Brendan Rodgers | Rejoins Celtic on 3 year deal

SambaBoy

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Crazy to see some of the stick Leicester fans are giving him on there. Despite their poor form of late, they are still 3rd and sitting in a CL place. I bet many of them fans would have bite your hand off to be there with however many games to go at start of the season. It's typical of the modern fan, so knee jerk without thinking of the bigger picture. Obviously every manager is getting to get criticism but there's a difference between pointing out flaws and straight out wanting the manager gone.
 

Josh 76

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Crazy to see some of the stick Leicester fans are giving him on there. Despite their poor form of late, they are still 3rd and sitting in a CL place. I bet many of them fans would have bite your hand off to be there with however many games to go at start of the season. It's typical of the modern fan, so knee jerk without thinking of the bigger picture. Obviously every manager is getting to get criticism but there's a difference between pointing out flaws and straight out wanting the manager gone.
That's football my friend.
You are only good as your last game.
 

poleglass red

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Crazy to see some of the stick Leicester fans are giving him on there. Despite their poor form of late, they are still 3rd and sitting in a CL place. I bet many of them fans would have bite your hand off to be there with however many games to go at start of the season. It's typical of the modern fan, so knee jerk without thinking of the bigger picture. Obviously every manager is getting to get criticism but there's a difference between pointing out flaws and straight out wanting the manager gone.
similiar to when O'Neill was manager at Villa, fans were giving him stick, Villa finished 6th, 3 yrs in a row with him, I bet they'd take that now.Fans need to be careful what they wish for.
 

Skills

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When things started going south for him at Liverpool he never looked like he could turn the tide. A big few months coming up for him now, to see how deals with it now.

He's a talented coach, it'll be interesting if he's got the personality and man management to go with it.
 

tenpoless

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You can tell if He's nervous, so so easily. His lip turns pale like a Chinese Vampire's.
But regardless of that, I think Leicester fans are being a bunch of ungrateful pricks. They're third ffs. Brendan has done well.
 

Jimmy Skitz

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I think its easy to miss some concerns from the outside, Leicester fans are rightfully addressing some glaring concerns, some of which have been evident since the turn of the year.

His use of subs is often appalling, waiting too long to make any to begin with and when he does, as with yesterday, they are the wrong ones, Praet and Perez were playing well and 2 of our more effective players, now there may be reasons both had to come off but no explanation has been given to my knowledge and despite having another sub left Iheanacho was left on the bench in a game we were losing 1-0, fans are obviously furious with that.

Watford away his use of them cost us the game, he made 3 single subs, meaning we couldn't use the extra 2, the second and third were made within a few minutes of each other, had he just made a double change when Chilwell scored we could of brought on an extra defender to help at set pieces, which Watford had been troubling us with all game but we couldn't and they scored from one.

Then there his insistence of a 433/4231 system, against Brighton he played 2 pure DMs in Ndidi and Mendy, which Puel used to do and it never worked, shoved Maddison on the left wing, where he is totally ineffective and had Iheanacho playing behind Vardy, it never worked, never looked like working and players were lost. Instead of just changing the system, which we have players suited to a back 3 to do so. Also the players simply do not look as fit as other teams do.

And whats really annoying is the easy ride he gets from media, there are questions that any other manager would get asked that fans want answers to that he never has to face, this lead to frustrations in the fan base boiling over and some vented them in the thread linked to above, no one is seriously questioning his future, but this much is clear, having been in the top 4 all season, to finish out of that now IS a failure.
 

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As I have said in the Top 4 Race thread, these guys ain’t finishing above us, Chelsea or Wolves. After a blistering start to the season, their star players like Vardy, Maddison and Tielemans seem to have completely gone off the boil and look a shadow of the players they were pre-Christmas. Besides those guys, their players aren’t really too good when you fully analyse their starting 11. For example, if you compare theirs with ours you’ll see why I’m certain that we will finish above them this season.

