Topic: The unravelling. A team, manager and fans shafted by transfer incompetence

[eddymunster]

Not sure how we can separate Rodgers from the committee as he is part of it & from his own mouth 'has the final say'. Transfers is a huge part of club management & essential when you are fighting clubs with more resources. I firmly hope Rodgers stays as don't see better options available or FSG willing to attract but he is hardly a great yet but has shown the potential he could be.

Basically this. Good post.

[Fiasco]

The implication here is that Rodgers has no input or say on transfers.

I don't believe Rodgers would be here if that was the case. I think he'd walk and a lot of managers do. He has said himself no player is signed without him sanctioning it so I don't see it as a problem.

[BCCC]

Not sure how we can separate Rodgers from the committee as he is part of it & from his own mouth 'has the final say'. Transfers is a huge part of club management & essential when you are fighting clubs with more resources. I firmly hope Rodgers stays as don't see better options available or FSG willing to attract but he is hardly a great yet but has shown the potential he could be. 

Very true, I haven't heard any mention of wanting a sofa and getting a lamp..

[paddysour]

What good is the final say if none of the options fit the system?

Not saying that's the case, but clearly this final say stuff is a bit worthless if that's all it is

[Draex]

How likely do you think it is that Rodgers looked at the way we played last year, saw us score 101 league goals,  and decided to change the system completely to buy 2 target men for a side that put the lowest amount of crosses in the league last season?

I don't think for a second that's what he wanted.

And there lies the problem. Buying players that don't fit a system. We've been doing it since 1995.

I do, he has said multiple times he has final say on every single transfer - he has to sign them off. He got a new contract in the summer and got far more power, I'd hazard a guess that gave him far more influence over transfers as a primary addition.

Sorry but whilst your posts are excellent in terms of prose, they lack the basic fundemental that you are offering an opinion based on giving Rodgers a free ride, he is an integral part of the transfer committee - in terms of identifying players I'd say the key player, lambast the committee for failing to stump up and land the likes of Sanchez, Salah, Micky Ryan and the likes.. But please don't try to absolve him from blame when it comes to our failures in the market, he is at blame the most, especially considering he refused a DOF to assist in that aspect.

[keyo]

Don't think Rodgers wanted to go from the mobility to what we have seen. I do however think that the plan was to change our style. With pace coming from the attacking midfielders and not just the striker(s). And then use different alternatives up front. That's what our transfers indicate. The one signing that stand out is Balotelli. The rest I think fit the profile one would expect.

as an aside, what should we expect from Rodgers in terms of striking options.....he inherited suarez, and acquired sturridge, but then seemed to mould the system around them as opposed to fit them in to his system

in previous clubs he ha utilised fairly static individual strikers with wingers/widemen providing the pace..at Swansea danny graham was fairly laboured but had support from the wings...is this his preferred system? and if so is he trying to move back to that?  and if so, what does that say about the purchase of lallana?

it will be interesting to see how things develop, but also interesting to watch rodgers' moves

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

I don't believe Rodgers would be here if that was the case. I think he'd walk and a lot of managers do. He has said himself no player is signed without him sanctioning it so I don't see it as a problem.

This is what I believe also. So is it a case of some posters twisting facts to try to take pressure off a spectacularly under performing manager?

[Chris~]

as an aside, what should we expect from Rodgers in terms of striking options.....he inherited suarez, and acquired sturridge, but then seemed to mould the system around them as opposed to fit them in to his system

in previous clubs he ha utilised fairly static individual strikers with wingers/widemen providing the pace..at Swansea danny graham was fairly laboured but had support from the wings...is this his preferred system? and if so is he trying to move back to that?  and if so, what does that say about the purchase of lallana?

it will be interesting to see how things develop, but also interesting to watch rodgers' moves

Lallana fits if you/Rodgers see him as being the Sigurdsson player in the set up.

[theMilkman]

I have a bigger issue with how our new signings have been used than who we bought.

Agree, but It's not the usage of new signings i have too much of a problem with at all, although i think it's obvious we could have done better. It's the style of play and the failure to adapt to the players we have at our disposal, especially the older ones. It's taken three full months to see Gerrard moved away from the holding role, can only hope it's not three months before he gets taken off before the end of a game. It's the insistence on playing johnson at lb i don't get. The lack of movement. We have two decent target men but we still don't play with width. Lallana still can't seem to play 90 mins, but Gerrard can? The substitutions are woeful and the odds are toure goes out for lovren at the weekend, despite skrtel being significantly worse. We are terrible at set pieces, both defending and attacking them. These are not problems with the players we have available, or the recent buys.

