Brendan Rodgers

[sdb]

Slow and ponderous. Never a good sign when watching your own team is boring.

 

What's most frustrating is that this is a manager who has had such great success with us playing fast and incisive football. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

Hugely disappointing result and performance, neat and tidy in possession but we lack intensity and aggression in the final third and therefore we look toothless, too many side to side or backward passes mean we lose attacking momentum and allow the opposition to get back into defensive shape. What has happened to the ruthless, fast, fluent and devastating attacking football that had us amongst the most exciting teams to watch. 
 

we are currently watching continental, slow, laboured possession based tactics where I think the end game is hoped to bore the opposition into making a mistake and conceding a goal.  If this is a tactical tweak by Brendan then it is a massive mistake as this is negating our strengths, producing slow turgid performances, poor results and ultimately will impact our chances of winning more silverware and breaking into the Champions League places, which on current form is a million miles away. 

[Guest454545]

20 minutes ago, Lesta2014 said:

If Man City or Liverpool have that much possession they have 10 shots on target minimum, and are at 25 shots in total! 13 and 3 is t good enough with 77% possession! We kept the ball and did nothing with it! Literally all we must do in training is keep ball! Take a risk in final third every now and then, only youri really does that! So frustrating! 

City average 64% possession and average 18 shots total and 6 shots on target. Liverpool are 61% possession, 20 shots total and 7 shots on target. City against Palace, 68% possession, 14 total shots only 3 on target. Versus West Ham, they had 65% possession, 25 total shots, 7 on target, zero goals. Is that Pep's fault? Or is it a combination of factors which also include the performance of the other team, in order to stifle the City attack? Games like that happen. Especially in Europe. Two 5th place finishes, an FA Cup, a League Cup quarter final, 2 EL have left and you're 2 points off the top of your group with the 1st and 2nd place teams left to play so your fate is entirely in your own hands, and you're 8 points off second place in the league with 28 games to go. And this is reason to criticize your manager? There are a lot of club's fans who would love to be in that position. 

[Pliskin]

6 hours ago, deep blue said:

Do you honestly consider that playing Bertrand at wing back gives us width?

Nope, but what else can we do?

[filbertway]

6 hours ago, Guest454545 said:

That's what football is. Barca wouldn't have won half as much as they did without the genius of Messi. United are scraping by on the genius of Ronaldo. That's the game. Moscow sat in a block in front of their goal. It was always going to be a tight one that needed improvisation or chance to create goals. 

No, thats having a poor manager. 

 

Good teams create lots of good chances against weaker opposition generally.

 

We create very little because our manager is obsessed with playing safe football that goes nowhere. 

 

Weve seen what this team is capable of, he showed is 2 years ago. Hea changed philosophy and its led to us under performing week after week

[Dahnsouff]

8 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

What use is that formation tonight against a team with no intention of attacking? Its been the story of 2021 when we come up against teams that sit back and we play 3 at the back with no support for our unsuitable wingbacks. You don't need an extra defender against such opposition, surely you can see that? 

Yes I can see that. The problem with the defence feels more far reaching than just 3/5 vs 4 at the back though, however I agree that having more creative players higher up the pitch would surely give us more threat.

[Koke]

Gareth Bale saved us from utter humiliation in the Champions League. 

[Silver surfer 1]

Can’t help but feel envious of Spurs with conte there while we got one trick pony , media darling Brendan .  His turgid performances as manager is disturbing ? Our form has been dire for 10 months , I think there’s some serious questions to be asked .  You can’t blame the injuries although it didn’t help .  

[StanSP]

1 minute ago, filbertway said:

Hea changed philosophy and its led to us under performing week after week

Through injuries. Not totally to blame and not trying to use it as a cop out. But he's had to adapt and change tactic to suit players available. And when that changes so regularly, it can be difficult for the players. Which is why it's only every so often we look actually decent, and other times it's slow and ponderous and players look lost. 

 

I'd love for us to have a run of games where we can play a regular starting XI with only making max 1-2 changes here and there. Get that fluidity and consistency back. The problem is that some back up players, Bertrand in particular, don't seem up to standard and are very much a weak link. 

 

I'd love to know when the last time we could field our strongest XI for more than 2 or 3 successive games. Probably before COVID. 

 

Like I said though, it's not just injuries to blame. There's a problem with some players' mentality and when confidence is shot on top of that it's always going to be more of an uphill battle. Manager to blame in some respects but he can't account for players getting in the way of goal-bound shots or usually reliable players missing penalties.

 

The other issue now is that if we win a game, it's 'papering over the cracks'. If we don't, then all of those issues are magnified. The pressure is on to play the perfect game and it's not working. Go back to basics and get those right and we'll profit. 

