Life after Brendan

[facaldaqui]

Clearly this is a case of Rodgers being a total jurkhoff who should be tied to a tree and whipped repeatedly

I may have laughed out loud at that.

Rodgers is the managerial equivalent of Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour.

[facaldaqui]

Lets just see if we have avoided relegation at the end of the season before even attempting to make a judgement call. The team seem more motivated at the moment so thats fine by me. McDermott seems a more passionate man on the touchline and more involved with less spin which helps matters.

The other thing to say is that Rodgers brought in seven players, whereas McD has only brought in two (I think Thorvaldsson was coming already). So he's mainly working with someone else's team.

[Tails]

Sorry to be picky here but a fact cannot change. A fact is always a fact.

Today is Thursday. FACT


Now try tell me this tomorrow

It will still have been Thursday. In ten years time, today will still have been Thursday.

Interpreting my statement the way you want, to suit your argument =/= you being right.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Another important point to note is that we no longer have a deluded arrogant twat with his head firmly up his own backside in charge of the team.

Hurrah.

[winchester_royal]

Another important point to note is that we no longer have a deluded arrogant twat with his head firmly up his own backside in charge of the team.

Hurrah.

His refusal to play Mills is the most bemusing aspect of his tenure. We'd be much better off right now had Pearce been dropped a couple of months earlier.

[leon]

We were looking f*cked 3 weeks ago. We've won 4 on the bounce and as other people have mentioned, we now go into games expecting (maybe) well certainly believing we CAN win. That's a massive difference.

I thought Rodgers was the right appointment, should have had much longer even though I found his attitude slightly repugnant and I thought McDermott was a cheap cop out by SJM that would fail.

It's early days but jesus, he's doing well.

[Wimb]

I'm enjoying this run as much as anyone else, but am taking/analysing each game as it comes.

But a big fat LOL to anyone who thinks Big Mac is suddenly THAT much better then Rodgers was.....

The obvious thing though is that rather than picking 4 random Rodgers games McD has done 4 in a row, something the Rodgers team never came close to doing.

They have also been a part of an extended run of games with probably only two set backs.

I agree that things are looking a bit imbalanced in Brian's favour and it is right to redress things, but i think there has been a significant change in approach since the bald man took over

Do agree Sun, Rodgers biggest downfall was the changing of his teams and baffling press conferences, but Maccy D has still yet to show his team can do the business in the league against stronger opposition.

The point I was trying to make was that Rodgers was just as capable as getting the same type of wins that Brian's team has been getting recently. But as you say the biggest difference is that now we've strung them together in succession and propped those up with some fantastic displays in the cup.

I'm delighted with how it's all going right now and long may it continue, but I'd rather reserve judgement on the situation until the end of the season. Overall I still believe that it's near impossible to know exactly how the 'Rodgers experiment' was going to turn out as I personally don't believe he was given enough time, but I understand that's just an opinion.

[Rex]

Possibly the correct reasoning Wimb but again as you say time was a big factor involved.

[The whole year inn]

I'm enjoying this run as much as anyone else, but am taking/analysing each game as it comes.

But a big fat LOL to anyone who thinks Big Mac is suddenly THAT much better then Rodgers was.....

The obvious thing though is that rather than picking 4 random Rodgers games McD has done 4 in a row, something the Rodgers team never came close to doing.

They have also been a part of an extended run of games with probably only two set backs.

I agree that things are looking a bit imbalanced in Brian's favour and it is right to redress things, but i think there has been a significant change in approach since the bald man took over

Do agree Sun, Rodgers biggest downfall was the changing of his teams and baffling press conferences, but Maccy D has still yet to show his team can do the business in the league against stronger opposition.

The point I was trying to make was that Rodgers was just as capable as getting the same type of wins that Brian's team has been getting recently. But as you say the biggest difference is that now we've strung them together in succession and propped those up with some fantastic displays in the cup.

I'm delighted with how it's all going right now and long may it continue, but I'd rather reserve judgement on the situation until the end of the season. Overall I still believe that it's near impossible to know exactly how the 'Rodgers experiment' was going to turn out as I personally don't believe he was given enough time, but I understand that's just an opinion.

Any manager that thinks Alex Pearce and Shaun Cummings will ever be part of a successful defence was never going to be in a job for long

[Royal With Cheese]

Do agree Sun, Rodgers biggest downfall was the changing of his teams and baffling press conferences, but Maccy D has still yet to show his team can do the business in the league against stronger opposition.

You can only beat the teams put in front of you. That's a pretty constricting remit you've given him there!

[Sun Tzu]

Do agree Sun, Rodgers biggest downfall was the changing of his teams and baffling press conferences, but Maccy D has still yet to show his team can do the business in the league against stronger opposition.

You can only beat the teams put in front of you. That's a pretty constricting remit you've given him there!

