27 Feb 2015 14:53:38
At home v besiktas Rodgers set up the same as he has since December, yet last night he has a tinker and plays 2 strikers away from home in a game we needed to boss in the midfield. Tactical naivety again same as what cost us the league last season and possibly a top 4 finish this season. Great coach br but hasn't got it tactically.
27 Feb 2015 15:58:28
Complaicency for me. As you say since December he sticked very strictly to the formation and players that were winning games for us. Can, Sakho and Skertl at the back, Baloteli only from the bench, same with Lovern. Coutinho the first person on the teamsheet. He only did changes when needed to, becuase of injuries as gradually as possible.
I just think yesterday he thought we were too strong to lose there given the result in the first tie. As I said before here, as we already had list of injuries we should have try to minimise the changes - but leaving Couts in England, moving Can to midfield, playing Baloteli and Sturridge together - experimenting on a large scale all of a sudden - costed us.
I really hope one lesson BR learns from this season is you take your best starting 11 to every competitive game and stop with this 'these players are young and cannot play more than once a week so they need a trip to Jamaica'. Yes we have a big squad but there are big differences in the quality of players in this squad and we swa it very well in the first half of the season. I say If it is not broken why fix it (tired players is not a good enough reason) and if it is slightly broken because of injuries don't break it further.
By the way I keep on saying here that Can should stay in the back 3 because he is irreplaceble there - after yesterday I can add that he is just not very effective in midfield. Not with Allen anyway.
27 Feb 2015 16:20:46
I think injuries and suspensions played a part in the team selection.
I have to be honest though and state that I thought that side last night would win the match outright let alone lose it.
27 Feb 2015 16:21:08
I agree with fanobip about Can playing in defense until the summer.
27 Feb 2015 17:05:09
I think we were all crying out for two strikers during our time of turmoil. The problem wasn't the system. Too many players didn't show up. It's hard to score when sturridge and Sterling have such bad games.
27 Feb 2015 17:33:29
Oh lay off the blamemongering please the lot of you,