I'd rather win 5 games 1-0 than win 1 game 5-0.

Yes the 5-0 was good and all, but it was against 10 men and up against a team that looked disinterested and AVB knew he was getting the boot before the game started.

To compare AVB and Rodgers 1 on 1, in a 1 off game would be knee jerk and illogical. So yes, the 5-0 is "irrelevant" if you want to compare both managers.

As it stands right now, AVB has won a lot more and then picked 2 stupid managerial decisions which has pretty much killed off his credentials.

Rodgers would of been sacked from Tottenham and Chelsea if he was in the same shoes as AVB. So the difference between the two is really, FSG actually SUPPORTED their manager instead of running the WHOLE club from top to bottom.

sportsczy wrote:I think everyone needs to wait until the end of the season to make any kind of true assessment... things happen quickly in football and especially in the EPL.  Good so far by Rogers.  But anything less than top 4 for Liverpool is a failure for me at least...

That's just too harsh. Just look at our bench in, well all through the season. He is making a strong claim for T4 with 14-15 players and could have had even better results if some players didn't goofed-up occasionally.

RED wrote:I find it bizarre that anyone would begrudge BR any credit for what he has done at Liverpool this season. He is a young manager with a philosophy of playing football the right way, has Liverpool playing some of the best attacking football I've seen in years and forget about being contention for a top 4, he has them with a chance for being in contention for the title. Also is responsible for bringing the best out of Sturridge.

He's doing a brilliant a job.

Exactly.
I am his fan.

Red Alert wrote:

Natalie Portman wrote:

Red Alert wrote:Never thought I'd be saying this, but I think I actually agree with HB here.

You just have to look at our away form / performances...

If we are in knock out our of CL, as long as we beat our opponent by 4 goals at home, I think we'll progress to next round, irrespective of away result. We haven't lost by more than 2 goals under BR since his very first game vs. WBA.

As for the other post you made...seriously ? So i guess Mark Hughes, Alan Pardew, and Bobby Martinez are the best tacticians since they are the only ones to beat Mourinho. so any other win in this league is apparently useless. Don't you also rate AVB very highly and BR lubed him ? How many tacticians are in Italy ? or in La Liga? What is your description of a tactician?

I hate that anyways. I don't care if he is or not. This is the most entertaining Liverpool side I've seen since supporting the team. We are boss to watch, and I'll cherish that. Not to mention BR's management of young players and improvement of others. Hell, this guy even made Downing look half decent !!

Which team in the CL is going to cop 4 goals?

I rate AVB as highly as Rodgers. The 5-0 is irrelevant. Would Rodgers have won if FSG bought the likes of Downing, Carroll, Adam to play the philosophy Rodgers wanted? AVB's biggest problem at Spurs was that he had Levy managing 55% of Spurs, AVB just had to turn up for match days/training. AVB didn't even spend half of that 100m spent to replace Bale...

And there's no chance in hell he made Downing look half decent. He has, and will always be average. He's the reason Johnson burnt out towards the end of last season......

I know it's a long shot, but I think we could put 5 past Arsenal on our day

Massive difference between playing in the PL and CL...

BR is still learning. The biggest thing for him is, this is his first job at such a level where expectations are high. I think he has just recently started in believing that 'his so called principles, methods, tactics can work at such a big club like Liverpool.' In several matches, it is clear that he still experiments about few things. I think he is getting belief in himself that he can a do a job here at Liverpool.

But he certainly deserves credit for many things he has achieved at Liverpool. The bad performance everyone around Liverpool has certainly helped him to look better than what he has actually achieved, looking at the table. But the way he experimented the 'shift between Suarez and Sturridge on the flank-as a forward', he knows what he is doing. That is most satisfactory feeling that this season is not a fluke but it is actually because he has certainly led some foundations for this team to go and perform on the pitch. He is certainly doing better than mangers in last 2-3 seasons. Still a long long way to go....

after first 64 league game

Got to give it to him, he's cut down so much weight He's an absolute beauty, Brendan is.

He's improved every aspect of his life since joining us

Looking good.

100% it's due to the new lady in his life

Not really. He started focusing on conditioning his body once he was appointed as our manager.

not really, he started taking care of himself once we got Studge and Coutinho. Before that he looked little stressed

oh dear..

“When you look at the availability of other players during the summer, it was something that was difficult for us.

“It was about the availability and affordability of players and I said when he came in that Mario was a calculated risk and that is something I have to make work for the team.

“We had attempts for other strikers that didn’t materialise for one reason or another and left us right at the end of the transfer window with a decision of whether to go with what we had – and experience told us we were too light up front – or take a calculated  risk on a player who has quality. The question then was could we get it out of him consistently?”

he [Balotelli] needs to improve – it is as simple as that. As a striker, you are judged on your goals and the number of assists you make. This club is not about the individual, it is about the team.”

Poor man management skills by Brendan Publicly criticizing Balotelli. That will work wonders for his already poor attitude.

What I get from all that is that Rodgers clearly didn't want to sign Balo and that it was a last min gamble that he is now regretting.

And that Rodgers likes to point blame onto others rather than himself.

Poor management by him.

He even says, in the article, that Lambert was bought strictly to be an impact sub. You couldn't make this up.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/brendan-rodgers-orders-calculated-risk-mario-balotelli-to-start-producing-goals-9771498.html

Who was it that compared Rodgers to SAF?

To be honest, I feel for any manager who has to manage Balotelli. Guy is garbage and worst of all thinks he's some super special talent.

What a stupid thing to say about your own player.

