Liverpool Staring Into the Abyss
There are moments as a Liverpool fan, where you genuinely feel as though your head is spinning, you can watch things unfold and have nothing but a sense of dread. The end of last season felt that way, one loss to West Ham at home and here we are again.
Things should not feel this way.
Hope and Trust though, is in short supply.
The manager is constantly treading a tightrope due to the absolute nature of his side’s demise last season. Decisions are magnified, errors compounded and each word uttered after a performance is analysed in such a fashion that they make being Brendan Rodgers PR manager the toughest job in the world. This you see, is what happens when FSG decide to stick with their man, an admirable gesture to be sure, but there is now a very real element of doubt that creeps in as soon as things are not even slightly positive.
Rodgers and FSG have laid the foundations for a manager who will always be seen as the next manager to be sacked. That is the situation that confronts Liverpool FC right now.
A loss to West Ham, should not have this sort of impact and people need to be able to make decisions about performances in isolation to a certain extent, however, with no trust in the man charged with building a successful campaign this season, a loss to West Ham may as well be the end of our season, such is the vicious vicarious venom that is being sprayed at Rodgers.
Can Rodgers survive this? Well, the answer is if he does, it will take one of the biggest turnarounds modern football has ever seen.
But this leads us all to contemplate the one and only question that matters, How possible is it for Rodgers to turn around this team?
As things stand, the answer is clearly, not likely if you’re being somewhat optimistic and no chance in hell if you’re being a realist.
Rodgers has made decisions that have a real impact on the team, he continues to play with a few liabilities and it was never going to take long for Lovren to do Lovren things.
Gomez, who I absolutely loved during our preseason and was more than thrilled to have been able to find such a gem for a very small fee, was NEVER the answer to our Left Back woes. He is great when asked to play basically as a wider Centre Back, but what was clear was the moment, we had to go chasing a game, he was absolutely in no way shape or form capable of providing the thrust that our system absolutely requires from our fullbacks. This IS NOT Gomez’ fault, because he is NOT a Left Back and what we saw against West Ham was the writing that was on the wall from day 1. The poor kid suffered and I would hate to see him being turned into a scapegoat for that abysmal performance by our entire backline.
Rodgers, continued to persevere with a player who in fairness, did remarkably well when asked to defend, but the worry always was, what happens when you ask him to join in the attack? And that was answered in yesterday’s match. Rodgers decided that babysitting Lovren, was better for the team than playing with a competent Centre Back and by doing so, he has opened himself up to not only criticism which is absolutely warranted given the way Lovren performed last season but he has hurt the team.
And it is that hurt, which is still felt after last season, that is so quick to resurface after that defeat to West Ham. The fans feel hurt, they feel battered and they feel defensive. Even the slightest wrong, whether that be perceived or real, is latched onto in a fashion that is better suited to a Saturday Night alcohol fueled act of violence, than a discussion about Liverpool FC’s future. We are all ready to get our gloves up, ready to swing because we have all felt that visceral sense of betrayal.
This is the abyss and the abyss is now in all of us and that is the most worrying aspect of Rodgers fourth season in charge.
truth b told its a damning indictment of rodgers and i HATE to agree… the manc game will prob end up close simply outta pride but the future after that is gonna be a scare… i hope the FSG board be decisive this yr and act quickly in case ancelotti or Klopp get poached… getting beat by hammers 3-0 is unforgivable…
Yeah mate, I hate feeling this way.
I desperately want to see Rodgers succeed but the emotions surrounding his tenure are so raw that it hurts.
FSG must nip the problem at the bud. Get rid of Rodgers now. Why Keep Sakho on the bench when
Lovren is at his best doing what he does best is beyond all Liverpool fans..
The sick, hopeless feeling is back.
Liverpool FC ever the team in transition because of BR’s tactics . He should start playing players in their true positions . Skirtel and Lovren are just not good enough . Try Illori or Gomez and see what they can can do in Skirtel’s position . Sakho is better than Loveren so he should replace him .We need a proper left back and we have one in Moreno . He will grow in his position and will also increasingly correct his mistakes as time goes on . Change it if it does not work . That is the reason why we have such a big pool of players . Liverpool should definitely appeal Cortino’s red card . The ref made a mistake there .
The way I felt at the end of last season is the way I feel this morning. I am so disappointed at that awful performance. Lovren is right to be highlighted because he was/is so poor yet still gets the shout over Sakho. Rodgers wasn’t this patient with other inconstant players why is he showing so much loyalty to Lovren? Lovren will be targeted by other teams as he is a week point. Rodgers will have to take the blame for that. The last 6 games of last season where atrocious and so far this season we have been lucky, that luck left us yesterday. We are Liverpool FC the supporters demand results which we are not entitled to. West Ham displayed great organisation and determination and where there for the taking but we simply failed.Everyone from the manager to the players must perform at the highest level and concentration week in week out.Personally I think Rodgers will be gone before Christmas. I hope that I am wrong as I would love him to succeed but just don’t see that happening.
Agree, we were well and truly Lovrend..! Needs to get Sakho in and work on better delivery for Benteke…our crosses were shocking yesterday!
We’ve been a team in perpetual transition long before Brendan Rodgers showed up at Anfield.
The Lovren / Gomez partnership on the left doesn’t inspire confidence. It’s hard to have a go at an 18-year old kid being played out of position and with no top flight experience to speak of, but Lovren has been around the block enough times that he should be able to compensate a bit better for Gomez’s wanderings.
Not sure about sacking Rodgers at this point — contentious, I know — but it’s going to be hard to ignore Sakho if this keeps up.
Not sure if it was luck that left us as much as putting the defence first went out the window when we conceded the first goal. Those individual errors that showed up far too many times last year reared their heads again. I don’t think there was a single defender bar Clyne — though he did look suspect on the Sakho goal — that didn’t make a glaring mistake yesterday and we were punished every single time.
Lots of talk about Ancelotti and Klopp but I have my doubts that either would take the job on. We’ve got some serious fundamental problems that I don’t believe a magic manager is going to walk in fix with the stroke of a hand.
Obviously I can’t predict the future, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Carlo re-joins AC Milan midseason and Klopp takes over for Guardiola at Bayern Munich in the summer.
I absolutely agree with this. Gomez should be the one protected, not the other way around.
Also sacking Rodgers at this point is so far fetched, that to even entertain the thought, makes little sense.
It does not change the fact though, that there appears to be some serious head scratching that needs to go on at Melwood.
Gone are the days of settled teams, they are all in constant transition.
West Ham are a team in transition themselves and the key I to find a way to get results with whatever you have at your disposal.