Sunday 30 November 2014

Liverpool 1-0 Stoke: Post-Match Report

After a drab first half littered with defensive mistakes, it looked for all the world like this game would just be more of the same from Liverpool. The famous Kop were being out-sung by the spirited away fans, and the chant of “how do you watch this every week?” was a question that many reds fans were surely putting to themselves. However, a second half where the team looked much more like the title-challenging outfit of last season was enough to ensure a 1-0 victory. The winner came late on in the match courtesy of a brave header from Glen Johnson of all people.

Prior to the game, Brendan Rodgers made comments about how this game would be treated by Liverpool as the start of their season. As such, the dreary opening half an hour was somewhat anticlimactic; the team offered nothing in attack, and whilst the defence was generally solid both Glen Johnson and Kolo Toure looked uncomfortable with the ball at their feet, with the former actually getting robbed of possession in a dangerous area. The only player who did themselves proud in these opening exchanges was Lucas, who put in some strong challenges to break up the play. Things improved a little towards the end of the half – Coutinho, who up to this point had been playing poorly, began to get into the game. This had a big impact; his sublime touch and excellent acceleration was nearly enough to take him through the entire Stoke defence just before the break. As it was, the half ended scoreless: a fair reflection on a largely uninspiring first 45 minutes.

The “game of two halves” cliché is applicable to this match – the encounter changed dramatically during the second period. This was, in part, down to Raheem Sterling’s increased involvement in the game; up to this point we hadn’t really seen much from him, but his bursting runs throughout the second half caused Stoke problems. This increased attacking intensity came at a price, as it opened the game up to the extent where the visitors were able to fashion a few decent chances of their own. Mignolet made a couple of strong saves, and Sterling was required to make an off-the-line clearance from a Stoke corner. However, it was Liverpool who eventually profited from the game becoming more open – having come extremely close through Allen and Sterling, Johnson eventually got the goal in the 86th minute. Henderson’s initial ball in was met by Lambert, who’s headed effort bounced off the bar. Johnson was quickest to react, and positively threw himself at the ball in order to head it home. He took a boot to the head in doing so, but he got full reward for his bravery. Despite a succession of Stoke corners, Liverpool did manage to hold out for a much-needed victory.  

It was Johnson who was voted man of the match by fans on Twitter due to his winning goal, but for me the outstanding performer was Lucas Leiva. I was hoping that he’d play prior to the game – he has been fielded in a couple of cup matches this season and looked good (or at the very least better at providing cover than Gerrard), and he rewarded Rodgers’ decision to play him today. He was consistently solid at the back, as well as making a couple of good forward runs. He nearly got a goal, but having run into an excellent position in the box he couldn’t steer his shot past Begovic. Other good performers were Sterling – who Liverpool fans are praying is now back to his best – and Lambert, who exhibited some nice technique at times (most notably with a glorious turn in the second half) and generally held the ball up well. Kolo Toure also had a pretty strong game, staking his claim to be first-choice centre-back in the place of disappointing new signing Dejan Lovren.

If Liverpool can build some momentum on the back of this result, we could indeed be looking at the fresh start that Rodgers referenced before the game. Although it’s far too late to mount any sort of title challenge again – even at this early stage Chelsea look to have it all but wrapped up – this performance provided encouragement that the top 4 is still very much within our grasp. The more pressing matter of qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League is also looking more promising than it was; a performance against Basel like the one we put in during the second half against Stoke should be enough to get us the win and consequently the qualification.
-James Martin
Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013


Monday 24 November 2014

Crystal Palace 3-1 Liverpool: Post-Match Thoughts

When the fixture list was released earlier this year, Liverpool fans were quick to notice the twist of fate that saw us host Chelsea and then head to Selhurst Park for the next game – with memories of last season’s capitulation fresh in most fans’ minds, this pair of games seemed the perfect opportunity to exact some sort of revenge upon the teams who cost us our first Premier League title. However, far from looking fired up with determination to make the two London clubs pay, consecutive poor performances meant we failed to take a single point from either game. Sadly, these lacklustre showings are hardly an anomaly: Liverpool now find themselves just four points off the relegation zone, having accrued a measly 14 points from 12 games. This shocking run of form is showing no signs of abating – on the contrary, the club are now on a four game loss streak. Consequently, Brendan Rodgers’s future at the club is starting to come into question.

