A quick succession of managers has not done the trick with these players... therefore it is mostly the players.
The Comoli/Dalglish transfer plan didn't help - and I think the "buy British" policy to emulate the team of the 80s was a bit naive. But we simply have had a week midfield and lacked strength in depth up front for quite a few years now. What BR is trying to do tactically just doesn't work with Downing, Henderson, etc. I'm not even sure Gerrard is suited to it in his current role. For that system you just need better players - it is a system designed around players like Xavi and Iniesta. Sterling and Suso could develop in such a system - but you can see how their inexperience limits them - and we just don't have the craft to create goals. We get nothing arriving late from midfield - and our wide players don't know how to tuck in and overlap to create a goal threat. We need better players with better game intelligence - and some genuine cover and competition for players like Gerrard, Lucas, Suarez and Agger - so they are not trying to carry the team all the time.
Thus, the key to success in the BR era is simply player investment. If we don't buy 2-3 genuinely class players to supplement what we have - we will continue to fall behind.
I agree we don't have the players to play the system and we don't have the money to buy players to play the system. The question is, should we play the system? As a manager you need to have a system which suits your players and then step by step change the players and the system especially when you don't have resources to change significantly, IMHO.
