Liverpool FC Forum

We need to improve on our possession game when we go conservative. The potentials of this team on the counter have been barely touched, especially with Moses now in the team...

every faith in the bloke.

stmichael » Sun Sep 01, 2013 7:42 pm wrote:every faith in the bloke.

Amen Mick, Amen

@TonyBarretTimes: A damning stat about Brendan Rodgers: Liverpool have failed to beat a single team above them so far this season.

apparently we are the only team across all four divisions yet to concede a goal in the league

Give the manager credit thus far. But we have been riding our luck a bit. We gave the ball away loads today,like v Villa, and we weren't made to pay for it.

Impressive stat. Plaudits to our manager.

We have won 42 points in 2013, which is only four fewer than in 2012, but with eighteen games in hand.

That's the kind of form and progress we're talking about. 

This may not be accepted by some ,but I think Rodger's is more like Mourinho than Mourinho is these days.
Maureen always said Rodgers was one of the best young managers in the game ,when everyone used to say
who ? I think the man has finally had his opinion  justified.

To be honest I was a bit worried when a young and inexperienced Rodgers took the helm last season and the overuse of cliches and one-liners was starting to get on my nerves, but over the course of the last 12 months, he has started to get better and better as a few posters have alluded to.

As a club we always seem to go on about how great the end of season was, we get off to horrific starts, like a few years ago under the Owl with Kenny coming in and us getting over-excited when we put a string of results together towards the tail end. Unfortunately Kenny couldn't back it up in his full season afterwards, whereas Rodgers has started to mould a side which we are starting to witness grind out wins. Granted we have run our luck plenty of times in these three games, you can't take away the fact that we have started to look solid and should get even better with re-inforcements coming in. To add to that Filet mignon, seems to have made us even stronger then expected, really hope he can maintain this form over the season.

The one thing which I really admire about Rodgers so far is that he has accepted his circumstances with stingy owners and best adopted a style of winning without relying on the talent of one or two individuals. Granted we would be nowhere without Sturridge's three priceless goals, the results are a credit to the team rather then any individual. Tika-Taka has been played for 30-45mins and then its been no holds barred defending to the last man football.

To add to this Rodgers also seems to have accepted that his own signing's Allen has been poor and Borini has been absolute rubbish , resulting in them being nowhere near the starting XI. As much as Rafa was a great manager his one fault was overplaying the duds a few too many times before it became all too apparent they were nowhere near good enough. Rodgers has a much more ruthless side to him shipping out deadwood quicker like we have already seen with Carroll, Shelvey, Downing, Spearing and Cole. All of these players to some degree had a few of the delusional on here calling for them to have more time 

We can rest assurred that if Aspas and Alberto don't step up their average performances so far, they will find themselves plying their trade in the Spanish Segunda, faster then any of us can blink.

Overall Rodgers has been a good manager up until now, but is starting to show very early signs of being a great one. 

Monday mornings for the last few weeks have gone from this      to this       

let me see..the lfc in the past played poorly in 1st half then wake up their idea in the 2nd, which resulted in us chasing the game.
now we play the very opposite, and so far so good. but need to really improve our 2nd half performance going forward.

how close are we getting 3 draws and 3 points instead of a perfect 9? i think mignolet play a big part in it. so good signing.

He could afford something more succinct and upbeat after watching this victory over Manchester United. A eulogising tweet shortly after full-time acknowledged the most significant and celebrated league win since the FSG takeover. This is the first time the club have won their opening three Premier League fixtures for 19 years.

"Terrific win; terrific start for the season. Poised and smart play against United. Team effort, superb desire," he wrote.
This was a triumph to inflate expectations on Merseyside, possibly beyond the point manager Brendan Rodgers feels comfortable.

"Can Liverpool challenge for the title?" Rodgers was asked as he tried to offer more sober reflection on a 100 per cent start. His momentary pause hinted he queried the earnestness of the question.

The fact no one was laughing as they awaited his response was testament to his team’s improvement in relatively rapid time, the side unrecognisable to a year ago.

"It’s another step for us," he said. "Before today, both Liverpool and Manchester United played 18 games since we last met and they were only two points better, so that’s another indication that the winning mentality is getting stronger. That will be important this year. It’s another step in the right direction.