The only sign of improvement in recent weeks is that the quick start that was such a feature of Liverpool’s play last season has shown itself once more. Against Chelsea it was Can who put us into an early lead; at Selhurst Park it was Lambert who fired home after a glorious pass from Adam Lallana. Sadly a football match lasts longer than 10 minutes, and Liverpool’s defensive weaknesses were soon exploited. Seventeen minutes in, as if the sense of déjà vu wasn’t strong enough already, Dwight Gayle tucked the ball into the net to draw the hosts level.

An hour of very little action followed this – the tendency of the reds last season to spring rapid attacks and win the game early is gone, but what we are witnessing is by no means the ‘total football’ that Rodgers said he would bring to the club either. This terrible hybrid takes the worst elements from the two philosophies: our side now has a lack of incision that one might associate with the so-called death by football approach, but has a hugely exposed defence that is common in a team who likes to quickly throw men forward. This failure to create a clear team identity is Rodgers’s main problem. He should either have stuck to his guns and instilled the passing game as Liverpool’s default, or totally changed tack and built the team around pacey bursts forward. His claims of pragmatism are unfounded; indecision would be more accurate.

Another of his key problems is his failure to bring in any good defenders during the transfer window (coupled with his stubborn refusal to get a defensive coach in). Yannick Bolasie is a relatively good player, but Dejan Lovren managed to make him look like an amalgamation of Ronaldo, Messi and Maradona. It was Lovren who was at fault for the second goal; Bolasie flicked it over the Croatian’s head with ease, dumbfounding him to the extent that he fell to the floor. Unchallenged, Bolasie then pulled the ball into the area – Joe Ledley was on hand to slide it past Mignolet. Some fans have said that Mignolet could have done better with it. Whilst this may be true, I feel that the Belgian keeper has been used as a scapegoat throughout this season; his defence are hardly giving him any protection, and he has pulled off some good saves to keep us in games. Admittedly he has very little presence in the box and often fails to claim aerial balls that he should be collecting, but he is by no means the root of the problem.

Nobody could blame Mignolet for the third Palace goal, which was an absolute peach of a free kick from Mile Jedinak. The alleged foul by Martin Skrtel on Dwight Gayle was dubious seeing as they were holding on to each other’s shirts, but by this stage most fans were beyond caring. Jedinak took full advantage of the referee’s decision by curling the free kick beautifully around the wall and into the top corner. This capped yet another bad day at the office for LFC, who now sit perilously close to the relegation zone.


This is even more shocking when you consider the title challenge that Liverpool mounted last season. It seems a world apart from the repeatedly awful performances we are currently witnessing from our team, and the rapidity of the downfall is truly astounding. Whilst it can partially be attributed to the sale of Luis Suarez and partly to the lengthy absence of Daniel Sturridge through injury, a lot of the blame has to fall on Rodgers’s shoulders. A deadly combination of poor judgement followed by stubbornness has led to a series of shambolic performances from a team vastly inferior to the one we had last year, and if Rodgers can’t find a way to turn this around soon then he surely has to go.
-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Saturday 8 November 2014

Liverpool 1-2 Chelsea: Bad Play, Bad Ref, Bad Result

Having managed to prevent European giants Real Madrid from scoring more than one goal in midweek, Liverpool fans went into the game against Chelsea with a fair amount of confidence. Chelsea came into the game unbeaten this season, but there was some optimism that we could perhaps break this run, or at least take a point away from the match. Unfortunately the majority of stand-out performers from midweek were left out of the starting eleven, and we were consequently treated to another terribly mediocre performance. Chelsea played much better than us and created more chances: on balance, they certainly deserved to win. However, we would probably have snatched a draw had it not been for the failure of the referee to miss a blatant Cahill handball in the box just minutes from time.

