Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

Why isn’t he encouraging quick passes? Why do our players insist on taking multiple touches every time they get the ball? Makes it * easy for the opposition to organise themselves.

Hatate is probably the only player in our squad who will try to play a one touch pass.

Even if you take away the recruitment issues that’s shambolic.

 

To be fair I think it's just the wingers.

Taylor tended to never go near Maeda and add to the midfield but Tierney pushed up the wing near Maeda and it kind of closes off the space, so everytime we pass to Maeda it's usually from Tierney 10 yards away form him and he turns back.

Then Forrest touches the ball incide every time he recieves a pass, he's lost half a yard and his feet have slowed, meaning he can't really go at and try and go round a defender.

Hatate and Nygren both do not bad but they can't really involve the wingers on their side as the ball just comes back in.

Then the strikers just never get near the ball because it's constantly doing down the wing and across midfield. Forrest also tends to run across the whole outside of the box and lay a ball off and generally it's just blocked and kicked away cause theres no space.

Basically the wingers are hampering everyone around them, even Maeda doesn't cut in so doesn't even go out of Tierneys way much either.

If Jota and Kuhn were out wide we'd probably be leathering teams.

I hated it as it never worked but Kuhn cutting in and doing that little slipped in pass to Johnston who always leathered a ball in and 9/10 times it was blocked off the first defender - that doesn't even happen now but used to be done 5/6 times a game and at least was a bit of a threat.

 

The transfer activity (or lack thereof aside) is only part of the issue. BR has to take a fair chunk of the responsibility for it also, and given the players that he does have at his disposal should still have been enough. But with BR now starting his 3rd season in charge in this second spell, we are witnessing history repeat in more ways than one.

He has pretty much had the team playing the exact same way for over 2 years now. With the exception of tailoring it in last season's CL, there are lessons that are not being learned. How many times have we seen the team with 75% possession yet manage such a little cutting edge? Just 3 shots on target last night, and that was all in the second half at home with virtually a full squad at his disposal (minus Jota), yet the same predictable formation, tactics and lineup made it pretty easy for oppositon to plan against. The resources available, Celtic should have had enough to win that game last night, and BR is simply deflecting everything rather than taking some responsibility.

So with the formation and tactics exactly the same, what exactly did BR work on during the summer? There is the theory of diminishing returns and it was in evidence during his first tenure and it's evident here also.

Does this pardon the Club for it's failings to strengthen in areas that clearly need it. Wide players, a suitable back up for Tierney and someone who can put the ball in the back of the net. And it can be said that BR isn't particularly good in the transfer market anyhow (his track record at pretty much every club he has been at is pretty underwhelming) and last summer there were significant outlays for the likes of Idah, Engels and Trusty - only 1 of which started last night and he was hooked at HT.

In defence of the Board, who has overseen a period of unrivaled dominance domestically, having won the League in all but 1 of the past 14 seasons, including 5 trebles, 3 League & LC doubles and 2 League & SC doubles. The club is by far the most successful and prosperous club in the country and is one of only a handful in the world that can genuinely be called a thriving business success, which for a lot of clubs is a real struggle to break even.

So for all that, the Board does deserve som recognition.

However, there are repeated and easily avoidable mistakes that continue to happen and for which they do deserve to be held to account, and for whatever reason this summer has been one of those. And it is a Club issue, because there has been a similiar degree of inertia with regards to the women's team also. They allowed 5 first team regulars to depart this summer, and have only brought 4 players in. Of those, 2 came this past weekend and of the other two, one was a bit part player for Glasgow City last seaosn and the other was literaslly deemed surplus to requirements 12 months ago and was released, only to be brought back this year. Hardly signs of planning for the future or progressing the Ghirls team, just as it is with the Bhoys.

So that issue does have to be addressed by the Board.

But the other things; the tactics and lack of imagination or a Plan B, set pieces that are either a joke or largely non-existent. Doing the same thing but not accounting for the opposition having already planned for how to deal with that. Kairat pretty much did what St M did just a few weeks ago, and it took a late, late goal to get the win on that occasion. Just 1 goal this season by any of the forwards has to be a major concern. All of which is Rodgers' remit.

Pointing the finger at the Board is all well and fine, but it also speaks to adegree of complacency on the manager's part also and a measure of the blame does land squarely at his feet.

 

I think our players just look for the same ball. If its not there they wait. We spend an awful lot of time looking to pass it wide even when its a cul de sac.

Ralston with the ball at his feet in the last few minutes with enough time and space to play the ball forward himself instead turns and rolls it out wide and their defender easily reads it and intercepts it. Kind of summed up our night.

 

Let's not forget that Lennon came into a side that was in need of dire re-development after 3 years of Rodgers. The following season we signed 16 players including Forster, Julien, Frimpong, Bolingoli, Ehamed, Taylor, Elyounoussi, Klimala and Soro. Basically an entire new defence.

As a club, we sign a lot of players. We don't re-invest half of what we should. But we do splash out on players.

This Rodgers term, 8.5m on Idah, 6m Trusty, 11m Engels, 4m Bernardo, Jota 9m, Palma, Lagerbielke & Nawrwocki all between 3m and 4m each.

I think the club don't trust Rodgers to sign players. He's a good coach, player development, tactics etc. But not squad building.

