Similarities with 2000/01 season

I don’t think it’s misplaced but I also think there are differences. Rodgers is poor, but he’s not as bad as Taylor. The cracks were already appearing even during the good spell under Taylor - we were somehow winning games when playing really poorly. Think this is different - but I do think next season is a struggle.

There are issues at the club that go beyond the players and manager and have been there for a very long time. No question it’s a well run club but from a footballing perspective I would say the wrong people are running the show and not helping us

Oh Rodgers is several levels above Taylor. My worry is the momentum, or lack of, which is reminiscent of how we finished the 00/01 season - we are 15th on form over the last 10 games, with only 5 of the bottom 6 doing worse than us. I genuinely can see us starting next season just as poorly - whilst I'm sure that Top wouldn't allow us to be in a relegation battle and would make the change if necessary, I do worry that a poor start coupled with CL/EL football in a shorter season could cause a real struggle next year unless we strengthen significantly.

I don’t think it’s reminiscent of the 00/01 season. It’s more similar to the 12/13 season where we had a great first half and fell away in the second. The season after that, the squad used the disappointment as character building. Whether this squad and manager can do the same, we’ll have to see. Not sure I can see it myself unfortunately, and this is the first time I’ve felt that Rodgers might be gone before Christmas.

The 00/01 season was far more devastating, and the old team had been replaced with Championship-level dross. Whatever else these players are, they’re not Championship-level dross. There’s still plenty there to work with.

comment by The_Dungeon_Master (U4830)
posted 17 minutes ago
I don’t think it’s reminiscent of the 00/01 season. It’s more similar to the 12/13 season where we had a great first half and fell away in the second. The season after that, the squad used the disappointment as character building. Whether this squad and manager can do the same, we’ll have to see. Not sure I can see it myself unfortunately, and this is the first time I’ve felt that Rodgers might be gone before Christmas.
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Yep. Hate to say I told you so but I’ve been saying this for a looooooong time.

I think your fears are perfectly reasonable Foxello.

Right now we’re a team in relegation form, so why wouldn’t they be.

The difference this time is quality and confidence though. This is a team absolutely destroyed of any level of confidence. If we had it that game would have been won in the first half or we would have exploited Bournemouth having to play openly in the second. As soon as they equalised we crumbled.

Now, I share your worry. A couple of players leave in the summer and our recruitment is poor and we are in real danger. Real danger of things unravelling very quickly.

This summer’s activity has become absolutely crucial as to which way it goes.

Dunge; whilst I accept that this is a better team than we had in 00/01 and Rodgers is a much, much better manager that Taylor ever was, my worry is the lack of momentum and mental fragility that we would take into next season. I'm concerned that it will be very difficult to turn that around in a 6-8 week pre-season and if we start next season off in this form, we are going to be towards the bottom of the league early on.

Of course, we could use it a rocket fuel to spur us on (I had completely forgotten about the 12/13 season) but I fear it's more likely that we'll just implode even further.

Mersey; I agree. It's the way in which one error led to a capitulation that worries me. That's not down to a tactical error, that's down to weak mentality. Our two transfer windows under Rodgers and Congerton haven't, in my opinion, been good enough. The criticisms that were shared about the former by Liverpool fans and the latter by Sunderland and Celtic fans are, I fear, starting to come into fruition.