Very good read there, Tes. "Judge me after 3 seasons" an'all. Before yesterday's game I had the gnawing feeling FSG wouldn't have the bottle to sack him. Now I don't can't see how they couldn't.
Is it realistic to hope for Klopp as his replacement?
It wasn't just the score, either full time, or even worse, half time, it was more the nature of how it happened (again), and it's the culmination of what has been happening, without Rodgers arresting it, since and including the Manc game.
The first half of the season was dire. Finally, after 2 1/2 seasons of defensive disorganisation, another thing Rodgers either failed to admit to and face, or simply don't know how to rectify it, he appeared to have improved things, only bizarrely to switch back to a flat back four, the thing that had patently failed. Additionally, having seemingly found Can's best (current) position as a right sided defender, he then plays him at right back.
With what had gone previously, and his failure to understand that a right sided defender in a back three is neither a centre half or a right back (they are both components of a back four), it hardly gives confidence that the (temporary) defensive improvement was actually 'by design' rather than a fortunate accident, and so a pattern is very definitely forming.
Firstly, he's been unable to change our defensive malfunctioning, secondly he was unable to improve on our first half season's form without a 'fortunate accident' and then having seen another slump in form, allied to a complete lack of effort and seemingly total disinterest from most of the players, that slump has continued and reached the depths we've plumbed in the last 2 games of the season.
The only positive thing from this season is that thankfully it's finished.
Jim's piece today rings so true, and it has been increasingly apparent this season as results have slumped, the nature of performances increasingly through the season seeming to show a group of players no longer responding to and playing for the manager, and you factor in the way certain players like Reina and Agger have been treated, and the complete lack of use he has given to certain new additions each year (as though they were not his decisions but transfer committee buys) and it all appears to show a manager badly at odds with his players. The players have understandably struggled to keep adapting to his ever increasing, and increasingly bizarre tactical and formational changes, some that have happened multiple times in a single game and the complete lack of a striker on the pitch yesterday, despite the fact we have a very competent one in Lambert on the bench, and Borini who isn't injured (according to physioroom.com), not even in the squad.
Going back to a back four with Can at right back and our hopeless (defensively) right back Johnson being played at left back, highlights the illogical and bizarre way Rodgers has chosen to lurch as the season started to totally implode.
Manquillo seems to have been another Rodgers has ostracised and placed blame fairly and squarely on. With Johnson thankfully out of contract and Flanno out of action long term (he'll miss at least the first half of next season), surely Manquillo needed to be worked with as he will be first choice next season, and indeed this as Johnson's had his usual number of injuries. So unless the returning Wisdom is seen as the first choice solution, we have to buy 2 new right backs this Summer, unless (doubtfully) the youth teams/under 21s are awash with talented and ready right backs.
The introduction of yet another defensive recruit is further going to unsettle what is already (once again) a huge problem area.
There's no continuity or stability it seems, and it would appear that planning for more than one game a week is beyond Rodgers' capabilities.
Yesterday should be confirmation, not an enlightenment for the owners, and only 'tried and tested and succeeded' should be the prerequisite for any new manager. Based on that, I see only 4 names that fit the bill - Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez, Jurgen Klopp and Frank de Boer, all of which should be available and distinct possibilities.
The owners chose to go down this untested route, so any expense in ending the experiment shouldn't impact on the new manager's transfer budget, and neither should Rodgers'/the transfer committee's poor use of over £200M, be a reason for the new manager to be rationed in financial support.
We don't need a DOF either, unless, for example, de Boer requests one. All four man are capable of handling transfers and understanding the needs of the team and squad. The duplicitous nature of manager/transfer committee has been proven, beyond doubt, not to work, so a unilateral approach, with the manager bearing full responsibility in every sense, needs to be the implemented way forward.
And a new, 'fit for purpose' CEO also needs to be brought in. As part of the transfer committee he should be culpable for the squandering of so much money, as should Fallows and Hunter and the head of performance and analysis Michael Edwards. You don't buy players based on stats as they are largely meaningless without the context in which they were 'achieved'. You only have a tiny snapshot using stats.
Geoff Twentyman was proof of that.