[funkyrobot]

6 hours ago, Guest454545 said:

I'll ask again. You had 77% possession and 14 total shots and missed a penalty. How would changing the formation have changed the result of the game? 

With Spartak leaving only one up It would’ve given us an extra man in a more attacking part of the pitch and maybe more potential overlaps on the wing providing an additional method to break their deep block. 

[Guest454545]

10 minutes ago, filbertway said:

No, thats having a poor manager. 

 

Good teams create lots of good chances against weaker opposition generally.

 

We create very little because our manager is obsessed with playing safe football that goes nowhere. 

 

Weve seen what this team is capable of, he showed is 2 years ago. Hea changed philosophy and its led to us under performing week after week

Well you'll have an even poorer one when Rodgers leaves, in that case. 

[Koke]

We can't beat rubbish like Legia and Spartak. We'd probably lost 5-0 to average CL teams like Benfica. 

[Guest454545]

2 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

With Spartak leaving only one up It would’ve given us an extra man in a more attacking part of the pitch and maybe more potential overlaps on the wing providing an additional method to break their deep block. 

But you broke their deep block. You hit the post twice and missed a penalty. For the sake of a few inches and Vardy making a rare miss, you win this game 4-1 and suddenly Rodgers is a top manager because you're joint top of your group going into the last two games. If Spartak had dominated and you barely got away with a 1-1 draw, people would have cause for complaint. But at some point, the players are in charge of the game, and in crucial moments yesterday, your key players in those moments were unlucky. If I were a Leicester fan, I'd be asking why our best attacking player didn't muster a shot all game, before I blamed the manager

[The whole world smiles]

3 minutes ago, Koke said:

We can't beat rubbish like Legia and Spartak. We'd probably lost 5-0 to average CL teams like Benfica. 

That's not how football works is it? 

 

Also we beat man United a couple of weeks ago who are top of their champions league group so your talking shite. 

[Ric Flair]

3 minutes ago, Guest454545 said:

But you broke their deep block. You hit the post twice and missed a penalty. For the sake of a few inches and Vardy making a rare miss, you win this game 4-1 and suddenly Rodgers is a top manager because you're joint top of your group going into the last two games. If Spartak had dominated and you barely got away with a 1-1 draw, people would have cause for complaint. But at some point, the players are in charge of the game, and in crucial moments yesterday, your key players in those moments were unlucky. If I were a Leicester fan, I'd be asking why our best attacking player didn't muster a shot all game, before I blamed the manager

You're assuming we score every chance we get. You do realise that is outrageous. We as a team do tend to convert most of our good chances when we do well but it's nigh on impossible to do this all the while and the lack of chance creation will be the inevitable problem. 

 

Successful teams create many more chances a game and convert just a percentage of them. I imagine the best convert about half? 

[majaco]

Overall, we were unlucky.

 

Under the circumstances (injuries, illness and player management), Rodgers managed things well imo.   

 

We were culpable for their goal.  That was a painful moment.   We did enough to comfortably win the game.  Except scoring another goal.

 

Here is a team that didn't start the game:

 

Ward 

Pereira, Justin, Fofana, Thomas 

Ndidi, Maddison, KDH 

Lookman, Vardy, Barnes 

 

 

 

Most didn't start for reasons beyond the tactical.  I believe only Ward, Lookman and KDH would have been considered as starters.  At least 6 of that team would be starters in what I see as our best 11.

 

We still put out a team that dominated a European tie.   We missed a penalty.  Ienacho saved a certain goal.  

 

To me, the Rodgers head hunters are more delusional than the deluded Brendan spoof Twitter account 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[funkyrobot]

8 minutes ago, Guest454545 said:

But you broke their deep block. You hit the post twice and missed a penalty. For the sake of a few inches and Vardy making a rare miss, you win this game 4-1 and suddenly Rodgers is a top manager because you're joint top of your group going into the last two games. If Spartak had dominated and you barely got away with a 1-1 draw, people would have cause for complaint. But at some point, the players are in charge of the game, and in crucial moments yesterday, your key players in those moments were unlucky. If I were a Leicester fan, I'd be asking why our best attacking player didn't muster a shot all game, before I blamed the manager

Because he was having to take the ball often in a wide left position as we had no penetration on our left side for most of the time he was on the pitch. If we had an overlap on the left and not carry a spare man at centre back we could’ve overloaded the side, drawing a defender out and giving Daka space more centrally. 15 shots with nearly 80% possession is not good, the possession stats being inflated significantly by the continual recycling of the ball left to right and back again amongst our back 3 and Bertrand.

[Fox92]

6 minutes ago, majaco said:

Overall, we were unlucky.

 

Under the circumstances (injuries, illness and player management), Rodgers managed things well imo.   

