Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

You’re last paragraph was probably the most concerning thing about yesterday, Kilmarnock pressed us inside our own 18 yard box but we had no answer to it and almost every time resorted to trying to knock it long which was never going to work.

In fact the one time we (fortunately) beat their press we got through but Turnbull’s final ball was pish. We should be thriving against domestic opposition when they press us like that, but our players visibly shat the bed yesterday.

 

I don't like that some of us are using his last tenure as a way to forgive this incredibly slow start.

He should not be judged on what he did previously for us. This season started a few weeks ago and so far we've got 6 points in the league but have been papped out of the cup by Kilmarnock, with all 3 games ranging from lacklustre to awful.

Don't want to hear about how many trophies he won before. It's completely irrelevant now. The window has been a disgrace but I can also already see excuses creeping in that Rodgers is being let down by the board again. Even if that is somewhat true then he needs to speak up and not be so passive.

With that said, we still had more than enough quality on the park to win yesterday. It was his tactics and poor system that lost us the game.

 

I agree it is very weird, I know Kilmarnock are a better organised unit this year than last but twice we went to Rugby park last year and when they tried to press us we tore them to bits and scored 5 and 4 goals, with the second game in particular it could have been 8.

I think we sorely missed so many things yesterday. You could have argued a Hatate or a Rogic with a bit of magic through the middle.

Or a Giakoumakis to actually complete for the long balls we kept playing. Long balls is actually being kind most were hopeful punts that were aimless.

Or a winger to get on the ball and run at players like Jota.

We just seemed all over the place and badly need to get some more attacking threat across our team.

Our full backs, wingers and midfield all concern me in terms of a lack of creativity and goals. We just look a bit of a meh team.

 

If the new manager wasn't Rodgers, would you be more patient?

 

We weren’t good enough yesterday, but the park isn’t conducive to good football, let’s be honest, so it’s always going to be more difficult to play out on that park compared to on grass. Especially yesterday when it was bone dry. Kilmarnock are also vastly improved from last season.

 

If our performances were similar to the first three, then no. I genuinely don't really care that he left us before and refrain from calling him the rat or snake etc. I think it's immature.

I'm concerned about the rapid regression in our play and how poor we've looked as a football team so far. It's a far cry away from last season even though our last month under Ange wasn't great either.

I think those who wanted Rodgers back are actually affording him more leeway because of his past success. Of course there are people who will jump on him because they dislike him but I'm speaking purely from a footballing sense. The first three games were a chore to watch (putting it lightly) and we've already given up one cup competition. That's a very poor start no matter how one slices it.

 

What else are you going to judge him on? His first 3 competitive games? It clearly makes much more sense to judge him on his previous record than on a mere 3 games when his team isn't even built yet.

People contrast the mess Ange came into with the treble-winning team that Rodgers inherited as if it's all still there! Jota has gone, Starfelt has gone, Mooy has retired, CCV is injured, Johnston is injured, there's some kind of issue with Hatate which will become clearer no doubt, Taylor and Hart aren't suitable for the way he plays.

There are clear parallels with Ange's difficult start here and he deserves the same patience we gave Ange.

What did people expect was going to happen if we didn't get the players in that he needs? He's a very good manager but he's not Harry Potter FFS.

The next week and a half will decide our season; but if Rodgers gets the players he needs, he'll do a very good job.

 

Performances and lack of a game plan are definitely an issue, but like every new manager deserves time, let's see what resources he gets..

 

We needed evolution, Rodgers has gone for revolution.
There would have been no shame in builing upon what Ange did, instead he's dismantled it.

 

That’s true, I was quite vocal yesterday about how bad that pitch was. They’ve somehow made it worse.

That being said our players should be good enough to play through the likes of Kilmarnock even on a totally pish surface when they go at us like that.

Killie are clearly a far better side this season but they tried that against us last season and conceded 4 which would have been 14 if not for poor finishing.

 

So we should ignore the warning signs and poor performances in his first three games and instead judge him on what he did 5, 6 and 7 years ago? That makes no sense to me. We should be judging him on what he's currently serving up, which hasn't been good enough.

