Should Leicester City sack Brendan Rodgers?
It's a yes from me. Everything about the club feels stale at the moment and I'm not sure he can turn it around or wants to be here enough to turn it around. There's just nothing about us to get excited about at the minute. We need some new ideas.
When he first arrived we were so exciting to watch, playing some of the best football I think we've ever seen at Filbert Way. We are a shadow of that team now, even with essentially the same group of players. We have been in decline for the last 18 to 24 months and Brendan has done nothing to fix the issues that have plagued us throughout that time, notably the set piece defending and mental fragilities.
Couple that with some questionable and quite frankly bizarre post-match comments that are all about protecting himself and his own reputation and I'm done, it's time for him to move on.
Chloe Dexter
Yes, but I think the problems are probably deeper than that. We have become the inefficiency in the league that can be picked off by teams who work smarter.
Look at all the teams scoring goals from clever set piece routines, or using clever recruitment to find players. We've been lazy and we're getting found out. If and when we do sack Rodgers, there's obviously no succession plan and I have no idea who'd even be a target.
My feeling is Vichai would have sacked Rodgers six months ago. I don't know if Top has anything like the overarching view and ruthlessness to do it and replace him properly.
James Knight
My immediate risk-averse answer is no but it isn't necessarily for the right reasons. The money it would cost us to sack him would further hinder the financial state which is sounding more fragile each week.
But ignoring the finances, there are few arguments in Rodgers' favour outside of ‘could we actually do better?’ Could we entice a young and exciting manager if there's more to the unrest than just money? Based on how I felt leaving the King Power though, my gut says there won't be anything changing at all if Rodgers remains in situ so I'm leaning to yes. But I don't envy Top in making this decision.
I can sympathise with Brendan about how frustrating it must be to spend a summer with a set plan of who you're signing and when. Then personally speaking to players about said plan only to be told after the fact that you may as well tear it up because oops, there's no financial means to execute the plan.
However, and this is where I don't think I will be alone, it is impossible to sympathise with Brendan when his post-match interviews so rarely sound honest and ever include him taking any responsibility for the mistakes and mentality loop that we're stuck in. No team who goes 1-0 up should look immediately panicked over how to retain said lead. And when it's basics we keep on failing at, it's becoming unforgivable. On paper, we're an underachieving team right now and that blame surely only lies with the manager either having lost the faith of his dressing room or in naive tactical decisions and substitutions.
Helen Nutter
Yes. I think we should have last season to be honest. We've been as predictable to play against as Rodgers' interviews for far too long.
He's the best manager on paper we could have, but his mentality about us stinks. The downplaying of us as a club, the stubbornness, the covering his back at all costs. I'm over it.
The argument from anyone who says no to this question is often 'but who do you get in?' and that is simply irrelevant. Everything is stale and that all starts with him. It desperately needs a refresh and a big one.
Becky Taylor
Yes. The Rodgers era has gone stale, and the club is in desperate need of fresh ideas and a new philosophy at the top.
I do have some sympathy with Rodgers and his team, who will have expected an opportunity to turn some of the squad over this summer to push the club forward. However, there are now very clear disparities between Rodgers, the fans, and, most importantly, his players.
Jonny Evans sent a clear message after Saturday's game when he disagreed with Rodgers' comment about 'players not taking the ball in pressure areas'. Is there a possibility that some members of the squad are growing frustrated at a manager who refuses to acknowledge his own mistakes and constantly downplays the quality of the squad?
Rodgers has delivered some brilliant moments as Leicester manager, and fans should be grateful for what has been an indisputably successful tenure. The issue is that he has evidently taken this group of players as far as he can, and both his tactics and comments are consistently hanging them out to dry. Judging by his recent post-match interviews, he is either severely misreading the situation, or he is determined to preserve his reputation...
Matt Jedruch
It’s been more than a decade since Arsene Wenger coined the phrase ‘sterile domination’ after watching his Arsenal side struggle to recover the ball from a Barcelona team that bossed possession without posing a goal threat. I’ve lost count of the number of times that phrase has come to mind over the past year or two watching Leicester City under Brendan Rodgers.
We need a strong identity to compete and the only one we have at the moment is as the Scrappy Doo of the Premier League - the team whose forehead you can stick a thumb on for an hour before sending them tumbling with your fingertip.
Despite his undoubted success, Rodgers has never really built up a proper rapport with the fans. That’s meant the problems piling up since last summer in particular - the signings, the injury record, the tactics, the substitutions - would eventually mean all the fingers will be pointing at the manager.
I briefly thought he should go after last season’s City Ground debacle, but changed my mind with the caveat that a lot had to change this summer. Things have definitely changed, but not for the better. Can anyone see him turning this round? It’s time to go.
David Bevan
Yes, definitely. While he did a great job for the 18 months, we've been mediocre at best for well over a year now.
Unfortunately with a contract running until 2025, I don't think Top and co will pull the trigger just a few games into a new season, especially with how much it's going to cost to get rid of him.
No doubt if he does depart, football journalists across the country will go into meltdown stating that we should 'be careful what we wish for' and that he's world class. Calling Brendan Rodgers a world class manager is like calling diarrhoea chocolate.
Dante Clarke
I'm not a believer that a change of leadership alone is enough to steer a ship in a different direction, but our woeful mental fragility is a problem which comes from the very top. I also don't believe that passion is a required trait in a manager, yet the distinct lack of urgency or emotion coming from the sideline on Saturday must surely rub off on the players.
Rodgers' post-match interviews - whether it be regarding tiredness, a lack of experience, or a lack of transfer activity - suggests he lacks confidence in his squad. It's of no wonder that they then lack confidence in themselves.
At full-time on Saturday there was an anger swirling around the KP which I've not felt for a long time; and once you lose the fans it's difficult to get them back on side. At this point, the only reason I'm holding off from calling for him to be removed from the wheel is because I genuinely have no idea who the best person to steer the ship actually is. That justification will not last for much longer.
Ryan Hubbard
In general, I am very much an optimistic sort of fan, liking to find the silver lining in even the most dire of Leicester-related situations. On this occasion, however, I am really, really struggling to find anything even remotely positive following one of the most uninspired and insipid performances shown by our team.
The case against Rodgers is certainly mounting, and his post-match comments are doing nothing to help endear him to the fans. I think we can all agree we’d sooner hear honesty, responsibility and a frank assessment of the situation.
On the pitch we look fragile, devoid of creativity and, frankly, nervous. The off-pitch situation is doubtless playing its part, but ultimately the manager is responsible and accountable for this. What is most concerning for me, and throws up an enormous red flag, are Jonny Evans’ post-match comments, in which the newly promoted club captain openly disagreed with Rodgers’ assessment of the game – a clear sign of frustration within the squad.
We have all maintained throughout the season that our starting eleven is good enough to mix it in the Premier League, and it should be, but you fear without a refresh at all levels, we are destined for a very tricky season indeed.
Jamie Thorpe
