ECHO Comment: "Fears of Witch-hunt Against Liverpool FC"

[Prevenger17]

He inherited Suarez. First season he wasted him; second season he put his own way of playing in the cupboard and went with the long punt up to Suarez/Sturridge and it was a surprise to opponents and they got some joy out of it. This season no Suarez and back to the EL spots...having spent £125M last summer.

He's an appalling appointment, imo.

I think "the long punt" is being slightly unfair. He pandered to Slippy and it cost them the title, fine margins really. The problem is he goes on about bringing youth through and building teams yada yada, but he'll never last long enough in a job with the borderline narcissistic personality disorder he has. I'm almost certain he'll go to Spain after this, based on some sort of deluded notion that it's more in line with his cultured approach or some such.

 

[Caolam]

Cracks are beginning to appear, ans Gerard has not left yet. He needed a good run of form and a settled mid field to make up for any backlash from the fans at the loss of their hero. If Henderson, the anointed successor doesn't sign a new contract or even looks unhappy, if they loose Sterling and Balotelli does his thing then the trap door opens.

 

[rascal]

He'll have better offers than Liverpool, for sure. They'll get someone who can work with a committee though, and I cant see many Britsh managers going for that...Rodgers did but he was desperate. No top manager here is going for that in a hurry. I think someone like De Boer would who's used to all the meddling at Ajax.

De Boer would be a good shout but I think someone like Blanc would only be interested in clubs that belong at the pinnacle.

 

[davek]

That article - another excellent find by the anti-kopite Davek -

Is a litany of failure.

He even uses the words "stable" at one point.

He's spent £250m and has only won the "top at Xmas 2013/2014" title.

He has definitely slipped into bunker mentality mode - hunkering down for self preservation....throwing players under the bus....only now, after 3 seasons, his players know he's vulnerable and in the firing line now, not them. They also must be open mouthed watching the mishandling of the Gerrard and Sterling affairs.

As for the football: you could see in the course of 90 minutes against United just how fragile his hold over events have really been - even during the 13 game run they had knocking over no mark clubs. He cant put away top tier teams - hasn't got the gumption for it. The last two games exposed that again and his bosses will have taken note.

As said: failure to land the cup and he's gone. Absolutely no question about that now.

 

[Caolam]

The amount of money they have to spend will determine the calibre of manager they get. A CL manager will go there if he feels there is enough money to bring in the right players.

 

[Jacob]

I don't he has long left in the job myself. For all the guff he talks, he did make a change when it was called for earlier in the season. Tactically, and I'm going to be a bit controversial here, I'd say that he's actually pretty good. They were barely scraping past lower table opposition, but at least they were winning. I think his most glaring deficiency is his personality. He's a massive w***er, and it's just not conducive to a happy environment or longevity at any club. There's plenty of arseholes who were successful, but he has a brand of smug, cowardly Brentism, the likes of which we have never seen.

Spot on. He has as you say brought them on. I don't think though theres any real consistency due to their repetitive self implosion and this shows no signs of being eradicated. It seems once one wheel comes off, the whole chassis falls apart..... Gerrard having another titty lip over them not succumbing to his greedy contract demands when they had no intentions of even playing him...Sturridge and his sicknote mantle...expensive mad money purchases like Lovren Lallana Markovic spending more time sitting on their arses than doing anything on the pitch...poor discipline resulting in consecutive bans for key players...Sterling's contract talks being discussed as though its the Cuba crisis...etc etc. For his Stanley Unwin-esque comedy value alone , Brent must stay and keep us laughing.

 

[Dithering Dougie]

I'd bet Mr Liverpool is conspiring against him, he's seen plenty of decent managers to be able to spot a fraud when ones spouting jibberish and he's got an axe to grinds after being left out of the team and the lack of a new contract. I reckon Gerrards undermining Rodgers to the likes of Sterling and Henderson, probably telling them to be careful committing themselves to Liverpool while he's manager.

