Brendan Rodgers | Rejoins Celtic on 3 year deal

Jimmy Skitz

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I agree on the poor form.

But it's alright saying how good our first XI is, but how often were we able to play that first XI? Todays game, for example, Evans, Fofana, Justin, Barnes all injured. I'm not sure we've had our "first XI" available all season!
we haven't Ricardo was out until November time, when he came back Castagne and Soyuncu were injured etc. all clubs had that but that's the biggest reason we fell away both seasons
 

AshRK

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He is a good coach but I feel this is his level. These kind of bottling won't be tolerated at United or chelsea or other big clubs. There will be zero pressure on him even after another season where he threw away top 4. People can bring net spend and what not but they were in top 4 for 34 game weeks and silly points dropped to 10 man Southampton and Newcastle has cost him top 4 again.
 

redrobed

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Mate of mine switched to Leicester after their title win having supported us since the early 90’s. Imagine he’s regretting it now. Just goes to show you can’t just throw money at everything and expect it to solve all your problems.
 

Sandikan

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What shocking league form? They finished 5th, behind four teams who dwarf them in resources and squad depth, and ahead many teams who also have more resources.

Would you have assessed them differently if they started like shit and then finished strongly, even though they would effectively have been in the same positions?

PPG and form over the whole season is the only thing that matters, not the sequence of events, and when looking at it this way, they overachieved by finishing 5th, not underachieved.
Two years in a row they've thrown it away. This year looked exceptionally safe.

Rodgers has form for this at Liverpool too.
Who can forget them just needing a draw at home to a heavily rotated Chelsea and him getting the tactics utterly wrong and losing it, and thus the title was gone.
 

Tyrion

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He is a good coach but I feel this is his level. These kind of bottling won't be tolerated at United or chelsea or other big clubs. There will be zero pressure on him even after another season where he threw away top 4. People can bring net spend and what not but they were in top 4 for 34 game weeks and silly points dropped to 10 man Southampton and Newcastle has cost him top 4 again.
How much of that is down to a small squad knackered by the end of a long season? Poch, Klopp and Tuchel have all been criticised as "bottling" finals and games and all were at clubs poorer than their main competition.
 

Still ill

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Mate of mine switched to Leicester after their title win having supported us since the early 90’s. Imagine he’s regretting it now. Just goes to show you can’t just throw money at everything and expect it to solve all your problems.
Is your mate 8? Do grown men do stuff like that?
 

justsomebloke

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Thought he gives a really bad impression with his statements after the Spurs game. Back to back late season chokes, and he talks like its an achievement. Didn't sound too upbeat ahead of the game either, "we'll try our best" and so on.
 
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Gio

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While there's certainly an element of mental fragility, I think both seasons, it's ultimately been squad depth that has killed us. The problem is it sounds like our wage bill is stretched to it's absolute limit.
There's a lot of jumping onto a narrative which ignores the realities of Leicester's relatively paltry wage bill compared to the teams around and below them. Squad depth is what kills teams towards the end of the campaign, because inevitably their best players were overplayed in the middle of the season as there were fewer options to rotate into the first XI. That pushes up the likelihood of injuries and also means players run out of steam earlier, rather than their physical condition building towards a spring peak, which is what the bigger clubs can afford to do. And it's not as if Leicester are the only example of this given how many miles City were ahead of everyone else due to their massive squad and well-planned rotation through the winter.

I know folk might want to draw the parallel with Rodgers not getting over the line in 2013/14. But that Liverpool squad was pretty average and over-achieved by even being in contention for the title. They were 33/1 for the title before the season started. And, for example, the Guardian predicted they'd finish 6th with none of their writers considering them as title contenders. So how can anyone bottle something they had a 33/1 chance of winning? Again, I suppose you look at their position with 3 games to go. I think there's some mileage in suggesting Rodgers didn't have the tactical flexibility to adjust his plans to get the right result against Chelsea (which is something he was guilty of for Celtic in Europe). But equally you have to look at the context of the second half of that season. Before that tie, Liverpool were unbeaten in 16 and won 11 games on the bounce. This was the table at the start of that run:

They were closer to Newcastle in 8th than they were to 1st place. It was an impressive comeback to mount a title challenge from that position.
 

