What's your opinion of Brendan Rodgers?

[tex88]

Maureen*

[JagSquared]

Dave suggested in the Fanzine that it was his agent who bought out his contract and we paid a loan fee for him.

Wouldn't that contravene 3rd party ownership rules?

[xerxes]

I was on his back post Palace, but he has learned.

 

Three at the back works for us. Johnson doesn't. ( why anyone plays four at the back against a lone striker baffles me) Who would have imagined the difference that Can at the back has made?

 

The most encouraging thing is the team spirit, lets hope that Super Danny can add to that upon his return.

[ngogswilly]

Wouldn't that contravene 3rd party ownership rules?

Yeah that's what I thought when I first heard the agent buying his contract out thing.

[milky]

I was on his back post Palace, but he has learned.

 

Three at the back works for us. Johnson doesn't. ( why anyone plays four at the back against a lone striker baffles me) Who would have imagined the difference that Can at the back has made?

 

The most encouraging thing is the team spirit, lets hope that Super Danny can add to that upon his return.

 

Always handy to have a man on the posts.

[Neil G]

I'm not sure any manager would have his system set in stone regardless of the players he has at his disposal, Neil. Particularly when those players are already at the club he arrives at.

 

I genuinely wonder how long it takes a manager to feel that a team is entirely his.

 

edit: Though I do see what you are saying here.

I'm not saying anything's set in stone, there is always going to be some flexibility. But if there's a system in place that works, the only time it should be changed should be due to injuries or in order to exploit a particular weakness in the opposition.

 

Nobody expects a new manager to implement a new system straight away with the players he inherits. The idea is that he builds a team to play the way he wants, by keeping and signing players that can play in his system and selling players that don't. Rodgers has said something to this effect himself.

[Brownie]

The next 9 games will decide our season and quite possibly Rodgers future.

[Neil G]

Take a player of that quality out of any team and the system they play in will struggle, so I cant agree with that.

 

That makes no sense. Using that logic you could discredit pretty much any system that can be used, if you take one world class player out of it.

 

The problem isn't that the system was overly reliant on Suarez, it was that we failed to replace Suarez with a player who brings any of the qualities he had to the side.

[Major Tom]

That makes no sense. Using that logic you could discredit pretty much any system that can be used, if you take one world class player out of it.

 

The problem isn't that the system was overly reliant on Suarez, it was that we failed to replace Suarez with a player who brings any of the qualities he had to the side.

 

In an ideal world, yes. But maybe that didn't happen for a variety of reasons. And maybe one of them wasn't that Rodgers didn't identify the right player(s). But then I'm not sure we could have replaced Suarez in any form (in terms of the different disciplines he offered, not how efficient he was at performing them). Not with one player, anyway. We needed to start again; particularly with the loss of Sturridge also

 

My only objection here is the notion that everything (bad so far this season) can be laid at the feet of Rodgers' transfer dealings in the summer, really. 

[Anubis]

Whoa??? We loaned Balotelli??? 

[RobbieOR]

That makes no sense. Using that logic you could discredit pretty much any system that can be used, if you take one world class player out of it.

 

The problem isn't that the system was overly reliant on Suarez, it was that we failed to replace Suarez with a player who brings any of the qualities he had to the side.

 

I'm not discrediting any system, Im just stating my opinion that if you take a player that good, where the whole team was built around him, out of that team, that team will struggle. Ronaldo out of Madrid, Messi out of Barca, Aguero out of City, they are all weaker without them. 

[RobbieOR]

In an ideal world, yes. But maybe that didn't happen for a variety of reasons. And maybe one of them wasn't that Rodgers didn't identify the right player(s). But then I'm not sure we could have replaced Suarez in any form (in terms of the different disciplines he offered, not how efficient he was at performing them). Not with one player, anyway. We needed to start again; particularly with the loss of Sturridge also

 

My only objection here is the notion that everything (bad so far this season) can be laid at the feet of Rodgers' transfer dealings in the summer, really. 

 

Yep. There was always going to be a drop off. We just happened to have our second highest goalscorer out as well.

[Gnasher]

The people who wanted our manager sacked after a few bad results and a few bad signings should grow a pair of bollocks.

[Neil G]

I think it's poor form to criticise him not having a preferred formation. He has time and again found the best way to get the team platying well and stuck to it when it's worked. No other manager has shown their versatility so well for us.

 

I think he's said it in the past though and I tend to agree with him when it comes to managers like Rodgers the formation isn't as important when you're attacking. It's more about how you do it. Players under managers like Rodgers move all over the place. Formation only becomes really important when you are defending.

I haven't criticised him for not having a preferred formation. For all I know he might have one but have been unable to implement it for whatever reason.