[lukeb1981]

I can totally understand the lambert signing,cheap and gives us a different option in games when we cant break teams down, it gives teams a problem they might not be prepared against..but Ballotelli? Similar type player to Lambert so quite pointless and i doubt Rodgers really wanted him but is trying to use what he has been given.This transfer committee needs to be done away with ,letting Luis go without a replacement signed was pure and utter stupidity,you can not sell one of the best players in the world and buy a few talents that might replace him you have to be sure that if they are not as good as him they will at least play with a similar style to him,that being said the few players that rodgers did want where totally overpriced and unnecessary buys, Lallana 26 million. Coutinio and Sterling can play that position,Lovern 20 odd million.Agger ,Sakho  and Toure could have covered that position and wouldnt have done any worse than he has,he had a good season at Southampton but also had good players in front of him and beside him ,If anybody seen him play for Lyon they would see total similarities to the way he is playing now, totally rash and no control and oblivious to everyone and everything around him.
Just another note ,our goalkeeper coach ,why has none of our keepers improved since Rafa left? The common denominator is the goal keeping coach ,look at pepe in his last few seasons didnt even dive for the ball sometimes and you can see that with Simon now as well, you look at some teams we play against and there keepers are pulling off save after save you cant say that about any of our keepers in the past few years.
I was watching a few Ireland matches recently and i was watching Ford he is only an ordinary keeper noting special most would probably never even heard of him or know who he plays for but the way he commands his box is excellent and should be a basic for any keeper, any cross is caught any corner is contested it gives the back 4 confidence if we had a keeper doing that 50-60 % of our current problems would be solved, if Chelsea would sell i would take Cech off their hands in January.

[Gnurglan]

as an aside, what should we expect from Rodgers in terms of striking options.....he inherited suarez, and acquired sturridge, but then seemed to mould the system around them as opposed to fit them in to his system

in previous clubs he ha utilised fairly static individual strikers with wingers/widemen providing the pace..at Swansea danny graham was fairly laboured but had support from the wings...is this his preferred system? and if so is he trying to move back to that?  and if so, what does that say about the purchase of lallana?

it will be interesting to see how things develop, but also interesting to watch rodgers' moves

I'm quite optimistic. Mainly because Rodgers found a way to use Suarez and Sturridge. After having had 4-3-3 as his preference. That suggests to me that he's willing to change and find a new way. I think we saw yesterday, with Lambert up top, that there were situations where we could attack with pace (second goal being a good example) but also lob the ball up to Lambert, playing in a more traditional target man role (maybe the first goal can be a reference here, although I thought more in the build up phase).

If we can play more like that when Lambert is on, and then use Sturridge like we did last season, then we'll have more variation. If we then think that Sturridge and Balotelli can play together, we'd have lots of alternatives to choose from. It would also give each striker a defined role, which I believe is good.

So maybe Rodgers' idea is to have multiple options, rather than one set system?

[Mutton Geoff]

Up to a point. Watch the foot of the table racing up towards us.

My question is therefore, how much of a "free pass" does he get?

Just to qualify my position, I'm undecided.

Actually you're not undecided every post you have made for days all with the not so subtle hints tells me you are very decided about what should happen in the club,  but you have not got the guts to spout it.

[Sangria]

Like Brentie, I got my education from Dalglish's 87-88 team, but unlike him, I guess I took different lessons from it. Aside from the obvious, something that stuck out was his non-usage of Molby, and how it didn't detract from the quality. This was underlined by his later career, with the likes of Batty and Hamann. A competitive midfield is the foundations of any effective attacking team. If you try to do without, or even ignore the need altogether, don't expect any successes to last.

[EmotionalCitrus]

Yes. The easy way out now is to see the manager as the single problem we have and then replace him.

...but the manager is the single problem, his tactics, stubbornness and idiotic team selections are the reason we are so bad this season. I don't see how you can blame anything else.

[theMilkman]

I'm firmly behind him and said in the Summer that for me this was a free pass season for him. He should be allowed to try things, make mistakes, learn from them without pressure coming from the fanbase.

