Liverpool FC Forum

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

Count me in RBG. Its par for the course to moan when we lose and celebrate when we win
Its a no brainer for me that unless we get taken over by an arab or russian billionaire anytime soon, then we are stuck with B-Rod and have to support him no matter what happens. The players are capable because they have shown us in various games. But they have also shown us they are incapable and that has to stop by them taking responsibility. At the moment we are letting ourselves down with the basics like corners and free kicks, throw ins and giving the ball away cheaply. We are being punished severely for our mistakes and we have to rectify these simple, yet crucial parts of our play. We can blame the manager all we want but if the players dont buck up, then its useless

I understand fans being slightly disgruntled with our inconsistencies ,but these failures have been exclusive to this club since Houllier was in charge .
Its been our Achilles heel for such a long time its now become part and parcel of the clubs make up ,I honestly dont think any manager that has come
after Evans has completely addressed the problem or come up with a solution to our disparity from game to game .

I honestly don't have any answers to the problem ,but I do know if Rodgers is to be the man who revolutionises this club ,and transform us into the team
he clearly believes we can be ,then it will be worth the pain and the subsequent scoffing of rival fans and media .

I honestly have been encouraged by watching some of our performances this season ,not least against Utd and City ,but somewhere along the way teams
that like to get stuck in have been our undoing ,but if we're completely honest with ourselves great passing teams such as Arsenal used to struggle against
the very same teams . Its managers who stick to their principles that I cant fail to admire ,and I'm sure if the club and owners persist with Rodgers and
his possession football then it will pay dividends ....

[metalhead]

We weren't as bad yesterday as some are suggesting and as a team we are better than some are making out.

I don't have a problem with our system and the style Rodgers is trying to implement. He kept the team unchanged after a 4-0 win, hardly a criminal offence.

The problem is quality.  We are not going to win anything or qualify for CL with this squad but we do have the nucleus of a good side.

There aren't enough game changers. We have only got Suarez who can do this consistently. Gerrard isnt capable of it on a regular basis anymore and the likes of Suso and Sterling have it in them but are still too inexperienced to do it regularly either.

Let's not complicate things by picking holes in the tactics, formation etc.  The bottom line is good teams have good players and we just don't have enough at present.  It's painful to watch us at the moment though and I understand everyone's frustrations.

Quality isn't the only problem

Players like Suarez, Gerrard, Sahin, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique, Reina, Lucas and Johnson are good enough for top 6 sides, and these players should push or challenge for top 4, why aren't we doing that?

The buck stops with the manager who isn't getting the best out of his players or having a plan B. Yesterday's game we needed a dominant center half to deal with the aerial threat and we had one sitting in the bench. Rodgers is being too naive with his team selections

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

Brendan Rodgers blasts Liverpool FC players after dismal Boxing Day defeat at Stoke City

A DEJECTED Brendan Rodgers accused Liverpool FC of failing to earn the right to play football after they slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Stoke City.

The Liverpool manager pulled no punches as his disappointment at the way the Reds surrendered a second minute lead prompted him to question their character and accuse them of giving away ‘easy’ goals.

Rodgers was particularly perplexed by Liverpool’s failure to build on their impressive 4-0 win over Fulham last weekend, a victory which he had expected to be followed up with another positive display.

Such hopes were dashed as two goals from Jonathan Walters and another from Kenwyne Jones ensured Steven Gerrard’s early penalty was nothing more than a consolation and Rodgers showed his frustration afterwards.

“It’s not all about football, you’ve got to earn the right to play here because you know you will be pressed when you come here,” Rodgers said.

“That’s something we’re looking to find in the group going forward otherwise we’re not going to progress.

“I’ve got no doubt about the characters we’ve got, but tonight was just too easy.

“It was a great start for us, getting our first penalty, and we went a goal up. But we just gave away poor goals tonight.

“All three goals were actually quite straight forward to defend, a direct ball for the first, Martin Skrtel slips, which is unfortunate. But for the other two goals, we’ve got to be much better than that. That’s the disappointment really.

“It was a corner, a throw-in and a direct ball, which was the first one. So it’s hard to take because we had some good spells in the game, but we’ve got to be better. We conceded soft goals.

“The nature of the goals we conceded was very, very soft and if you do that, it’s always going to be uphill in terms of getting a result.

“Everyone knows, every coach, every manager understands, the strengths of Stoke and they do it very well. But when you’re prepared to deal with it, it’s even more disappointing.