Look at the job he did at Leicester, 5th in the league, FA cup winners and the club declines into relegation after season 4. His transfer record at that club was very poor.

 

His transfer record at Leicester was actually pretty good, while consistently selling his best players. He also achieved consecutive 5th place finishes, missing out on 4th and the Champions League on both occasions on the final day of the season. The decline in his team coincided with the owner losing a huge percentage of his wealth during COVID and not having the capital to buy proper replacements for the players they did sell.

Did they sign some *? Aye, of course they did but so do every club. His gets blown wildly out of proportion and it comes down to people just not liking him.

 

The situation we are in is definitely on the board. His comments last night felt likes he’s had enough of shielding them and showing his frustration too. He’s drawn the line in the sand and it’s now on the board. He’s been poorly backed and it’s a sorry state of affairs. There’s no logic to it. That said, that team should have had more than enough to beat that mob, and as he says, he focuses on the players he has, so he has to carry some of the blame last night. We looked lacklustre and felt like going through the motions. It’s his job to get a performance so he does need to sharpen up too.

 

Listened to the press conference Rodgers did last night after the game. He fairly dismantled Nicholson in it with lots of on the money jibes where he landed the blame squarely at their feet. I'd say Nicholson and Lawwell were stewing over it. The performance club jibe was clearly a dig at Nicholson not being up to the job in my view.

 

That interview was always on the cards as soon as we suffered a bad result.

 

On reflection, and I say this as a big Rodgers fan, I think he got away very lightly after that game because of the board situation. Everything he said about the board is true, however he still failed to beat a team that has soent about 250k in the past 2 seasons. We scored a last minute winner to beat st mirren who spend even less than that, and lost a cup final to a team that spend only a little more than that. He has spent 45m or so.

None of which absolves the board, but I do wonder if actually Rodgers is ok constantly being challenged about how bad the bad are rather than how bad some of the teams performances, and his performance, has been.

 

He’s earned the right to avoid the anger over that game for me. I could pick apart what I thought he done wrong but it dials down to he’s reverted to what he feels safe in doing and it’s naturally very risk averse, cautious and very safe play.

And that’s something we’ve seen from him when he doesn’t have the quality he would like. And it’s reliable judge on a sliding scale, watching how much his teams approach a game that way, to how much the fans would complain about the quality available to us.

If I see thats what happens in that situation, the guys controlling the club should, and they have failed him. And that’s the concern, and BR I’m not interested in directing anger at, to dilute that.

 

Aye, I’ve got a lot I could highlight in BR’s control but ultimately I think club and manager need to feed into getting the best out of each, work in tandem.

And we have droves of experience with BR when he has a squad and players that he trusts and when he’s nervous it’s not good enough. The former, it’s quicker more free flowing, more spontaneous play. The latter is him desperately trying to control the game, it’s slow, safe, cautious, risk adverse… * boring. It’s too safe in terms of fundamentals, it’ll be he expects passing percentage to be 90% and * like that. And then when that happens, its 5 yard safe passing, slow, without intent.

Compare and contrast BR first season back to last season. That’s the difference

 

The board must take the brunt of the blame for sure and Rodgers has every right to feel aggrieved.

But I think he has to share some culpability for how the team is performing as well. The Kairat game wasnt a bolt from the blue. We have been labouring for a long time. Going back as far as Jan Id say we have struggled to perform in almost every big game we have played - with Bayern away being the outlier. Two Cup finals last year we were pretty poor in, most Rangers matches, season final day.

This has carried over into the season where we were scarcely much better vs Mirren on season opening day as season closing day. And then a "big" game against an very ordinary European side we have struggled in again.

Last season there were many reasons put forward for the spluttering performances and lack of consistency over the second half of the season - tiredness, too far ahead in the league, complacency etc. For me these have steadily been dispoven now and its hard to look past our tactical set up and approach being rather stale and in need of fresh iseas. Too many games players are robotically insisting on the same pattern of play thats just not working. So many poor passes out wide to players who are marked or in no space that defences are just gobbling up.

 

Its his risk adverse play style. Keep it safe, bring it forward and let the wingers do the job where it's safer to lose the ball. We have no wingers... looking forward to a new manager with a different play style tbh.

 

I do wonder about folk at times like. We have literally just started a crucial CL qualifier having to play James Forrest from the start, with Yang and Yamada coming off the bench to try and change the game. The squad is absolutely desperate for fresh faces. Not squad fillers either, but guys who can come in and be starters. If you don’t freshen up the squad, things will get stale, and that’s what we are seeing. So yes, we are seeing history repeat itself, because this is exactly what happened when he left first time round also.

I’m genuinely lost for words that we have some supporters throwing more blame towards Rodgers over the shower of utter cretins running us. What the * do people see at times.

 

We played a system last year that was seconds away from taking Bayern to extra time over 2 legs. A few additional faces and all the evidence was there to suggest we could have had a very successful European campaign again this year. Instead, we have sold Kuhn and lost Jota to injury and replaced neither of them. All the while, sitting with circa £100m in the bank. The system and manager isn’t the problem. The options available at this stage are. I * dread to think who this shower of * running is will opt for as the next manager. Because I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if it’s Kennedy or Maloney.

 

Big ange obviously