Evening gentlemen
One of the big problems I have at the moment is that many of our supporters are satisfied with players who I don't think are good enough to represent Liverpool FC.
This Isn't an issue with some of the ja606 posters - it's a general view that I hold for a large section of the fanbase.
Simon Mignolet, Jordan Henderson are the two best examples I can provide for this issue. They're not good enough for me. A goalkeeper should be commanding and his mistakes should be minimal. Simon has bad weeks far too often and never fills me with confidence - I dread to think how the defenders feel.
As for Jordan - he is playing for Liverpool FC in the centre of the field. When I think of the players who have occupied this position then the bar is exceptionally high. That's not Jordan's fault but he just seems to escape criticism. He is staunchly defended simply for having an engine and I don't think that's right.
It may look like I've singled these two players out but they're the two who seem to be accepted as good enough.
When I look at the squad, I see Sturridge and Coutinho as two that are good enough. I see potential in Ibe, Can, Moreno but after that, I'm struggling.
With regards to the manager, I say give him another season. A fit Daniel Sturridge may have secured us a top 4 spot and the mood around the club would be very different.
If things are bleak by Christmas then the owners can think about a change.
With regard to players coming in, I think the best bet is to look at experience and look no further than what Gary McCallister did for us all those years ago. He was a revelation.
I'd look at the Cechs, the Pirlos, the Yaya Toures etc.
Some of them might be hard to prize away from better clubs but at least put your name in the mix.
Alan Hansen once said you won't win anything with kids and people love to remind him about how he was wrong but in reality, he wasn't. There's always exceptions to any rule.
Go for experience.
Regards
Metro
The Fans are Accepting Mediocrity
posted on 24/5/15
Surrounding Suarez with Cout, Sturridge and Sterling (and moving Gerrard deep) was a masterstroke really
One left for barca, one left for a physio in Boston, one lost his legs, one checked out mentally on the advice of his agent.
Cout won player of the season at least.
posted on 24/5/15
Not sure about that TOOR.
I wouldn't say Mig has been any better, Allen neither...
The rest are quite young and it would have been surprising they didn't improve (Skrtel aside)
Sturridge is the only one who has shown big improvement even considering he's getting older so should improve, but isn't a large part of that playing him as a striker?
I would concede that Cout improved more than just age would have suggested but not exactly massively...
posted on 24/5/15
comment by SAF_The_Legend-FreePalestine(7) (U5768)
posted 1 minute ago
Not sure about that TOOR.
I wouldn't say Mig has been any better, Allen neither...
The rest are quite young and it would have been surprising they didn't improve (Skrtel aside)
Sturridge is the only one who has shown big improvement even considering he's getting older so should improve, but isn't a large part of that playing him as a striker?
I would concede that Cout improved more than just age would have suggested but not exactly massively...
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Mignolet has definitely improved and played better under Rodgers, his form of late has been excellent with him having loads of clean sheets. Allen has definitely been better under Rodgers than any other manager, as have the others I suggested.
There would be no way we could have put in a title challenge last season if Rodgers didn't get more out of the players.
posted on 24/5/15
comment by There'sOnlyOneReds (U1721)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Spurtle2 (U1608)
posted 16 minutes ago
It seems like other managers have got more out of Brendan's players than him. Lovren, Lallana and Lambert were all better under Poch. Borini was better under Poyet. Balotelli was better under the previous managers he's played under.
Doesn't look good for Brendan really does it?
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Sturridge, Skrtel, Coutinho, Henderson, Allen, Mignolet have been better under Rodgers than other managers.
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Mignolet yes and no. He was awful in the first half was he not?
Allen has always been average, and it would flash warning signs the fact Brendan rates him so much, and was the one player he was so keen to bring to Pool.
Sturridge has always been talented. He got 8 in 12 on his loan at Bolton. Fair enough to Rodgers for bringing him in though.
Skrtel? Hmmm hasn't your defence leaked goals this season and last?
Henderson and Coutinho you could give credit, although I do wonder how much with Coutinho it's down to him just developing naturally.
posted on 24/5/15
comment by The Welsh Xavi (U15412)
posted 11 minutes ago
Suarez was top quality to begin with and you could argue he brought as much out of the team than anything Rodgers did.
Hendo I guess you could make a case for, and the defence when he dropped Mignolet and it improved subsequently. Other than that, there isn't much.
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Suarez might have already been well known but you can't deny Rodgers improved him. He scored just 21 goals in 52 games under Kenny compared to 61 in 81 under Rodgers.
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Suarez was taking his time to settle into a new league and a new country with a different language to begin with. I remember how he always used to mess up good chances back then. I suppose Dalglish's persistence with Carroll hampered his development.
Perhaps Dalglish is one of the few who makes Brendan look good.
posted on 24/5/15
selectively picking who improved / didn't isn't really a productive exercise.
If you look at the absolutely staggeringly long list of flops / regressing players at Chelsea, City and United you could do the same. The star managers at those clubs not only signed these tuurds, they made them worse too. Where's Salah? When did Willian become a DM who can't score? Curduado (or however you spell his name) is just awful. Cesc and Costa may be top class, but are they 'better'? don't think so. He signed 20 players and most people can only name half of them. He did a 'great' job though ( I think he did)
It's just the nature of transfers really.
posted on 25/5/15
comment by The Kaiser's Trainers (U5676)
posted 2 hours, 1 minute ago
selectively picking who improved / didn't isn't really a productive exercise.
If you look at the absolutely staggeringly long list of flops / regressing players at Chelsea, City and United you could do the same. The star managers at those clubs not only signed these tuurds, they made them worse too. Where's Salah? When did Willian become a DM who can't score? Curduado (or however you spell his name) is just awful. Cesc and Costa may be top class, but are they 'better'? don't think so. He signed 20 players and most people can only name half of them. He did a 'great' job though ( I think he did)
It's just the nature of transfers really.
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No point addressing Chelsea's if they've won the league and a League Cup. Different when your manager is badly underachieving like Rodgers is. Then your handling of players is rightly going to be more scrutinised.
posted on 25/5/15
"No point addressing Chelsea's if they've won the league"
no, that is exactly the point.
The criticism is if only you were as good as Jose at buying Curduado, Salah or Willian, or as brilliant as LvG at managing Di maria and Falcao or signing world beaters like Rojo and Shaw....when then you'd be so much better off.
That's the criticism, that they're all doing a better job buying the right players and getting the most out of them. If we bought the shiite they bought or ruined the world class talent they have, the 606 servers would melt from a million simultaneous LALs.
posted on 25/5/15
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 25/5/15
Bookies are saying Brendan is 6 to 1 on for the sack...