The talk of BR getting run out is silly. We need stability in the club and just need to endure what we knew was going to be a difficult situation. If we had know prior to the season, that the side would rely so heavily on the likes of Sterling, Suso & Wisdom on a regular basis and that Enrique would be our best looking attacking MF, we would have surely thought that we would find ourselves in the relegation zone. The results are maddening, but I just don't see a means of improvement without a transfer window or two. We are wafer thin in depth, have no consistent attacking option other than Suarez and we have a midfield that seems to lack a bit of finesse. Gerrad seems either to have folded or is just out of position. Based on performance, I would argue that BR is getting more from players than Roy or KK at this point. The problem is, as others have pointed out, the team looks a bit worse for wear. The exhuberance that was shown at the end of the 1st half was gone to dead legs in the second half and Rogers waited 15 minutes too long to make subs. Joke and Jonjo did not have enough time on the pitch to make a lick of difference and barely saw the ball. If we are in this position by the transfer window and can bring in 2-3 attack minded senior players, I think we could see a change in this team. Right now they have learned how not to lose in the PL, the next step is learning to turn these performances into 3 points, even if they aren't totally deserved (ManU seems to do this every week). We have tools to win now, but not on a consistent basis. We are exactly where we should be given the dire nature of our roster and hopefully we can experience a turn around by seasons end. 7th or 8th is certainly not out of the realm of possibility and would, again, be a fair result for the season given where we stand as a club. All I know is that I'll never stop watching, never stop supporting and never stop hoping for us to get over the hump. YNWA.
Rather insipid performance but what do you expect with Hendo, Downers & Cole on the pitch? Gerrard gave another absent performance, Suarez was too far out of the box to be effective and Enrique looked dangerous but was ultimately couldn't get a goal. When is LFC gonna stop playing like a mid-table team?
When I get frustrated with performances - which is rather easy to do these days - I force myself to review what has happened at this club over the past four years. It's going to be a long road back.
We all agree that Rodgers needs time but lets be serious we have a far better squad than midtable. If Suarez, Agger, Skrtel, Sahin, Gerrard, Reina, Johnson, Sterling and Lucas all had their contracts terminated all would go to teams better than mid table. For the combined price of Henderson, Allen and Borini you could assemble a mid table team with change left over. Carroll, Enrique(harsh IMO), Kelly, Downing and Coates would all be certain certain starters for midtable teams with some of them being the first names on the sheet. I don't know how emphatically I have to state this, BUT OUR SQUAD IS NOT MID-TABLE. Laudrup and every other mid table manager would swap squads with no hesitation.
He's only had one season for us and he did score a late winner and a late assist winner for us in the Prem against Bolton and Blackburn. I probably would of had Suso or Pacheco instead, but I think Cole is still capable of mini performances from off the bench.
Skrtel,Agger,Gerrard,Allen,Suarez,Glen (Established international players) Reina (If not for Casillas would be a starter for Spain) Enrique (Great improvements in form) Sterling and Henderson (Both future england players with one that has forced his way into England first team and Henderson is the captain of the youth team) Lets blame the players who would be starters in other team.
We've got three first tier players in the sweet spot of their careers - Suarez, Agger, Skrtel. The rest are injury question marks, past their prime, on the come or mid table dross.
Mid table dross. We should be happy where we are in that case. Infact we should free up the wages in Suarez, Skrtel and Agger who are tier one and go on and buy tier 3 players so as we stay where we are.
That seems very scientific. As United are top of the table can you tell me where their players rank in your three tier system. Giggs, Scholes, Ferdinand, Evra, RVP, Jones, Vidic, De Gea, Rooney, Fletcher, Anderson etc etc. Just so we have some actual comparison rather than you labeling our players as dross.
Exactly, hell we're lucky not to be like Pompey at this point with how poorly the previous owners managed things and the debt they saddled the club with. I'm glad we didn't go into administration get points deducted and end up in the Championship or even the first division (or whatever the hell it's called now).
