Why do you think the manager didn’t try to change anything last night?

cooprfc said:
He didn't do nothing though. That's just a lie.

He went to a flatter three in the midfield which didn't work, fine. But let's not pretend he just stood and watched the game.
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Come on mate.

Aribo naturally dropped back as you would expect as Killie piled pressure on us.

Gerrard stood like a fu.cking idiot as the game slipped away.

Last night was on him.
 
You could see Very early on last night we were struggling to create chances. Apart from the goal , Don’t think their keeper had much else to do. Its been the same story in recent weeks , yet he insists on the same tactics , and then seems surprised when it doesn’t work. he then panics and makes changes about 80 mins into the game , when it’s too late to change.
 
We only have one tactic and teams have started to suss it. They’re quite willing to let us have the ball out wide and will let us cross it as we usually only have Morelos in the box. We really should be able to mix our formations up but we’ve played the exact same way for 18 months.
 
I've got no Idea. I think there's many things he could be inexperienced at in management, however I don't believe with his playing experience he can't see what's happening in a game. How is that possible.
 
Bigbluebear said:
The only change we had really to help us gain control of the game was Davis to come on.

Flanagan? Nope
Edmundson? Nope
Jones? Maybe
Kamberi? Nope
Stewart? Maybe

Davis has also been tripe for weeks.
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I thought even just the fresh legs might have helped. Hagi looked like he had ran out of steam in the second half and Jack was playing his first game in weeks. He couldn’t have been fully match fit.
 
Bigbluebear said:
The only change we had really to help us gain control of the game was Davis to come on.

Flanagan? Nope
Edmundson? Nope
Jones? Maybe
Kamberi? Nope
Stewart? Maybe

Davis has also been tripe for weeks.
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He is not the only one who has been tripe for weeks, and a tripe Davis is still way better than most of the rest of the team.
 
I honestly believe it is because he doesn’t know how. This has infuriated me since day one of his tenure. I dont know of any other manager who is so motionless on the touchline throughout matches. I don’t want animation for the sake of it, or the almost comedic style of Martin O’Neill or Klopp, but I did think at the very least Gerrard would be roaring encouragement, or berating players from the sidelines When he became our manager.

games where we have been ahead at Pittodrie, Tynecastle, rugby park-especially when the performance wasn’t exactly free flowing wonderful football, just be wise enough to shut up shop, and get on that bus back down the road with the 3 points.
the evidence is there that he has an inability to change it when we are winning or when we are losing.

It is difficult for everyone to say it because he has so much credit in the bank for the improvements he has made on and off the park at Ibrox, but I think it is there for all to see that with the money we have spent in the squad and indeed giving him all of the off the field improvements at the training ground, and Ibrox and in his back room team, that we should be expecting a whole load better.
 
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He doesn't trust his bench.
I know subs are different, but remember he rotated a lot last season and it came back to haunt him.
I think he's still stinging from that.
 
I've just never ever believed in having one striker up front in my 40 years of watching football and playing in about 20 years either. It's utter crap! First form of defence should be attack! Gerrard looks shit scared to think like this and wants to defend first. Killie switched to 2 up front for second half,look how they changed,took the game to us. And the scum have even switched to 2 up front now and been destroying teams. It's time to get real and play 2 up!!
 
SOB-WATP said:
Come on mate.

Aribo naturally dropped back as you would expect as Killie piled pressure on us.

Gerrard stood like a fu.cking idiot as the game slipped away.

Last night was on him.
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No he moved Aribo back.

Whether last night is on him or not is one thing but he did attempt a change. You can't just ignore it.
 
He hopes we can hang on to slender leads even when the team is blowing out their arse.

He’s scared to change it incase it goes wrong. What I can’t understand is - why can’t Beale /Gary Mac advise ? Are they all blind ?
 
Despite watching the same movie for the last season and a half, SG thinks that by doing nothing the result will somehow turn out differently. He may be a “rookie” manager (how much longer can he rely on that excuse?) but he’s spent a lifetime in the game and the fact that he seems totally unable to spot what is bleeding obvious to the rest of us during a match is deeply concerning and makes me seriously doubt that he has what it takes to be a successful manager.
 
