Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

That's the thing, mate. Those players, Ange knew personally from managing them or seeing them play against his team. The players Rodgers knows personally are in the EPL, which is clearly not our market.

 

I do think he seems majorly disappointed. January is huge not just for improving the team but for Rodgers' future here and the general direction we want to take as a club.

As a side, if we are never going to pay £6m+ for a player because we are so risk-averse then at least let's double down on that loan-to-buy strategy and give other clubs a motivation to allow those deals. Bonuses on games played, CLs qualified for, etc

 

That's definitely true to an extent but 2 that jump out would be Luke Thomas and Daniel Amartey.

Both would of improved our squad and were 2 positions we badly needed upgraded.

Amartey was available on a Bosman and Thomas ended up going out on loan while he's in last year of his contact.

I find it difficult to believe Rodgers wouldn't have believed either would have been good business for us.

 

No * point in Jan signings as we will be out of Europe and just strengthen domestically...with a hope that "we will do better next year promise"...10 European campaigns in a row at least with abject failure.

 

Saying there's no point in January signings is beyond daft.

 

Agree. Doesn't hurt to get in 2-3 new faces in the door, just helps freshen things up, a little tweak or a bit of strengthening, maybe send a few out, either on loan or move them on. Not an overhaul, just a freshen up.

 

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So Thomas is still an option for the summer I take it?

 

Went to Sheffield United last day of the window, started last 2 games. Likelyhood is they will sign him for free in the summer I'd imagine.

 

I think it is undeniable that we have underperformed badly in Europe. We talk about achieving success in Europe; but we haven't even achieved anything close to mediocre adequacy (I take the Huns record as one of mediocre adequacy) let alone success.*

We all have a tendency to want find a single person who is at least responsible and preferably to blame. But we have underperformed in Europe almost every year since Mowbray and every single year for a decade. That rules out any particular person being to blame (even Lawwell wasn't here for the last 2 years of failure) except DD himself.

So either it's Desmond or it's something about the way we are structured. I did a quick Google search for clubs that are PLCs and it's the full range from badly-run clubs like Manchester Utd to extremely well-run clubs like Benfica and eveything in between, so being a PLC doesn't seem to be the issue.

Maybe Manchester Utd are a clue as I've seen plenty of claims that their problem is they lack a good DoF. Maybe that's our problem too???

* Anyone who doubts how badly we have done should compare the Huns' average coefficient points over 5 years with those of our different managers over the past 10 years:

Ronny averaged 5 coefficient points per year over 2 years.
Ange averaged 6 coefficient points per year over 2 years.
Lenny averaged 6.33 coefficient points per year over 3 years
(I would argue that this underestimates Lenny's achievements as it includes the Covid season where he lost the plot even domestically and moreover the 10 year cutoff on the UEFA website means I can't include his best season in the calculations).
Rodgers averaged 7 coefficient points per year over 3 campaigns

The Huns averaged 10.8 coefficient points per year over 5 years, including getting more than 10 points in 3 of those 5 years. We have hit 10 points only once in the last decade, under Lenny. Unless you think the Huns are some kind of super-successful club worthy of emulation (which is a laughable idea), this shows how truly horrific we have been.

 

Part of our failure is the board appointing managers who want to play modern, progressive football. If they don't intend to back them with high-calibre players, then they are asking these managers to polish a *. And they don't intend to back anyone with high-calibre players.

The supporters demand silky football, but then look angry when it doesn't get us anywhere in Europe. With the kind of players we buy in terms of transfer fees and wages, only a pragmatic manager can get something done in continental competitions. Sadly, Clarke and Moyes are out of reach.

 

He's stated he intends to be pragmatic. Great words. In practice, this means:

- a low D-line, since our available CB-s are slow
- drop the high press to a mid block at best (conservation of energy, covering space better, easier to counterattack)
- forbid playing out of the back under pressure and instead encourage long passes into space

This basically amounts to negative football, but is necessary to get the best out of the likes of Hart, Taylor, the available CB-s, Maeda, Yang even Kyogo.

We did have a disciplined block at times vs. Feyenoord. But we also pressed high in the first half. Too high, and to no effect. Hatate was pressing alone for some reason, even when others didn't. Dutch defenders and keepers have too much skill on the ball to be pressed into mistakes on a regular basis.

 

In all fairness have we actually played any silky football since he's been back?

 

Be shocked if he’s here next season

 

Give Rodgers some due here, he's clearly seen that Taylor has been honking this season as a traditional full back and has happily switched up his system to incorporate what works for Taylor and worked before, the invert fullback.

That's a good sign of a manager willingness to adapt and accept he needs to change things.

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Another masterclass from him, that was the most comfortable I've seen us play at Livingston, and bar a few Scott Bain hiccups, it was never in doubt. Down to 10 men as well!

The fact there are still people spouting negative pish (outside the Hart incident) shows that some people will never truly be on board. Its the same people tbh.

An excellent result from him.

 

Proper coach..

We were outstanding with 10 men..

 

Did excellently tactically when we went down to 10 men.