Liverpool FC: 4 Under-Performing Players Brendan Rodgers Must Keep and Improve

Brendan Rodgers, the new manager of Liverpool Football Club, can waste little time in trying to mould his team for attaining success. He may have the luxury of time in the long run with John Henry providing him with all the support. However, he does not have the same luxury in the immediate future.

The European Championships 2012 are just days away from exploding the football world into life again after the closures of many popular league seasons in mid-May. This means that if a player going to the Euros is on Rodgers list of potential targets, then Liverpool will have to act now or be vulnerable to being priced out of signing that player after his price has rocketed after the tournament's conclusion.

Another problem that Rodgers won't mind is Liverpool qualifying for the playoff rounds of the Europa League. This means that Rodgers will not have a lot of time before the season starts for Liverpool. He will have to try to clarify his vision and philosophy and hope that the players start reacting to his ways faster.

Rodgers can do himself a favor by extracting more from a few of the under-performers from last season.

The thing with these players is that they will know how they failed miserably last season. If they don't grab at chances given to them by Rodgers, they might as well look towards plying their trade at clubs of inferior stature.

What will aid them is a change in the manager's ways. They will look forward to something new and perhaps they might be able to adapt to a new system. Performing to their desired level according to a new role might just be possible. 

Remember when Jamie Carragher was moved to centre-back by one of the greatest tacticians of modern football? People were bemused when that same gaffer moved one of the most revered central midfielders of his era to the right-hand side of midfield. In doing so, the gaffer got the best season out of his talisman, a feat that has not been repeated till date even today by the same player.

Rodgers may be expected to do a similar thing with the players you are about to see in the following slides.    

1. Charlie Adam

Charlie Adam is a capable-enough player to play for Liverpool. He might be defensively vulnerable but the same can be said about Steven Gerrard.

As an attacking force, Charlie Adam is very good. He is no Gerrard obviously, but he offers things different than those offered by the Liverpool captain.

His "£10 million" corners were certainly absent last season but a different coach in Brendan Rodgers might just bring those back to Anfield.

While Liverpool was a team who scored less than previous seasons, the number of corners it created every match was staggering. One of the reasons for this was the over-eagerness to score. 

With Lucas set to come back, Charlie Adam, the player with the highest number of assists for Liverpool last season, might be a good player to keep for cover even if his performances do not rise to the level deserving of regular starts.    

2. Jay Spearing

Jay Spearing is another player that most think should move on.

I beg to differ.

Spearing is still young and can be an invaluable squad player to call upon when challenging on more than two or three fronts. Brendan Rodgers is a coach who can maybe try his luck with the former Liverpool youth team captain.

One only has to look back at how Spearing did in the second half of the 2010-11 league season when Kenny Dalglish was the caretaker manager.

Alongside Lucas, Spearing was a revelation. With the fight and determination he showed during that time, I am convinced that he can be a good understudy to Lucas for the time being at least.

Until he gets to Lucas' present level, which will not take long in my opinion, he should be kept in the playing squad rather than moving him on for paltry sums. He is a player who has good potential, passion and work ethic about him and deserves at least one more season in the red of Liverpool.

3. Stewart Downing

Stewart Downing was hopeless for Liverpool in the season gone by.

He did still have one of his best performances in the Carling Cup final. He was man of the match against Cardiff and there is no reason why he can not repeat that. I might be one of the very few who think that Downing can actually redeem himself.

The fact is, I have reasons for my judgment.

I can't help think again and again that if Fernando Torres would not have left Liverpool till now, Stewart Downing would have tons of assists and maybe even goals. Downing did well with Bent at Aston Villa. Liverpool hardly have a player of similar style as Bent in the squad at present.

Rodgers will again need to earn his salary here by knowing where to deploy Downing. Under Rodgers, I think Downing can flourish up to an extent where he will not be labelled a flop at least. The price was unreasonable but Downing can't help that.

As Liverpool might not get a lot for him now, Rodgers may just try and extract a good season from him so that he can be sold for something next summer.

4. Andy Carroll

Now that everyone knows that Chelsea paid £15 million for Fernando Torres over what Liverpool had to pay for Andy Carroll, the figure of £35 million should be laid to rest.

Carroll's performances improved towards the end of last season in the colors of Liverpool. His recent performances for England also show that he is an attacking threat.

While I don't see Brendan Rodgers starting with him too often in his first season as manager, he is certainly a very good option to have on the bench. People might be apprehensive about keeping a £35-million man on the bench.

Well, that is why I asked everyone to forget about the price tag in the first sentence itself.

Teams need four good strikers to compete on four fronts.

Andy Carroll can be one of those for Liverpool for years to come. 

Assuming that Liverpool qualify for the Champions League next season, Andy Carroll can torment teams across the continent as well. The utility of Carroll will also be evident once more players start flooding the box under Rodgers.

Carroll will not only be scoring a lot more but serving as provider for the likes of Luis Suarez as well.