Skills

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He usually starts well and ends poorly, is he flipping the script just to prove himself?
I just think his times coming to an end there. I predicted Leicester would implode under him this season - mainly because its been 2.5 good years under him, and the FA Cup final/Community Shield final was a massive high for them. I don't think there's anywhere else for them to go at this point, and i think the players eventually get tired/bored of the same coach.

Happens all across Europe. The club eventually just needs a little refresh & a new manager is often answer around the 2-3 year mark. He's done a good job though and career wise, he would've been better off leaving in the summer. His stock would've been all time high but he'll probably leave as a sacked manager now.
 

Chairman Steve

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I swear the FA Cup is cursed. Arteta wins it and his team looks total shit after that and now old King Brenny and his team…

Not to mention his record in Europe is fecking awful.
 

FriendlyFox

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Absolutely shocking at the moment. Vestegaard is possibly the worst centreback I've ever seen play for us, and I have no idea why Rodgers has been after him for so long.

We've been shocking creatively for a long time, but our solid defense has seen us through. Now with Evans and Fofana injured, and Soyuncu forgetting how to play football, our defense is made out of swiss cheese. The only signing this season that looks positive is Lookman, and he's on loan.
 

Dominos

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I just think his times coming to an end there. I predicted Leicester would implode under him this season - mainly because its been 2.5 good years under him, and the FA Cup final/Community Shield final was a massive high for them. I don't think there's anywhere else for them to go at this point, and i think the players eventually get tired/bored of the same coach.

Happens all across Europe. The club eventually just needs a little refresh & a new manager is often answer around the 2-3 year mark. He's done a good job though and career wise, he would've been better off leaving in the summer. His stock would've been all time high but he'll probably leave as a sacked manager now.
I thought the same about Poch after his last full season at Spurs, granted he lost the CL final but I don't see what else he could do with that team, squad was never good enough to win the league and Spurs' couldn't match the spending of the other top teams, he's basically sticking around to scrape top 4 finishes. Sure he could have gone all in to try win a league cup or FA cup but it really doesn't do anything for a manager, you only have to look at recent examples of Arteta, Wenger and Rodgers own fans asking them to be sacked months after they've won a trophy. You can also add the likes of Mcleish, Dalglish, Martinez, Laudrup, Ramos to that list. He should have left while his reputation was at it's highest.

The chances of Leicester finally getting top 4 finish decreases every season as the quality gap between Chelsea/Liverpool/City/United and the rest just gets wider and wider.
 

Cheech Wizard

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They've definitely dropped a level, missing out twice on CL on the final day two seasons running must have been gutting for them and now it's showing. I don't think we (pool) and United, Chels, City have to worry about them snapping at the heels of top 4 this time around. It got very exhausting hoping they'd drop points every week last season, can't see them being in the mix at all.
 

Jimmy Skitz

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He’s being far too stubborn, Iheanacho should be playing behind Vardy, Vestergaard should never have been signed I refuse to believe Benkovic would be doing this bad of a job
 

Teja

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They've definitely dropped a level, missing out twice on CL on the final day two seasons running must have been gutting for them and now it's showing. I don't think we (pool) and United, Chels, City have to worry about them snapping at the heels of top 4 this time around. It got very exhausting hoping they'd drop points every week last season, can't see them being in the mix at all.
We've somehow returned to a relatively fixed top four again. Don't see Spurs / Arsenal / Leicester being in the mix the next couple of seasons.
 

432JuanMata

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We've somehow returned to a relatively fixed top four again. Don't see Spurs / Arsenal / Leicester being in the mix the next couple of seasons.
We have indeed while people are saying this could be the best title race with 4 teams trying to challenge, it also is the most predictable top 4 in years.

Anyway about Rodgers, Pep had a bad season when Liverpool won the league, Liverpool the same last season. We under SAF never won 4 in a row. This is because every few years a team will eventually have a bad season and Rodgers has done well with Leicester breaking the top 6 with his budget but this is going to be a much poorer season for Leicester. Rodgers manager ability will be how he overcomes it and builds them back up
 

Swedish_Plumber

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He’s a good manager who’s time might just be coming to an end with Leicester like poch with spurs. Spurs will probably grab him when they sack Nuno.
 

Dancfc

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His team's do tend to suddenly turn tumescent in the third (full) season, it happened at Liverpool and Celtic too.

Not sure why that is.
 

