Despite Brendan's insistence that the players were 'outstanding' in the 2-2 draw at Ludogorets the honest truth is that they weren't.
How does Rodgers sort Liverpool out? Here's some of my, and many fans, thoughts.
1. See above. Stop coming out with ridiculous post match statements. We can understand that after 4 defeats you may want to put a positive spin on a draw. Don't go overboard though - you're not fooling anyone - the fans or the players.
2. Sometimes you have to make substitutions. You made one substitution in Bulgaria, and it was the wrong one. You said Sterling had to come off, but he had just broken the offside trap and almost made it 3-1 to Liverpool - hardly the look of someone struggling. It was a negative substitution and it was no surprise that we then conceded.
3. Gerrard. He doesn't have to play every single minute in every single game. Despite you shuffling your formation so you could carry on playing him, yet again he was ineffective. In the pace of the Premier League he will be even more exposed. Use him more carefully and you may get more out of him.
4. Simon Mignolet. Time to either face that he was either a) a bad buy or b) that he is so low on confidence that he needs to be dropped. If you refuse to drop arguably one of your biggest underperformers what message does that send to the rest of the squad? Put a goalkeeper on your Christmas list as well.
5. Emre Can. You played him against Madrid and Chelsea, our two toughest opponents, and he did very well. He's hardly played in any other games. Why? What logic is that? Is it because of point 3?
6. Mario Balotelli. Don't play him on his own up front. It's bad enough that you have switched to one target man up front - but if you are playing Mario make sure he has another forward alongside him.
7. Try the youth. In times of difficulty many teams often turn to their youth system. Look at who Kenny gave a chance to after taking over from Hodgson. Raheem Sterling and Jon Flanagan. You gave Jordan Rossiter a game in the League Cup and he scored after about 5 minutes. Be brave.
8. Sakho. When he's fit he goes back in the team.
9. Daniel Sturridge. While we hope he's back soon, the reality is that his injury record suggest he was always going to be unreliable. You need a striker in the transfer window.
10. Glen Johnson. Even Roy doesn't pick him any more.
At Reading, his attempt to impose his ‘tippy-tappy’ style on players he had brought in for a lot of money were unsuccessful. Rodgers post-match comments became more bizarre as the losses mounted, Madejski asked him to either bring in coaching help, or change his style – he refused, so he was fired. Anyone see anything familiar here?
All fair comments tbh also get someone into replace gerrard now not at the season end and recruit some defensive trainers its our weak point all over
I sometimes wonder if there’ just an immeasurable gulf between what we see and what coaches see, because all those points seem to be obvious truths, but then again Rodgers and a professional coaching staff seem to think otherwise. It’s not just this particular moment, it’s quite often I find myself wondering whether there’s something we just don’t understand about managing at that level.
And you really can’t go by the interviews, people that will call such a performance outstanding can not be trusted.
Perfectly put. “they showed exceptional character”….if i hear that statement again. There was no exceptional character showed in another goal conceded to a corner kick. I wish Brendan would show exceptional character in once and for all sorting out the constant defensive errors and giving Stevie a break. Its a given that LFC should have character, and its a given that we should have skill, guile, agression in every game we play
I have to agree with all 10 suggestions, no brainers if you are not B R
Loool @ Johnson