Sutton_Blows_goats said:
They over ran us in midfield and it won them the game
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im not saying he is a world beater but in some games, away games mostly id have mccrorie sitting in the middle. Remember the old firm game where he won every arial battle, we need that physical dominance at times as we seem so weak there.

Let him win the ball, dominate the middle and pass the ball to the play makers. I dont get why we used coulibaly over him last season and i dont get why he doesnt get a sniff
 
cooprfc said:
Well you weren't watching the game then.

Aribo dropped in to make a flat three. So it's not much different than what you suggested just different personnel.

Didn't work.

But then maybe it would if the ref was consistent.
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There needed to be a more significant change than that.

Personally I would have sacrificed Kent who was offering very little again and thrown on Davis to give us a four man midfield thereby counteracting Kilmarnock’s advantage then pushed Hagi up to play just off Alfie. It’s a system we’ve played before so shouldn’t have been too alien for the players.

I think Gerrard looked at his bench though and didn’t see anyone, Davis apart, that he felt could change the game for us.

I think he feels Morelos and Kent are always capable of producing a goal out of nothing that he probably won’t get from Kamberi or Jones. Arfield had just scored two long range crackers so was worth keeping on instead of Stewart.

This is where our lack of quality options are exposed.
 
Ego. An absolutely massive ego.

And I’m not criticising it. You don’t achieve what he’s achieved without being good and knowing it.

But - it doesn’t work as a manager if it stops you making quite obviously needed changes.
 
Management team need to learn that in this league away from home you cannot or will not be allowed to play silky passing football

At 1-0 up with 13 mins left we had to go 4-5-1 and try and kill the game

They need to learn from this mistake and if we are winning then change formation and win ugly
 
substitutions are not his strong point
lack of belief in his bench
he is over cautious..
The 2 nd half display was woeful and yet we sat back watched it unfold and were clueless to change it, not good
 
He thinks to much as a player rather than a manager. He said as much on Jamie carragher podcast. When asked about a substitution of someone who was having a nightmare, he said he’d rather wait till 55 mins to replace them so not embarrass/upset them. Could be this that clouds his judgement.
I hope he stays and learns from his mistakes.
 
Lack of knowledge and experience, perhaps a little fear in case it goes wrong

Everyone in the stadium could see the obvious subs to be made around the 60minute mark, not for the first, and nothing happens, yet again.
 
Michael Mols said:
It was painfully obvious that they had lost their way in the second half. I doubt anyone was surprised when Killie equalised. Why didn’t he try to shore up the midfield or tighten the defence?


Did he think things weren’t that bad? Is he scared of making a sub incase it upsets the balance? Does he just not trust the bench?

I can’t get my head around it at all.
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Up until recently (possibly still) we had scored more goals than any team in the last 10 minutes.

Maybe he thought we'd pull it out the bag.

Big risk which ultimately failed
 
Number Six said:
Davis should have come on for Kent, Aribo or Hagi to get control of the game back

Simple as that
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Correct.

Back to a 4-5-1, regain control of the midfield and you regain control of the game.

Hagi as a right winger is an absolutely dreadful tactical shout from the management team.
 
I have no idea but Manager after Manager has done the same and not used their subs properly
 
trueblue77 said:
We invite this situation on ourselves by hogging the ball with no purpose and without risk. We need to be more direct, quicker and unpredictable, otherwise It’s a leveller for poor players.
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We do play side to side a lot. We also shoehorn players into roles they aren't suited to. I'd argue of our front 3 only Morelos is playing in his natural position. And it shows as he runs around taking on entire back lines and getting frustrated.

I think this is our main issue. We have decided upon a formation because we had a good run using it but it's started to unravel with Aribo (midfielder) playing as a right sided forward. Hagi getting pushed out to the wing. Kent playing as an inside forward. We didn't sign players to play this way. We have 2 fit strikers on the books but play 3 up front and only one a real striker.