Without a shadow of a doubt yes, but it's never a completely 'free pass'. He needs to try new things and then learn from them. I think everyone understands he's young and hasn't had this big a squad, and this many games before it was always going to be a steep learning curve for him. But watching the same mistakes again, and again and again makes you wonder if he thinks he's in the edge of tomorrow and is going back in time after every defeat. My position about him has softened considerably after he moved gerrard further forward yesterday (at long last, we conceded 18 shots but they weren't particularly good chances and they scored because we made individual mistakes), but we need to see more invention and more ideas, even if some of them don't work- and they won't all work. We shouldn't need to lose 4 games in a row to see changes like that happen.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

Actually you're not undecided every post you have made for days all with the not so subtle hints tells me you are very decided about what should happen in the club,  but you have not got the guts to spout it.

Oh yes I am.

However I'm getting nearer to being decided with each passing game.

[Timbo's Goals]

...but the manager is the single problem, his tactics, stubbornness and idiotic team selections are the reason we are so bad this season. I don't see how you can blame anything else.

Can we not just get one thing right.

The manager is not the problem. he is a symptom of it. The sole underlying reason for our downward spiral is because we have not had an attacking outlet worthy of the name since Sturridge was injured.

A team without one is fucked.

And over a three month period it is completely and utterly fucked. As we have seen. Players and manager alike are demoralised because the team enters the field of play and knows that there is scarcely any prospect of creating chances against any half decent defence let alone scoring a goal.

The evidence for this couldn't scream out at us any louder. The sterile, turgid performances abound yet even when there's been parts of games when we have come out with a bit of a bounce in our stride and played reasonably well - the opening parts of the Madrid and Chelsea game, the Everton game - the unpalatable reality without an attacking outlet worthy of the name results in you having absolutely nothing to offer to actually hurt the opposition defence. It then becomes a matter of time before the disheartening effect begins to tell and ther is the inevitable petering out of the team both individually and collectively.

Utter demoralisation.

All the rest of the shite - from the endless sideways and backwards passing at the back and in the middle, the vulnerability of Gerrard in that withdrawn role, the fact you can now count his decent long passes on one fuckin finger, the nervous breakdowns of the central defenders and goalie, players being caught so easily in possession, the relative inneffectiveness of Sterling and Coutinho - all stem from that inability to hurt the opposition because we've fuck all to hurt them with.

And sure Brendan is displaying a seeming inability to get things right. I'm sure he's as demoralised by it all as anybody. Except for me, of course. I'm more demoralised than anyone.

 

And that is why in january there WILL be a mobile pacy forward outlet arriving as stand-in or support for Sturridge. To cheer me up.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

 

[L666KOP]

And that is why in january there WILL be a mobile pacy forward outlet arriving as stand-in or support for Sturridge. To cheer me up.

You repeat this with such certainty Timbo.

You're either that desperate you believe it, or you know something we don't.

 

[Johnnyboy1973]

Can we not just get one thing right.

The manager is not the problem. he is a symptom of it. The sole underlying reason for our downward spiral is because we have not had an attacking outlet worthy of the name since Sturridge was injured.

Can't say I am wholeheartedly in agreement with that. It's part of the problem.

But, another part is that Brendan can't organise a sound defensive unit at Liverpool. He's had numerous player, lots of money and three seasons to sort it out. At present, it could be argued we look worse defensively than ever.

Prior to the Chelsea game, there was for me, a dig by Mourinho in the build up about balance and how you have to get it right at both ends.

On the basis of Brendan's time here, I think it's very easy to question whether he has the ability to get the balance right that a top manager needs.

[gamble]

After last night and our struggles with Bulgaria's finest is it fair to say that really we are a europa league level team. I know we can qualify for the next round still but I mean really in terms of our football and our finances we should be an established europa league club at minimum.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

Can we not just get one thing right.

The manager is not the problem. he is a symptom of it.

So what you're saying is that Rodgers has been "stitched up", "hung out to dry", has had no backing, no involvement in decision making re transfers. You'll be telling me he doesn't take training or pick the team next. 

[Simon C]

So what you're saying is that Rodgers has been "stitched up", "hung out to dry", has had no backing, no involvement in decision making re transfers. You'll be telling me he doesn't take training or pick the team next. 

What Timbo is trying to say that you can't pin the whole sorry mess on BR, the Sturridge injury as an example. He hasn't helped himself at times that's for sure but there is more than one reason why we are in the sorry state we currently find ourselves.