Yes we have injuries and the window has been poor, but again, we still had enough quality on the park yesterday to beat Kilmarnock and perform better than we have done recently. It just seems like you're excusing Rodgers' role in our lacklustre performances and solely blaming the injuries and lack of signings.

I'll be fair and say its probably a combination of all three, but he should be utilising what he has at his disposal far better than he has been.

Every fan has known for 4 years that Taylor is useless as a normal LB so why are we playing him as one and highlighting his weaknesses? Why did he drop our best midfielder for the first 2 league games? Why is he persisting with Maeda at LW and Abada at RW simultaneously when both are horrific footballers? Why does McGregor look a shadow of his former self? Why was Kyogo picking the ball up at LB yesterday in the 90th minute when we needed a goal? Why are we playing slow, turgid football with no intensity and patterns of play? Where's the movement? Why are we playing hoofball to Kyogo, Maeda and Abada?

Most of those things are easily rectifiable and are clearly on the manager. Ange's football when he arrived was much, much better than what we've seen so far this season. His first 7 domestic games:

Hearts 2-1 Celtic
Celtic 6-0 Dundee
Celtic 3-2 Hearts
Celtic 6-0 St Mirren
Rangers 1-0 Celtic
Celtic 3-0 Ross County
Livingston 1-0 Celtic

Our squad was far worse at that point as well, especially in the first 5 games. Just look at our bench and the players we were bringing on. * * when we lost at Hearts, Bain was in goal, Bitton at CB and Soro started in midfield! We were bringing on Montgomery and Ajeti in games. Edouard was halfway out the door. There was no CCV or Jota until the Ross County game. Juranovic made his debut at Ibrox.

Its extremely disingenuous to use Ange's start (where the football was much better) as a way to justify Rodgers' start. The mess Ange walked into compared to Rodgers is not comparable in any way whatsoever.

 

Ange .ucked off so forget all about him and as for Brendan he will silence his critics when winning the league as our football gets better and better and giving us our best Season in Europe for some time.

 

He doesn't want to be here. No one else will hire him, tho'.

 

Rodgers has had a full pre-season to manage any of the above is a huge difference from what Ange had to cope with.

Add in more money available, guaranteed CL, stronger initial squad, being able to pick his backroom staff, a more mature transfer and scouting setup, and having previously been a manager in Scotland, never mind having actually managed us recently, I don't think the comparison is even close in all honesty.

Biggest issue Rodgers has is how successful the last manager was with the team and style of play. But you could also argue those should have been positives.

Of course he needs to be given time and yesterday whilst disappointing is no reason to suddenly turn on him as a support. Doesn't mean he's had it hard either and we shouldn't have expected more by now.

I have to say there is no clear indication at present that Rodgers is actually the manager in anything other than name as we are just a bit of a shapeless and directionless. Hopefully the end of the transfer window will show a lot more.

 

Nailed it tbh

 

He will want to put his own stamp on things. Hence dropping Hatate for someone who couldn’t get in Anges team. He tried to be clever and it was obvious not long into Aberdeen game that it wasn’t working. In fact didn’t work v County either but DT scoring twice made us ignore it for the main. Even though he wasn’t particularly good goals cover that up.


Not going to panic after 1 defeat but if it’s the same * next week and still no proper business done then I’ll start too.

 

Problem.is he doesn't appear to have any ideas outside of the same dull stuff we saw over the last 18 months of his last time here. That and having kyogo drop deep and take up some hybrid striker/no10 role.

And let's be honest, the only reason he's here is because we were the only schmucks dumb enough to offer him a job.

 

I agree here to add to that to an extent you could see what Ange was trying to build and how he wanted to play. Right now I have no idea of exactly what style we are trying to play. We launched so many long balls yesterday aimlessly up the park.

The very few times we actually put a couple of passes together we looked like actually doing something but then wouldn’t try that again it was back to trying to chip balls forward and in behind because our wingers or midfield are incapable of carrying the ball past players.