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Aston Villa Surprisingly Top The Winners List

Even Matt Stanger is surprised that Aston Villa have earned top spot in his Winners & Losers. There's hope for Paul Lambert, while Liverpool have blown a golden opportunity...

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dryice says...

arexarris - It's mainly because Rodgers is a bit of knob.

Posted 5:55pm 12th March 2013

arexrarris (Liverpool) says...

cont...Rodgers has also integrated youngsters such as Wisdom, Sterling and Suso into the first team squad, made three good signings in Allen, Sturridge and Coutinho (3 out of 4 isn't bad, and Borini has been injured for 3/4 of his time anyway - Assaidi hardly counts as he's on low wages and was signed at a bargain), got the team playing even better football than they played under Dalglish, brought out the best in both Henderson and Downing, all while dramatically reducing the wage bill (and transfer fees when compared to last season) and improving Liverpool's league position. He's done a superb job so far, for me. People just seem to struggle with the fact that despite his grating way of talking, he's one hell of a manager.

Posted 8:03pm 11th March 2013

arexrarris (Liverpool) says...

How on earth are Liverpool losers for the season? Rodgers inherited a squad that had just finished 8th in the league, and weren't really even close to the top 6, or even Everton. Then 3 key attacking squad players (Maxi, Kuyt and Bellamy) wanted to leave for personal reasons (Kuyt felt he hadn't played enough under Dalglish, Maxi wanted to return to Argentina, and Bellamy wanted to try push Cardiff into the Prem), and while they helped Liverpool trim the wage bill, all that was received in terms of transfer fees was about 1 million pounds. It was never going to be prudent to sign 3 replacements, especially as attacking players for a team challenging for Europe usually cost at least 10m each. There seems to be an inherent Rodgers-bashing attitude present, where everything Liverpool do well is either expected, or just someone else doing badly, whereas anything they do badly is his fault. He correctly made the point on the weekend that when Liverpool beat Wigan and Swansea it was just attributed to the other team being bad (and F365 took a similar line over Christmas - the headline when Liverpool thumped Sunderland was 'Liverpool beat another poor team'). Similarly the win yesterday is being attributed to Spurs' mistakes. Additionally, when Liverpool fail to beat Arsenal and City (teams who came 1st and 3rd last season), Liverpool's defending errors are faulted for them not winning the games - true, but they only had a chance to win because they outplayed both sides, something that people seem to act as if it's expected - it's not, these are teams who finished out of sight of Liverpool last season.

Posted 8:03pm 11th March 2013

Triangler (Liverpool) says...

Good going. You got poor Brian McDermot sacked.

Posted 7:41pm 11th March 2013

surprisedicare says...

I came here to say "bravo" for the term synaptic efficiency; alas @ethicswideboy beat me to it, nigh on verbatim.

Posted 6:37pm 11th March 2013

Tripletaxed (Liverpool) says...

Oh come on, Stanger. Downing has been utterly pants for such a long time and it is only in the last few games he has started to come good. Most managers would never have given Downing that long to prove their investment was worth while. He also moved out Carroll and Adams but not Downing and Henderson and has given them both numerous chances to prove themselves. Downing has been better lately but certainly not the level of player needed to make them a strong CL challenger. Rodgers may talk some guff from time to time but I think he is pretty spot on with his view on several players. If he was equally as critical of his own buys, like Allen and Borini, I would be happier though. On the game - think Liverpool's pressure paid off against Tottenham. Yes some luck, but lets face it, Liverpool have been having no luck against teams above them. Also, they have a slightly easier run in, so could have a shot at Europa League.

Posted 4:14pm 11th March 2013

il_birbone says...

I think Suarez should be POTY too but it is beginning to look like a pathetic, wheedling media campaign when every 'Pool player is banging on about it.

Posted 4:05pm 11th March 2013

zedsmith (Liverpool) says...

Agree with all about the weird criticism of Rodgers about his handling of Downing. Seems to me like he has adoped different approaches depending on the player to try and get the best out of them. When Gerrard was off-form, he got the full arm-round-the-shoulder routine, which anyone who has watched Gerrard for his career will know is what gets him performing. Same goes for Reina (which seems to have worked a bit in recent games) and also Daniel Agger at times. Henderson and Downing got completely the opposite, which again seems to have worked. The only one I think you could really level criticism about forming a snap judgement is Andy Carroll...but again, his form at West Ham suggests Rodgers may have been right on that one as well.

Posted 3:48pm 11th March 2013

CulturedPeg (Dundee United) says...

"Even Matt Stanger is surprised that Aston Villa have earned top spot in his Winners & Losers." I surprised myself by chosing cornflakes for breakfast today!

Posted 3:15pm 11th March 2013

jimmythesaintuk (Liverpool) says...

Or ' Rodgers watched the same games as everyone else last year and thought Downing was c**p.' Which he was. Tell you what, dig out the 365 article that recommends keeping Downing 6 months back. Then make cleverd**k hindsight remarks.

Posted 3:00pm 11th March 2013

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