Rodgers Needs To Show Some Consistent Adaptability
LIVERPOOL 1-3 Aston Villa. Nightmare result. Many people will say ‘in fairness to Villa…’ but no, this result was nothing to do with Villa. They practically only needed to show up on Saturday because we had already bent over the barrel and had our pants down in expectation.
There were a number of factors that contributed to the result as well and I’ll touch on those later, but first I really believe that Brendan Rodgers needs to show some kind of tactical nous besides the tried and tested ’4-3-3′.
I think that besides swapping to a 3-5-2 in the second-half at Stamford Bridge and, I seem to remember some variation on a 4-4-2 in the Europa a few months back, the manager has yet to show that he learned anything during the years he must’ve spent getting his badges.
It’s a bizarre situation really because, while we’re all united in our dislike of Mourinho, you’d think that a young, impressionable coach would learn a lot from somebody who knows how to tweak his side almost as well as Benitez does.
But a lot has been said about Rodger’s attitude and his ego, so perhaps he picked up nothing from working under a world class coach. Because during Saturday’s defeat, he did very little other than look slightly bemused. He barely flinched as Villa’s second crossed the goal-line and he must’ve forgotten his notepad because he wasn’t even making any notes.
I realize that this will come across as a knee-jerk reaction to a defeat but it really isn’t. I’m not calling for his head (at least not openly!) but I am asking that he shows that he can adapt his tactics to the opposition. I’ve never been a fan of manager’s changing their tactics to suit the opposition; you should make the opposition adapt to your tactics – it shows a confidence and strength that will seep through to the players.
However, during a game, when it’s clear your original ‘plan’ isn’t working, you need to change things up a little bit. Anybody could see today that our formation and attitude played right into Lambert’s counter-attacking philosophy. And while the Scot can have some credit for that, Rodgers should’ve learned his lesson at 1-0. He didn’t.
At 3-0, still, nothing. The only changes we saw were in terms of personnel and neither Henderson nor Cole did anything to warrant coming on. I appreciate that Shelvey wasn’t having his best game but without him, we’re generally a man down in the box at all times as he’s one of the few midfielders we’ve got that will actually support Suarez in getting forward.
What I would like to have seen was a response to Villa’s counter-attack. It would also have been nice to see a change-up in midfield too. Nothing drastic, just a slight tightening up of the midfield, is all. Given that Lucas was playing only his third game since his return, giving him a bit more support would’ve been nice.
We’ve seen it too many times this season: the middle ’3′ in Rodgers’ preferred formation often leaves us swamped or over-worked (and, at times, both) in midfield and we get overrun and when it’s obvious that the wide players in the front 3 aren’t doing enough to chase back, it’d be nice to see a substitution or two and a few harsh words, rather than the embarrassingly typical post-match ‘the players were terrific… ‘.
Which leads me to the next cause for our downfall on Saturday: the insistence on persevering with the captain. It’s amazing to think that, despite scoring our only goal, Gerrard was undoubtedly our worst player on the pitch by a mile.
In what has been his worst season in memory, Gerrard was lazy getting back, lax with the ball and his set-pieces were abysmal. This has been the case for too long yet, he still takes most of our corners and free-kicks. He really does need to learn how to lift the ball over the first defender.
Some people may try to say that he isn’t being utilized correctly by his manager but it isn’t that simple, I’m afraid. Gerrard is our captain – he should be leading from the front (figuratively, of course, as he’s not up front) but at the moment he’s usually going missing for larger swathes of the game.
I could forgive his wayward corners, his sub-par ‘Hollywood passes™’ and his constant squandering of possession at crucial times, if only the effort was that of the Gerrard of old. I know he can’t be the old ‘box-to-box’ Gerrard that we knew and loved but some tangible effort here and there wouldn’t go amiss. Even a Steven Gerrard at 75% will terrify most opposition; at the moment he’s not even at 40%.
On Saturday, even the goal was serendipity, appearing to just deflect off him as it went in. The time has come to drop the captain but, as with Hodgson and Dalglish before him, Rodgers is too in awe of Gerrard the ‘legend’ to drop Gerrard the ‘man for poor form’ and it’s costing us, as we often look like we’re playing with ten men.