[Anywhichwayicant]

The biggest concern I have is the way in which we chop and change philosophies. We don't seem to have a set one. I'm not talking about tactics.

When Rodgers first came in, it was all about ball retention. Barca-esque. That was dull to watch and wasn't working. We then either intentionally changed to, or stumbled into our counter attacking/swarming team style which proved to be phenomenal. Our transfers this summer we moved away from both of those main philosophies and we've found ourselves idea-less.

[Trendisnotdestiny]

Can we not just get one thing right.

The manager is not the problem. he is a symptom of it. The sole underlying reason for our downward spiral is because we have not had an attacking outlet worthy of the name since Sturridge was injured.

A team without one is fucked.

And over a three month period it is completely and utterly fucked. As we have seen. Players and manager alike are demoralised because the team enters the field of play and knows that there is scarcely any prospect of creating chances against any half decent defence let alone scoring a goal.

The evidence for this couldn't scream out at us any louder. The sterile, turgid performances abound yet even when there's been parts of games when we have come out with a bit of a bounce in our stride and played reasonably well - the opening parts of the Madrid and Chelsea game, the Everton game - the unpalatable reality without an attacking outlet worthy of the name results in you having absolutely nothing to offer to actually hurt the opposition defence. It then becomes a matter of time before the disheartening effect begins to tell and ther is the inevitable petering out of the team both individually and collectively.

Utter demoralisation.

All the rest of the shite - from the endless sideways and backwards passing at the back and in the middle, the vulnerability of Gerrard in that withdrawn role, the fact you can now count his decent long passes on one fuckin finger, the nervous breakdowns of the central defenders and goalie, players being caught so easily in possession, the relative inneffectiveness of Sterling and Coutinho - all stem from that inability to hurt the opposition because we've fuck all to hurt them with.

And sure Brendan is displaying a seeming inability to get things right. I'm sure he's as demoralised by it all as anybody. Except for me, of course. I'm more demoralised than anyone.

 

And that is why in january there WILL be a mobile pacy forward outlet arriving as stand-in or support for Sturridge. To cheer me up.

Spot on!

[Timbo's Goals]

So what you're saying is that Rodgers has been "stitched up", "hung out to dry", has had no backing, no involvement in decision making re transfers. You'll be telling me he doesn't take training or pick the team next. 

Anyone told you your eyes are spinning round mate?

[kcbworth]

And for me, there is no way on earth Rodgers wanted to go into this season with what target men I Lambert and Balotelli. It's complete anathema to the way we know he loves his side to play. It would be like Gérard Houllier making  a liability like David Luiz as the cornerstone of his defence and playing no defensive midfielder.

That's true. He intended to use Sturridge, often up front on his own I imagine, but at worst with Balotelli

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

Anyone told you your eyes are spinning round mate?

 

That better?

[Timbo's Goals]

Spot on!

Spot on J

 

How the hell what is such stark and simple evidence appears to be bypassing so many is totally beyond me.

Unless of course there's simply so many with underlying agendas perhaps?

[Mutton Geoff]

So what you're saying is that Rodgers has been "stitched up", "hung out to dry", has had no backing, no involvement in decision making re transfers. You'll be telling me he doesn't take training or pick the team next. 

well he certainly has no backing from customers like you, 

He was a genius last season and its frankly bloody easy to back a winning manager, however it takes balls to back a losing manager to get it right eventually, he said the buck stops with him and it does,  but there are a lot of things to consider before you get to him, i have already explained that on paper they are all rational and decent signings, sometimes it takes time but although i see Timbo's point about mobility there was not many at the time ( that I dare say if their honest and not now using hindsight ) in Rawk who thought they would be struggling or we would be so low on confidence.

I include Mario in that simply because there is a world class player there its bringing it out of him that has always been the problem, personally i don't think that lad has the confidence deep down that people believe he has and a few goals would change him into the guy we want here.

I also think some of you decided Suarez or no Suarez we were going to hit the ground running and storm the league, fairly naive if you did given the way other clubs made their already stronger squads even stronger.

 I also think some you thought this will be fun and you could brag to your mates and gloat all the time, well supporting a football team is not a lesson in oneupmanship, you know the old saying Pride comes before a fall. So as you and others can't gloat and need to suck it up  you need someone to blame for this and the manager is your chosen target.

