I have to say; if I am being honest, I’m quite fed up with the whole Brendan Rodgers debate and the quite incessant talk of Jurgen Klopp who is starting to sound more and more like some mythical god or holy grail.
The problem we have however is that it is a hot topic and if you are a Liverpool fan you can’t fail to have an opinion.
Cards on the table, I have been one of the most vocal supporters of Rodgers and whilst I am being truthful; I do have to say; I really don’t know if I want him to go or not.
Football is a fickle game, it is a fact, and we are all guilty of grass is always greener syndrome. All you can do is look at the situation and try to make an informed opinion on it, as at the end of the day, there is only one man who makes the call on Rodgers and that is John W. Henry unless of course Brendan took matters into his own hands!
I like Brendan Rodgers and I think he is a good manager. I like his football philosophy and his ideas on how the game should be played. As I said, football is fickle and not 2 years ago, the man nearly won Liverpool the Premier League against all odds. As Tim Sherwood rightly said, if he had, he could have been at Real Madrid with Liverpool struggling to hold onto him. These are the fine lines you deal in with modern football.
The reason I have more sympathy for him than many is down to the fact regarding the conditions he is working to. Like it or not, everybody knows that Liverpool have a transfer committee and that Brendan Rodgers is only a part of that rather than being a absolute deciding factor in who should and shouldn’t be signed. In that respect, when players are ‘forced’ on you who aren’t your own choices; it is difficult to build a team to operate in your image; and instead; you are required to make players fit where you possibly can to try and do a job that in many cases they may not be capable of.
It is down to this in my opinion; that we have seen the recent Liverpool sides look like they lack a game plan of any sort; or any kind of discernable ‘plan’ on how to go about each game. Rodgers has had to see his philosophy and ideology bleed into a hybrid of what he wants and what he is forced to work with and the result is what we are seeing on the pitch now and it isn’t good. The team look lost and it transpires into asking the question from the players body language as to whether or not he has lost the dressing room; and when you get to that stage you rightly do start questioning your manager.
My point however is; ‘is it his fault?’ given my earlier point regarding the transfer committee etc? There is a real case to say it is not and that he is working with his hands tied.
It also leads you to the next questions as to whether if this is the case; won’t any manager befall the same problems?
People are crying out for Klopp and I like the guy I do; so if he ends up here, I won’t be unhappy. But is he going to guarantee results? And we all know what comes with a new manager. Paying off of the old managers staff, bringing in the new managers own staff, claims that the new manager needs to sign his own players to fit his own system and therefore the onset of the systematic dismantling of the old managers team and before we know it, we’re in another 5 year plan, with massive outlay, little recouping of the money on outgoing players and no guarantees whatsoever of success. I have to say; that worries me greatly and the concern for me is that we really will end up cementing ourselves as a mid table team resorting to clinging to a history that we rightly so should be proud of; but that carries little weight in the modern game, with modern players and fans.
The natural instinct when it is isn’t going right is to knee jerk to plump for change; and I have to say, I used to be the same and of course I’ve looked at it and considered it. BUT; maybe there needs to be a wider appreciation of fact before fickle wins the day. I must be growing up!
Chris
