JoeBuck

Another great performance - Brendan has rediscovered our verve and movement of last season while giving us a better defensive solidity with this 3-4-3 system. Sign of a top manager. Unbeaten in 10 and the goals will come once Sturbridge returns next week - he'll have a field day the way this team is playing.

there's no reason to sack Rodgers now...yes, he's messed up this season but that doesn't make him a bad manager...more overwhelmed with the lack of coaching time , missing his world class strike-force, having his Captain fade quicker than most would imagine, his new £20m commanding centre half finding the shirt too big, having the disruptive Balotelli thrust upon him, his goalkeeper losing his confidence, struggling to cope with integrating and developing 8 new players etc. the owners' strategy of spending £50m net each season and trusting a manager to build and develop a young team may not be to everyone's liking, but we haven't got an alternative...and nor do we want one right? ..as Stu rightly points out, this is part of our DNA...to "fuck them all", "they all say our days are numbered", "we'll be coming up the hill"... we were even the underdogs in our own City in the early 60s so let's back a progressive young manager who advocates traditional LFC pass and move football and stick with him through the wind and rain.

true, even as a Rodgers advocate, I think he's been overwhelmed this season by the scale of the job (ie repeating last season without SAS) and this is affecting his decision-making in terms of team selection, bombing players out in public, desperately trying to hit upon a formation that suits us, playing a defensive midfielder when he plays Stevie etc. In any other job, you would tell him to go and hit a beach for 2 weeks and recharge his batteries, come up with a sustained plan as he wasn't making constant team changes week by week in his first 2 seasons.

read an interesting interview with Guardiola recently who claims "tika taka" is nothing without pressing high up the pitch and being quick in transitions when the ball is won - a bit like us last season and Dortmund previously. He also claimed possession was only worthwhile to try and tease the other team out of shape, especially by moving the ball to the other side of the pitch from where the opponent had over-committed. This season, we've not only lost Suarez and Sturridge, but our high pressing ,quick transitions, and meaningful possession game as well, the latter reasons surely the domain of the manager as this was his philosophy. whether it's the extra European games, the lack of a mobile striker, or just poor players with their passing/ teams closing us down quicker, our whole game has gone to pot. We only looked great against Swansea because they allowed us to play but got outplayed by both Burnley and Leicester over Christmas, two teams whose work-rate is their only weapon - this has been the story of us for 20+ years and why some players look world beaters in some games but ordinary in the next. For Rodgers, he has the rest of the season to get us playing the high pressing, quick transition, meaningful possession game again - a true test for him as a manager as it is for Klopp and indeed Martinez, as the Blue Noses have exactly the same problems as us, but with greater exertions in Europe affecting their league form more.

how about 8 from 5..where do we draw the line? couldn't you see the excellent performance today - serious question like?

no.

that's right dickhead, supporting a very good Liverpool manager who has us playing the best football in 20 years is being a manc.

season ticket holder for 35 years...and today was very good even within the context of that

and 12th in the league on Boxing Day 1981, before we won it. Obviously we won't this time, but this last week has seen us revive the mojo of last season, even before we have a decent striker back.

seriously, I have huge respect for Dave and all his contributors to the fanzine over the past 15 years, but some of the posters on here are bad ted wools who should fuck off. most don't go to games and probably don't even understand what it means to support the Club (because they don't watch us in the flesh). Those still calling for Rodgers' head after a 2013-14 level performance shows their depth of ignorance. We were great today and outplayed the best footballing team over the past 15 years -ok , poor defending and puff powder finishing cost us the win but today was why keeping with the man who has got us playing the best football for 25 years is a no brainer.

I think there is general consensus that this season has been a major fuck-up and Brendan needs to take responsiblity for that - for buying two immobile strikers which contradicts our "poetry in motion" last season, the continual defensive problems not helped by contsant rotation, trying a new system/ line-up each week in a desperate attempt to click, the stubborn refusal to play Borini when that type of mobile striker is what our play needs etc. However, "The Liverpool Way" would be to address this problem in a similar manner to appointing Roy as Souness' assistant back in May 93, or Ged to Roy in the summer of 98 - ok, both ending up in failure, but wouldn't a compromise (or call it a punishment) be to tell Rodgers to appoint a defensive coach (Sami will probably be available soon) and to disbandon the failed Transfer Committee On the TC, as Rodgers is a hands on coach, he hasn't got time to scout Europe so needs better support here. Someone like Balotelli should not be forced on him. If this form carried on into the 2nd half of the season with his key man Sturridge back, then fair enough, but yesterday's performance at least showed hope that we can get back to previous levels in terms of creativity. isn't this why it's worth pursuing with him to give him a deserved chance to rectify HIS fuck-up

the skills that he needs show are the ones he demonstrated in his two seasons ..to develop a team of largely mediocre players into something they are not. Of course it has not helped that he has also bought mediocre players and so the cycle continues...the burning question is that whether they are his players...would Ashley Williams not have been better than Sakho and Lovren? Apologies for the fickle fans shit ...of course anyone is entitled to their opinion....