 

We were culpable for their goal.  That was a painful moment.   We did enough to comfortably win the game.  Except scoring another goal.

 

Here is a team that didn't start the game:

 

Ward 

Pereira, Justin, Fofana, Thomas 

Ndidi, Maddison, KDH 

Lookman, Vardy, Barnes 

 

 

 

Most didn't start for reasons beyond the tactical.  I believe only Ward, Lookman and KDH would have been considered as starters.  At least 6 of that team would be starters in what I see as our best 11.

 

We still put out a team that dominated a European tie.   We missed a penalty.  Ienacho saved a certain goal.  

 

To me, the Rodgers head hunters are more delusional than the deluded Brendan spoof Twitter account 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't watched the goals back but it was just to slow. Everything we did.

 

Mind you, I did wonder pre game why we went with 3 at the back against them. I don't think that was needed. Should have had wingers on from the start.

[Collymore]

5 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

You're assuming we score every chance we get. You do realise that is outrageous. We as a team do tend to convert most of our good chances when we do well but it's nigh on impossible to do this all the while and the lack of chance creation will be the inevitable problem. 

 

Successful teams create many more chances a game and convert just a percentage of them. I imagine the best convert about half? 

I think the warning signs have been there before in the past. I remember one of those seasons we raced towards the top 4 under Rodgers we had an almost ridiculous shot to goal conversion rate, it was almost supernatural and off the scale compared to other clubs. I remember thinking although we were getting positive coverage about it, if we had instead have had an average conversion rate we'd have probably been in a relegation battle!

 

Under Rodgers we also seem to rely on a stiker hitting a purple patch, whether that being Vardy or Nacho. I often feel if it was to dry up we would be buggered. 

 

Add to the mix being poor defensively and not being able to keep a clean sheet, it seems we may be in a perfect storm at the moment.

 

 

[Guest454545]

16 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

Because he was having to take the ball often in a wide left position as we had no penetration on our left side for most of the time he was on the pitch. If we had an overlap on the left and not carry a spare man at centre back we could’ve overloaded the side, drawing a defender out and giving Daka space more centrally. 15 shots with nearly 80% possession is not good, the possession stats being inflated significantly by the continual recycling of the ball left to right and back again amongst our back 3 and Bertrand.

Have you looked at your heatmaps? Tielemans plays mostly on the right, allowing Castagne to overlap him. He played very little on the left side. He dropped out of the block to look for and recycle the ball. He had 3 defenders begins him to do that. He should have been in and around the box taking shots on goal and creating danger for Spartak. Dewsbury-Hall had 14 touches and managed 2 shots. Tielemans had 107 and managed none. That's a problem. Teamwise, the majority of the game was played on the wings just outside the penalty area but very much in the Spartak half.

Edited 5 November 2021 by Guest454545
Spelling

[Stadt]

Can’t help but feel like he’s ran his course with us tbh. He’s got a great squad, had lots of backing financially, got his own recruitment bod in, his own players, a world class training facility, sacked the physio. The club is moulded how he wants it - yet, our results and performance are really dispiriting.

 

Granted, we’ve had injuries but no Fofana and Justin aren’t the reasons we’re so lacklustre in possession.

[David Hankey]

Well Brendan won't be going to the 'Spuds' or Newcastle so who's next?!!

[coolhandfox]

I love BR think he's done and amazing job.

 

But you don't win many football matches playing at that tempo. 

 

Our EL form has been dreadful, we have lost to the Ligia a team in the bottom 3 of the Polish league and struggle to beat a middle table Russian league team in Spartak Moscow 

[goose2010]

Makes me laugh this does. Thread goes ' Hot' every time we don't win and he gotta go. We put in the performance against United and he is the top 3 managers of all time. We struggle to break down a team and he is Puel mark two. 

 

Some of you need to have a think about the dross we would potentially replace him with. He is the best manager for us to take us forward. 

 

 

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

12 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

How is it not fine margins? We were literally a penalty miss or either of those chances being a couple inches the other side of where they gone away from 3 points

You're clutching at straws to justify what was a pathetic performance. It should have been a hammering looking at the quality of the sides and the possession we had. We created very little indeed. The penalty was soft (and subsequently crap in quality), the Soumare shot a bolt from nowhere near the goal.

 

Last Saturday, Ramsdale was Banks, Shilton, Southall, Jennings and Felix wrapped into one in the greatest goalkeeping performance of all time to deny us if you read the narrative of some to justify how poor we are at the moment. 

 

If you want to keep making excuses fine. I don't. The standard of the football and the end product is undeniably poor. Rodgers has a big job on his hands to rectify matters. The absentees excuse doesn't cut mustard either. 

Edited 5 November 2021 by Cadno'r Cymoedd