Who said supporting this club was easy?

In my opinion If customers/ football watchers can't handle the bad days we don't need them for the great ones !

[Anywhichwayicant]

Can we not just get one thing right.

The manager is not the problem. he is a symptom of it. The sole underlying reason for our downward spiral is because we have not had an attacking outlet worthy of the name since Sturridge was injured.

A team without one is fucked.

And over a three month period it is completely and utterly fucked. As we have seen. Players and manager alike are demoralised because the team enters the field of play and knows that there is scarcely any prospect of creating chances against any half decent defence let alone scoring a goal.

The evidence for this couldn't scream out at us any louder. The sterile, turgid performances abound yet even when there's been parts of games when we have come out with a bit of a bounce in our stride and played reasonably well - the opening parts of the Madrid and Chelsea game, the Everton game - the unpalatable reality without an attacking outlet worthy of the name results in you having absolutely nothing to offer to actually hurt the opposition defence. It then becomes a matter of time before the disheartening effect begins to tell and ther is the inevitable petering out of the team both individually and collectively.

Utter demoralisation.

All the rest of the shite - from the endless sideways and backwards passing at the back and in the middle, the vulnerability of Gerrard in that withdrawn role, the fact you can now count his decent long passes on one fuckin finger, the nervous breakdowns of the central defenders and goalie, players being caught so easily in possession, the relative inneffectiveness of Sterling and Coutinho - all stem from that inability to hurt the opposition because we've fuck all to hurt them with.

And sure Brendan is displaying a seeming inability to get things right. I'm sure he's as demoralised by it all as anybody. Except for me, of course. I'm more demoralised than anyone.

 

And that is why in january there WILL be a mobile pacy forward outlet arriving as stand-in or support for Sturridge. To cheer me up.

But Timbo, we had an entire summer to sign a mobile pacey forward. We ended up with Lambert and Balotelli. We already knew Sturridge was prone to injury, so to go into the season without a replacement, or someone that could of course play alongside him, was criminal. If our six man committee couldn't identify someone, we may as well bin it.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

well he certainly has no backing from customers like you, 

He was a genius last season and its frankly bloody easy to back a winning manager, however it takes balls to back a losing manager to get it right eventually, he said the buck stops with him and it does,  but there are a lot of things to consider before you get to him, i have already explained that on paper they are all rational and decent signings, sometimes it takes time but although i see Timbo's point about mobility there was not many at the time ( that I dare say if their honest and not now using hindsight ) in Rawk who thought they would be struggling or we would be so low on confidence.

I include Mario in that simply because there is a world class player there its bringing it out of him that has always been the problem, personally i don't think that lad has the confidence deep down that people believe he has and a few goals would change him into the guy we want here.

I also think some of you decided Suarez or no Suarez we were going to hit the ground running and storm the league, fairly naive if you did given the way other clubs made their already stronger squads even stronger.

 I also think some you thought this will be fun and you could brag to your mates and gloat all the time, well supporting a football team is not a lesson in oneupmanship, you know the old saying Pride comes before a fall. So as you and others can't gloat and need to suck it up  you need someone to blame for this and the manager is your chosen target.

Who said supporting this club was easy?

In my opinion If customers/ football watchers can't handle the bad days we don't need them for the great ones !

Decent post there lad, however it doesn't apply:

1.I ain't a customer as i spend nothing in following LFC.
2. I agree that the signings are good players.
3. Didn't think we'd storm the league, although i did expect a decent challenge. Am currently hoping we can avoid relegation.
4. I ain't the type to brag or gloat, never done it.

[Titi Camara]

The manager is not the problem. he is a symptom of it. The sole underlying reason for our downward spiral is because we have not had an attacking outlet worthy of the name since Sturridge was injured.

Sturridge getting injured whilst on the brink of coming back from an injury has given this whole malaise a sort of double dip feeling...

[4pool]

Brentie..a couple of fantastic posts.



Regarding Mignolet.

One has to step back to when we bought him. Pepe wanted out. I'd suggest Brendan tried to keep him but Pepe had made up his mind. Sometimes players need a new challenge and just want a new club.

So we're left with an empty basket to fill.

The transfer committee will have, like now, a list of names. I guess some think you just choose someone and they come like a video game. You just go get who you want.

As you've mentioned Mignolet isn't ideal to a Rodgers way of playing 11 not 10. So why choose Simon?

