Tim at Wembley?

 

Yes, yes and yes. That was the gist of the post.

 

Brendan Rodgers was not hailed as a genius for going on a good run after the fucking shambles of the first half of the season. All that run did was get us back into some sort of contention. As soon as we did we blew up again and got found out.

[Phoenix]

Nah, he didn't give any caveats and yes you are correct he was ridiculously fanciful.

 

If you spend £100 million etc etc.  Everything he says has to be taken with a pinch of salt. 

[markcd]

My biggest concern is that we have been shit for a whole season.

 

I know I am being selective here, but I remember us playing well against Spurs in August, I can't actually remember a game where we have bossed it and looked comfortable. the 4-1 against Swansea stands out, but bar that, for a whole season we have looked pretty crap really. And that includes all the cups too.

[ritchie]

In the summer we'll buy some more young players and next season we'll be trying to finish 4th and win a cup.

Rodgers has helped a lot of our experienced players out the door. He forced Reina out, got Agger out so he could throw away 20 mill on Lovren, didn't want Carragher to stay on, tried to get rid of Lucas in the summer without even trying to buy a DM, allowed Toure to leave for nothing (he turned down Trabzonspor) and Gerrard deciding he needs to leave. Right decisions or not it all adds up. Then when we do buy an experienced player it's not one with CL experience and World Cups and all the rest of it (i.e. Klose) it's a lower league veteran in Ricky Lambert. The manager is as complicit as the others in our transfer shambles. Despite his media spin and deflection from his own failings last week, does he really want an experienced team of players? Experienced players have opinions and he doesn't like that.

 

Whilst we've got a team without winners, a team without suitable experience (will only get worse with Gerrard and maybe Lucas, Johnson and Toure going) ultimately the real inexperience is in that dugout. You've got a novice manager, a novice coaching staff and an inexperienced team then it stands to reason you can't win the big games. He was a fish out of water managing in Europe. You can't just blame on that failing on young players, same with Sunday.

[thompsonsnose]

Well if we'd done that over the last few years then we really would have saved a lot of time and money!

 

We keep chasing the dream though because that's what you've got to do.

 

There will be variations up there and sometimes big ones (like last year) but they are the exception to the rule.

 

I know it's hard to accept but it's just how it is.

FSG aren't chasing any dream.

Numbers.

That's it.

[ritchie]

If under FSG we'd actually gone out and got a good few of the best young players around over the last few years we'd be in a great position now and for the future. All we've really got to show for this policy though is Coutinho and potential in Can.

 

If buying experience means spending a fortune on the likes of Downing and Lovren then that's no better than a youth policy spending £20m on Markovic or £35m on Carroll. Whatever the policy is, it'll fail if you can't target and sign the right players.

[VladimirIlyich]

Just thinking back to the FA Cup Semi Final and realised that before Villa(hardly a big team in the true sense of the word) the hardest team we played,and only other Prem team,was Palace.

We had a very easy ride to the semis and then fucked up a big chance of silverware and very possibly a European place? Is that right,as Arsenal will most likely be in the CL next season?

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Was Rodgers tactically inept for the first half of the season?

Yeah, it was all Rodgers tactics, and nothing to do with us losing Suarez and Sturridge.

[ritchie]

Yeah, it was all Rodgers tactics, and nothing to do with us losing Suarez and Sturridge.

So last season was all down to Suarez and Sturridge then? You can make allowances for a dip in their absence but the first half of the season was as bad as anything served up under Hodgson, performances and results. We were inept in every way. This after spending over 100 million on players and Rodgers couldn't keep his mouth shut about Spurs last season after they spent that after Bale left.

 

 

Just thinking back to the FA Cup Semi Final and realised that before Villa(hardly a big team in the true sense of the word) the hardest team we played,and only other Prem team,was Palace.

We had a very easy ride to the semis and then fucked up a big chance of silverware and very possibly a European place? Is that right,as Arsenal will most likely be in the CL next season?

It was a favourable draw. We could have got to the final of the cup without playing a single team in the top half of the table. But we still really struggled against 4th division Wimbledon, had dire 0-0 draws with Blackburn and Bolton at home and scraped through the replays. This during our good run of form. All that ultimately matters is actually winning but having got there we didn't even turn up at Wembley.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Get a proper CEO in whip this shit into shape.

[Pureblood]

 

I know it's hard to accept but it's just how it is.

 

Hard for you to accept but not for those of us who were arguing the same thing five years ago when you know who was sacked.

[Brownie]

FSG aren't chasing any dream.

Numbers.

That's it.

I know, I was alluding to us fans.

[Brownie]

Hard for you to accept but not for those of us who were arguing the same thing five years ago when you know who was sacked.

If Rodgers finishes 7th I fully expect him to be sacked.

[xerxes]

If Rodgers finishes 7th I fully expect him to be sacked.

I think that the owners have bought into the explanation that the loss of Sturridge and Suarez account for this season's disappointments, so even failing to qualify for the EL may not do for him.

 

The worry for me is that I think that thee were more goals to be had from SuperMario, Borini and Lambert, but Brendan hasn't found a way to get them. Who is to say he will fare better when he goes again in the transfer market?

[ritchie]

If Rodgers finishes 7th I fully expect him to be sacked.

So if Rafa finished 5th he should have stayed? People wanted him gone anyway.

[xerxes]

So if Rafa finished 5th he should have stayed? People wanted him gone anyway.

I think most would accept that times have changed.

 

Man City are now a credible, established top four force, and we no longer have the potency of world class players like Torres, masherano. Alonso and ( a younger) Gerrard.

[Major Tom]

So if Rafa finished 5th he should have stayed? People wanted him gone anyway.

Move on from Rafa, brother. Different era. Different owners. Different circumstances.