The team made a promising start. Mario Balotelli was making some good runs in behind the defence for once, and although he was getting caught offside too often he was definitely causing the Chelsea defenders some problems. They looked uncomfortable whenever a Liverpool player ran at them; the direct style of Coutinho and Sterling carved open gaps in the blues’ back line. It was this positivity that resulted in the reds taking the lead after 9 minutes – Emre Can was not closed down, and his ferocious drive deflected off Gary Cahill and into the net past a helpless Courtois. Sadly, the lead didn’t last long. Chelsea won a corner, and what happened next was totally predictable. Despite outnumbering the Chelsea players in the box by two to one, the hapless defending led to a failure to get the ball away. Mignolet was forced into a good stop from a Terry header, but the ball came out to Matic. There was a hint of handball about his layoff to Cahill, but it looked accidental. The centre-back then smashed the ball goalwards, and despite Mignolet’s best efforts the ball was adjudged to have crossed the line by Hawkeye technology.

There was a brief period after the equaliser where the game really opened up. Liverpool were absorbing a lot of pressure, but they were also springing dangerous looking counter attacks. Balotelli even managed to get the ball in the back of the net with a tidy finish past Courtois, but he was just offside. By the half hour mark, this Liverpool threat seemed to have faded somewhat. It became an exercise in defending, and past experience should have served as a warning that this could never end well. Whilst we managed to keep Chelsea from taking the lead for the rest of the first half, it was really only a matter of time. It took until the 67th minute, but Mourinho’s men did finally take the lead. Like the first there was a touch of controversy about the goal – Azpilicueta took the ball round Coutinho, but looked to have run it off the pitch in the process. Replays were inconclusive, but it looked like a fraction of the ball hadn’t crossed the line. His subsequent drilled cross was parried away by Mignolet, but it fell to Costa. He made no mistake with the finish.

Despite bringing on Allen, Borini and Lambert, Rodgers had no success whatsoever in changing the tide of the game. Although we were the trailing side there was a complete lack of urgency and intensity, and we frankly didn’t deserve a goal. However, into added time, Liverpool worked their way into quite a threatening position. The ball came out to Gerrard on the edge of the box, and he aimed to roll back the years with an extremely powerful effort. It may have been heading for the corner or going just wide, but we never got the chance to find out; Gary Cahill lent into the ball with his arm. It was pretty blatant: Steven Gerrard certainly thought so, clearly incensed at the referee’s choice to wave away the penalty claim. This was the last incident of note, and Chelsea comfortably weathered a late period of weak pressure to finish the game 2-1 victors.

We can rightly point to the referee as the reason we didn’t get a point – had Anthony Taylor seen the handball, we would most likely have scored the subsequent penalty and got the draw. However, it would have been undeserved; factors other than the referee have to be considered to get to the root of why we put in such a lacklustre performance. Rodgers has some serious questions to answer: why, for example, was Kolo Toure left out? He certainly earned a place based on his performance at the Bernebau, and his leadership and experience would surely have been invaluable against Chelsea. However, 20 million pound signing Dejan Lovren was preferred; it’s fair to say that he and Skrtel were quite poor throughout. Rodgers’s assertion that we don’t need a defensive coach also has to be questioned. At the corner which led to the first goal, the two centre backs were seemingly marking each other on the edge of the box. With only four Chelsea players up for the corner and eight Liverpool players in their own box, there is no way we should be conceding.

This stubbornness in our manager is extremely worrying. Last season it was ‘assuredness’ which was ‘great to see in such a young manager’ – it’s all well and good when we’re getting the results, but his refusal to change the formation and personnel is costing us dearly at the moment. He is blindly standing by his summer signings to the detriment of the team, and unless he swallows his pride soon then our results will continue to be disappointing. We now find ourselves in a position where we could well be in the bottom half of the table by Monday, and unless Rodgers bucks up his ideas then we might even end up in the wrong half of the table come the end of the season. This is admittedly a worst-case scenario, but hopes of the top 4 are definitely fading rapidly.
-James Martin
Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013




Thursday 6 November 2014

The Italian Job: Borini or Balotelli?

When Liverpool signed Balotelli this summer, there was general hysteria amongst fans. There is no doubt that he is a world class player on his day, and Rodgers is known for being a good man manager – despite the controversy the Italian seems to take with him wherever he goes, everyone was very happy to see him sign. He hasn’t caused any disruption so far in his short LFC career; in fact, he’s yet to make much of an impact of any kind. One man who can surely sympathise with his plight is fellow countryman Fabio Borini: he too signed for a reasonable price from quite a big club, and he has also struggled to shine since arriving at Anfield. However, he impressed on loan at Sunderland last year and refused to be sold in the summer. This sheer determination to succeed at Liverpool is slowly starting to pay off, with Rodgers playing him for the full 90 minutes in our midweek clash against Real Madrid. Is this healthy attitude alone enough to earn him a place in the regular starting eleven, or should Balotelli be given more time to show his class?