Mane Salah Firmino

One a goalscorer, one rapid, the other with both fight and craft. Crucially, all are strikers and contribute heavily to the goals.

Kent Morelos Aribo

One a winger, one a midfielder and one a proper striker.

If we are playing like Liverpool light then at least play 3 forwards. If we don't have the personnel then change the formation.

Morelos Kamberi

Hagi

I'd prefer this. Two real strikers, both with good movement and a playmaker central behind them
 
CaptainCourageous said:
Did Aribo not take a knock and we were waiting to see how he was?

When does Gerrard ever make an early change or tweak the formation. You could see from 55 minutes in we were struggling, there were shouts for change in the match thread yet Gerrard waited another 22 minutes.
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This is where a leader on the park is needed - somebody not afraid to tell SG its not working. who that is I dont know.
 
maybe we should have one of these TIFO things ready so once everyone in the ground realises we need a change we could hold it up to let him know. :p
 
trueblue77 said:
We invite this situation on ourselves by hogging the ball with no purpose and without risk. We need to be more direct, quicker and unpredictable, otherwise It’s a leveller for poor players.
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Totally agree - we seem to be slaves to possession at times. Early in the season we seemed more relentless at getting right back on the attack if a move broke down. Now we seem to nurse the ball aimlessly around the team before gradually thinking about attacking. By that time the opposition are all back in position.
 
Aye-Ready said:
Surely this can't be true though. I am just a basic football fan of 35 years and have my level 1&2 for youth coaching and I knew that the game needed managed at that point. In fact most people around me In the Chadwick last night were shouting the same thing from a 65-70 mins. It was the most obvious thing in the world. Davis on to shore up middle, put foot on ball and Hagi off would have been my first change.
I'm not sure what his thinking was, but I don't believe he never identified there was an issue and didn't have an idea how to combat it had he decided to use it.
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Hard to disagree
 
Truth is he doesn’t trust the players on the bench to do a better job than the starting 11. That’s Gerrard’s fault as the recruitment hasn’t been good enough. The reality is we’ve got possibly only 13 or 14 players up to the task - the starting XI from Weds plus Borna, Defoe, Kamara and the big Swede. The guys Gerrard has brought in to bulk up the squad, Barker, Ojo, Jones, Flanagan etc simply aren’t good enough.

To illustrate the substitution point, the Killie game on Boxing Day, Alfie was on the bench and replaced Defoe on 58 mins at 0-0. So SG will change it if he feels the change will improve things
 
I am sure I have heard the gaffer saying it takes a player 10 minutes or so to get into a game, so I assume he prefers to go with what he has when we are ahead or it could be seen as man down for that time.
I don’t agree with that and I was screaming for a change 10 minutes into the second half. Not sure why Davis wasn’t brought on at all during the game and possibly carrying a niggle.
We are just too soft for the hammer throwers in Scotland. Even defending corners on Wednesday we had Tav picking up one of their big guys as the only tall players we had who can attempt to defend are the two centre halves.
As Souness once said, you need to earn the right to play...
 
Inexperience , indecisiveness and hoping the ones on the park can sort it .

Will make or break him as a manager how he reacts and as he gains experience he will realise he needs to influence games more by making subs and tactical changes .

Look at Advicaat as an example of a manager who will happily make a substitution after just 20 minutes of a game if he sees something not working out the way he wants .
 
Despite all the permutations of what he could have or should have done the bottom line is mentally too many players cant handle the pressure it seems, so it wont matter what formation we come up with we still wilt.
 
I think Gerrard is scared to change things incase it gets worse. Things might look bad but if he makes subs and it gets worse and we lose the game it's his fault, if things stay the same and we lose the game then it's still his fault, but there's slightly less risk of that happening.

And as a player he wouldn't have liked being took off and definitely not too early, luckily it rarely happened to him but I believe this is the main reason for his poor subs.
 
I think he trusts the players that he pick too much . He knows they have ability but he needs to make sure of the points first .
 
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