 

What I am concerned about is that he seems to have discounted a system which worked brilliantly last season, and could have been replicated this season within our summer budget. I think the signings of Lallana and Markovic show that he was aiming for something different, as the most effective position they could occupy in the diamond would be the number 10 slot, which we already had Sterling and Coutinho for. If he ends up putting something in place that's more effective than the diamond then fantastic, but I always get worried when managers try to fix something that isn't broken.

 

Rodgers's versatility is a big asset and I've already praised him for it, but I don't want him to have to keep having to rely on it. I don't want us to start every season by falling way off the title pace after 10-15 games while we're working out and adapting to a new system, all because the players we've signed in the summer don't fit into the one we used the previous season.

 

Re the second paragraph, I have tried to use the terms system and setup as opposed to formation, as a lot of people interpret the term formation to mean players rigidly adhering to a particular area of the pitch. By setup I mean the type of players in the side and the role assigned to them. I think two out and out goal scorers up front as regulars is the most important component of that now - I have been won back round to it after being a devotee of 4-2-3-1 for years. If we only have one we risk struggling to score goals if he's unavailable, as has happened this season with Sturridge. I thought Rodgers had signed up to that, but our summer transfer activity has made me doubt that a bit.

[Neil G]

In an ideal world, yes. But maybe that didn't happen for a variety of reasons. And maybe one of them wasn't that Rodgers didn't identify the right player(s). But then I'm not sure we could have replaced Suarez in any form (in terms of the different disciplines he offered, not how efficient he was at performing them). Not with one player, anyway. We needed to start again; particularly with the loss of Sturridge also

 

My only objection here is the notion that everything (bad so far this season) can be laid at the feet of Rodgers' transfer dealings in the summer, really.

 

We could never have replaced everything that Suarez contributed, but we could have kept a similar setup with a good mobile striker and a DM. I'm not having it that the diamond can only function well if it includes the best striker on the world.

 

I think the summer transfers are absolutely central to the problems we've had this season, but I've defended Rodgers against excessive criticism over this as we don't know what restrictions he's had to work under.

[Brigant Moloch]

The people who wanted our manager sacked after a few bad results and a few bad signings should grow a pair of bollocks.

 

like 3 bad signings in one transfer window for 50mil and half a season of dreadful performances and squad selections? Or shorter period?

[Neil G]

I'm not discrediting any system, Im just stating my opinion that if you take a player that good, where the whole team was built around him, out of that team, that team will struggle. Ronaldo out of Madrid, Messi out of Barca, Aguero out of City, they are all weaker without them.

 

This is the bit I have a problem with. I don't agree that the team was built around Suarez. At least in the sense that I usually take that expression to mean, which is that the team is set up specifically and primarily to get the most out of a particular player. If anything the diamond formation was set up to accommodate Gerrard.

 

Suarez on top form is such a phenomenal player, and brings so much out of his team mates, that any system we might have used could have looked like it was built around him. I don't think that's the case with the diamond though, I think it could work just as well with different personnel as I've already said.

[Tony Moanero]

Molochs.

[Anubis]

[Hades]

I still want him sacked. He can't cope with Europe and most of the good of the last few weeks has come because he was forced to drop certain players. He might be a top coach in 5 years but we shouldn't have to wait that long.

[Brigant Moloch]

I still want him sacked. He can't cope with Europe and most of the good of the last few weeks has come because he was forced to drop certain players. He might be a top coach in 5 years but we shouldn't have to wait that long.

 

exactly.

[Brownie]

Characters.

[s(k)aturation]

Assassinations.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I don't think the corner is turned quite yet. It's good we have found a system and at the minute it's begining to show something and more than anything the players look comfortable in it, fair play to rodgers but I'm not going to take outplaying chelsea in the league cup but still drawing as some sign that we are finally back. There's a hill to climb, Sturridge will make that far easier hopefully. I just hope once Sturridge is back rodgers doesn't go all mad hatter "all change" back to my vision.

[Big Ig]

I still want him sacked. He can't cope with Europe and most of the good of the last few weeks has come because he was forced to drop certain players. He might be a top coach in 5 years but we shouldn't have to wait that long.

Yeah we should. Though he's done much better than credited, but isn't universally likeable, nor always right, his situation reminds me of Bill Belichick in American Football. Genius in the making, started off as head coach in the early-mid 90s with the Cleveland Browns, had a middling record whilst he learnt his trade, on the cusp of excellence when the owner moves the team to Baltimore (Ravens) and sacks him. Joins the Kraft-owned (remember them?) New England Patriots a few years later, still there now and leading the team to his 6th Superbowl with them, with 3 in the bag already. And the vast majority of the junior staff that worked for him and learnt from him in Cleveland are now head coaches or general managers in the NFL or College. Moral of the story = patience, this half-year is not representative, the overall trend is still upward.