Whilst parallels can certainly be drawn between the signings of Borini and Balotelli, there’s no doubt that they are very different players. Borini is all about his work rate; he will chase down every ball, close down every defender and cover every inch of grass for the club time and time again. This makes him well suited to Liverpool’s pressing style, as his tireless efforts to win the ball high up the field can lead to chances being created. Balotelli, on the other hand, is less of a workhorse and more of a show pony. He has immense talent and can score some truly wonderful goals, but he is somewhat lacking in terms of the running he puts in. To be fair, he has worked harder for Liverpool than he has done at previous clubs; he now deigns to mark someone at corners, and his off the ball movement is excellent at times. It is also true that a large factor in his failure so far has been the fact that he has been functioning as a lone striker: this has left him isolated. Even so, his work ethic can certainly be questioned.

In an ideal world, we would have a striker who is both extremely motivated and extremely talented. We had that in Luis Suarez – he was hungry (sorry, not sorry) to succeed whenever he pulled on the Liverpool shirt, and he did some truly magical things out on the pitch. However, Suarez is gone. We have to work with what we’ve got, and we essentially face a straight choice between pure work rate and pure talent. Sturridge is our best player and is therefore nailed on as a starter whenever he is fit; the question is who should partner him. The case can certainly be made for Borini: his eagerness to continually make runs provides someone for Sturridge to link up with, and could lead to a prolific partnership. The only question mark lies over his finishing. Borini’s raw ability is not amazing – whilst he occasionally produces something nice (his assist for Balotelli against Swansea recently was good), he does have a tendency to get into a good position and then waste it. Seeing good chances go to waste is infuriating for both the fans and the team, and is the major factor that works against Borini in his quest for regular first team action.

At least we are guaranteed to make chances regularly with Borini up front. When Balotelli plays, there is no such assurance. There are times when he remains stationary instead of making a run or positively coming for the ball, and this can break up the fluidity that was such a trademark of our play last season. That said, it is hard to make a fair judgement until we see Balotelli and Sturridge get an extended amount of game time together. Balotelli had only just come through the door when Sturridge got sidelined, so consequently we’ve only really seen him function on his own up front. If he clicks with Sturridge, then the chances will surely come. Balotelli’s natural talent then becomes an important factor – he is certainly capable of taking his chances.

In conclusion, whilst Borini has done well to play his way into consideration for the first team through pure hard work and determination, Balotelli definitely deserves a chance up top with Daniel Sturridge before we decide to write him off. Although he may not be as hardworking as Borini, his superior talent means that the goals will surely come if he can establish a strong partnership with Sturridge. That said, if Balotelli continues to struggle even after the return of Sturridge, Borini has shown himself to be a perfectly adequate option.
-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Wednesday 5 November 2014

Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool: Post-Match Thoughts


Having predicted a scoreline of 5-1 Real Madrid prior to the match, I’m coming out of this game feeling extremely positive. We played very well for the majority of the game, made hardly any defensive errors (yep, you read that correctly) and managed to prevent Madrid from scoring two goals or more in a match for the first time since mid-September. We even managed to create a few promising attacks of our own, and although Casillas wasn’t tested very much at all we were at least working good chances. The only real negative is the fairly major one that we lost the game, but the performance was certainly encouraging.

The headline news in the lead-up to the game was that Brendan Rodgers had selected a second string team to face the reigning European champions. Balotelli, Coutinho, Sterling, Gerrard and Henderson all found themselves on the bench, with Lovren not even making the matchday squad. Many fans were up in arms about this, with the ‘Rodgers Out’ crowd on Twitter becoming more vociferous than ever before. However, Brendan had the last laugh. All of the players he selected were hungry to prove themselves and earn a permanent place in the first team, and consequently they worked exceptionally hard. Borini chased down every ball, Emre Can and Lucas seemed to be in the right place to make a tackle whenever Real came at us and Kolo Toure had the game of his life. Lazar Markovic also showed some promising signs, and even Skrtel looked more solid than usual. Despite going behind after 26 minutes through a Benzema goal, there was no point where the game looked beyond us. This is a testament to our performance; we arguably deserved a draw against one of the best teams in the world.