The committee and Rodgers will have all the stats before them. Will have the scouting reports noting strengths and weaknesses. So Brendan will prioritize based on all the information at his disposal which, in this case, keeper to go after. At this point then you involve the selling club, agents, and the player. Whether Mignolet was first choice or not, he was on the list. And needs were a must. So Simon became the one who's club would negotiate, agent and player could come to an agreement.


Any youtube compilation will show a players strengths. Posters go looking for these whenever we are linked to any player. But scouting is where you get real information. Not just on positional strengths and weaknesses but attitude and demeanor.  Abilities to be a team player. All the intangibles.  Mentality if you like.

As I mentioned in this thread, maybe Rodgers and the committee weren't happy with some of the scouts and their reports. That's why some have been let go. So changes HAVE been made. Maybe Mognolets scouting was one of the reasons.

And for those asking the question: Would you trust Rodgers and the committee with money in January?

FSG have shown they will back those in charge. Not just in football but baseball as well. They more than anyone understand the process of transfer dealings. So come January, if there are deals to be made, can be made, then we'll get in a new player or two.

[Gnurglan]

...but the manager is the single problem, his tactics, stubbornness and idiotic team selections are the reason we are so bad this season. I don't see how you can blame anything else.

There's no doubt we should be doing better than we are. And naturally, Rodgers is responsible for the team. So he's not without fault. But we've also seen what he can do. That should count for something.

What I'm suggesting is that we have more issues. One that I have brought up many times is how we handle loans. We buy players and then after a season, we send them on loan. A player like Assaidi was on loan last year and now he's on loan again. If he's not in Rodgers' plans, he should be off. But we can't make it happen. I can't imagine that Rodgers thinks it's a great idea to have to deal with this every summer. The alternative for him is that they're off, the issue is gone and we have money in the bank for new transfers. But we can't make it happen. Now this may seem like a small thing. Why worry about that, when our tactics needs to improve? Because instead of removing problems from Rodgers, we add to them. And it's not just happened under him. It's been going on for some time. We have too many areas where we're not sharp enough.

I can't imagine that a manager at this level would not recognize this as an issue. It's basic stuff. I mean, if you play 4 v 4 in the streets, you can spot that it's a problem to have 10 players on your team. At some point you need to form a new side for it to make sense. To have a couple of players walk around the block for a while, only to then go knock on the next door and bring out a new kid isn't exactly gonna solve the problem. But this is what we offer as help for Rodgers.

[Mutton Geoff]

Decent post there lad, however it doesn't apply:

1.I ain't a customer as i spend nothing in following LFC.
2. I agree that the signings are good players.
3. Didn't think we'd storm the league, although i did expect a decent challenge. Am currently hoping we can avoid relegation.
4. I ain't the type to brag or gloat, never done it.

So lets get this right, you spend nothing supporting this club! 

As for lad made my day that has 

[lionel_messias]

Justifiably 50% of our total transfer spend could have been put to better use signing a striker who could either partner or replace Daniel-San.

Other 50% a defensive midfielder and some cash for two new coaching staff!

[Cantona]

I think last season's success may have come too soon for Rodgers. It raised expectations and a lot of the original problems were masked by the brilliance of Suarez, in hindsight you were always due a bit of a dip with his departure.
Although grossly overrated on here last season I do think he is a talented manager still learning his trade, he does a lot of things very well and although he could have bought better I think he has it in him to coach the new arrivals to a good standard.
It's obvious he needs help with the defensive side of coaching, maybe a stronger number 2 is required at a club with the ambitions of Liverpool, somebody defence oriented and not afraid to speak his mind on where Rodgers is getting it wrong.
I think he deserves and will get the time to turn it around, he's shown he is capable of producing great football. Unless an exceptional manager like Klopp (who is also having difficulties) becomes available you would be daft to let him go and straight back to square one again.
Just my 2ps worth.

[IvanDobskey]

We simply do not have the attacking outlets to play the way we did last season. No pace or mobility up front is totally crippling us at the moment. Coupled with a defence which is actually worse than last year, it's a recipe for disaster.

[theMilkman]

We simply do not have the attacking outlets to play the way we did last season. No pace or mobility up front is totally crippling us at the moment. Coupled with a defence which is actually worse than last year, it's a recipe for disaster.

Kind of begs the question 'why haven't we tried to change the style of play?'