Brendan Rodgers

[LinekersLugs]

Should get Brendan to read this thread he will be delighted to find such a huge amount of hidden elite coaches 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, Ricey said:

I'm not massively concerned after today but the one thing that does concern me the most is that we saw how important aggression and a strong press is when we played Man Utd. That's when we are at our best and Rodgers knows it. Today was a day that required a similar performance to Man Utd but instead it was alarming how flat, passive, disinterested and unfocussed we looked, despite coming off the back of 4 wins and most of our first-team having a rest mid-week. There were no excuses for it and maybe it hints at deeper problems.

 

The lack of urgency at the end was also concerning. Even when we were on top the body language from the team wasn't one of a side who were fighting to get back into the game.

It's easy to press when you aren't being pressed yourself all over the pitch. Man Utd are the perfect team for us to play against, hence unbeaten in 4 as they defend high but sit off our defence when they have the ball so it's much easier for our defenders to get the ball in to the passing lanes and open them up. It's the only game all season we've done it well and it's the only team who haven't pressed us and/or defended very high.

[Lako42]

14 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

It's easy to press when you aren't being pressed yourself all over the pitch. Man Utd are the perfect team for us to play against, hence unbeaten in 4 as they defend high but sit off our defence when they have the ball so it's much easier for our defenders to get the ball in to the passing lanes and open them up. It's the only game all season we've done it well and it's the only team who haven't pressed us and/or defended very high.

Arsenal really weren't pressing us, that's what made our pedestrian approach so infuriating 

[hejammy]

2 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

Arsenal really weren't pressing us, that's what made our pedestrian approach so infuriating 

Actually for a lot of the game they were. This is why Youri became ineffective. Teams now know that once you press us we struggle. It will be a common thing for the rest of the season for teams to take this approach. 

[Suffolk exile]

What was particularly alarming was Brendan's comments about our ability to defend set pieces,

 

“It’s never been an issue for us in our time here, but certainly we need to improve on it.”

 

Errrrrrrrr...........really???

[Ricey]

1 minute ago, Suffolk exile said:

What was particularly alarming was Brendan's comments about our ability to defend set pieces,

 

“It’s never been an issue for us in our time here, but certainly we need to improve on it.”

 

Errrrrrrrr...........really???

I've only read the quotes, but I took that as referring to near post goals that he was talking about?

[hejammy]

Honestly I'm not sure BR is to blame for today. The players do need to look at themselves sometimes. He made changes at half time which we all wanted. He went more attacking which we wanted. The players starting and finishing the game today were good enough on paper to beat this Arsenal side. Unfortunately some of them just didn't wake up. 

[coolhandfox]

Easy to blame the manager.

 

Players need to take some responsibility.

 

First 20 minutes mistake after mistake.

[HybridFox]

5 hours ago, Silver surfer 1 said:

Has anybody actually got a clue what Toure does ? Defensive coach ? Yeah right 

Does the Kolo Yaya Toure song pre match and post match 

[Mickyblueeyes]

He needs to work out how to cut out these slow starts and defensive errors. The players need to work out why they go into a shell at the slight bit of pressure. It’s happening too often to be brush under the carpet. Teams are aware of our weaknesses and capitalising. 

[trabuch]

3 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

Easy to blame the manager.

 

Players need to take some responsibility.

 

First 20 minutes mistake after mistake.

It is. The players were much better when we played a system that suited them though.

[Vardinio'sCat]

He can't really come out and say we are rubbish at set pieces, even though we are.

[volpeazzurro]

8 hours ago, Silver surfer 1 said:

Has anybody actually got a clue what Toure does ? Defensive coach ? Yeah right 

I think he's good at eating donuts.

[Pliskin]

You can’t always heap blame onto the manager at all times. I think we shat ourselves, the players weren’t expecting the start Arsenal made (despite them starting most games like this) and they simply fell to pieces. 
 

He should have however reacted quicker in my opinion, because if we could have nicked a goal back before HT it could have been a different game.

 

Having said that, I actually thought Barnes was pretty poor when he came on, he had flashes of good movement, but off the ball he’s got to learn to move into space, there were so many occasions where we won the ball back, and Barnes was just stood shirt tight to his defender not moving a muscle, when there was a gap to run into. It is infuriating and something he is regularly guilty of.

[Dan LCFC]

Brentford's performance against us was so overrated. To be expected though with them being the latest media darlings and Thomas Frank totally lapping up the narrative as well. I mean I don't think we were brilliant but neither were they.

[Kinowe Soorie]

15 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

You can’t always heap blame onto the manager at all times. I think we shat ourselves, the players weren’t expecting the start Arsenal made (despite them starting most games like this) and they simply fell to pieces. 
 

He should have however reacted quicker in my opinion, because if we could have nicked a goal back before HT it could have been a different game.

 

Having said that, I actually thought Barnes was pretty poor when he came on, he had flashes of good movement, but off the ball he’s got to learn to move into space, there were so many occasions where we won the ball back, and Barnes was just stood shirt tight to his defender not moving a muscle, when there was a gap to run into. It is infuriating and something he is regularly guilty of.

Barnes had the highest score in the match ratings.

[Pliskin]

6 minutes ago, Kinowe Soorie said:

Barnes had the highest score in the match ratings.

Not everyone always thinks the same, I personally was frustrated with elements of his game yesterday, basic movement into space, is something he regularly doesn’t do. He has this habit of standing and almost waiting for the ball to be played over the top for him to run onto. When quite often there is a gap left between his marker and the next defender, which he easily has the pace and strength to make a run into. 