"These are the big games we wanted to be winning this year and we were drawing last year. We won’t be getting carried away. The initial challenge is to get into the top four and we can’t look at anything beyond that. There are still 35 games."

Rodgers could have added a reminder of the date to ensure perspective is retained. The first week of September is a time for confidence but not rank stupidity, and the challenge ahead for Liverpool to finish above Arsenal and Spurs in fourth remains daunting.

However, after such a grinding, relentlessly traumatic few seasons, how thrilling it must feel for those at the club to witness the effervescence and optimism greeting the final whistle here.

There were encouraging echoes of the climax to that first season under Rafa Benítez in 2005, when tactical prowess, organisation and sheer diligence kept superior squads at bay and each win was hysterically received with supporters swinging red scarves above their head amid the din.

Daniel Sturridge, injury permitting, will challenge for the golden boot, while the reincarnation of Jordan Henderson mirrors that of the whole team. He is unrecognisable to the player who signed and has no worries about being offered as a makeweight in a deadline day deal as he was when Liverpool pursued Clint Dempsey 12 months ago.

Simon Mignolet again proved even if he has little to do, he will still do it with aplomb – another stark contrast to Liverpool goalkeeping performances in recent times.

Most encouraging in three consecutive 1-0 wins is Liverpool have shown they can mix up artistry with stubbornness, while Rodgers – seen as ideological and dogmatic when
he was espousing the ‘tiki-taka’ ways a year ago – has proved himself far more pragmatic and malleable than was presumed.

True, this was United without Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney, but consider the Liverpool absentees. Liverpool have not lost without Luis Suárez, the consecutive victories surely convincing him that his Anfield entrapment for one more season will not be such a burden.

The first choice centre-half, Kolo Touré, was missing, but it enabled Martin Skrtel to suggest the imposter who was bullied by Daniel Wellbeck last season has gone for good.

The Slovakian was correctly named man of the match. Watching on from the directors' box were the three new signings, all to be confirmed on Monday. Tiago Ilori, Mamadou Sakho and Victor Moses will enhance a squad which is still lacking depth.

What we learned is the Liverpool first team can compete with and defeat the champions. But over the course of the season injuries and suspensions could take their toll, which is why Rodgers is fighting his instincts and refusing to see the glass half-full. "To get three wins out of three? I can only be happy with that," he said when invited to predict where his side goes next.

Liverpool cannot and will not fight for the title. Not yet. Not unless there is an implosion similar to the one that occurred here in the summer of 2009 at Old Trafford, Manchester City, the Emirates Stadium and Stamford Bridge.

The steady progress promised, however, has now picked up its pace. No matter how much Liverpool try, this win and this performance now means anything less than a sustained challenge for a Champions League place will defy expectations.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... -soar.html

Since we lost to Man United back in January we have amassed 39 points compared to United's 38 over 19 games. During that period we also lost to Southampton and West Brom. If that doesn't suggest we are going in the right direction after a truly awful start to the 2012/13 (12 points by Nov 11th) season then I don't know what will. I guess a few people will check those figures. correct me if I have got them wrong and tell BR as well....

I'm not stupid enough to think that it is a bed of roses but surely it is time for some of the negativity displayed by certain posters to stop. And it also needs to be recognised that it was FSG that appointed BR. Fan power demanded the return of Kenny which didn't work out. With Comolli's track record that was possibly the clubs worst appointment together with a clueless PR clown. Hopefully those days are behind us.

Today is going to be interesting. Let's hope we are all still smiling at midnight.....

Rodgers has impressed ever since he arrived. He has revived the original Liverpool way of pass and move football, ironically more so than under Kenny's return.

Everything about his philosophy and style I like. I've said it before - he get's us, and I think this connection is a marriage made from heaven.

I made a prediction in pre-season that Rodgers would deliver CL football within 2 seasons. On track.

The manger has us playing good football, we are very hard to beat, and he goes about his business in an assured and dignified way. He is getting the best out if what he has and in my view is managing Steven Gerrards new role in the team as he gets older fantastically, adding another year or two to his career.