LOLiverpooLOL - Next Season

[Big Foot]

I bet Newcastle fans in the mid-90s wish their side could've ground out a few 1-0/marginal wins instead of playing gung-ho and bottling the title

Winning matches >>>>> winning the hearts of internet lovey dovey's like Victor Meldrew

[soggy biscuit]

My point re Keegan was a little different – Newcastle played an almost reckless attacking game, and as a result conceded a lot of goals

95/95 Newcastle conceded 37 goals, Champions Man Utd conceded 2 less goals than them

96/97 Newcastle conceded 40 goals, Champions Man Utd conceded 4 more goals than them

Not meant to be a dig at you Sanguine just I think a couple of exciting 4-3 results under Keegan and people started rewriting history. in the same way that people now claim England were great in Euro 96.

[Sanguine]

My point re Keegan was a little different – Newcastle played an almost reckless attacking game, and as a result conceded a lot of goals

95/95 Newcastle conceded 37 goals, Champions Man Utd conceded 2 less goals than them

96/97 Newcastle conceded 40 goals, Champions Man Utd conceded 4 more goals than them

Not meant to be a dig at you Sanguine just I think a couple of exciting 4-3 results under Keegan and people started rewriting history. in the same way that people now claim England were great in Euro 96.

Yeah I wasn't suggesting the stats were much different, perhaps didn't make my point too well. Was just suggesting there is a difference between Keegan's relentless attacking football, which left Newcastle open at the back (was Batty really ever much of a holding player?) and Rodgers more tactical approach (where Gerrard and Allen should both be defensive midfielders, but the defensive line is just a bit shit). Newcastle benefited from three very good central defenders in Albert, Peacock and Howey.

[No Fixed Abode]

8-0 v Wigan
8-0 v Villa
6-0 v Arsenal
6-0 v Wigan
6-0 v West Brom
6-0 v Man City
6-1 v Derby
7-0 v Ipswich Town
5-1 v Bolton
5-0 v Boro
5-0 v Sunderland
4-0 v West Brom
4-1 v Liverpool
4-1 v Arsenal
4-1 v West Ham
7-2 v Sunderland
5-0 v Blackburn
5-0 v Portsmouth
7-1 v Villa
7-0 v Stoke
6-1 v QPR
5-1 v Spurs
4-0 v Spurs

Dreary old Chelsea indeed

aren't some of those from 4 to 5 years ago??

rattLOLed/i'm embarrassed for you

Meldew said 'recent past'.

I feel embarrassed for you Soggy. Chins up m8!

[winchester_royal]

I'm perfectly happy to accept that many people think we'd have been better off keeping him and there's a possibility you'd be right. But that doesn't make the decision to sack him an unreasonable or bad one under the circumstances.

We are where we are and no amount of 20:20 looking back is going to change that.

Indeed, I'm fairly sure we're at just about the same conclusion here IR. I didn't think the decision was a particularly bad one at the time, and there was plenty of support for it, but perhaps we'd be better off if we'd shown a bit of resilience and stuck with it. Perhaps we wouldn't.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and there's no way to possibly extrapolate how we'd be doing now if we had shown faith in him, making this whole discussion totally pointless and without resolution. I'm just pleased to see he's doing well, and enjoying watching the football that his Liverpool side are producing with a slight tinge of jealousy.

[No Fixed Abode]

Given that Rodgers has proved he can make mediocre players into decent ones - it does look like a silly decision to sack him now. Personally I thought he was gone way too soon. You'll be gutted if he wins the league with Liverpool!

[Extended-Phenotype]

8-0 v Wigan
8-0 v Villa
6-0 v Arsenal
6-0 v Wigan
6-0 v West Brom
6-0 v Man City
6-1 v Derby
7-0 v Ipswich Town
5-1 v Bolton
5-0 v Boro
5-0 v Sunderland
4-0 v West Brom
4-1 v Liverpool
4-1 v Arsenal
4-1 v West Ham
7-2 v Sunderland
5-0 v Blackburn
5-0 v Portsmouth
7-1 v Villa
7-0 v Stoke
6-1 v QPR
5-1 v Spurs
4-0 v Spurs

Dreary old Chelsea indeed

aren't some of those from 4 to 5 years ago??

rattLOLed/i'm embarrassed for you

Meldew said 'recent past'.

