DJS

Some of the comments on Ancelotti are genuinely making me laugh. "The next Capello" "His record in the league is poor" Is there some kind of windup going on?

Watching the Milan derby and Balotelli has come on with about 25 to go. He looks up for it, interested and is making things happen. Why didn't he do that for us? FFS.

He's the best manager in the world. You'd be surprised how strong a bond can be created by success.

I'd probably take that

That's the easy get out clause of a board not really wanting to go through the hassle and cost of sacking him. Next two league games = Norwich & Villa at home. Winning games like that consistently and at home, should be the barest of minimums. It shouldn't be what's considered the deciding factor in whether the manager is the right person for the job. You could add Sion at home, to that list. Mediocre no-mark Swiss side at Anfield. By any standards that are associated with our club, it's a game that should be a gimme.

The words of someone who is considered by some to be quite well connected: "I doubt he'll see November" (meaning Rodgers). "No chance Klopp getting the job, he isn't well thought of" "I know who the favoured candidate is" (to replace Rodgers - but he won't say) All of that in quote marks are his words. It is implied that he's pretty close to Ian Ayre, hence the idea that he's well connected and therefore, knows some things that most aren't privvy to. Interestingly, when quizzed with other names, he ruled out the likes of De Boer, Klinsmann, Howe and Monk but didn't respond when Ancelotti's name was mentioned.

No chance IMO & I don't think we'll get beat by Norwich. Bordeaux away could turn up anything.

The worst thing is, there is actual some truth in that

See Leicester have come back from 0-2 down with 26 minutes left, and turned it around to 3-2. Could anyone see us doing that under Rodgers? Ever? Imagine looking at Leicester and wishing we could be like that. That's what Rodgers has done to us.

Rodgers' naivety to think that it COULD be done for 90 minutes, is one of his many failings. You can't do that for 90 minutes, it's nigh on impossible. You can do it if your game includes some pressing, a bit of intensity and aggression and, at the very least, keeping the ball when you've got it, even if you don't attack much. We had no press, no aggression, no intensity and no bottle. You could see it for the Gomez challenge that led to the pen - they had the ball in midfield, all the while their guy is making his right down the right, throughout which at no point was the run tracked, nor any pressure put on the ball. The passer was able to hold the ball, wait for his runner to go and then execute the pass, ALL without a white shirt getting within 5 yards of him. Gutless. Not only is he describing our club, he even categorically states that Klopp wants to work under a DOF - exactly the utopian vision FSG were living and breathing, until Rodgers slapped his dossier on the table in front got John Henry and talked them out of it. Leaving Klopp unemployed while Rodgers destroys another season is negligence.

Rightly or wrongly, I think the idea of the first half was to nullify them completely, take the sting and the momentum out of them and then, having established a defensive foothold of control, build on that in the second half by affecting the game ourselves. That would've been alright with me if we'd done the second half part but we didn't. Essentially the plan seemed to be just turn the whole game into an attack v defence training ground type of exercise, ignoring the obvious inevitable that, across 90 minutes, in a PL game, the attack will virtually always make the breakthrough. I don't mind being defensively impenetrable as your first step to winning a game. The issue is that it was the entirety of our intention, not the starting point. That became clear when, even come the second half, we had no intention of trying to attack or win. It was like we were Rotherham, playing away in the Nou Camp and hoping to cling on for dear life. That spineless mentality is what's f*cked me off.

Nah, I can live with that for 45 minutes if it gets the desired result - eg, kills the early momentum they had and dissolves the atmosphere within their crowd. It's the fact that, having done that and limited them to nothing, we came out in the second half with the same mentality and didn't even really change it when they f*cking scored. That's what p*sses me off most.

It's a matter of when but at the same time, he'll see out most (if not all) of the season and when he does finally go, we'll be far enough in that the new guy won't be able to salvage anything from this campaign.

I assumed as much. Do we know how many years his current deal runs for?

This is his 4th season, has he had a contract extension since he came? Must have done but I can't remember. Been reading that it'd cost £9m to sack him - that can't be right, can it? Unless he had an extension fairly recently and has a contract that now runs for another 3 years or so?

I'll assume you're taking the p*ss re Downing being better. Like most of our players, Markovic and Firmino are far better than this manager is able to get them performing.

I think that's true and today's tactical approach was a result of Rodgers' fear, after last week, of losing today. Obviously it was misguided but his setup was designed to make sure we didn't lose. He was so scared of losing, that he didn't want to go for it and win the game. Today was totally different to Arsenal away. That day, yes we defended and got compact but we had aggression and intensity. When we got the ball, we actively tried to attack. Today was all about how scared Rodgers was of losing and that fear clearly got into the players because we had none of the confidence or composure that we did at Arsenal. We were edgy and nervous. And there was no need to be, Arsenal are better than United by a margin. If the West Ham game hadn't happened, we wouldn't have played like we did at Old Trafford, with a cowardly mentality.

