What have you been most pleased with over the last month?
I was worried that we were truly beyond the point of return with Brendan Rodgers – especially after Bournemouth – so to see a proper team having formed since then is such a huge relief. It shows that the players will still listen to him and respect his leadership; I was worried that ship had long sailed away.
One way or another, things had to change. The most satisfactory outcome for all parties was Rodgers doing that himself rather than being forced to, and so you have to give him some credit for the tweaks he’s made in making us far more solid. He (eventually) recognised that things couldn’t go on as they were, put more onus on getting bodies back where they needed to be, and we’re looking far better as a result. Imagine how that game against Manchester City would have gone two months ago – it was a different team out there on Saturday.
Wout Faes has performed beyond our expectations so far, Daniel Amartey isn’t getting exposed weekly like a dirty politician, and even Danny Ward has been a safe pair of hands in recent weeks. We’re not out of the woods yet, but there’s much more reason to believe in some light up ahead now.
Joe Brewin
The vast improvement in our overall defensive efforts – both in our organisation as well as our commitment to stopping the opposition. While we are not yet perfect in that department, we look miles better compared to where we were. This was personified in the weekend’s game against Manchester City – our defenders were well drilled throughout and closed down their space consistently through the game. You then add in the number of players throwing themselves in the way of the ball and making crucial blocks, and it’s clear why it needed a wonder goal to beat us. Saturday was arguably our biggest defensive test of the season and we came through it well.
In addition, our improvement at set-pieces is really starting to show. The panicking has now stopped, and we look a lot more assured whenever we concede a set-piece. Everyone knows their role, everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing. As a result, we look more comfortable as a side, and that is now feeding through to the fanbase as well. You then throw in that we look more threatening from attacking set-pieces and suddenly we look a lot more rounded a team again.
Quite clearly there is a long way to go, but we look like we’re becoming a harder team to play against, and some resilience is returning back to our play. Given how well we have scored goals this season, fixing our defensive issues is key to us obtaining the positive results we need. If we can keep this improvement up, it should mean we can start stringing results together and start climbing the table again.
Elliott Butlin
Defensive solidity.
No matter how you assess it, or which side of the Rodgers in/out argument you land on, three goals conceded from six games in October vs 22 from the previous seven represents an astonishing achievement and improvement.
We have looked shaky at times and have certainly rode our luck, but we are beginning to look like we know what we're doing out there – especially in terms of good old fashioned defending. The players appear to have a good understanding of what they're being asked to do, and what they're being asked to do has worked (for the most part). There is better organisation, more fight and more confidence in general, especially when defending set-pieces.
There are still obvious issues to address on the pitch, but most fans can now have confidence in a team and manager capable of finding tactical solutions and keeping clean sheets. Some would argue that this shouldn't be celebrated as an achievement, and should instead be the bare minimum for a manager earning £10m a year with a hugely talented squad...
Matt Jedruch
A return to us looking like a Premier League team. There's no point in having quality players if the team isn't doing the basics, and by basics, I mean absolute basics! Simple things like tracking runners, one player dropping in when another attacks, moving towards the ball when a corner comes in and not ending up with a 2-7-1 formation like at Spurs.
It feels like Brendan has got back on the job and is now working to remain as manager.
However, it's one thing beating the three teams around us – Everton and West Ham away are the real acid test.
Iain Wright
I think the most pleasing thing from the last six games is that we look a lot more like ourselves and seem to have sorted our defensive issues with the arrival of Wout Faes. The result at Bournemouth was probably the only disappointing thing given we took the lead, but to get four clean sheets and only concede three goals is a huge improvement.
I know Rodgers came in for some stick after the Man City game for showing a lack of ambition, but I thought his game plan was perfect and had it not been for a world class free-kick from Kevin De Bruyne, we could have kept another clean sheet. Youri Tielemans could also have scored another goal-of-the-season contender, and in the last 15 minutes we had a couple of half chances that on another day could have got us a point.
It was also nice to see Caglar Soyuncu back in the side, and hopefully with Jonny Evans and Wilfred Ndidi returning, we can pick up four points from our next two away games and things will start to look a bit more positive.
Jordan Halford
Going to games without being certain of a painful defeat has been most pleasing for me. That comes down to us now looking like we've somewhat remembered how to play football.
As a specific area on the pitch, it has to be the clean sheets and improvement in the defensive unit. Wout Faes at the heart of that opitimises everything we needed, not least just a bit of fight!
Dan Amartey also needs a shout out: written off an unbelievable amount of times by our fans, but he’s been part of steadying the ship – helped by the fact we haven’t obsessed with playing out from the back every single time. I might have to wear my Big Dan Hawaiian shirt to celebrate him against Everton.
Becky Taylor
It’s been a huge relief to me that Wout Faes is good. I have no idea how far up our list of central defensive targets he was earlier in the summer, but it’s reassuring not just from a practical, short-term perspective of getting vital points on the board. It also means our scouting department still have some aptitude following a very iffy summer transfer window in 2021.
I had a dream a few weeks ago. I guess you’d call it a nightmare actually. I dreamt that Faes was rubbish. Like, properly terrible. As in, so bad you almost wanted Jannik Vestergaard in the team instead. This was before he’d played a game for us. Then he did play a game for us and it was the first time in human history a defender making his debut has played well in a 6-2 defeat.
He’s clearly got a mistake in him, as we saw at Bournemouth, but overall he’s been excellent and exactly what we needed – a defender who can show leadership and the ability to bring the ball out from the back. He seems to have inspired confidence in those around him, too – not just Danny Ward and Amartey but the full-backs and central midfielders as well.
David Bevan
Can we say that we've actually put some points on the board? That's felt like enough to turn some fans back onto the path of optimism.
It's started to feel a little different in the last month – we aren't just making the same mistakes again and again. Our defending has looked organised and more resolute. Credit must go to our new set piece-coach, as there's been much less groaning or hiding behind fingers induced by our approach to corners. We finally look like a team who might not fall apart if the opposition do get a goal, which is big progress from the earlier games.
While we’re all prone to speculation and wondered if Rodgers still had the full support of the dressing room, if the last month is telling then the answer is still yes. Which can only be a good thing for the club. With goals coming more easily and some really good patches of play, the general mood feels lighter. We aren't fully out of the woods, as Liverpool seem happy to aid our downfall, but we’ve showed some fight. That's probably what I've enjoyed the most in October.
Helen Thompson
