I changed my mind.
Rodgers in. I will give you my reasons.
The long term direction of the club is so much more important than again starting another managerial cycle. How do we bridge the gap against financially duped clubs and ones that are money making machines. Will removing Rodgers help us get there quicker, I dont think so.
If I was to put it simply, then the team that are 5th in financial power should be finishing 5th in the league, until football is no longer about finances (the FFP dream).
But if say for example Arsenal fans can't accept 4th place and see it as lacking ambition, then how could Liverpool fans who have been champions of europe 5 times accept a lesser position?
Build the stadium, bring youth players in, develop a good base, and more importantly, somehow keep our best players. This is more important than changing the manager because he has shown what he can do when he has top players at his disposal.
Sometimes the reality is not very pretty and fans feel its easier to change the position of the manager than to change the position of the club. If Rodgers was in a position where Suarez may not want to leave because he is the highest paid player in world football, and where Sanchez rejected London because his girlfriend preferred the extra 100k a week then I have no doubt we would be playing great football now and would be through to the last 16 of the champions league, sometimes its as simple as that.
Rodgers has panicked meaning results have suffered and he put his faith in the experienced old guard. I understand why he did it, but unfortunately they let him down.
He needs to go back to one of the main things which endeared him to Martin, I and most LFC fans hearts - and the primary one of those was giving youth a chance. If you look at players brought in and players we already have at the club - we have the potential to build an excellent and balanced side. It will make mistakes, but you expect that. What is hugely disapointing is the fact we play the experienced old guard and they make the same basic errors that you'd expect of youth, but they are so long in the tooth they won't ever learn. Let the youth make the same mistakes, as at least then you have a direction and progression.
Flanagan, Sakho, Moreno - Average age of 24? That's the core of our defence, why persist in Johnson who won't be here next season, Skrtel who isn't right for the system, Enrique who's best days are gone. Lovren is the exception as he is not that old nor young and that is the biggest burden Brendan has to carry. He should be in the prime of his career leading the defence but he couldn't lead Pavarotti to the buffet. (That one is ALL mine
)
Can, Henderson, Allen - Average age of 23? 3 potentially excellent box to box multi-tasked midfielders all of the 3 work as a unit covering, attacking, pressing etc. Look at the German midfield that's what we should be aspiring to.
Sterling, Coutinho, Markovic (untill Sturridge comes back) - Average age of 21? 3 brilliantly different but devastatingly quick players who could interchange, whilst Sturridge is out play Sterling as a false 9 with the pace of Markovic and the trickery of Coutinho feeding them both. We need to make defences afraid, pushing them back giving us space to exploit.
That's what I'd be building towards, by next season that should be close to our starting lineup - excellent exposure in the Europa League and experience.
Pass and move, such a simple concept but we've not done it once this season - we play static football because we are forcing players who cannot constantly run and move into our team, so many times you'll see a player pass and just stand there, it slows our entire play. We need to stop resting on the past, lets build for the future, go back to the basic principles that made us great.
The biggest reason why Gerrard and Henderson have been disappointing is because they can't make that forward pass or forward movement any more. Lambert and Balotelli are way too static which means the opposition can press us knowing there is no threat. With Owen, Torres, Suarez and Sturridge Gerrard could play that diagonal pass, he can't now. But getting back to Brendan.
What we're witnessing now resembles the last days of Ged and Rafa. Both went for "caution first, old guard" in their last days to rescue the team and it didn't materialize for them. I recall much of the fanbase being gobsmacked at Aquilani's omission from match-day squads and calling him to play. Not because he was Alonso, but be cause he was a new ray of sunlight, when were creating fork all with Lucas-Masch midfield back then. He came in eventually, and had a ridiculous assist/game ratio and nearly got us to a European final.
This is what Brendan needs to do know. I always see a football manager's job as a ruler of a country. Successful managers study history and trends, and are proactive when a storm eventually hits. Brendan should see that caution first, and going into a defensive shell didn't bear fruits for those before him, and is unlikely to save him at this point. It's time for being bold. What made Brendan Rodgers popular here at the first place was his massive balls. To throw teenage Suso and Sterling into a starting line up at Goodison, to make a sub at 22nd minute when it wasn't tactically working. To change formations 3 times during a game. That ballsy Brendan needs to comeback and kick this currently coward one out.
Joseph Stalin made a massive balls up of a situation when the Nazi German attacked USSR in WW II. He wasn't ready for it as he had a pact with Hitler. After starving people of Leningrad to death, the German army were within kilometres of Moscow. He had a choice. To leave Moscow in order to Save Russia (Buying himself some time)? Or to stay in Moscow and counter-back, risking he'll lost fast. He went within brinks of getting on the train to get to Eastern Russia, like what Mikhail Kutuzov the Tsar did in 1812, but in the last minute, he had a change of heart and made one of the most decisive decisions in history of this world. A decision that changed the world we live in today. A very bald and brave one. He stayed in Moscow and what happened next we all know.
This is the moment we need Brendan to have. A moment of pure instinct. A moment of inspiration that trumps all the self-doubt, caution, and fear. Come on Brendan, you can do it.
* All of the above are mixed with my thoughts and words plus words from other people who articulated my thoughts better than I can.
I said in my post above on Tuesday that I was angry really really angry at Brendan and that triggered me to say Rodgers out. But I have to be true to myself and to what I think right at this time. All of you disagree with and I completely understand that view. And respect it.
I wasn't joking when I said the noose is tightening over Brendan' reign though. It is at a cross roads and something has to give.
Personally what I'd do is sack all of the scouts, get transparency over the transfer committee and get an experience C.E.O of Director of Football who knows LFC and can make football decisions independent of relying upon others. We need another John Smith and Peter Robinson. Not another Rick Parry or Ian Ayre.