The statistics, predictably, were very much in favour of Real. They had more possession and lots more shots – a team of their calibre playing at home nearly always dominate the game, so this was unsurprising. Mignolet was called into action a lot, and he rose to the challenge magnificently. He had one of his best games in a Liverpool shirt, showing confidence when coming for the ball and making some excellent saves. Our chances came through playing Madrid at their own game: we staged multiple rapid counter-attacks, with Markovic utilising the frequency with which Marcelo was out of position. The final ball was never quite there, but there were definitely dangerous moments. There were two instances where decent crosses would surely have resulted in a goal, and Lallana fashioned a decent chance for himself which he put just wide of the far post. The pattern of absorbing pressure well then springing counter attacks continued right until the end of the match; we never looked totally out of it.

Whilst this stellar performance certainly vindicated Rodgers, it has also caused him some problems for Saturday’s game against Chelsea. If he plays the same team that he fielded against Madrid, questions will have to be asked if we get anything other than a victory. Obviously playing Chelsea is an extremely tough game, but it is winnable; as such, if Rodgers benches his star players again then fails to get a result, he will have to take some blame. On the other hand, the so-called reserves made such a good account of themselves that it seems harsh to drop them – the Real game was one of our best performances of the season. Personally, I would go for a happy medium. Toure should definitely retain his spot in defence, as he was solid throughout and arguably our man of the match. Can should also start – he was excellent, and deserves a run in the starting eleven. However, I would start Borini, Markovic and Lucas on the bench: whilst they all had fairly good games, none of them were good enough to keep Balotelli, Sterling and Henderson out of the team for such a big game. That said, if Rodgers did name an unchanged side then he couldn’t be blamed.

In conclusion, this is the most positive I’ve ever felt after a Liverpool defeat. We played with pride, and Real didn’t completely outclass us. We retained our goal threat until the final whistle, and never let the Spanish giants relax. Our defence was also uncharacteristically good, aside from an error apiece for Skrtel and Lucas. If we can maintain that level of performance against Chelsea at the weekend, we have a good chance of getting a result.

-James Martin

Monday 3 November 2014

Real Madrid vs Liverpool: Preview

This Tuesday, Liverpool face Champions League holders Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. Since their 3-0 battering in the reverse fixture, the reds have drawn 0-0 with Hull, edged past Swansea in the League Cup and lost 1-0 to a depressingly average Newcastle side. Even if we were in our scintillating form of last season it would be tough to get any sort of result away to the Spanish giants – in this sort of form, it is extremely hard to see anything other than a thrashing.

As if things weren’t hard enough for us already when Real came to Anfield, Gareth Bale is expected to return to the side for this game. This means that our defence – currently one of the worst in the league – will be up against a front three of Ronaldo, Benzema and Bale. On top of this, Real don’t have a clash with Barcelona around the corner this time out; it is Liverpool with the big fixture ahead (against Chelsea). Due to this, they won’t show mercy and ease up like they did last time, meaning that we could be in for a huge score. There is even a worry that irony could deal up a cruel scenario whereby Madrid break our record of the biggest ever Champions League margin of victory. Liverpool will surely be hopeful of stopping ‘Los Blancos’ from scoring more than eight times, but the very fact that it has to be entertained as a possibility shows just how bleak the situation is.
 
We can’t even rely on the goals of Daniel Sturridge to help us out. He is still sidelined, having been out of action ever since the 3-0 win over Tottenham. It is no coincidence that this game was our last convincing performance; his movement and excellent combination with Raheem Sterling bring a fluidity to our attack that has been severely lacking in recent weeks. It will come down to Mario Balotelli to score in this game, and if the last few games are anything to go by then that seems unlikely. He isn’t playing particularly badly; whilst he’s missed a few chances that he should probably have taken, the main problem is the lack of service he is receiving. Brendan Rodgers is stubbornly continuing to play Balotelli as a lone striker, and as such is failing to get anywhere near the best out of him. If Rodgers refuses to play the diamond when up against Newcastle, it seems unlikely that he’ll be prepared to take the risk away to Real Madrid. If Sterling was played up front with Balotelli, we might be able to score early on, unsettle the hosts and possibly even snatch a point from the match. As it is we’ll probably attempt to apply some early pressure, make a couple of half-chances but fail to take them and then get ripped apart by the sheer quality of Real.