“We got into some good areas, but ultimately when you come here, which is a difficult place to come, you’ve got to defend better or else you’ll get nothing. And we probably deserved to get nothing.”

The defeat left Liverpool 10th in the Premier League with just 25 points at the midway stage of the season – eight points adrift of the top four.

And Rodgers warned that until the Reds achieve a level of consistency of both performances and results progress will be in doubt.

The arrival of new signings in January – including striker Daniel Sturridge - will help that but Rodgers insists everyone in the squad has a duty to raise the bar.

“I said it during the week that this would be the biggest thing for the group - our consistency,” he added.

“We were terrific at the weekend, but you’ve got to be able to put some runs of games together.

“Otherwise you’re taking two steps forward continually and taking one or two back before going again.

“Maybe that’s been the nature of the group over the last couple of years in terms of where we finish.

“We’re looking to improve that and that’s something we need an awful lot of work to do.

“We’re not thinking about January now. We’re thinking about the game tonight, reflecting on that and how we can be better because it was very disappointing.

“January will come and there will be one or two bits of business, but my main thought is about tonight’s game and improving our performance.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2012/12/27/brendan-rodgers-blasts-liverpool-fc-players-after-dismal-boxing-day-defeat-at-stoke-city-100252-32501243/2/

[red till i die!!]

red till i die!!
the only thing rodgers has persisted with is 4-3-3, there is no high tempo passing, no pressing and no ideas going forward which is what he supposedly going to bring to this team. sturridge,ince,alex,pierce,butland and now di santo is all he seems to be linked with so imo he needs help. fsg need to strenghten the back room staff and maybe a D.O.F pretty quickly. if were in a similar position this time next year then he will need a miracle to keep his job.

thats another thing, if he is trying to recreate a `british barcelona` why are we looking at english players like sturridge and ince who grew up in this country with kick and rush football?
you`d think if someone was genuinely trying to replicate barcelona`s style of play they`d at least sign a lot of technically gifted spanish players. you`d think that would be a decent starting place.
look at the players laudrup brought in to swansea, they lost joe allen but went out and got that hernandez from valencia (who looks skillfull as f##k) and that michu who has been a revelation. i would have thought they are the type of reasonably priced spanish players rodgers would be looking at if he was really trying to recreate a cut price barcelona over here and whatsmore if we were signing players of that ilk then maybe i could see what he was trying to do but we are not.
for some reason we always seem to be linked to his mates from chelsea (sturridge, kalou, alex, di santo, borini etc), swansea (joe allen, williams, vorm) and reading (signurdsson).
call me an old cynic but i just cant see us building a barcelona type team with the players we are being linked with.

neither can i tbh.
none of our summer signings made an impact so the next ones have to. michu was an unbelievable steal at 2 mil and that hernandez for 5.5 was also great business and both for half the fee recieved for allen .they also got that guzman on loan from villareal who has also looked useful.
we need players like this who are older and more experienced and thats the reason why swansea have progressed this year, santi cazorla has also been a revelation for arsenal so that proves there is players out there and you just need to find them.
im concerned that if he is allowed to sign those players over the next 2 seasons and with losing some of our experienced players we will have finally become midtable mediocrity.
fsg should revisit the D.O.F role and force rodgers to accept it.
i do live in hope though that we will unearth some gems in january.

[JC_81]

Metalhead - on this season's form Gerrard, Reina and Sahin are not 'top 4' players. And Lucas hasn't been fully fit at any point.

Defensively Skrtel and Agger have been inconsistent and although they are decent they are both overrated by LFC fans.

The only 3 players we have been able to rely on this season consistently are Suarez,  Johnson and to a slightly lesser extent Enrique. After that maybe Sterling who is now looking a bit jaded.

We are seriously short of quality imo mate.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Metalhead - on this season's form Gerrard, Reina and Sahin are not 'top 4' players. And Lucas hasn't been fully fit at any point.

Defensively Skrtel and Agger have been inconsistent and although they are decent they are both overrated by LFC fans.

The only 3 players we have been able to rely on this season consistently are Suarez,  Johnson and to a slightly lesser extent Enrique. After that maybe Sterling who is now looking a bit jaded.