There are probably only 3 or 4 'strong' teams in this division and we've just had the better of a draw against one of them.

Brendan's team didn;t show they were capable of 'doing the business' against the weaker teams in the division (sadly, as I really wanted him to succeed !)

[Platypuss]

McDermott's changes have been small, few and remaining generally consistent with the overall game plan.

A straight up 4-4-2 with two defensive midfielders, one wide player and one cutting inside -> a simple 4-5-1 with two defensive midfielders, one operating just behind the striker and two wide players.

Not quite as simple as that though, is it Ian? After all we played an effective 4-5-1 against Donny and Palace and WBA....

[Forever Reading]

Do agree Sun, Rodgers biggest downfall was the changing of his teams and baffling press conferences, but Maccy D has still yet to show his team can do the business in the league against stronger opposition.

You can only beat the teams put in front of you. That's a pretty constricting remit you've given him there!

Wimb, so Liverpool doesnt count as a good team then.

[adamh4608]

Life after Brendan is great again

[Sun Tzu]

McDermott's changes have been small, few and remaining generally consistent with the overall game plan.

A straight up 4-4-2 with two defensive midfielders, one wide player and one cutting inside -> a simple 4-5-1 with two defensive midfielders, one operating just behind the striker and two wide players.

Not quite as simple as that though, is it Ian? After all we played an effective 4-5-1 against Donny and Palace and WBA....

He also said at the forum that he's not that info 'formations'. He sets the team up for each game depending on how he wants to play against the opposition, what he has to use and with the objective of winning that game. He doesn;t have a 'favourite' formation or a set way of playing. He also quoted his 'wide players' as being asked to do different jobs in different games. Kebe tends to cut inside because that is his natural game - not a tactical thing.

[Dirk Gently]

I think the biggest difference is that BR was trying to be Jose Mourinho - not only quite aloof and expecting the players to follow his dictats but also managing with lots of very clever systems and tactical formations which were far too advanced for us and only served to confuse the hell out of the players.

It became more and more clear yesterday that BMc is much more interested in managing the individual players in the way they need to be managed to be successful, and that what he's asking them to do is much more basic and simple - that's not a criticism, because that's much more appropriate to where we are now and to the players we have.

Put another way, BMc is trying to play systems that fit our players, whilst BR was trying to force the players into systems that they just didn't fit.

And that's one of the many reasons that I'm Backing Brian.

[Archie's penalty]

I think the biggest difference is that BR was trying to be Jose Mourinho - not only quite aloof and expecting the players to follow his dictats but also managing with lots of very clever systems and tactical formations which were far too advanced for us and only served to confuse the hell out of the players.

It became more and more clear yesterday that BMc is much more interested in managing the individual players in the way they need to be managed to be successful, and that what he's asking them to do is much more basic and simple - that's not a criticism, because that's much more appropriate to where we are now and to the players we have.

Put another way, BMc is trying to play systems that fit our players, whilst BR was trying to force the players into systems that they just didn't fit.

And that's one of the many reasons that I'm Backing Brian.

Very succinct analysis DG, and seemingly very true.

[Wimb]

Do agree Sun, Rodgers biggest downfall was the changing of his teams and baffling press conferences, but Maccy D has still yet to show his team can do the business in the league against stronger opposition.

You can only beat the teams put in front of you. That's a pretty constricting remit you've given him there!

Wimb, so Liverpool doesnt count as a good team then.

Well obviously, but to be picky we never 'beat them' in 90 minutes and the cup is the cup, odd things happen. Not that it takes anything away from some great results but the league is where it matters the most.

And Cheese obviously its a constricting remit but that's the point, I can't make judgements based on a few games against weaker sides. At the moment he's proving he's capable of getting the side to grind out the results against the teams we need to beat to stay alive and that's the only thing that matters.

The only point I've been trying to make is that Rodgers DID actually manage to pull out a few performances and by and large these came in the same type of games that Maccy D has also won. Again a very constricting period to analyse and the circumstances are different but it was more to point out the fact that we haven't achieved anything in the league quite yet!

[Sun Tzu]

it was more to point out the fact that we haven't achieved anything in the league quite yet!

at this point no one has achieved anything concrete in the league yet....
Or are Newcastle mathematically safe ?

[Elmer Park]

Hearing Brian McDermott refusing to talk about the future beyond the next two matches I think is one of the main reasons why we are doing better at the moment anyway. He is very much just concentrating on getting a result in the next match each week and keeping the systems fairly simple even when he changes them for certain matches.

Brendan Rodgers has spoken many times about a three year plan and I think he felt that eventually things would click with our players, results would improve and he could change the squad around in the summer to bring in more players that suited his style so we could have a better season next time. It is impossible to say whether he would have succeeded or not but clearly his own complete faith in his methods was not shared by those that hire and fire at the Club or by a fair percentage of supporters.