Liverpool fan Mal James is worried there is a ‘Rodgers Out’ faction growing already among the club’s support.
“I said to the players that everyone talks about fourth place, but what about third? Third is up for grabs, so is second and maybe even first.” – Brendan Rodgers
“There are 17 points between us and Manchester United at the moment. That’s a big ask but 11 points isn’t and four points (to fourth place) certainly isn’t.” – Brendan Rodgers
The above are two recent quotes from the Liverpool manager. It goes without saying that the club’s league position is currently disappointing.
And to be fair to Rodgers, he has also admitted that the first part of the season had been disastrous. So, what do the fans think of it so far?
It is an often repeated comment that Liverpool are work in progress. In Rodgers’ defence, the situation he inherited was not great.
Nobody believes that he would have signed Andy Carroll, Joraon Henderson, Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam or Joe Cole. He inherited expensive, overpaid and underperforming players. He has managed to get rid of a couple, but there isn’t likely to be a queue of clubs for Downing, Cole or Henderson
He has also suffered from an unwillingness on the part of the owners to really try to remedy the situation – witness the failure to provide the funds for Clint Dempsey.
So, Rodgers can argue, with some justification, that he deserves to be judged on the situation in 12 months time, and that the fans need to have patience.
However, patience needs to be earned, and the fan websites and the, often angry, postings to the Liverpool Echo, show the Liverpool manager is not making a good job of doing this.
Increasingly they are questioning his judgement on a number of issues:
• Why select Downing at left back? At Tottenham we saw Downing at left back, and Enrique in midfield.
Downing allowed a cross he could easily have cut out go past and Lennon said thank you very much. If Enrique isn’t to be played at left-back, then fans are asking whether Robinson is a better option. He may be inexperienced, but he is a full-back.
• His judgement on transfers is coming under scrutiny.
He is quoted as saying he’d have been prepared to pay more for Joe Allen, praising his ball-retention and pass-completion. Fans are increasingly making the point that any player who passes mainly sideways or backwards should have a high completion rate. And when a player who passes sideways does give the ball away, it usually leads to trouble.
This not to say that Allen is not a good player, but likening him to Xavi, and claiming his value would double, as Rodgers did, looks increasingly fanciful
• Fans were also less than impressed with what they saw of Borini before he was injured.
I believe he has promise, but to spend £10m on a player who wasn’t really proven was risky business.
• Football should be pass and move, but it needs to be quick.
Watching Liverpool’s slow build-up is tedious at times. At others, seeing defenders passing the ball around in dangerous areas is frightening.
• The Andy Carroll affair meant that there is no Plan B when a team defends in depth.
But there have been enough comments about the decision to allow one of the only two strikers at the club to leave without a replacement
• Fans are also questioning Rodgers’ media savvy.
The two quotes at the top of the article appeared in an interview on the day before Liverpool lost 3-1 to Villa at Anfield. Giving such an interview is making yourself a hostage to fortune.
• Fans are also increasingly critical of the manager’s tendency to quote statistics in interviews.
As one post in the local paper commented, when Benitez had a win rate of 55%, Dalglish of 43%, and Hodgson of 35%, then Rodgers, with a current rate of 29%, should avoid quoting statistics
So, the honeymoon period for Brendan Rodgers is well and truly over. It is worrying to see so many knives out for him so soon in his time at the club. I’m not suggesting that all of the points above are fair.
Rodgers can only work with the players he has, and he needs time to bring about any changes. However, the fact is the points are being made, and increasingly so.
In the Liverpool local paper, the Echo, of almost 400 comments following the match report against Villa, just 8 could be seen as in any way positive towards the manager. There is a ‘Rodgers out’ head of steam growing already.
Are you fully behind Brendan Rodgers or do you have your doubts?
image: © Bernard C
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