EPL Matchday 4

[Sozabarus]

I expected Rodgers to suffer his usual 3rd season syndrome but that certainly hasn't happened. Leicester's squad is for mine still too thin to juggle both Top 4 and EL but it looks like the off-season break, plus Ndidi's return, did them a world of good.

What usual 3rd season syndrome? There was the drop off at Liverpool when he lost his two best players but apart from that the only other third season he's had was at Celtic when he left mid-season on top of the table, in all the cups and into the knockout stage of the Europa League.

 

[joop]

Just found it funny that three Leeds fans mentioned or referred to me in their first post regarding the result, sorry if that upsets you more.

Well I mean, it's the International Break this week, so dunno what the point would be. This is also a weird narrative you and Joop have built considering the only player I've criticised is Robert, and I'm fairly sure this was his first decent game.

I just find it funny you say you are in our head when you post more about Leeds than your own side and have done for the past 2 years. Obviously Leeds are in your head.
Anytime anyone posts negative things about their club people say shit back to them, you say a lot of shit about Leeds so you get a lot of responses.
Thanks for sticking it to Rodrigo this week, was always gonna happen he scores and plays well
Maybe after your next 100,000 posts you’ll get something right.

 

[DaRick]

What usual 3rd season syndrome? There was the drop off at Liverpool when he lost his two best players but apart from that the only other third season he's had was at Celtic when he left mid-season on top of the table, in all the cups and into the knockout stage of the Europa League.

RE Liverpool, they did suffer a great deal from losing Suarez/Sturridge, but they still should have contended for a CL place at worst (that Man U side weren't that great by any means). Instead, they played rather disappointing football and fully deserved 6th place.

RE Celtic, they won the Scottish Premiership, but that was expected. In Europe, their performance was actually worse than the season before (when they actually made the CL group stages), and some Celtic fans have suggested to me that defensively they weren't as sound as they were in the previous season (though the SPL table might not indicate that at face value). Given that Liverpool had serious defensive problems when he was there, there might be truth to that. Leicester were defensively fairly good last season though, so he might be improving in that regard.

 

[Frank Bunn]

RE Liverpool, they did suffer a great deal from losing Suarez/Sturridge, but they still should have contended for a CL place at worst (that Man U side weren't that great by any means). Instead, they played rather disappointing football and fully deserved 6th place.

RE Celtic, they won the Scottish Premiership, but that was expected. In Europe, their performance was actually worse than the season before (when they actually made the CL group stages), and some Celtic fans have suggested to me that defensively they weren't as sound as they were in the previous season (though the SPL table might not indicate that at face value). Given that Liverpool had serious defensive problems when he was there, there might be truth to that. Leicester were defensively fairly good last season though, so he might be improving in that regard.

You can't blame Rodgers for the Slippy Gerrard error that cost Liverpool the title in 2014.

Celtic failed to progress in the CL until Rodgers arrived there and they have not achieved the group stage since he left. He won the Scottish treble twice and set them up for a third before he left.

Leicester have had to sell their best players over the years but it's a huge credit to them that they can challenge for top 4.

 

[Loonerty]

These were his comments at the start of last season.

No they weren't.

 

[Sozabarus]

No they weren't.

Fair to say Ross isn't an Oasis fan.

 

[SM]

I just find it funny you say you are in our head when you post more about Leeds than your own side and have done for the past 2 years. Obviously Leeds are in your head.
Anytime anyone posts negative things about their club people say sh*t back to them, you say a lot of sh*t about Leeds so you get a lot of responses.
Thanks for sticking it to Rodrigo this week, was always gonna happen he scores and plays well
Maybe after your next 100,000 posts you’ll get something right.

Rofl.

 

[RossFC]

No they weren't.

Had my trolls mixed up.

 

[Toffee Lion]

Nice to see City drop points. Makes our title race a bit easier.

 

[Zidane98]

Nice to see City drop points. Makes our title race a bit easier.

