This is a question I’ve asked myself numerous times over the past couple of months. A question I’m sure plenty of fans have asked themselves too. A question I bet FSG have had meetings about. A question even Brendan Rodgers has no doubt muttered to himself at some point.
The Reds cantered their way to Champions League football last season, and in the process put the majority of teams to the sword. The league went down to the last day and the rest was history.
Fast forward from there until the beginning of this season and all of that was forgotten. The team got the benefit of the doubt for a few games as we settled in but it became quickly apparent that we weren’t the same side as 6 months prior.
Understandable though it is, that didn’t make it any less gutting. Southampton were a prime example of a team that did hit the ground running despite big change (mainly caused by Liverpool’s insistence to buy their players).
From then it got choppy, and captain of the ship – Rodgers, in this dreadful analogy – struggled to keep us level. We were in a bad place; fans got itchy feet, the season, in all honesty, looked pretty dead in the water.
Rodgers, the fraud, worked on a new formation to help the team regain its former self. He devised a 3-4-2-1 formation, which didn’t brim anyone with confidence, but it was a change, and an attempt to sort us out.
Led to believe he’d spent long nights with no sleep and coffee fuelled conversations with Colin Pascoe, our season saver, if you like, was made.
It’s worked. We look better. A lot better in fact. Some seem to be reluctant to give him credit for it, and that’s their prerogative. For me, a manager is there to make things work, to improve things. He has done so far. He’s made us far less grim to watch. Not to last season’s standard but we’re getting there.
So then, that question…
Time is a healer, someone even wiser than Brendan Rodgers once told me that. If he gets it, and we continue to grow in quality, then those gloomy few months may well be forgotten. Some fans may never lose the grudge but that’s no surprise.
I’m inclined to believe the improvement was due to Rodgers. I think he will continue to improve us. I think we may well be on for another title challenging season next year – improvement in the squad dependent.
There are targets to hit this season first, though. Like it or not, Rodgers is under real pressure if top four isn’t maintained this campaign. A cup would be nice too, but give me top tier European football all day long over that.
There’s also the issue of who’s bringing in that squad improvement. I don’t think Rodgers is a transfer man. John Henry and Tom Werner allowed their original structural plan to be binned off. The ‘committee’ was announced to show the fans they’d not given in to their newly acquired manager, whereas in fact the whole system is indeed very similar to so many other football clubs.
Those plans for hierarchy need re-visiting. Let Rodgers do what he does best. Give him time to do what he does best. Give him the tools to do what he does best.
It’s dead easy to get involved in the ‘Rodgers signing or Committee signing’ debate, and in reality I don’t think that’s how it works at all. It’s only a thing because of the PR gaff that was announcing a transfer committee. All parties in the ‘committee’ have had a say in every player we’ve bought since its commencement.
We’ve signed some great players since Rodgers has been on Merseyside, as well as some really poor ones. I’m not sure if I want Brendan choosing our players. Whispers of Ashley Williams echo around my head whilst writing that. Let’s not be that club.
Based on what was achieved last season, and the improvement we’ve seen in the last couple of months, he deserves next season to have another go. He deserves some backing.
If I’m honest, I love the guy. He’s a young manager with the air of quality and authority about him. But it’s got to now be converted into something tangible, a trophy (be it the top four one or otherwise).
Fans have become a tough crowd to please. With 4 main trophies up for grabs each season, the amount of fans able to accept winning none of those is ever dwindling. Rodgers’ silverware record will forever be a monkey on his back until he breaks that duck. But he can’t do that unless presented with the time, the tools and the backing to do so.