There's been to many important ex players leave who've let their feelings be known about Rodgers for this new story of unrest not to be true, it wouldnt surprise me if it was Gerrard leaking this to the press either. He's still stuck there knowing it's all over for him but knowing the clubs going nowhere under Rodgers and he's breaking ranks and stirring the pot while he can.

 

[davek]

I think "the long punt" is being slightly unfair. He pandered to Slippy and it cost them the title, fine margins really. The problem is he goes on about bringing youth through and building teams yada yada, but he'll never last long enough in a job with the borderline narcissistic personality disorder he has. I'm almost certain he'll go to Spain after this, based on some sort of deluded notion that it's more in line with his cultured approach or some such.

I dont think it's that unfair, tbh.

He went to Liverpool with a short passing game using Allen as the fulcrum for the team. It got panned. next season he let Gerrard's preference take control of team strategy and they went the opposite direction to his own "philosophy" - longer balls out the back combined with a high press. This season they've been stuck between two stools for most of it: wanting to play the way they did last season but not having the personnel on the pitch to do it. The run they had was aided massively by the form of the attacking midfielders like Coutinho and Henderson - who weighed in also with telling goals. I think it was just their form that got them through that period rather than any great tactical switch up.

He doesn't strike me as a man of principle or flexibility of thought...he's just a chancer who has a line of patter to sell what goes on largely beyond his own control.

 

[bizzaro]

I dont think it's that unfair, tbh.

He went to Liverpool with a short passing game using Allen as the fulcrum for the team. It got panned. next season he let Gerrard's preference take control of team strategy and they went the opposite direction to his own "philosophy" - longer balls out the back combined with a high press. This season they've been stuck between two stools for most of it: wanting to play the way they did last season but not having the personnel on the pitch to do it. The run they had was aided massively by the form of the attacking midfielders like Coutinho and Henderson - who weighed in also with telling goals. I think it was just their form that got them through that period rather than any great tactical switch up.

He doesn't strike me as a man of principle or flexibility of thought...he's just a chancer who has a line of patter to sell what goes on largely beyond his own control.

So you're saying el bongo Rodgers is just a chancer.

Didn't FSG just give him a contract renewal too?

 

[peteblue]

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/liverpool-fc-boss-brendan-rodgers-8985942

The Fraud hands his excuses in ahead of another failure next season.

I loved this bit though: “As a manager, not that long in the game, it’s been great for me up to this point, learning about the dynamics of everything."

Ha Ha Ha Ha. How pathetic a statement is that? He's been a manager for 7 years...four seasons in the PL and three of them at Liverpool.

An utter charlatan fighting tooth and nail for his job and humiliating himself in the process.

I liked this bit "“But I look at Arsenal and their bench, the players, the world class players on the field with big talent and it shows the continual work we have to do.”......or he could have said "But I look at Arsenal and their bench, the manager, the world class manager, and it shows just how crap I am"........

 

[peteblue]

I dont think it's that unfair, tbh.

He went to Liverpool with a short passing game using Allen as the fulcrum for the team. It got panned. next season he let Gerrard's preference take control of team strategy and they went the opposite direction to his own "philosophy" - longer balls out the back combined with a high press. This season they've been stuck between two stools for most of it: wanting to play the way they did last season but not having the personnel on the pitch to do it. The run they had was aided massively by the form of the attacking midfielders like Coutinho and Henderson - who weighed in also with telling goals. I think it was just their form that got them through that period rather than any great tactical switch up.

He doesn't strike me as a man of principle or flexibility of thought...he's just a chancer who has a line of patter to sell what goes on largely beyond his own control.

Exactly.......

 

[Donald Twain]

He's at it again, sometimes your best keeping it shut!

Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers defends team's commitment
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has defended the "commitment and focus" of his players after Saturday's 4-1 defeat by Arsenal.

The loss, Liverpool's second in a row, left them seven points adrift of the Champions League qualification places.

It led to reports of an acrimonious team meeting after the match.

But Rodgers said: "The team might be short of certain elements but in terms of commitment and focus, it's pretty clear."

He added: "We have lots of meetings here analysing performance and this one was no different."