We are seriously short of quality imo mate.

the manager hasnt played sahin in his natural position once this season and i dont think his tactics get the best out of gerrard, infact i dont think his tactics get the best out of anyone in the squad.
sterling is looking jaded because the manager has run him into the ground.
if you gave our squad (suarez, gerrard, sahin, johnson, carroll, agger, johnson, sterling, skrtel, lucas etc) to someone like harry redknapp or david moyes they`d get a lot more out of them than rodgers has done.
rodgers is trying to shove square pegs into round holes

[Kenny Kan]

Metalhead - on this season's form Gerrard, Reina and Sahin are not 'top 4' players. And Lucas hasn't been fully fit at any point.

Defensively Skrtel and Agger have been inconsistent and although they are decent they are both overrated by LFC fans.

The only 3 players we have been able to rely on this season consistently are Suarez,  Johnson and to a slightly lesser extent Enrique. After that maybe Sterling who is now looking a bit jaded.

We are seriously short of quality imo mate.

Exactly!

We're crying out for more quality, it's as plain as the nose of yer face.

[Kenny Kan]

Metalhead - on this season's form Gerrard, Reina and Sahin are not 'top 4' players. And Lucas hasn't been fully fit at any point.

Defensively Skrtel and Agger have been inconsistent and although they are decent they are both overrated by LFC fans.

The only 3 players we have been able to rely on this season consistently are Suarez,  Johnson and to a slightly lesser extent Enrique. After that maybe Sterling who is now looking a bit jaded.

We are seriously short of quality imo mate.

the manager hasnt played sahin in his natural position once this season and i dont think his tactics get the best out of gerrard, infact i dont think his tactics get the best out of anyone in the squad.
sterling is looking jaded because the manager has run him into the ground.
if you gave our squad (suarez, gerrard, sahin, johnson, carroll, agger, johnson, sterling, skrtel, lucas etc) to someone like harry redknapp or david moyes they`d get a lot more out of them than rodgers has done.
rodgers is trying to shove square pegs into round holes

What is Sahin's natural position? I've seen him play in Lucas's role and where Shelvey played and in both positions he hardly set the world alight.

Gerrard, what's his best position? He was excellent against Fulham where he also played against Stoke but was nowhere near influential. Gerrard, due to his age isn't consistent anymore, doesn't have the legs to be an all action midfielder - so, with all this in mind where is his best position and should he be playing week in week out - I don't think so personally. And until we have a replacement of adequate quality then he'll continue to be played on a regular basis. I also cannot see Rodgers having the bottle to drop him out of the side anyway - another problem we have with Gerrard at the minute.

Sterling has played so much because Rodgers has no cover to call upon which again shows the lack of strength and depth in our squad (the table doesn't lie), when your relying on kids like Sterling, Suso and Shelvey in important attacking positions you're not going to get much in return of higher league places. Yes, Rodgers brought Assaidi for 3M and hasn't featured nowhere near enough (for reasons unbeknownst to us) but then again did you really expect a 3M summer signing to come in and be the next C.Ronaldo out on the wing - I know I didn't.

Lucas is coming back from injury and over time will make the midfield more sturdy defensively (this is Rodgers' problem IMO). He can't do it on his own though, we get over run in midfield whether Gerrard, Henderson, Allen, Sahin, or Shelvey is playing next to the Brazillian. Rodgers needs to support Lucas with an athletic physical beast - none of the fore-mentioned names are that.

Johnson IMO has been our most consistent and better players this year, no problem there but when 9 other players aren't doing their jobs properly it makes other player's work  (Enrique & Suarez too) look folly.

[maguskwt]

Well it's always nice to see some of the usual suspects appear again on board after a loss and put the knife into the manager's back...

[Octsky]

Brendan Rodgers blasts Liverpool FC players after dismal Boxing Day defeat at Stoke City


“It’s not all about football, you’ve got to earn the right to play here because you know you will be pressed when you come here,” Rodgers said.

“That’s something we’re looking to find in the group going forward otherwise we’re not going to progress.

“I’ve got no doubt about the characters we’ve got, but tonight was just too easy.

“It was a great start for us, getting our first penalty, and we went a goal up. But we just gave away poor goals tonight.

“All three goals were actually quite straight forward to defend, a direct ball for the first, Martin Skrtel slips, which is unfortunate. But for the other two goals, we’ve got to be much better than that. That’s the disappointment really.

“It was a corner, a throw-in and a direct ball, which was the first one. So it’s hard to take because we had some good spells in the game, but we’ve got to be better. We conceded soft goals.