Leicester havent dropped any points yet

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

Leicester havent dropped any points yet

Nor Villa.

 

[Zidane98]

Nor Villa.

He did say City.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

He did say City.

I thought the reference was to the title race.

 

[moomba]

Really don't think anyone needs to worry about us in a title race. We won't come close.

 

[Zidane98]

Really don't think anyone needs to worry about us in a title race. We won't come close.

Ha ha

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

Hope I can stay up and watch the Man U v Spurs game (been ****ed with allergies and hay fever all afternoon which has knocked me out and left me fatigued)

These games are always spicy affairs, esp with Mou now at Tottenham

 

[DaRick]

You can't blame Rodgers for the Slippy Gerrard error that cost Liverpool the title in 2014.

Celtic failed to progress in the CL until Rodgers arrived there and they have not achieved the group stage since he left. He won the Scottish treble twice and set them up for a third before he left.

Leicester have had to sell their best players over the years but it's a huge credit to them that they can challenge for top 4.

With respect, I think you're misunderstanding the points that I was trying to make. Maybe I could have been clearer.

The points were that 1) Rodgers historically tends to fare worse in his 3rd season than his 2nd and 2) that his defensive record is a bit questionable.

For example, if you look at Liverpool, they came 2nd in 2013/14 and 6th in 2014/15. He should be cut some slack for losing Suarez and Sturridge, but given the 2014/15 Man U side was hardly the best ever, his side should have still been able to compete for Top 4 at the very least. Instead, they barely made the EL group stage after languishing in mid-table for parts of the season.

Also, Liverpool shipped 50 goals in 2013/14 and 48 in 2014/15. For a side competing for Top 4, I reckon that is too many, especially over 2 seasons (and yes, I think that Chelsea conceded far too many last season).

RE Celtic, beyond the points I made earlier about the team's overall performance between the 2nd and 3rd seasons, his Celtic side were good enough defensively in the Scottish Premiership, but in the CL they were awful. I get that they were far from the most talented side in the competition, but I still don't think they should have conceded 34 goals in 12 group stage games. Even relegation PL sides don't concede that many per game.

In fairness to him, his defensive record at Leicester has been pretty good so far, so maybe he has improved that aspect of his game. He has also started this season well, so maybe things will be different this time, even if only due to the irregularities caused by COVID.

Historically, I would say that Rodgers' main strengths as a manager are his 1) versatility, 2) his offensive coaching and 3) record developing youth. I actually think he is a pretty good manager and his record at Leicester has indeed been impressive, but the defensive side of his game has IMO stopped him from becoming an elite manager.

(RE progressing in the CL, I assumed that you meant that Celtic didn't progress to the CL group stages in the few years prior to his arrival.)

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

Got Leicester v West Ham streaming on my HD TV and SOTON v West Brom on my Android phone. Trying to watch as many live games as possible with my Optus subscription (which is pretty good value really)

 

[SM]

Got Leicester v West Ham streaming on my HD TV and SOTON v West Brom on my Android phone. Trying to watch as many live games as possible with my Optus subscription (which is pretty good value really)

You can have Goal Rush up which has the Leicester game and it'll flick to the WBA game if there's a goal.

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

You can have Goal Rush up which has the Leicester game and it'll flick to the WBA game if there's a goal.

Hammers just scored from pretty slack defending/marking from Leicester (Antonio)

 

[SM]

Hammers just scored from pretty slack defending/marking from Leicester (Antonio)

Yeah I've got it on.

 

[Toffee Lion]

Come on Hammers.

 

[Jaymin]

You can have Goal Rush up which has the Leicester game and it'll flick to the WBA game if there's a goal.

Thats a great feature. Is it available whenever there are multiple games on?

 

[Bradesmaen]

You can have Goal Rush up which has the Leicester game and it'll flick to the WBA game if there's a goal.

Or you could live in Ireland and not have to use Optus

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

Or you could live in Ireland and not have to use Optus

I've never had any issues with Optus.