Jezpeza

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I think its not started well this season but they have overachieved in the previous 2. Dont think Leicester should do anything rash with regards his position
 

FootballHQ

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Think Leicester have lost a bit of motivation since the FA cup win.

They really should target the europa as little chance of making top 4 this season although they'll hit a good league run at some stage as lots of quality in that team when everyone is fit.
 

Klopper76

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His team's do tend to suddenly turn tumescent in the third (full) season, it happened at Liverpool and Celtic too.

Not sure why that is.
Suarez left. That’s why we turned to crap in his third season with us.
 

Dec9003

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I wonder if he’s taken them as far as he can. He was linked to Spurs and Arsenal over the summer, might’ve been a good move to test himself.
 

Rocksy

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He’s a good coach, but that’s about it. He’s never good enough for United and am surprised some on here would take a Liverpool reject. I could see a desperate Barcelona maybe come in for him, though. He’s an upgrade on Koeman and they are desperate. He’d probably take a pay cut to go there.
 

Maluco

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He’s being far too stubborn, Iheanacho should be playing behind Vardy, Vestergaard should never have been signed I refuse to believe Benkovic would be doing this bad of a job
Iheanacho was so good in the second half of the season, and it wasn’t just his goals either. He looked a top player.

Why doesn’t Brendan seem to like him?
 

Jimmy Skitz

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Iheanacho was so good in the second half of the season, and it wasn’t just his goals either. He looked a top player.

Why doesn’t Brendan seem to like him?
Not a clue, he’s not an out and out striker either he likes to drop deep so he can easily play as a 10 in our regular system
 

Cheech Wizard

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Suarez left. That’s why we turned to crap in his third season with us.
That, but he recruited poorly and switched from the regular 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 to 4-3-2-1 and other formations trying to accommodate frigging Balotelli and Lambert. I remember he tried a different formation for 4 matches in a row around the beginning of the 2014-2015 season, total mess. Then of course the CL group was a disaster, Basel and Ludogerets and going out first time in Europa to Besiktas. Absolute Abysmal thinking about that season now, it was a a already a write off by November. His run in the Europa couple of years before was trash with us too. He just doesn't have the knack for Europe when he gets there for some reason.
 
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Klopper76

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Suarez leaving doesnt explain being turned over 1-5 at home by bloody Stoke.

His motivational/managerial method seems to have a rather short shelf life.
Firstly, it was away.

Secondly…it was 6-1.:(
That, but he recruited poorly and switched from the regular 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 to 4-3-2-1 and other formations trying to accommodate frigging Balotelli and Lambert. I remember he tried a different formation for 4 matches in a row around the beginning of the 2014-2015 season, total mess. Then of course the CL group was a disaster, Basel and Ludogerets and going out first time in Europa to Besiktas. Absolute Abysmal thinking about that season now, it was a a already a write off by November. His run in the Europa couple of years before was trash with us too. He just doesn't have the knack for Europe when he gets there for some reason.
Yeah I know there’s more to it. We tried tkk on get Sanchez to replace Suarez which would’ve been perfect, but nope…Balotelli, Lambert and Borini plus a permanently injured Sturridge.

We did ok with the 3-5-2 for a while. Went on a good unbeaten run but then it unravelled against United and Arsenal.
 

MO_Football92

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I thought the same about Poch after his last full season at Spurs, granted he lost the CL final but I don't see what else he could do with that team, squad was never good enough to win the league and Spurs' couldn't match the spending of the other top teams, he's basically sticking around to scrape top 4 finishes. Sure he could have gone all in to try win a league cup or FA cup but it really doesn't do anything for a manager, you only have to look at recent examples of Arteta, Wenger and Rodgers own fans asking them to be sacked months after they've won a trophy. You can also add the likes of Mcleish, Dalglish, Martinez, Laudrup, Ramos to that list. He should have left while his reputation was at it's highest.

The chances of Leicester finally getting top 4 finish decreases every season as the quality gap between Chelsea/Liverpool/City/United and the rest just gets wider and wider.
Any manager leading their team to winning the Fa Cup whilst playing the best football domestically, regularly getting into the champions league without being big spenders; should be praised and not ridiculed to the levels Wenger was.

That is an example of the ignorance of English football.
 

Fox_Chrys

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Rodgers will be the first manager to be sacked at this rate.
It will cost a ton of money, maybe Spurs or Arsenal come in for him again?

Seriously though, it would be another 6 months of bad form before its probably considered.