I feel embarrassed for you Soggy. Chins up m8!

Oops!

[soggy biscuit]

You'll be gutted if he wins the league with Liverpool!

187 reasons why you will be more gutted

[Hoop Blah]

I don't see how anyone can argue that he didn't underperform and put his own job at risk in the process. As you say, we'll never know how it would have turned out. There's every chance that at least part of his success elsewhere came from the lessons he learnt here.

It's all well and good judging the decision with hindsight, but at the time, he was a manager who talked a big game, but hadn't actually achieved much in the way of success in that role. He'd received plenty in transfer sales, but he also spent plenty and not particularly well. And he'd led a side that had missed out in the play offs and been one of the three main contenders for automatics most of the season to looking over its shoulder towards the bottom of the table when his brief had been to rebuild and gain promotion. With that the case and limited signs of a turnaround on the pitch, when you piss off the club's senior management and lets not forget lots of the fans, then it's no surprise you get the old heave ho.

And it's not like his replacement did a bad job either! We're more Championship and above established than ever before. We're a bigger name than ever before.

I'm not argueing that the team wasn't underperforming or that he didn't make mistakes, and I'm not really saying anything I didn't say at the time.

For me he was naive and too long term focused. He daftly used the first set of league games as an extension of pre-season because he was trying to test to many things out when he needed to concentrate more on results. The reason he did so was because, it appears, he was told the club were behind him for the long term project and that what he was building towards was more important than short term goals.

Being in a relegation fight at Christmas obviously wasn't part of the plan but he was starting with a new squad with little in the way of incoming players compared to the quality and quantity of player that the club had let go to kick start the new era (I think Mills was a club signing and not a Rodgers one as we'd been looking at him before). We were getting better, and we were starting to play better football.

Lots of odd things happen in football and although I don't think we'd have seen the same short term success as we did under McDermott with Rodgers I do think we'd have stayed up and Rodgers would've been a success at re-building the team and club along a different direction than we defaulted back to under McDermott.

It was possibly a good thing for Rodgers that we sacked him. It turned out well for him, and us in many regards, but I still think it was the wrong decision to sack him when we did.

[Hoop Blah]

...was Batty really ever much of a holding player?

Yes, he was, very good at what he did IMO. I think his career, espcially at Leeds, proves what an effective player he was.

[stealthpapes]

...was Batty really ever much of a holding player?

Yes, he was, very good at what he did IMO. I think his career, espcially at Leeds, proves what an effective player he was.

[Whore Jackie]

...was Batty really ever much of a holding player?

Yes, he was, very good at what he did IMO. I think his career, espcially at Leeds, proves what an effective player he was.

Thought he was decent for Newcastle and Blackburn too TBH. Got a soft spot for no-nonsense professional players like Batty and Griffin.

[Sanguine]

Top giffing!

Never really saw him as a holding midfielder though, more of a box to box tackler, like Henderson, but with tackling.

[Badger Finger]

Didn't Batty actually h8 football though?

He knew it paid him a good living, but didn't actually see why it was so popular?

[Badger Finger]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/200 ... edge.sport

Woot

[soggy biscuit]

...was Batty really ever much of a holding player?

Yes, he was, very good at what he did IMO. I think his career, espcially at Leeds, proves what an effective player he was.

most appropri8 gif of 2014 award in the bag

[Sanguine]

He's probably got a Lee Clark gif up his sleeve too.

[jjd82]

Fantastic jifing. Genuine lol out loud here.

[Hoop Blah]

Unfortunately all I'm seeing is a little red cross for some reason.

Top giffing!

Never really saw him as a holding midfielder though, more of a box to box tackler, like Henderson, but with tackling.

He was an defensively minded, tough tackling midfielder before they really became fashionable as 'holding players' around the time Claude Makelele gave the role a name.

Playing a key part in a couple of league titles, a Champions League semi-final run and 42 caps for England, plus a better goal from half way than Beckham's, (a week or so after IIRC) makes him decent in my book.

[LUX]

Fcking hell Spurs, one nil down already. Own goal