da betobet： It’s been a tough season for Liverpool. They’ve had to deal with a Champions League failure and a Europa League failure. They’ve tried to chase for a Champions League spot in the Premier League and have had to settle for the Europa League again.
da dobrowin： They’ve had some poor results this season and played poorly in lots of games, but they’ve also gone unbeaten from December to March. They’ve had injuries to deal with and ongoing distractions like the form of Mario Balotelli and the starting place / retirement of Steven Gerrard.
Poor Brendan Rodgers. After a season of wonder and awe culminating in a near-miss for an unexpected title, this season has been difficult.
When a season goes bad, like this one, managers get the blame. And most of the time they should get the blame – or at least have to share some of it. Manuel Pellegrini, for example, surely has to take some of the blame for City’s poor season. After all, it’s his team, his tactics and above all, his recruitment.
Rodgers too needs to take a long hard look at himself this season.
This season, taking into account buys, sales and wages, Brendan Rodgers has a net spend of 112m. That’s not the worst in the league – City, Arsenal and United have spent more – but it still equates to over 1.8m per point as Liverpool have accrued 62 of them over 36 games.
[ad_pod id=’ffc-video-small’ align=’left’]
So that’s still fairly expensive, especially given that Luis Suarez left the club for a reported 65 or 75m depending on which reports you actually believe.
Some Liverpool fans – not all or even most – want Rodgers out. There’s a ‘Rodgers Out Club’ twitter account with over 5000 followers, and some fans even paid for a plane to fly over the ground calling for Rodgers to be sacked and Rafael Benitez installed in his stead.
I’m not sure that it’s fair. Managers deserve time to get things right, and Rodgers came very close last season. In the meantime he’s had a lot to deal with and had to replace his best player.
That doesn’t really excuse the fact that he’s spent so much money, though. The signings might gel, and they might do better next time. So it might not be all that bad. But this poor season is still a poor season.
And it gives the board a thought to ponder – stick with Rodgers or bring in Jurgen Klopp, a man who is now conveniently available.
This has been a bad season for Liverpool, but there has been undeniable progress since Christmas. And after only one bad season that looks to have some light at the end of the tunnel, it seems harsh to sack the manager. But Rodgers has done himself no favours in this regard. He’s spent so much money and has shown little return just yet.
The board now have a decision to make regarding Rodgers’ future. They either back him with more cash in the summer or they bring in a new man.
Liverpool aren’t far away from being a team who can challenge. They are starting to gel, and from Christmas to March, they showed us that they can play some wonderful football. But Rodgers needs something to show for the progress, because as a top manager you don’t get long. And despite the positive signs, the green shoots of recovery Rodgers has left himself open to the criticism.
[ad_pod id=’ricco’ align=’center’]