Assessing the job Brendan Rodgers has done at LFC

On the 1^st June 2012 it was the start of a new era for Liverpool. Brendan Rodgers is appointed manager following a very successful spell with Swansea City.

When I first heard of the news that Brendan Rodgers had emerged as the leading candidate for the manager’s position at the most successful, most historical and one of the most recognised organisations in world football, I was slightly skeptical, along with many others.

Could he handle the step up from a small club of Swansea’s stature to a club with the tradition of Liverpool’s?

His first season was always going to be difficult, steadying a ship that had sunk to the lows of 8^th position under the leadership of Kenny Dalglish. He inherited a squad that was nowhere near good enough to challenge for even a Europa League place, you only have to look at the likes of Jay Spearing, Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Sebastian Coates, Jonjo Shelvey and Charlie Adam, who were all regular starters under Dalglish.

Rodgers recognized that this squad simply was not good enough for a team with ambitions of qualifying for Champions League football and ultimately winning the Premier League title. And by the end of the 2012 summer transfer window, Rodgers had sold Andy Carroll, Jay Spearing and Charlie Adam, and later in his tenure, sold Stewart Downing and Jonjo Shelvey.

However, it was all well and good Rodgers clearing out some of LFC’s ‘dead rubber’, but if he didn’t bring in suitable replacements, his first transfer window in charge of Liverpool FC would’ve been deemed a failure.

And indeed it was.

Rodgers forked up £25m for the signings of Fabio Borini and Joe Allen, bought in Nuri Sahin on loan, Ousama Assaidi (£2.5m) and Samed Yesil (£1m).  Borini’s start to life in a Liverpool shirt was a miserable one. Very Poor form coupled with injuries made it a season to forget for the Italian. Joe Allen enjoyed a very good start to his Liverpool career, however injuries ultimately hindered his debut season at LFC. Nuri Sahin was probably the biggest name signing of the bunch. The Real Madrid midfielder caused real excitement amongst the LFC faithful. However, the Turk’s Liverpool career never really hit the heights his ability promised. Which he later revealed was due to Brendan Rodgers playing him in the wrong position. And Ousama Assaidi and Samed Yesil were ones for the future.

This, coupled with inability to replace the deadline day departure of Andy Carroll made for a disappointing transfer window for Liverpool Fans.

“Enough of the business, what about the football” I hear you say. Well..

..Having inherited this squad from Kenny Dalglish, Rodgers also inherited the way Dalglish wanted Liverpool to play, which, from the signature of Andy Carroll, was to play an attacking but direct style of football, with pretty much everything being lobbed up to Carroll. This was not the Rodgers way. In fact quite the opposite. As we saw at Swansea, Rodgers favoured a keep-ball  approach to the game, playing fluid, pretty football, keeping the ball on the turf and playing round the opposition, being lethal on the counter attack.

Liverpool were in that “transitional” period.  A lot of people were expecting Rodgers to come in and all of a sudden take Liverpool back to where they belong, at the top of English Football. But realistically it was never going to be a quick or easy process. Liverpool didn’t have the players or the ability to attract top class players to Anfield. It took a lot of time and effort for Rodgers to stamp his philosophy on Liverpool Football Club.

However, I don’t think anyone would’ve expected Liverpool to start the 2012/13 season in the manner in which they did.  An opening day 3-0 defeat at the hands of West brom, followed by draws with City, Sunderland, Newcastle, Everton and Stoke. Coupled with defeats to Arsenal and United. Saw Liverpool tally only 11 points from their first 10 games. With their only victories coming away at Norwich, and home to Reading. This form saw Liverpool find themselves in 12^th place, only two points ahead of Aston Villa who were lying in 17^th place.

Although this form suggested otherwise, Rodgers’ Liverpool side were very unlucky to find themselves in this position. In particular in the games with City and United at home. But, nonetheless if Liverpool are to get back in the Champions League, they have to take their chances. Something which ultimately saw the demise of Kenny Dalglish’s second reign in charge of Liverpool Football Club.

Liverpool continued this patchy form. It wasn’t until the January transfer window and the signings of superstars Daniel Sturridge and Phillipe Coutinho, who gave Liverpool that little bit more pace and cutting-edge in the final third, before Rodgers’ side really started to show the kind of form worthy of a top four place.

Rodgers’ first season rather fizzled out, and a 7^th place finish in the Premier League summed up a disappointing season for both Rodgers and the football club. But there were definitely positives to take from Rodgers’ first season in charge. His young side were certainly improving. He imposed an identity on LFC, something they seemed to have lost in years gone by . That identity was One of attacking, pretty, ‘edge-of-your-seat’ football. Rodgers had got this side playing again.

However, Out of all the clubs challenging for a champions League place in the 2012/13 season. Liverpool’s squad was undoubtedly the thinnest. Rodgers knew that without major additions to this squad, Liverpool just wouldn’t be able to keep up with English Footballs leading forces.

And so it proved, as by the end of this seasons summer transfer window. Brendan Rodgers had bought in no less than eight players; Kolo Toure, Mamadou Sakho, Victor Moses, Tiago Illori, Iago Aspas, Luis Alberto, Aly Cissokho and Simon Mignolet. With the picks of the bunch probably being Kolo Toure, who would bring much needed ‘big-club’ experience to a team with the youthful inexperience of Rodgers’ team,  Mamadou Sakho, who has all the attributes, with the right guidance, to become one of European Football’s top, top defenders. And Simon Mignolet, who enjoyed a glittering career at Sunderland, single-handedly keeping them in the premiership at times.

The rest of the signings perhaps wouldn’t have added to much to the squad in terms of quality, but definitely gave Liverpool much needed strength-in-depth, which they really haven’t had since the early Benitez days.

A much better transfer window second-time round for Rodgers. He began to build a team that looked like a real force to be reckoned with.

And we really saw how far Liverpool had come under Rodgers in the first game of this season. Stoke city cam to Anfield. LFC went one-nil up early on, courtesy of a Daniel Sturridge strike. Liverpool continued to dominate the game, firing in shot after shot, only to be denied by a man of the match performance from Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic. Liverpool won the game one-nil, thanks to a brilliant penalty save from Simon Mignolet. But it was this grit and the ability of Rodgers’ team to dig in and grind out the result  which marked the progress this group of players had made over the summer . Something, which LFC seemed unable to do in Rodgers’ first season in charge.

Since this opening day victory. Rodgers has guided his young, much-improving side to 4th place in the Barclays Premier League. With some fantastic performances on the way. This counter-attacking, fluid, fast football Rodgers had installed on LFC, guided his team to memorable victories over Mersey rivals Everton, Tottenham and title rivals Arsenal. Notching up 14 goals and conceding just 1 over the three games.

Such form, leaves this Liverpool side 6 points behind the league leaders, and on current form, the most lethal side in the premier league. And with the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham all yet to come to Anfield. Who knows, anything is possible!

This really is credit to what Brendan Rodgers has done to this football club. He’s got teams fearing Liverpool Football Club again. His ability to out-wit some of the best managers in the world, as we saw in the wins against Arsenal and Tottenham, coupled with his ability to get the best out of his players has put Liverpool Football Club back in the bracket of challenging for league titles again.

He has given the fans and supporters of Liverpool Football Club a speck of light and the end of a very long, dark tunnel