De Gea = Schmeichel
AWB > Justin*
Lindelof = Evans
Maguire > Soyuncu
Shaw < Chilwell
Matic < Ndidi
Pogba > Tielemans
Greenwood > Perez
Bruno > Maddison
Marcus > Barnes
Martial > current Vardy
Final result: 7-2 United

*Pereira is injured and out for the season.

Along with that, their fixture list is horrendous. They still have Arsenal, Spurs, Everton and us to go. Even if Chelsea continue their post-lockdown form, we’ll be fine. Rodgers must really be sweating now.
You make a good point in that we would not swap many of their players for ours but Perez has scored or assisted 11 times in the premier league and had a greater impact than Mason whilst holdind down a regular place so based off league performance it's not justified to say Mason > Perez although I know Greenwood will far eclipse him. He just needs to start more games and show it. I agree with the rest. Leicester are overrated on an individual basis
 
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EwanI Ted

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I only looked at Leicester's results recently and was amazed at their poor form. 17 points in 15 games - that's not much more than relegation form. Just 4 wins since the middle of December, all against very poor teams. Rodgers obviously shouldn't get the sack for that, even if they finish 6th that would have been seen as decent at the start of the season. But their current form is certainly dire and it looks likely they'll be overtaken by us, Chelsea and Wolves by the end of the season.
 

FootballHQ

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Still done very well when you consider the state they were in under Puel.

Start of the season they've have all been delighted with europa league but can understand why that wouldn't be enough now with the big lead they had over 5th not so long ago.

Thought they had enough points in the bag but that's looking in doubt now and they have a very tough run in.
 

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I said on the match thread yesterday there always seems to be some switch at his clubs where they go from playing excellent football to stagnant football almost over night.

Is it simply a case that he has a great plan A but can't adapt once managers find a way round his tactics?
 
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Maluco

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I said on the match thread yesterday there always seems to be some switch at his clubs were they go from playing excellent football to stagnant football almost over night.

Is it simply a case that he has a great plan A but can't adapt once managers find a way round his tactics?
I wonder if it’s a self confidence thing with Brenden. He seems to start to almost doubt himself and go against his own philosophies. Starts to try and set up more defensively and pragmatically when he hits a wobble.

The decisions @Jimmy Skitz outlines up there suggests the same trend as what happened at Liverpool. Worrying, irrational decisions that seem to go against his beliefs/coaching.
 

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Doesn’t help having wildly inconsistent youngsters like Harvey Barnes at times had he shown the same touch and control yesterday as against Villa we would have been 2 or 3 up early on. Still Barnes needs the games and I’m a fan of his but those fine margins are going against us since the turn of the year
 

Maluco

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Doesn’t help having wildly inconsistent youngsters like Harvey Barnes at times had he shown the same touch and control yesterday as against Villa we would have been 2 or 3 up early on. Still Barnes needs the games and I’m a fan of his but those fine margins are going against us since the turn of the year
What do you think about Vardy? Do you think it was an Indian summer, candle burning brightest before it goes out type deal? Or do you think he can still be the main man up top next season?

He will turn 34 during the next campaign, and although he is very clever and an underrated footballer, you would imagine that he could decline sooner rather than later.

What’s the feeling amongst fans?
 

Josh 76

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I only looked at Leicester's results recently and was amazed at their poor form. 17 points in 15 games - that's not much more than relegation form. Just 4 wins since the middle of December, all against very poor teams. Rodgers obviously shouldn't get the sack for that, even if they finish 6th that would have been seen as decent at the start of the season. But their current form is certainly dire and it looks likely they'll be overtaken by us, Chelsea and Wolves by the end of the season.
I remember people saying the game in December against Liverpool could be a title decider.
Liverpool battered them 4-0, and it's been down hill ever since.
 

Jimmy Skitz

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What do you think about Vardy? Do you think it was an Indian summer, candle burning brightest before it goes out type deal? Or do you think he can still be the main man up top next season?

