Brendan Rodgers Has Been Excellent and Liverpool Would Be Foolish to Sack Him

There have been times this season when Brendan Rodgers probably wanted to look anywhere other than the Anfield pitch, such have been the troubles faced by Liverpool over the past year. But on Saturday the Northern Irishman daren't glance up to the Merseyside skies.

A plane carrying a banner that read "Rodgers Out, Rafa In" was flown over Anfield before the 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers, reflecting the frustration over Liverpool’s regression as a team this season, while calling for Anfield favourite Rafael Benitez to be installed as his replacement.

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Indeed, the 2014/15 campaign has been a difficult one for the Reds. Having achieved so much by qualifying for the Champions League last season, they squandered their chance in the competition—failing to make it out the group stage. Liverpool’s domestic campaign hasn’t been much better, with a fifth place finish now their apparent fate. 

Last year the Reds finished just three points from a first league title in 24 years, but they have fallen a long way short of such a challenge this season. There was a resurgence just after the turn of the year—which saw Liverpool win five straight league games—but that proved to be little more than just a brief upturn in form, as defeats to Manchester United, Arsenal and Aston Villa scuppered their top-four and FA Cup ambitions. 

However, when assessing Liverpool’s season it’s important to consider all the factors Rodgers has had to deal with. In fact, given all the Northern Irishman has had to overcome since last summer, fifth place might actually be regarded a success of sorts.

Replacing Luis Suarez—who scored 30 percent of Liverpool’s Premier League goals last season—was always going to be a challenge, so it’s only natural that the Reds should feel the immediate impact of the Uruguayan’s sale to Barcelona last summer.

But the striker’s departure was only accentuated by the ill-judged transfer business conducted by Liverpool’s now infamous transfer committee. While Rodgers holds a position on the committee, he does not fully dictate the players signed by the club, something that was all too evident when the Northern Irishman was handed an incoherent and questionable group of signings to compensate for Suarez’s exit last season. 

Of the seven players signed permanently last summer, only Emre Can and Lazar Markovic can claim to have been moderate successes, with Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Mario Balotelli and Alberto Moreno all flopping in their debut seasons with Liverpool—representing a dismal return on a £117 million outlay for the Reds.

The injuries suffered by Daniel Sturridge—the only striker Liverpool have capable of replacing Suarez—have also hindered the Reds’ campaign, with the England international missing more than a third of their fixtures this season. Many of Liverpool’s issues have been of their own making, but some have been down to mere misfortune.

Not that any of this has been factored into some judgement of Rodgers’ coaching performance. Having qualified for Europe’s elite level last season, Liverpool and owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) now see the Reds as a Champions League club. It has been suggested that should Rodgers fail to deliver as much, he will be disposed of.

“Modern football is now very harsh and is very much short-termism,” said Rodgers after the win over QPR, which was overshadowed—literally—by the banner flown overhead, as per Andy Hunter of the Guardian. “But it has shown that over the years the majority of the teams that have that stability, and if the owners and the players have that belief, then it will come good.

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“What we have seen here over the last couple of years is that we are definitely on the right path. This year it’s pretty clear that it has been disappointing but I think the opportunity arises for us again next season. The players that have come in, it’s been a difficult year for them but they will be better for it.”

Looking ahead to next season, Rodgers is relying on as much. It seems unlikely that FSG will splurge as much as £117 million—like they did last summer—on new talent in this transfer window, and with no Champions League football to offer potential signings Liverpool will struggle to attract the same standard of talent. The club’s transfer committee must hand over more market responsibility to Rodgers to ensure the right players are signed this summer.

Of course, it’s not entirely unrealistic that Liverpool will finish in the Champions League places this season—given that they are only four points behind Man Utd with three matches still to be played. A shock top-four finish would only underline what a good job Rodgers has done in three seasons at Anfield.

Rodgers’ arrogant persona does grate at times, and the Northern Irishman does need to curb some of his own personal propaganda. But there can be little doubting his coaching credentials have turned Liverpool into one of the most dynamic, adaptable teams in the Premier League.

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Considering the defensive deficiencies that continue to hamper them, the fact that Liverpool have managed to salvage their season—securing European football, even if it is only the Europa League—is somewhat remarkable. It shouldn’t be forgotten just how dismal Liverpool’s season was looking, particularly before Christmas, and how Rodgers has conducted an extremely effective damage-limitation exercise.

The banner flown over Anfield on Saturday did nothing more than highlight the fickleness of the sport. Rodgers was hailed as the finest Liverpool coach since Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, and now after a mediocre campaign his head is being called for.

Liverpool are set for a significant transition this summer, with club captain of 12 years Steven Gerrard leaving for the United States and the LA Galaxy. There is a sense that next season marks the start of a new era for the Anfield club, but the Reds must make sure it’s only a new skipper they are appointing, rather than a new manager as well. Liverpool should hang on to Rodgers, rather than dismiss him at the first sign of falter.