“The nature of the goals we conceded was very, very soft and if you do that, it’s always going to be uphill in terms of getting a result.


http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2012/12/27/brendan-rodgers-blasts-liverpool-fc-players-after-dismal-boxing-day-defeat-at-stoke-city-100252-32501243/2/

i miss sami

[dundreamin]

Well if anybody thinks Rodgers is going to turn this around really NEED TO WAKE UP.we have amassed the lowest points total since the 3 pts for a win was introduced after 19 games oh yes he's taking us forward ok

[eds]

Well it's always nice to see some of the usual suspects appear again on board after a loss and put the knife into the manager's back...

A lot of the posters on here have VERY valid arguments on where Rodgers is falling down, for example bringing in Sturridge raises A LOT of concerns.

I have NOT read a SINGLE post asking for him to resign or to be sacked. 

Rather then make silly one line comments try and put some arguments forward on where Rodgers is getting it right and where our drive to 4th may come from.

Because at this moment in time, unless we buy a very, very good playmaker in January we are well and truly f**ked for this season.

TBH I am f**king livid if Rodgers brings in Sturridge and Ince. More money wasted. But I can only hope I am proven wrong and we make a solid run from here onwards.

[damjan193]

Brendan looks like a very arrogant man, blaming the players when in fact he is the one at fault. Now I'm not saying that the players are innocent, but all of these bad games are mostly Brendan's fault, especially this game against Stoke (whereas against Villa it was completely the players' fault IMO).

I mean, what kind of manager goes with that kind of tactic against Stoke? Did he not realize the first time we played them this season that this tick-tack Sh*t ain't going to work against teams like Stoke? It's sometimes very simple, especially for teams like Stoke, to outperform us tactic-wise. Just close us down, close our space with high pressure and we're bound to f*ck it up or just pass it back to the keeper. Hell, everybody knows how to beat Barcelona but they can't because of their quality players. I can remember when Inter won the CL, they used this exact tactic to stop Barca. It's really not rocket science, close the players down with high pressure and they'll have no one to pass to. You'll unable them to do the essence of the tactic - to pass the ball.

I'm not saying that Rodgers isn't the man to take us forward (I'm neither saying that he is so we'll just have to wait and see), but he needs to stop with this arrogant ***** and he needs to stop being stubborn about his "philosophy" and understand that it obviously needs some modifications. He also needs to understand that we can't afford to live or die by this philosophy of his. He needs to take different measures for different teams and he definitely needs a plan B in case things aren't going well during a game.

[maguskwt]

red till i die!!
the only thing rodgers has persisted with is 4-3-3, there is no high tempo passing, no pressing and no ideas going forward which is what he supposedly going to bring to this team. sturridge,ince,alex,pierce,butland and now di santo is all he seems to be linked with so imo he needs help. fsg need to strenghten the back room staff and maybe a D.O.F pretty quickly. if were in a similar position this time next year then he will need a miracle to keep his job.

thats another thing, if he is trying to recreate a `british barcelona` why are we looking at english players like sturridge and ince who grew up in this country with kick and rush football?
you`d think if someone was genuinely trying to replicate barcelona`s style of play they`d at least sign a lot of technically gifted spanish players. you`d think that would be a decent starting place.
look at the players laudrup brought in to swansea, they lost joe allen but went out and got that hernandez from valencia (who looks skillfull as f##k) and that michu who has been a revelation. i would have thought they are the type of reasonably priced spanish players rodgers would be looking at if he was really trying to recreate a cut price barcelona over here and whatsmore if we were signing players of that ilk then maybe i could see what he was trying to do but we are not.
for some reason we always seem to be linked to his mates from chelsea (sturridge, kalou, alex, di santo, borini etc), swansea (joe allen, williams, vorm) and reading (signurdsson).
call me an old cynic but i just cant see us building a barcelona type team with the players we are being linked with.

You are an old cynic.
We are not barcelona, but there is nothing wrong with wanting to be like them

And the all conquering Barcelona wasn't build in half a season. It took decades for them to reap the rewards of their academy. Now here we are, judging the manager after half a season. Kenny spent 80 million on the squad and underperformed. It would be understandable if the criticisms directed at BR came after he was given a similar amount of money to build his team. I will say this now... if we are patient and gives the manager the support that he deserves then we will reap the benefits of BR's revolution. And this is a revolution not evolution that the club is going through at the moment.

[maguskwt]

Rather then make silly one line comments try and put some arguments forward on where Rodgers is getting it right and where our drive to 4th may come from.

You can't teach a blind man to see... I've given up on most of you negative feckers on here...