He will turn 34 during the next campaign, and although he is very clever and an underrated footballer, you would imagine that he could decline sooner rather than later.

What’s the feeling amongst fans?
hard to tell right now as he is being completely starved of service, he is a much better finisher than people often given him credit for so he could be come a penalty box striker as he gets older and begins to slow down.

Amongst fans though he is untouchable, I wouldn't sign the striker we want to replace him until he retires or that striker will face the same abuse Chilwell gets for replacing Fuchs, people were blaming him for the goal yesterday when he was left with 2 men and Wilf didn't drop in to cover the space left by Soyuncu having to come over
 

Maluco

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hard to tell right now as he is being completely starved of service, he is a much better finisher than people often given him credit for so he could be come a penalty box striker as he gets older and begins to slow down.

Amongst fans though he is untouchable, I wouldn't sign the striker we want to replace him until he retires or that striker will face the same abuse Chilwell gets for replacing Fuchs, people were blaming him for the goal yesterday when he was left with 2 men and Wilf didn't drop in to cover the space left by Soyuncu having to come over
It’s really interesting to hear that about Chilwell. I suppose we should realise that those league winners would be held in high esteem. I would have assumed that fans would see Chilwell as an upgrade.

Vardy being a legend is understandable, and as you say, it’s hard to tell when form is so poor. I think he has always been underrated as a footballer too, probably because of the way he came up and the fact that players with pace can be written off as being all about that.

It will be interesting to see how Brendan adjusts. His decisions and transfers at Liverpool near the end were bizarre.
 

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I said on the match thread yesterday there always seems to be some switch at his clubs where they go from playing excellent football to stagnant football almost over night.

Is it simply a case that he has a great plan A but can't adapt once managers find a way round his tactics?
He sets his sides up to to play great football, however they’re often reliant on great 1v1 players and great finishers. The same thing happened to us in 14/15. With Suarez gone we’d have likely managed that season fine if Sturridge has been fit the entirety of it. But once those tools that make his systems so effective are removed he struggles to adapt for a long while. In that particular season he had three other strikers who were fit but the only way to get us playing and offer us a threat in behind and stretch teams was to put Sterling up front in a 3-4-3 which credit to him worked for a half season almost.

Our entire squad was geared towards playing with pacey quick 1v1 players and that’s what he built his success on yet he followed it by ripping up his blueprint and sighing Benteke rather than going back to what worked well for him.

Credit to him he’s improved, he never once managed to set up a competent back 4 for us. But Vardy is out of form and their entire threat is done. They can’t push up and stretch the back line and give the other players the platform to play anymore. It’s bears a lot of similarities and resemblance with what happened with us.

How he fixes it going forward will be the biggest test of his mettle and determine whether he can truly evolve in to a world class manager. He will have Europe and the transfer market to contend with two things he’s also been notoriously bad at. All of these factors underpin Brendans career and how successful he’s going to be.
 

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It’s really interesting to hear that about Chilwell. I suppose we should realise that those league winners would be held in high esteem. I would have assumed that fans would see Chilwell as an upgrade.

Vardy being a legend is understandable, and as you say, it’s hard to tell when form is so poor. I think he has always been underrated as a footballer too, probably because of the way he came up and the fact that players with pace can be written off as being all about that.

It will be interesting to see how Brendan adjusts. His decisions and transfers at Liverpool near the end were bizarre.
if you listen to Leicester fans Chilwell can't defend, yet we have one of the better defensive records and he can't cross yet 4 assists for us and in 1 half for England got 3 assists from crosses, Evans and Maguire got an easy rid because Huth retired in part due to injury and Morgan deteriorated so rapidly, people still want Albrighton to start on the right wing despite Perez, who isn't a natural winger being our second top scorer from there yet I wouldn't have Albrighton at the club still.

Oh and God forbid you suggest we may need an upgrade on Kasper due to his woeful distribution, which is such an important part of a keepers game if you want to be a possession based passing side.
 