I actually believe he wanted to play his beloved 4-3-3 with Suarez gone and the front 3 this season would be Lallana- Sturridge-Sterling with Rickie, Balo, and Markovic as back-up...sounds very sensible on paper, but obviously it never factored in Sturridge's long term injury...having Origi here this season as a natural replacement may have helped with keeping the shape at least... what I don't get , is that this might all come good in 2nd half of the season once Sturridge is back, but some fans are too short-sighted, fickle, unconnected to let that happen. For those that are, kindly fuck off and support another football club...City are doing well these days.

yeah, what a cunt Rodgers is for not winning the league in his second season. He can fuck right off with trying to win that game against Chelsea and taking it to Palace to try and close the goal difference. As for this season, yeah, what a cock he is for changing his formations to try and compensate for the loss of his strike force..when a player is not doing well/ pulling his weight (see a certain Italian striker), he puts on another in the wrong position to try and do better. What a cock. Sack the fucker - he's clearly useless and out of his depth - and let's replace him with Sohampton's manager or whoever else is doing better this season.

my point is that we have been here before...we've had shit starts/ 1st half of the seasons before, even with our greatest ever teams. we need to use this context and keep faith with Brendan who will get it right in the second half of the season once Sturridge is back /another striker is signed.

ours - loyalty to a manager who nearly won you the league out of nothing 7 months ago is not a bad thing you know

it was song today

you might not remember this little ditty that was sung in the Grand Place on that fateful day in 85: "There was a time last season, not so long ago, when all the blue-nosed bastards , said Kendall he must go, because they won a trophy, they all come back with pride, you fucking blue nose bastards, you're the shite of Merseyside" we're now the two face bastards

the majority of fans who actually to the game are firmly behind Rodgers. or at least those in the Kemlyn are.

fans questioning Rodgers should have a long look at themselves and try and understand the Club. 1st half of season of 84-85 we lose our best player and take 6 months to re-adjust. We never manage this in 09-10. Boxing Day 81, we are 12th, playing worst football than now, but Paisley manages to replace five ageing stars of our greatest ever team (Thompson, Jimmy, Terry Mac, Ray Kennedy, David Johnson) with five young lads and we win the league that season. the great 87-88 side has a miserable start to the following season being around the relegation zone in October. And so the great 13-14 team has lost its star player, its focal point, corrections within that team need to be made (eg better centre back/ left back/ defensive midfielder etc), we have not been done so adequately and we lose the other key striker to injury. Last season, we got 2.2 points per game with Sturridge as our only attacker (more than him and Suarez starting), so let's have a little faith in a manager who got us playing the best football by a Liverpool side for 25 years. It will come good in the 2nd half of the season, as history tells us.

Unbelievable that some are calling for Rodgers to go - what have we become? Rafa deserved a chance to put right his one bad season right because of his track record of the previous five. Brendan should earn our full support to turn this around even if it's not how it should be in his third season and he's made some bad mistakes - summer signings, lack of two up front, the continuation of Gerrard when a solid midfield three including Lucas is what is needed., Captain Kolo instead of Lovren etc.. Still think he'll sort out given time and a bit of January budget - Luis Adriano is available on a Bosman in the summer so should be cut price in January.

I believe we can beat these - won't be easy but this how. Play a deep line with our full backs never pushing up but pressing their two wide men - something Manquillo and Moreno do well. Block off passes to their three number 10s with Gerrard, Hendo and Can acting as a permanent shield in front of the back four. Have Lallana as our number 10 pressing Kroos and Modric as the first press with Hendo and Can acting as the second press. Their full backs will attack as their outlet. Have Sterling up front with Balotelli to exploit the spaces left by the full backs. Also isolate their two centre backs with Sterling being played in behind by Balo. End result - a comfortable 0-3 European away win.

this is a key moment for Rodgers - his whole "strategy" seems to be unfolding and he's beginning to look like he's out of his depth and without a clue what to do next...the same happened around this time for Rafa in 09-10..except Rafa had much more constraining financial factors and a track record of success behind him.. Rodgers is on thin ice - he's done nothing in the game apart from last season's challenge

Moores rightfully gave Roy and Ged an extra season after the failure of the season which followed their "championship challenge" - both of which ended in failure as it was obvious both managers were spent (98-99/ 03-04) - we wrongfully didn't give Rafa a chance to rectify what went wrong in 09-10 after the close championship challenge the season before. Let's not make that mistake again. One thing Brendan has to do though is lose his arrogance and stubborness (something Houllier and Benitez didn't do and which aggrievated a lot of supporters) and admit the whole Balotelli circus act is a big mistake...Tony Hateley, Dean Saunders, Stan Collymore, Emile Heskey, Andy Carroll - it happens, don't prolong the pain

I still have every faith in Brendan, but he needs to realise one thing. He's in this 3rd season, we're Liverpool Football Club, so he needs to lose this "transition" bollocks. He knew for a year that Suarez wanted to leave, who signed a new contract that enabled us to maximise his fee, so Brendan has every right to say that this is HIS team and squad (15 players in the squad are bought) by now and we have to produce better than this. We're incoherent, play at a much slower tempo than last year, seem to struggle passing to a red shirt in the opposition's half, lack the basics in defence at times, press in ones and not as a group, and he seems to indulge the same shite each week. Step forward Glen Johnson and the anti-Suarez, Balotelli. Rodgers has to get rid of that self-obsessed primadonna (aka Rafa and Robbie Keane) as our team is now bereft of confidence and self belief, partly or mainly drained away by Mario and his circus act doing their own thing. Thank goodness for Gerrard who continues to drive the team on as per the last 13 years - how anyone can say he should be dropped is ridiculous.