The one thing that works in Liverpool’s favour is that they have absolutely no expectation on them whatsoever. As an ardent LFC fan, I tend to be optimistic going into games. Even I have written us off for this one. This feeling is surely shared by the players from both sides, and it could have an effect. For Liverpool, it will hopefully allow them to play with total freedom; there’s nothing to lose, so they can just go out there and try to emulate the lovely football that they created last season. For Real, it could lead to complacency. Modric has already come out and said that the team were “saving energy” in their last game against the reds. This attitude might lead to mistakes, which if Liverpool manage to capitalise on could lead to a shock result.

I don’t think that we’ll put in a performance as poor as the one against Newcastle. If there is one thing guaranteed to get a team fired up, it’s a game against one of the biggest teams in the world. I am hopeful that Liverpool can make a good account of themselves, and finish the game with their pride intact. However, whilst there is a remote chance that Real will pay the price for underestimating us, I personally can’t see us getting a result. My final score prediction is 5-1 to Real Madrid.
-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Saturday 1 November 2014

Newcastle 1-0 Liverpool: Discontent Grows as Reds Slip to Defeat

For the last few weeks, Liverpool have been nowhere near their scintillating form of last season. At first the excuse was that the new players needed time to gel to with the team, and that we were still adapting. We are now 10 games in, and the finger is pointing in a much more worrying direction: Brendan Rodgers. His stubborn refusal to switch the formation and put someone up front to partner Balotelli has led to woeful performances and lots of dropped points. It was the same story today, as Liverpool lost 1-0 to an average Newcastle side.

The performance was sadly one we have become very much used to this season. It was lacklustre, uninspired and frankly poor. Nobody could create any chances – Sterling was wasted out wide, Coutinho was far from his best and Balotelli was horribly isolated. These problems would have been addressed by putting Sterling up front with Balotelli, but Rodgers opted to stick with the 4-3-3. Fortunately Newcastle were putting in a fairly poor shift as well, or things could have got very embarrassing. One of the dullest first halves of football Liverpool fans have witnessed for a long time ended goalless, and this scoreline flattered the reds.

The second half saw a slight improvement in quality, and it looked for a while like Liverpool might be able to take all three points away from St. James’s Park. Steven Gerrard’s inclusion in a midfield three (alongside Henderson and Allen) gave him licence to push up the field, and he rolled back the years with some good passes from advanced positions. That said, no clear cut chances were being created; the only genuine test of Krul was a close-range header from Coutinho, which was incorrectly called back for offside anyway. The referee had a poor game, and both Janmaat and Sissoko were lucky not to see red. As it was the magpies were allowed to carry on with a full compliment of 11 men, and there was an awful inevitability about their goal in the 73rd minute. A failure to clear the ball from Moreno allowed Ayoze Perez the opportunity to nip in and smash the ball past a helpless Mignolet, giving the hosts the lead.

Any hopes of Liverpool being fired up by going behind quickly faded. By contrast, they had looked much more of a threat prior to conceding. It was Newcastle who played the better football for the last 15 minutes, and it would have finished 2 or 3 nil had it not been for some excellent saves from Simon Mignolet. The introduction of Lambert had absolutely no effect, throwing into question whether he was really worth buying as a ‘Plan B’. The game ended 1-0 to Newcastle, and Liverpool now find themselves 12 points adrift of leaders Chelsea.

Unless these performances can improve rapidly, we can wave goodbye to hopes of a top 4 spot, let alone another push for the title. The return of Daniel Sturridge towards the end of the month will definitely be a help to us, but certainly doesn’t solve the core issue of defensive frailty. Brendan Rodgers opted to spend a sizeable proportion of the money from the sale of Luis Suarez on Dejan Lovren: this is a very painful thought. Suarez was one of the best players in the world, whilst Lovren is an utter liability. A defensive pairing of him and Skrtel is laughable, and Rodgers’s continued insistence that we don’t need a defensive coach brought in is worrying indeed. The first step to curing any problem is acceptance that the problem exists, and until Rodgers does that we’re in big trouble.
-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013