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I wonder if it’s a self confidence thing with Brenden. He seems to start to almost doubt himself and go against his own philosophies. Starts to try and set up more defensively and pragmatically when he hits a wobble.

The decisions @Jimmy Skitz outlines up there suggests the same trend as what happened at Liverpool. Worrying, irrational decisions that seem to go against his beliefs/coaching.
It’s interesting you mention this, when he initially came in at Liverpool his philosophy so to speak was the much tauted tiki taka, once we signed Coutinho and Sturridge he shifted us in to a more counter attacking side and for 18 months we didn’t look back.

Once the going got tough he completely went away from everything he had reaped success from and we were playing with a target man up front, Clyne and Gomez at full back and Henderson and Milner in a two by the time his tenure was done.

He’s excellent at setting his sides up to be attacking, defensively for us at the time he was completely inept. The balance and profile of the players in the backline were complete mismatches with his philosophy. He started playing players that were the complete antithesis of what he wanted in his system. It almost felt like he wouldn’t pick the right players unless he stumbled in to the combination.

He’s at his best as a coach when he sets his sides up to be on the front foot, when he deviates from that even slightly his teams lose and never seem to have any balance as they’re blunt in attack and easily got at in defence. His system would be completely blunt with our midfield three, he needs Maddison to play in the middle not on the left.
 

Maluco

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It’s interesting you mention this, when he initially came in at Liverpool his philosophy so to speak was the much tauted tiki taka, once we signed Coutinho and Sturridge he shifted us in to a more counter attacking side and for 18 months we didn’t look back.

Once the going got tough he completely went away from everything he had reaped success from and we were playing with a target man up front, Clyne and Gomez at full back and Henderson and Milner in a two by the time his tenure was done.

He’s excellent at setting his sides up to be attacking, defensively for us at the time he was completely inept. The balance and profile of the players in the backline were complete mismatches with his philosophy. He started playing players that were the complete antithesis of what he wanted in his system. It almost felt like he wouldn’t pick the right players unless he stumbled in to the combination.

He’s at his best as a coach when he sets his sides up to be on the front foot, when he deviates from that even slightly his teams lose and never seem to have any balance as they’re blunt in attack and easily got at in defence. His system would be completely blunt with our midfield three, he needs Maddison to play in the middle not on the left.
That’s what made me wonder. His signings after that were bizarre too and it seemed like he didn’t really believe in what he had been trying to do anymore.

It could be that the false bravado and perceived arrogance at Liverpool was him covering up how insecure he felt in such a big job.
 

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Leicester fans - Reckon you will have enough to finish top four? Never mind top three. Or do you think United and Chelsea will eventually catch you?
 

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Leicester fans - Reckon you will have enough to finish top four? Never mind top three. Or do you think United and Chelsea will eventually catch you?
I still think we will make the top 4, and finish above Chelsea, they have been just as inconsistent as us and will drop more points
 

AltiUn

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@Jimmy Skitz what sort of players/positions have you been looking at improving for next season? What do you think would personally help you take another step up?
 

adamwest

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Why is everyone assuming that we will be the ones to benefit from Leicester's clear drop in form? Wolves, for me, are the more likely.
 

Jimmy Skitz

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@Jimmy Skitz what sort of players/positions have you been looking at improving for next season? What do you think would personally help you take another step up?
we need more depth more than anything, beyond our main 11 we are woefully short, we need another attacking midfielder but have been strongly linked with Lallana on a free, we need 2 or 3 wingers, personally I think Saint-Maximan would be perfect for us, we also need another left back to push and back up Chilwell, we'll no doubt be linked with CB's too
 

tomaldinho1

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When things started going south for him at Liverpool he never looked like he could turn the tide. A big few months coming up for him now, to see how deals with it now.

