Talk of sacking him is mad!
But I'm not giving him a free pass either. He's a stubborn fuck and things are obviously not right at the club at this time. He needs to show signs of sorting this shit out and soon.
Defence is a fucking disaster and he's saying things like "we don't need to bring in coaching we just need time to sort it out". He insists on playing Balotelli up front on his own. How many times does he need to see this to know it doesn't work?
I had no problem with dropping/resting players against Madrid. After watching the garbage thrown up against Newcastle how could you disagree with it. But so many changes? What was it 7 or something FFS?
A lot seems to be resting on Sturridge's shoulders I hope he's able to carry it. Even until January when we have another chance to add to our strike force.
It's difficult at the minute because we've basically got to piss with what we've got until the New Year, that means relying heavily on either Sturridge getting fit and staying fit, or Rodgers finding some stop-gap combination that isn't dead in the water. Playing Borini up there might help a bit, but we all know that's really stretching our squad, ie, we'll still be playing with a striker that just doesn't score, he just works harder and runs more than Mario. Not a big ask.
That said, the squad might be painted a bit more prettily and some players might find easing into the side a bit better if we have more bite upfront. Personally I think he should just bite the bullet and pull out the players who aren't performing, that's why I'm one of the few on here who wasn't mad at the mass changes in Madrid, because it showed that A) he was willing to drop/rest big names, B) our fringe players probably faired better than our so called better ones and C) It showed us what certain players could give us.
Arguably Toure and Lucas shouldn't have lost their place. Both have their critics because for all their abilities in backs to the wall jobs, asking them to do it week in week out isn't enough for us, it might plug a hole, but in the longterm we still need better. That said, their experience is vital right now, especially as we look so lost, so I'd personally do just that and play them both for the time being. Shore things up in midfield a bit and add a bit more leadership at the back. If worked with Carragher and it worked temporarily with Toure last season. Forcing Balotelli and Lovren (for instance) into playing at the minute is proving nothing, we're just watching both players respective confidence dwindle by the week. Henderson and Johnson both need shoeing at the minute aswell. I know there's no "set XI", but when the chips are down sometimes you have to just find some continuity and that comes from having a stable side.
----------------Mignolet---------------
Manquillo-Skrtel--Toure--Moreno
------------Lucas---Allen------------
-----Gerrard-Coutinho-Lallana---
-----------------Sterling--------------
Throw Borini in the front line as an alternative and Can in the middle. Bite the bullet and just get back to winning ways, even if it means digging deep to find it.
From the guy who rudely and inappropriately started the "Hodgson Out" thread, before he even was appointed, all I can say is please either change the title of this thread, or lock it.