The Liverpool manager also said he had not given up hope of finishing in the top four, despite saying on Saturday he "very much doubted" they would qualify for the Champions League.

"After the game I gave an answer which was logical in terms of the difficulty we have but it is not certainly a mindset," he said.

"Our attitude is to go right to the end. We would have to win our seven games but it is certainly something we will go into in order to do that."

 

[bizzaro]

He's at it again, sometimes your best keeping it shut!

Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers defends team's commitment
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has defended the "commitment and focus" of his players after Saturday's 4-1 defeat by Arsenal.

The loss, Liverpool's second in a row, left them seven points adrift of the Champions League qualification places.

It led to reports of an acrimonious team meeting after the match.

But Rodgers said: "The team might be short of certain elements but in terms of commitment and focus, it's pretty clear."

He added: "We have lots of meetings here analysing performance and this one was no different."

The Liverpool manager also said he had not given up hope of finishing in the top four, despite saying on Saturday he "very much doubted" they would qualify for the Champions League.

"After the game I gave an answer which was logical in terms of the difficulty we have but it is not certainly a mindset," he said.

"Our attitude is to go right to the end. We would have to win our seven games but it is certainly something we will go into in order to do that."

They go again?

@davek

 

[Prevenger17]

Always a good time for this old chestnut:

RAWK: This nonsense about Liverpool not being able to challenge again next season.....

Before I start, I just want to say how chuffed I am to hear our manager say the same things in a post match interview, the same things that I am about to echo again here. For you. For us. For the competition.

He speaks a lot of sense a lot of the time Brendan in this football world of utter nonsense.

Now to the thread title....

I keep hearing and seeing this all over, mainly from rival supporters....but I've also picked up on it in the media. Its started.

It all seemed to start immediately after the Chelsea game. (How convenient)

You know, you've probably heard it yourselves by now:

"This was our best chance, next season will be different, more games for Liverpool with the Champions League, other teams will improve" etc etc etc

What people fail to mention (because it suits them not to right about now) is that, of course Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United etc etc will all add to their squads. Of course they will......

BUT. SO. WILL. WE.

(Thats the FIRST point Rodgers made.)

What people also fail to mention at this moment in time, is the same thing applies to all those teams around us. How could Arsenal be 1st this season for so long with all those extra games? How could Man City win the league with all those extra games in Europe? Why aren't Chelsea sitting in 7th right now because they got to the Champions League semi-finals?

Its absolute rubbish to target us with. Rubbish.

Look at the last 18 months or so we have had in this league. Look at it!

With what we have.

Did any of us seriously think before this season started we'd be up there challenging till the last-[Poor language removed]-day?

No, most of our expectations were top 4. We were made to believe and dream big once again because of THIS team. We didn't go into this season believing that - THIS team MADE us believe it, they forced us to believe and dream, in a world that told us otherwise. THEY made it seem possible. It was possible because of THEM.

We've exceeded those original expectations and done INCREDIBLE with what we have. With what we HAVE and what we have in comparison to Man City's overall team is not a lot. Yet we pushed them (beat them once, hard done by at the Etihad) all the way and if it wasn't for us slipping up, we would of won the whole thing with what we HAVE....and that what we HAVE can STILL be improved on.

Don't forget this.

(Thats the SECOND point Rodgers made after the game.)

There is still plenty of room for improvement and the key thing is our manager knows where it is, but most importantly he knows very well and understands there is room for that improvement. Improvement on THIS team......a team just 3 points from winning the league.

Our defence can be improved. But with THAT defence, yes.....THAT defence......we nearly won the league!?! THAT defence can be improved on. The squad can be improved on.

We will improve it.

What then? What if we concede less goals and still score the same amount of goals? What if our squad is improved on and it is deep enough and good enough to handle the extra games?

If anything, all this nonsense coming from rival supporters right about now, confirms one thing to me and one thing only.....and its the most important thing and all I need to know.

They are worried.

We are Liverpool.

They. ARE. Worried.

 

[Prevenger17]

He speaks a lot of sense a lot of the time Brendan in this football world of utter nonsense.

Haha, this bit always gets me.