What's seemingly ridiculous, after how sh*t we've been, is that we could still get top 4, I don't think anyone is that great apart from City and the next 2 league games (Norwich & Villa) could put us on 13pts from 7 games which is only 1 short of a 2point per game average (which I think gets top 4). From there, with a bit of momentum restored, we could kick on. Only thing is, with the way things are & with an average manager, the likelihood of that isn't very sizeable. What I'm saying is, the season could still be good if the owners actually did the right thing and brought in Klopp. But they won't.

Posted this in the match thread but seems more apt here. Aside from under Hodgson, I struggle to recall a Liverpool side playing with such a mentality of inferiority and surrender, even worse that it happens at Old Trafford. Going there to face such an average United side and playing as if we're a lower division side, for whom a 0-0 would be a massive achievement. We're supposed to be Liverpool, not Luton. Yes be compact, yes keep your shape & yes make yourselves hard to break down. But unless you also press and play with intensity & aggression, with and without the ball, it's just a training ground exercise with the inevitability that the attack will eventually score against the defence. Totally embarrassing and I'd even call it cowardly. Absolutely furious. The fact that his only successful season here, the only season during his time where we looked like a good team who attacked and could score goals was the anomaly rather than the rule, is why he has to go now. I've banged on for years that he can't organise a defence and he still can't. He's too arrogant to accept this and bring in someone who can. No team that has league success manages it without being defensively sound. And it's obvious that we'll never be defensively sound under Rodgers. I've had enough of him now. The worst thing of all is that the best manager in the world is now unemployed, not that I think he'd come here, but nonetheless, we're sat by allowing Rodgers to ruin another season. Likewise, Klopp (a proven winner, a man of charisma, who likes to play attacking football and who would actually have some proper pull with big players) is almost asking for the job and we continue with Rodgers. In a normal scenario, I'd expect him to get sacked but our owners are clueless and whilst the stadium is full, merchandise is selling & commercial partnerships remain lucrative, I'm pretty sure they're content and not fussed too much with what happens on the pitch. I just hope they f*** off and sell the club once the ground is developed. In the meantime, I can't see Rodgers being sacked without seeing out this season.

Aside from under Hodgson, I struggle to recall a Liverpool side playing with such a mentality of inferiority and surrender, even worse that it happens at Old Trafford. Going there to face such an average United side and playing as if we're a lower division side, for whom a 0-0 would be a massive achievement. We're supposed to be Liverpool, not Luton. Yes be compact, yes keep your shape & yes make yourselves hard to break down. But unless you also press and play with intensity & aggression, it's just a training ground exercise with the inevitability that the attack will eventually score against the defence. Totally embarrassing and I'd even call it cowardly. Absolutely furious. The fact that his only successful season here, the only season during his time where we looked like a good team who attacked and could score goals was the anomaly rather than the rule, is why he has to go now. I've banged on for years that he can't organise a defence and he still can't. He's too arrogant to accept this and bring in someone who can. No team that has league success manages it without being defensively sound. And it's obvious that we'll never be defensively sound under Rodgers. I've had enough of him now. The worst thing of all is that the best manager in the world is now unemployed, not that I think he'd come here, but nonetheless, we're sat by allowing Rodgers to ruin another season. Likewise, Klopp (a proven winner, a man of charisma, who likes to play attacking football and who would actually have some proper pull with big players) is almost asking for the job and we continue with Rodgers. In a normal scenario, I'd expect him to get sacked but our owners are clueless and whilst the stadium is full, merchandise is selling & commercial partnerships remain lucrative, I'm pretty sure they're content and not fussed too much with what happens on the pitch. I just hope they f*** off and sell the club once the ground is developed. In the meantime, I can't see Rodgers being sacked without seeing out this season.

Yep, the team is definitely: Mignolet Clyne, Skrtel, Lovren, Gomez, Lucas, Can, Milner, Firmino, Ings, Benteke

Rooney is out. Hamstring problem. Fellaini is a nightmare to deal with and we may struggle to beat him in the air etc - but the key is to deal with the second balls after his mop wins the first.

Don't worry Barnesy_10, Ings will be playing. Whether that's as a striker, alongside Benteke, I'm not sure. Yeah, I do agree that Rooney has been shyte and I don't rate him highly by any means, but after everything that's happened in the last week or so, he'll be on a high and fired up. Much as he's cr*p, the above is a scenario I don't trust. Fellaini is another pain in the a*** altogether. I'm naively hoping Rooney is out and they chuck Martial straight in.

Would be amazed if Rooney is out but that'd be a big boost. Apart from Lovren, I agree. I get ya mate. One thing I do know is that, barring an overnight bout of the runs or a pre-match injury somehow getting sustained, both Ings & Benteke are starting.