He's a talented coach, it'll be interesting if he's got the personality and man management to go with it.
I think their fans need to remember that if you look at squads on paper they're definitely performing above where I'd expect them to be - they were very solid pre covid but also benefited hugely from Chelsea and United's dire form, now those clubs (who both in my opinion have superior squads to Leicester) are getting it together it is natural the gap will close at least a little.

For me he's done really well with them, I think they'll hang on in the top four and it'll be seen as a very good season from Brendan.
 

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His teams seem to have absolutely no mental strength. Crumbling when it matters or when their backs are against the wall.
 

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His teams seem to have absolutely no mental strength. Crumbling when it matters or when their backs are against the wall.
certainly have no depth for the second game in a row we named a bench with 4 central midfielders on, 3 of which are defensive and our attacking options were just Demarai Gray and Harvey Barnes
 

EwanI Ted

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In the 19 games since the end of that winning run back in December, they’re 13th in the form table. They’ve picked up fewer points than Watford in that time, the same number as Newcastle and only a couple more than Palace and Brighton. Hell they’ve only got 6 more points than villa and Bournemouth in that run. Terrible form.
 

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There’s a vocal minority, at least I think it’s a minority, that want Rodgers sacked especially if we miss out on top 4 but some want it done today.

Whilst I don’t I cannot come up with an argument against their reasoning. And his decision not to strengthen in January was extremely negligent
 

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Poor Brendan. Probably shat his pants this morning after the Citeh verdict.
 

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I mean, it really depends on how you choose to look at it. Overall, if you look at the table and see Leicester challenging for top 4 with only 3 games to go, I think that's a great achievement and I'm sure every Leicester fan would have taken that gladly if offered a year ago. But on the other hand, the collapse in the second half of the season is nothing but shocking ... 14 point out of 14 league games is almost relegation pace, and a top 4 finish should have long been wrapped up given their success in the first half of the season.

so, I can understand arguments from both sides. If you judge Rodgers purely on the table, thinking about sacking him feels crazy. But that's just not how football works, it's always about what you have done lately ... so I'm not surprised the pitchforks are out. Whatever the outcome of the season, Leicester will have to look hard at the second half of the season. Personally, I don't really see who they could get to replace him though.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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I mean, it really depends on how you choose to look at it. Overall, if you look at the table and see Leicester challenging for top 4 with only 3 games to go, I think that's a great achievement and I'm sure every Leicester fan would have taken that gladly if offered a year ago. But on the other hand, the collapse in the second half of the season is nothing but shocking ... 14 point out of 14 league games is almost relegation pace, and a top 4 finish should have long been wrapped up given their success in the first half of the season.

so, I can understand arguments from both sides. If you judge Rodgers purely on the table, thinking about sacking him feels crazy. But that's just not how football works, it's always about what you have done lately ... so I'm not surprised the pitchforks are out. Whatever the outcome of the season, Leicester will have to look hard at the second half of the season. Personally, I don't really see who they could get to replace him though.
That's a fair point. Though I think it's also fair to talk about it relative to their expectations at the start of the season. They were never a top 6 side back in August. I'd presume most predictions would have been the the "big 6", then Wolves, and then perhaps Leicester not too far behind. To be in with a shout of CL with 3 games to go is a good season, even if their current form is not good. They'd be daft to sack him today when CL is still possible with 3 games to go. If we capitalise tonight, I can see Chelsea dropping out of the top 4, as I don't think they'll beat both Liverpool and Wolves.
 

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Unless he can manage to squeeze an upturn in form out of them for the last 3 games, there's suddenly a very real possibility of them finishing 7th or 8th.

And at that point even the "performing better than preseason expectations" excuse goes out the window
 

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There’s a vocal minority, at least I think it’s a minority, that want Rodgers sacked especially if we miss out on top 4 but some want it done today.

Whilst I don’t I cannot come up with an argument against their reasoning. And his decision not to strengthen in January was extremely negligent
What are the key reasons for this dramatic reversal of form?