Finally, this persistence with Downing at left-back has gone beyond a joke. In fairness to him he wasn’t solely at fault for any goal against Aston Villa and at times he got forward into decent positions. But putting him in that unfamiliar position seems to unsettle the entire back line. The winger has played at (or been switched to) left-back in 4 of the last 6 games and the Reds have conceded 8 goals in those four games.
After his switch to left-back against West Ham last week Liverpool let in two goals within 16 minutes, having looked comfortable at the back with Enrique until his withdrawal after 27 minutes. Again, this is not particularly a problem with Downing, more so that he clearly doesn’t have the faith of his three fellow defenders so the whole defence becomes more unstable.
Obviously, the entire team and the manager are all to blame for the weekend’s result. But there is no doubting that Rodgers could’ve stemmed the tide at 1 (or even 2) nil. The look of ‘I don’t really know what to do… ‘ did not fill me with confidence. Many will point solely to the players today but a great tactician is worth at least 2 or 3 top class players; particularly when he knows how to best use every single player at his disposal and in that respect, the manager was left sorely wanting for the visit of Villa.
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December 18th, 2012
We must remove this championship manager quickly . Even Reading sacked him quicker than us
December 18th, 2012
Last year . played 17 won 8 drew 6 lost 3 points 30
we were 5th , 3 points behind chelsea , its was tough last year with spurs , arsenal and newcastle all doing well
This year . played 17 won 5 drew 7 lost 5 points 22
we are 12th , it should be easy to get 4th , spurs are poor , arsenal are having a disaster , newcastle are gone
In just a few months Rodgers has changed us into a mid table team with rubbish signings , inept man management , stupid idiotic team selections and negative football
And there are STILL morons out there who will support him !
December 18th, 2012
Rogers has turned us into a mid table side??? News flash Einstein. We were a mid table side when he took over. The question marks are mounting with each loss but patience is required. I can’t think of many great coaches who have walked into a mid table side at the beginning of their careers and had instant success.
Play out the year and hold the course. I’m still confident of finishing top 6 which would be an improvement on the dalgliesh disaster.
December 18th, 2012
WHAT KIND OF FOOL ARE YOU ? under kenny we had a bad run at the end to pull us back to 8th , we were in contention for top 4 until that poor run , plus we got to 2 finals . 8th is not mid table 12th is
December 19th, 2012
8th is mid table. Deal with it.
With all that money and 18 months he finished mid table.
Rogers is 12th now which I’m shattered about. But after 3 months the sPate of scoring options who left at the end of the year through no fault of Rogers, I can either piss and moan like a little child or get on with following my team. Judgements will be made in the fullness of time.
December 19th, 2012
we were WAY better last year , maybe watching the highlights doesn’t give u the full picture , but only a total bell end would think we are better now
December 18th, 2012
Yes Bob , there are still morons who will support him
December 19th, 2012
No u fool. I support Liverpool. I couldn’t give a * who manages them provided we are winning.
So I can either spend the next 6 months complaining about a bloke who’s been in the job 5 minutes or get on with supporting the club.
If Rogers turns out to be no good, he will be moved on and we will start the entire expensive, 1 step backward coaching lottery all over.
December 19th, 2012
well we are not winning you moron , so i will not support a loser who is harming my football club . thats stupid .
why would anybody support a guy detrimental to the club ? every month , every transfer window , every rubbish signing , every game he is taking us backwards
if u love liverpool , grow some balls and help get the goit out
December 18th, 2012
While I will agree in BR changing formations when needed, he looked dumb founded and confused. What annoyed me more is before the match he came out saying ‘we are aiming higher than 4th’ and then after the loss he says ‘we have a long way to go to be 4th’. Too much talk and I’m getting tired of him saying ‘ the players were fantastic but we need be more clinical’. I would like to hear him be a little more harsh on the players instead of sympathy. I still believe in him because I do like the style we are playing but I am starting to get a bit annoyed as well.
December 18th, 2012
You like sideways negative passing , possesion football ????? You should watch south american football . It bores me
December 19th, 2012
yeah , even if we were doing ok , i couldn’t sit and watch 3 or 4 more years of his coma inducing boring rubbish
December 18th, 2012
Rodgers is too arrogant too adapt .W We must sack him
December 18th, 2012
Sack the fool before things get worse
December 19th, 2012
Shelvey is Not good enough for our team. Shelvey is not good for us.