[StanSP]

2 hours ago, Pliskin said:

You can’t always heap blame onto the manager at all times. I think we shat ourselves, the players weren’t expecting the start Arsenal made (despite them starting most games like this) and they simply fell to pieces. 
 

He should have however reacted quicker in my opinion, because if we could have nicked a goal back before HT it could have been a different game.

 

Having said that, I actually thought Barnes was pretty poor when he came on, he had flashes of good movement, but off the ball he’s got to learn to move into space, there were so many occasions where we won the ball back, and Barnes was just stood shirt tight to his defender not moving a muscle, when there was a gap to run into. It is infuriating and something he is regularly guilty of.

I think that's harsh on Barnes and there were other culprits who perhaps could have criticism targeted at them. 

 

I think Barnes helped with the balance down that left side. Thomas was a bit more comfortable and happier to get forward knowing Barnes could be combined with. Barnes was giving good 1-2s to get by Tomiyasu and was involved in some of the chances we created. He showed good wing play for me. 

[turlo]

2 hours ago, Pliskin said:

You can’t always heap blame onto the manager at all times. I think we shat ourselves, the players weren’t expecting the start Arsenal made (despite them starting most games like this) and they simply fell to pieces. 
 

He should have however reacted quicker in my opinion, because if we could have nicked a goal back before HT it could have been a different game.

 

Having said that, I actually thought Barnes was pretty poor when he came on, he had flashes of good movement, but off the ball he’s got to learn to move into space, there were so many occasions where we won the ball back, and Barnes was just stood shirt tight to his defender not moving a muscle, when there was a gap to run into. It is infuriating and something he is regularly guilty of.

They did the same against Villa last week, who played a similar system to us and exploited them on the wings often doubling up on their wingback. We should've been better prepared for Arsenal to do the same against us when it was obvious that's what they would do. Rodgers needs to get to the bottom of why we are starting off so slowly, when post match he's repeatedly said we should be playing like that from the start

[Pliskin]

32 minutes ago, StanSP said:

I think that's harsh on Barnes and there were other culprits who perhaps could have criticism targeted at them. 

 

I think Barnes helped with the balance down that left side. Thomas was a bit more comfortable and happier to get forward knowing Barnes could be combined with. Barnes was giving good 1-2s to get by Tomiyasu and was involved in some of the chances we created. He showed good wing play for me. 

Perhaps it is, I just want to see a bit more, because when he is in full flow, he is unstoppable. There are moments in the game where he could easily get into dangerous positions more often. Particularly playing a team who commit to a high line, it’s when we’re in an attacking phase, Barnes seems to want to hang on the shoulder of his right back, and then wait for a ball to be played into the space behind him, but, there is usually an opportunity for him to attack the space between the full back and the right sided CB.

 

He just needs to work on the movement when we’re attacking, because he could be even better!!

[sacreblueits442]

16 hours ago, Col city fan said:

No, we aren’t expecting too much.

That’s such a cop out isn’t it

This team should be better than that display today there can be no doubt about it. 
We’ll concede with this defence but we should have scored too.

Our final ball was shocking really. No composure 

...has been a feature for a long time with us!!!

  The amount of times we have broke against teams and fail to find the final pass, which is overhit, underhit.wayward or failing to pick out the run of a teammate in a more suitable position. We are also snatching at chances, as if another one may never come our way.

  We have spent a lot of coaching hours developing these players, and they still lack the ability to routinely do the right thing in advantageous situations, and this can only improve with a change of personnel.

  We either find the player with the right mentality (as per Rodgers "winners") or we fork out for ready made quality.

 

[Blue-fox]

Can’t believe he said in the interview after the game that defending set pieces hasn’t been a problem before. It’s seems to have been a problem the entire time he’s been here! The Mercury reported it as Rodgers comments baffles fans or something along those lines 

[sacreblueits442]

14 hours ago, ttfn said:

The second is that our players always seem to be on their toes when the ball comes in - one of the key advantages of defending zonally is that you are just as on the move as the attacker.

...not something that I have noticed!!!

  We are very much as you stated statues and offer no presence to on rushing Forwards.

  Having Jamie at the near post has worked for us, but he shouldn't be there, he should be occupying the mind of a Centre back or a defender further up the pitch.

  Kolo you would have thought will be the Coach responsible for  our setup for corners and if Rodgers is so hands on, a zonal defence could be a compromise of the way we setup. 

  Remember Steve Bould and Arsene, Bould saw the set up totally different from Wenger and when Bould was finally allowed to implement his ideas, as Arsenal were leaking goals, he (Bould) manage to stop the rot, the only thing was they struggled to score at the other end.

   Wenger took back control and they began scoring again, but their defence was always their biggest problem. 

 

 

 

[CosbehFox]

8 minutes ago, Blue-fox said:

Can’t believe he said in the interview after the game that defending set pieces hasn’t been a problem before. It’s seems to have been a problem the entire time he’s been here! The Mercury reported it as Rodgers comments baffles fans or something along those lines 

It’s a problem which pre dates Rodgers as well. The coach who was doing set pieces during some of his city career is still there. I’d like to think it got changed but we haven’t been told / it’s never came up in the media 

[Blue-fox]

Just now, Cardiff_Fox said:

It’s a problem which pre dates Rodgers as well. The coach who was doing set pieces during some of his city career is still there. I’d like to think it got changed but we haven’t been told / it’s never came up in the media 

I mean for me it’s not rocket science. Put our best headers of the ball against there best headers. Leave the other players picking up the rest (castagne, Ricardo, Youri etc) then leave the people who aren’t going to even factor into the heading equation (Barnes, Maddison, Lookman etc) up the pitch