Rogers must go? (POLL)

[Very near...far away]

I blame the Tories, Hitler, Stalin and the Vietcong. Ricky Ponting too.

[Royalee]

To begin with I wouldn't call for the manager's head after 4 games - he's only been here a short time and everything he has influenced has been positive - the problem is with what he hasn't been able to influence thus far in terms of bringing in firepower and sorting out the deficiencies we have in our squad (e.g. Rosenior and Long).

We dominated up until the first goal and even after then until the second which was an exceptionally rare error from Federici and changed the game - we were always chasing from that point. Rodgers is changing the style of our team and that will take time - first he needs to get the team used to passing the ball well and retaining possession before getting a balance between the former and mixing it up when it needs to be like he did at Watford after a while (a few games) of transition when the fans there also got impatient. Unfortunately, in order to make the most out of this style of play, we need some attacking players with some quality - with the exception of Noel Hunt and Matejovsky who have both been injured, we lack that and need it brought in sharpish, which Rodgers has openly acknowledged and wants to address. I'm a big fan of Madejski, but he is at a crossroads where he risks losing the fans completely if he does not appear to fully back the manager financially in doing this and it is absolutely vital he does so. HOWEVER, I will pass judgement on Madejski once the transfer window has passed and not before (although today may have swayed him slightly towards putting his money where his mouth is if the way things have been phrased on the OS tonight are anything to go by).

There is a common misconception that our youngsters are 'rubbish' and 'not up to it', which quite frankly is a load of old bollocks. Pearce looks calm and assured, rarely puts a foot wrong (Newcastle second goal aside) and is light years ahead of Duberry's performances last season no matter how deluded some of our fans are - I can count on one hand the number of major mistakes Pearce has made in a blue and white shirt whereas I'd need a tally chart spanning several pages for Duberry's. Karacan was again superb today and ran the game with Sigurdsson in the first half in particular and both looked very good even though the latter faded slightly later on after he was very unlucky not to score what would have been an excellent goal.

Mills is a new signing and had only had 45 minutes of pre season to show for himself until 10 days ago and it will take a couple of games for him to slot into our back four given he is still gaining sharpness and learning what we require of him tactically. That said, he scored today and showed all the raw attributes of a very good signing so I have no worries whatsoever about him, I find it an absolute disgrace that people are already getting on his back.

As I said the weaklinks in the team are Rosenior and going forward. The legendary status Murts has (deservedly so) has been compounded by the arrival of this buffoon at the club - he cannot mark, defend or distribute the ball properly and needs to be removed from our team as soon as possible. Given we have a lot of bodies in central midfield and looking at Cisse today not being best-suited to the role he was given, I would be very tempted to put him in at right back. He is far sounder defensively than Rosenior, has pace and strength and will be far harder to beat until Kelly returns.

Shane Long is fine as an impact player and will occasionally do something decent like turn that ball in for Noel Hunt to cushion to Tabb when he blasted over the bar, but he lacks the intelligence and goal threat to start. We need to replace him with a decent proven centre forward who will get us goals and gamble (like Long didn't during the scramble about 5-10 minutes from the end when two crosses came in and he hugged the back post for both instead of attacking the delivery which any good goalscorer would have done). We are also lacking Rodgers' 'link striker' to join up the midfield and attack - obviously Smith has been looked at here, although I think Watford are messing us around too much for my liking.

Looking at the current market, I would be tempted to bring in 2 or 3 from Smith, Rasiak, McSheffrey and M. Bent - players proven to succeed in this division without blowing ridiculous money (we could probably get Smith, Rasiak and M. Bent for less than the £3 million Hunt was sold for in all honesty although wages would need to be taken into account). However, this is not Football Manager so I will leave our targets to the manager as his two signings thus far have been very decent in my eyes - Bertrand was again one of our top performers today.

[loyalroyal4life]

give the guy a chance for god sake. we were the better side for at least 45 mins that may not count for nothing as we got 0 points but today showed the naievity within the team. the blunder happened and the heads went down due to us being such a young side hence now maybe it may show we need experience in there and we need at least 2 signings. harper should of been on with at least 20 mins to play not 2. karacan was poor

[Stooper]

You can't change a whole teams mentality, tactics and get them to gel in 4 games FFS.

