Well after today I think we can safely say the honeymoon period for Brendan Rogers is well and truly over, it's time for him to start earning his corn. I want to say before anything else I was happy with this managers appointment, still am and I am fully behind him and most definately dont want him sacked.
Just a few points I feel he has failed at since he has been here, firstly I dont think he should of allowed Andy Carroll to leave unless a replacement was already in place, if the owners made the decision then he should of stood up to them and showed some backbone, today we were crying out for a plan B and although not good enough Carroll would of been better than what we had to come off the bench. I also feel Rogers was far to hasty in getting shut of two of the best scorers we had on our books in Kuyt and Bellamy, we were also crying out for Bellamy today and he would also of made a difference with those surges into the box. The fundemental rules of footballing management is that you dont let a player leave unless you have at least the same calibre if not better coming in, and with Kuyt, Bellamy and Carroll this is not the case.
The other point I want to make is this, it is clear now after today, October was the month the top four place disapeared, the gap is now too big to breach for a Club like ours with the management, team and squad we have, we will finish between 7th and 12th this season, this for me is nailed on, even Everton who we were neck and neck with last season look well ahead of us. I think with this in mind we have to look at what we can do to salvage the season and for me it has to be some sort of cup glory if it's at all possible and for that to happen we need the manager to abandon this taking cups lightly attitude and start to field his best eleven players and stop worrying about who we play in the League at the weekend. We have now played weakend teams against Hearts, West Brom and now Udinese and not won a single game that same weekend so it's clear for all to see it has no benefit and we might as well field the full team. I did think today would be a draw if i am honest, Stoke played exactly the way I expected, there is absolutely nothing between us and Stoke and come the end of the season I fully expect Stoke to be somewhere around us League position wise.