Trust me, there's nothing scientific behind it, no weighted point factor system or the like. Just my seat of the pants estimation of the current squad's quality / depth. Where are the skanks in comparison? My guess is the general quality and depth are a good bit better, especially in the front of the pitch. Really haven't analyzed it. But, what's your point? That Rodgers should be doing better, our expectations should be higher with the players we've got? Not challenging, merely asking.
Not my point here. We shouldn't be happy with where we are, but we are paper thin in terms of strong established players and the squad needs to be substantially strengthened before we can regain our past positions near the top of the league and in Europe. Rodgers can successfully implement the best system and playing style in the world and we'll still come up short without high quality reinforcements. Do FSG have the money and the will for it? A big question mark imo.
Some folks here appear to be giving Rodgers a pass by claiming we are where we should be due to our squad quality. No, no, no! We are behind West Brom, West Ham, Fulham, Swansea FFS! There is no way they have better squads than us, but they are still ahead of us in the table. This should not be deemed acceptable or par for the course. They have managers who have them punching above their weight - this is when a manager is deemed to doing a good job. Rodgers has not managed this yet. Also Swansea and West Brom also have brand new managers. The fact is that so far this season, these new managers have outperformed our new manager. I know I am appearing critical of Rodgers but really the results have simply not been good enough and the manager has to take responsibility for them. Rodgers needs wins. Anything else is failure.
That our squad is not mid-table. It's simply not, take a look at actual midtable squads and tell me which area's you'd want us to sap with. Which set of CB's, CM's, FB's or even, our weakest area, Attackers you'd swap with. Me stating that our players are Not mid-table is not an attack on Rodgers, as I'm happy with him, but clearly he should be doing better and yes our expectations should be higher with both the players and the management we have.
I agree with you here and don't think Rodgers should be given a full pass due to squad quality issues. We need to strengthen the squad considerably to get back to where we were, but we also should be doing better currently with the squad we have. Top half of the table for sure.
Agree with this. But still think a substantial strengthening of the squad is needed over time. We can debate whether we're a mid-table or upper mid-table squad in terms of quality, but its clear in any event that compared with where we want to be its not good enough, especially in terms of depth and attacking talent.
We want to be first but clearly we are behind City, Chelsea and United in squad quality. After the departures of RVP, Song, Modric and RDV we have a comparable quality in squads to Spurs and Arsenal and really should be competing for that 4th spot with those 2. As we have a new manager with new idea's time has to be given but at the end of the season we should be at least 6th.
Not giving him a pass, but I have no doubt that all of those other teams will drop just like I have no doubt that we will rise. I simply don't think that there should be any talk about him being sacked. That to me is laughable. Everyone is frustrated with the results, but if you cannot score goals, you will not win many games. Simple as that. Who cares that we have so many internationals on our roster if we have only 1 that is a legitimate goal scoring threat. All of the other teams that you mentioned have other places for goals to come from than one source. We have Suarez a below par Steven Gerrard and perhaps he's the key player that Rodgers can't figure out. Bottom line is that the results aren't good enough for what we expect at LFC, but we also know that this is not your Dad's LFC. As I have stated before, I would argue that Rodgers is getting more out of less than our previous managers. We don't have a Dirk Kuyt or Craig Bellamy to bail us out anymore, we have 17 year olds. 17!
I thought we were much better than Swansea and were unlucky not to bag 3 points. I like the Enrique experiment. BR is finding out about his team. Two first half attacks come to mind which needed one more square ball for an easy tap-in. We just need more time together. Simmer the stew, let it cook, only then let's judge the taste.
While I dislike lowered expectations which were the norm under Hodgson, I think we have a bit of context here. I can certainly see the [positive] direction in which we are travelling. And let's recall that it was our form at the end of last season that got Dalglish the sack, form which, despite the off-season transfer gallimaufry, has been improving. Still, valid criticism is a must.