Let them get used to it all and then we'll see.

you are aware of the league format the FA applies to teams in this country?

We could gel next year, by which time we are relegated

I am well aware of that, I know how a league system works.

Let's see in another 10 games whether the team has gelled. This is a boss who has inherited someone else's team and strategy of the last 5 years and needs time to incorporate his own ideas. Writing him off now is stupid.

If by game 23, Reading are yet to notch a few wins and be at least 12th, then I'll buy you a pint (or something of your choice),

You can quote me on that.

[Barry the bird boggler]

BR has been well and truly set up by the club getting shot of many experienced players before he even arrived instead of giving him the chance to make up his own mind about them.

He then had to lose the remaining Premiership experienced players and on top of that is struggling due to the club's penny pinching attitude and seeming idea that we don't have to invest in the playing squad to achieve in this division.

And then you wonder why we didn't appoint a manager with more gravitas, such as Alan Curbishley.

Big LOL at the cheapskate attitude of the club now that the pigeons are coming home to roost after 3 years of complete failure to invest money in experience.

[Agent Balti]

Never thought I'd see the day when fans started to believe we actually have 'divine right'. You should be ashamed of yourselves if this is what you truly believe.

It's 4 games. FOUR. Will Ipswich be sacking Roy Keane as well then? Is Martin O'Neill going to get the boot at Villa?

Time some people started being ADULTS on here and not whinny little kids who've lost their ball.

[Avon Royal]

Never thought I'd see the day when fans started to believe we actually have 'divine right'. You should be ashamed of yourselves if this is what you truly believe.

It's 4 games. FOUR. Will Ipswich be sacking Roy Keane as well then? Is Martin O'Neill going to get the boot at Villa?

Time some people started being ADULTS on here and not whinny little kids who've lost their ball.

Amen to that.

I think everyone just needs to calm down, get things in perspective and grow up a little bit.

[ROKERITE]

Well, I can only say that anybody seriously suggesting that sacking Rodgers now would be a good thing will be feeling very, very foolish before too long. I cannot think of a more exciting appointment than Rodgers, who was realistically available. Even Curbishley, whose name has been mentioned, would not offer the future promise of Brendan Rodgers. Don't panic; we're four matches into the League season. Children, fools and football supporters shouldn't judge anything that is half-finished; never mind after 360 minutes!

[Platypuss]

Somewhat troubling that we don't appear to have even decided on our best starting eleven or even formation - how can we develop/gel when the players don't know who/how they will be lining up from one week to another. Shouldn't this have been pretty much sorted out in pre-season?

[Deathy]

To begin with I wouldn't call for the manager's head after 4 games - he's only been here a short time and everything he has influenced has been positive - the problem is with what he hasn't been able to influence thus far in terms of bringing in firepower and sorting out the deficiencies we have in our squad (e.g. Rosenior and Long).

Kebe too.

[PEARCEY]

Well, I can only say that anybody seriously suggesting that sacking Rodgers now would be a good thing will be feeling very, very foolish before too long. I cannot think of a more exciting appointment than Rodgers, who was realistically available. Even Curbishley, whose name has been mentioned, would not offer the future promise of Brendan Rodgers. Don't panic; we're four matches into the League season. Children, fools and football supporters shouldn't judge anything that is half-finished; never mind after 360 minutes!

Are you related to Behindu, Roger the Rabbit and Sun Tzu by any chance?

[Royalee]

To begin with I wouldn't call for the manager's head after 4 games - he's only been here a short time and everything he has influenced has been positive - the problem is with what he hasn't been able to influence thus far in terms of bringing in firepower and sorting out the deficiencies we have in our squad (e.g. Rosenior and Long).

Kebe too.

Well that goes without saying.

[Royal Lady]

Well, I can only say that anybody seriously suggesting that sacking Rodgers now would be a good thing will be feeling very, very foolish before too long. I cannot think of a more exciting appointment than Rodgers, who was realistically available. Even Curbishley, whose name has been mentioned, would not offer the future promise of Brendan Rodgers. Don't panic; we're four matches into the League season. Children, fools and football supporters shouldn't judge anything that is half-finished; never mind after 360 minutes!

