The FA CUP Sixth Round Replay ** Spoilers ** [8th April 2015]

I disagree on both Lallana and Moreno (who imo looks lost going forward now). With Markovic it could just be 1st season blues as he is young and its his 1st season in a fast paced league, but going forward he looks nothing like the guy that played for Benfica last year or we saw glimpses of earlier in the season.

My main gripe with Rodgers is that he doesnt seem to have a plan (ignoring the defensive deficencies of his management style), I doubt he knows how his side will line up next season and if the manager has no idea on what formation he is going to go with how can you buy for it? Their is a big disconnect between the players the committe identify and the players Rodgers wants, and given his history on player purchases I dont want him anywhere near the 'cheque book'.

Player improvement he is second to none? Who exactly has he improved? It could be argued that Sterling is just showing the enourmous potential that everyone who has seen him play identified - outside of that who is improving?
 
Like I said about Rodgers, he's learning as he goes. He was very much a possession at all costs manager when he joined us but he was forced to change because of the poor results to begin with and having Suarez. There was no point trying to play a slow possession game when you've got a striker that wants to go for the kill every time he gets the ball. There was definitely an argument that at the start of this season he was lost - he didn't know whether to go back to what he knows or try to play how we did last season and in the end we done neither. To his credit though he found an answer. He can't afford to take 5 months to figure it out for next season though.

As for his abilities as a coach. When Sterling broke through he looked like the next SWP, Lennon, Walcott etc, a flying winger albeit with the potential to be a lot better than those. I don't think you'd find anybody that honestly expected him to be able to play as a number 10 and do it so well. Rodgers has helped Sterling become so much more of a complete player. I know there's been some criticism of him being played out of position but I don't buy into that - yes his best position isn't a striker or wingback but he's had to play there for the sake of the side first and foremost and I actually feel he's becoming a better player for it too. Sterling's not the only one either. Henderson looked like a player without a position when we signed him; both at Sunderland and under Dalglish he wasn't trusted as a CM and I personally couldn't see him ever being capable of playing in a 2 man central midfield. He now looks at home playing there, as well as several other positions. Jon Flanagan's another. He was nothing more than a tough tackling defender and although ultimately he's probably never going to make it his progression last season under Rodgers was sensational. He was never going to be the next Cafu but his calmness and composure on the ball was a million miles from where he was. And how many managers failed to get Coutinho to shine consistently at Inter?
 
Hendersons always been capable of playing in a 2 - played there for Sunderland for starters and captained England at every level in the middle of park. He was shunted out wide in Kenny's season to make way to Charlie Adam and then shunted out of position again under Rodgers to make way for Gerrard. Its no surprise that when he has played in his favourite position this season he has generally been one of our better performers.

I think Liverpool supporters in particular are guilty of going overboard when throwing praise around regarding Sterling, as a striker he has been fair to middling, and as a 10 he has done a decent job, not amazingly well. He needs to up both his assist rate and goal output to come close to the salary bracket he is reportedly asking for. Yes he has done well being moved around the forward positions, but its no different to what other managers have done with players in the past.

Couts made his breakthrough in the 2010 (?) season under Rafa and then struggled to get a start the following season (understandable as a 18/19 year old), did well when he was loaned out and then moved to us, so pretty much one manager at Inter when he was a teenager....

Flanno is bang average, nothing more nothing less.
 
Henderson wasn't always capable. On the very few times he did play there earlier in his career both his individual performances and the team's as a whole were appalling. And it wasn't just Adam and Gerrard that were being picked ahead of him. Dalglish played Spearing, Shelvey and even Carragher in CM when we had a few injuries before playing Henderson there. It was the same story with Rodgers until a few months into this season - he was clearly avoiding playing Henderson in midfield and it's only been the last 6 months that he's trusted him there.

Re Sterling, I don't think anybody has claimed Sterling pulled up any trees as a striker but he certainly faired a lot better than I think most people expected and a lot better than most other players at a similar age, profile and position as him. I don't think you could say Sterling struggled with the position - he's just not a natural finisher and it was that which let him down. As a number 10 he was exceptional. And it is different to what most managers have done in the past. Historically young wingers/forwards get stuck out wide because managers don't trust them in the central positions - one thing you can't say Rodgers has been guilty of is a lack of trust in young players. He threw Sterling in at the deep end and it worked and he wasn't scared to move him infield last season too and Sterling went onto a different level again. It's the same story with Coutinho - me and Pigeon were discussing the possibility of Coutinho playing deeper in a 3 man midfield half way through last season and I personally was dead against it, I didn't trust him in there. Rodgers threw him in there in the Derby no less and he was excellent.

And Coutinho had 1 manager at Inter? During his time at Inter they had 5 different managers and it was only Rafa's brief spell that he done well.

Agree Flanagan is average, the point is though that he was well below average but last season he progressed hugely. Obviously no coach is ever going to turn him into a world beater.
 
Sterling was phenomenal playing just behind Suarez and Sturridge, them holding up the ball and him running beyond. That top 3 was terrifying on the break last year.
 
I was there supporting Blackburn.
They don't have the skill and love a game of 'passy back to keeper' or 'smack it in the air and see how it goes', but they faught hard and provided edge-of-seat entertainment.
The Rovers keeper really did nearly score 10 seconds from the final whistle. What a rush that would have been!

My favourite part was seeing Ewood full again. I haven't been to many football games in my life, but it was brilliant seeing the stadium full again *wipes tear from eye*.
I think last time I saw it this full was when my Dad (Forest fan) took me to see Rovers v Forest on 18th Nov 1995 (Googled it!) and they won 7-0.

Liverpool were average at best. They deserved to win, but given the price of the squad they should have been much better.
If the game had been against a stronger opponent they would have been ripped to shreds.

I really enjoyed the evening and never expected Blackburn to win, however this was their big game for this season and they got some TV time, as no other big games were on that day.
Bowyer said he belives the fans are backing Blackburn again, after a pathetic attendance FA cup replay against Millwall in 2013 (<9000) whereas this game had 28,400 even with some areas empty to keep the scousers from nicking anything :p.

I hope this has given the team the drive they need to get into the 2015-2016 season playoffs.
Also Burnley has best be relegated as I have never been to a Rovers v Burnley game. Brother has and said it is the best.

There's only one Jack Walker ;).
 
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