"Well, we couldn't get who we really wanted, so we had to go with this POS."

urbaNRoots wrote:To be honest, I feel for any manager who has to manage Balotelli. Guy is garbage and worst of all thinks he's some super special talent.

This. Balotelli only plays for top clubs because of the exposure his twitter/media antics give him

He's cracking up. Pressure is getting to him.

I don't see anything wrong with what he's saying or doing. Mario knows he wasn't out first choice (after all it was well reported that we were after Alexis to replace Suarez). Rodgers isn't saying anything new, but he's trying to light a fire under Balotelli with some public pressure. The reality is that even though he is playing well and working hard he hasn't been good enough. 1 goal in 6 games isn't good enough for a player with his talent.

It's still early though.

The problem with Rodgers's quotes is that our problem in attack has not been down to any single individual, it's been a problem of our attacking game as a whole. You shouldn't single out your striker or any other player in that case, that's just the easy route to take, to say that because your team isn't scoring, it's the striker's fault. If Balotelli was missing multiple chances that others create for him, then he should be criticized, but we haven't been creating opportunities for him.

We're playing West Brom and QPR next and that's a great chance for us to turn it around, but I look to Rodgers - not Balotelli or any other player - to get us to play better in our next few games.

The team has been playing fine it has been the individuals that are lacking in specific situations that has been the problem. Rodgers knows better than any of us who is or isn't playing the way that they're supposed to or doing the things they need to do. I don't think he's trying to take the easy route because while everyone is focusing on the very few comments he made about Balotelli they're ignoring that he has been deflecting attention from Balo since he arrived -- in multiple interviews and press conferences he has stated that they win and lose as a team and it's never on the shoulders of an individual. Pointing out that as an individual Balotelli needs to do more isn't blaming him for the team's failure he is just acknowledging that as a striker who is supposed to be extremely talented he needs to score more.

El Cujo wrote:I don't see anything wrong with what he's saying or doing. Mario knows he wasn't out first choice (after all it was well reported that we were after Alexis to replace Suarez). Rodgers isn't saying anything new, but he's trying to light a fire under Balotelli with some public pressure. The reality is that even though he is playing well and working hard he hasn't been good enough. 1 goal in 6 games isn't good enough for a player with his talent.

It's still early though.

Throwing his struggling new signing under the bus publicly is all apart of a genius, morale raising, master plan that went over all our heads or simply a weak attempt at deflection?  

Balotelli is an old school CF who relies on service & feeding off runners, he's not a runner and never has been, If Rodger's bought him expecting that he would play like Sturridge then that's poor management from him.  Rodger's is really poor in the transfer market anyway, the Balotelli purchase is no exception

http://www.lfchistory.net/Transfers/ByManager/25-1

Of the £212M spent on 25 players, I'd say Sturridge & Coutinho are the only outright successes, with Lallana and Moreno in the 'will probably turn out well' category.

After that its a mix of 'meh' (Allen, Mignolet etc) and a gang of fails.

Can't imagine the Liverpool sugar daddies being happy with investing all that money and still being mid table. Rodger's jobs on the line & he knows it.

1991 wrote:

Balotelli is an old school CF who relies on service & feeding off runners, he's not a runner and never has been.

I hear this all the time, I dont agree.

He isnt an old school CF, because old school CF's run into channels and not just hold up play + score tap ins.

And Balo doesnt even get into position to score tap ins, he doesnt rely on service because service implies he has to move.

Art Morte wrote:The problem with Rodgers's quotes is that our problem in attack has not been down to any single individual, it's been a problem of our attacking game as a whole. You shouldn't single out your striker or any other player in that case, that's just the easy route to take, to say that because your team isn't scoring, it's the striker's fault. If Balotelli was missing multiple chances that others create for him, then he should be criticized, but we haven't been creating opportunities for him.

We're playing West Brom and QPR next and that's a great chance for us to turn it around, but I look to Rodgers - not Balotelli or any other player - to get us to play better in our next few games.

This and I dont know why Cujo kept saying the team is playing fine, Pool certainly did not do emough to deserve result. Hard to admit I know but just like Arsenal played like crap and didnt deserve more than a draw against Spurs.

Balo is anything but classic CF, he better playoff some other CF, Rodgers should know about it if he at least watched Serie A last 2 years. Still hold off my judgement til Sturridge back and Balo utilized on his usual role. Balo as head od trident hardly ever worked

1991 wrote:
http://www.lfchistory.net/Transfers/ByManager/25-1

 Of the £212M spent on 25 players, I'd say Sturridge & Coutinho are the only outright successes, with Lallana and Moreno in the 'will probably turn out well' category.

After that its a mix of 'meh' (Allen, Mignolet etc) and a gang of fails.

Can't imagine the Liverpool sugar daddies being happy with investing all that money and still being mid table. Rodger's jobs on the line & he knows it.

First off who is midtable? We barely lost out on the title last I heard. This season is very very early to make any sort of ultimate judgements on.

And secondly Lazar, Ilori, Emre Can, Manquillo, Alberto, Origi and even Yesil are way way way too young to call them flops just yet. They've barely played for us ffs.

But the fact that you are sitting and calling players like Mario, Lovren and Lambert flop signings after 6 games goes on to tell me everything I need to know about your knowledge on the matter.

The only flops at this point you could actually say are Borini, Aspas, and Assaidi.

Moses, Sahin and Cissokho are the others who flopped but they were all loan signings so who cares.

Allen, Mignolet, Sakho, and Kolo have been up and down but far from flops.