Are you related to Behindu, Roger the Rabbit and Sun Tzu by any chance?

I wondered where he'd gone. Not like him not to be backing the board to the hilt in the face of any opposition.

[Royalupnorth]

Sacking Rodgers already makes us no better than Newcastle, and brings further disruption to an already disrupted club.
Unhappy by current form, but we have to gain some stability and see if anything happens beofre transfer window shuts.

After all we have bid the same for Tommy Smith that Sheff Utd did, so he IS being given money, but he is being cautious (tight) with his bidding.

[Victor Meldrew]

Sacking Rodgers already makes us no better than Newcastle, and brings further disruption to an already disrupted club.
Unhappy by current form, but we have to gain some stability and see if anything happens beofre transfer window shuts.

After all we have bid the same for Tommy Smith that Sheff Utd did, so he IS being given money, but he is being cautious (tight) with his bidding.

As a BTW didn't we bid what was asked for in respect of Joleon Lescott and John Mensah?

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Sacking Rodgers already makes us no better than Newcastle, and brings further disruption to an already disrupted club.
Unhappy by current form, but we have to gain some stability and see if anything happens beofre transfer window shuts.

After all we have bid the same for Tommy Smith that Sheff Utd did, so he IS being given money, but he is being cautious (tight) with his bidding.

As a BTW didn't we bid what was asked for in respect of Joleon Lescott and John Mensah?

in terms of Lescott yes, Mensah we neither had the bid accepted or rejected, they never came back to us.

we also bid the same as Everton for Jagielka

[sandman]

Never thought I'd see the day when fans started to believe we actually have 'divine right'. You should be ashamed of yourselves if this is what you truly believe.

It's 4 games. FOUR. Will Ipswich be sacking Roy Keane as well then? Is Martin O'Neill going to get the boot at Villa?

Time some people started being ADULTS on here and not whinny little kids who've lost their ball.

Of course it is too early to sack the manager. The problem is that certain people are so forceful in their opinion that Rodgers is the messiah whilst also denigrating Coppell's achievements that they themselves are setting him up for a big fall if things don’t quite go to plan .

If a certain person in particular engaged in a more intelligent conversation instead of throwing insults around left right and centre at anyone who doesn’t agree with him perhaps Rodgers would be viewed with less contempt and more understanding as to what he wants to achieve.

[floyd__streete]

It is obviously absolute nonsense to suggest that Rodgers must go at this stage when the blame for our continuing problems clearly lies elsewhere, but in the four league games we have played thus far the man in charge has used some baffling tactics. 4-3-3 in the first 2 and a half games was clearly ineffective with the personnel we currently have, he switched to 4-4-2 against Swansea and then back to 4-3-3 before the rather curious diamond formation yesterday which afforded us precious little width. Also, his insistence on using Long and Church yesterday rather than Bignall and Mooney - the only two forwards to have scored for us this season - is rather curious.

Reading man he may be, but patience with Rodgers shouldn't be infinite. You don't get bonus points for pretty, triangular passing otherwise the 1998/99 side would have won the old Division 2!

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

We are playing in the championship with an academy side fit to play in an under 21's leagae if there was one.

3 - 4 players are needed to bring experience to this young side.

Rodgers knows this but he has failed to sign players of any quality since he has been at the club.

We went on pre-season with one new loan signing Bertrand - we should have had all the players needed for this season signed by the Swedish tour so the side could develop together.

Rodgers talks about work in progress a 5 year plan - well football is a results business over 46 games in a season - another 6 bad results and he (Rodgers) will be history if Mr Mad has the bo**ocks to own up this f*ck up of appointing a coach who cannot manage.

[Platypuss]

We are playing in the championship with an academy side fit to play in an under 21's leagae if there was one.

3 - 4 players are needed to bring experience to this young side.

Rodgers knows this but he has failed to sign players of any quality since he has been at the club.

We went on pre-season with one new loan signing Bertrand - we should have had all the players needed for this season signed by the Swedish tour so the side could develop together.

Have you been asleep this weekend? It's been made pretty clear by Rodgers that he had to sell before we could buy, so not an option.