How to lose a team in 10 ways: Liverpool reasons to sack Brendan Rodgers

Richard Jolly outlines 10 examples of Brendan Rodgers's failures at Liverpool that make it both likely and justifiable his position appears to be on the ropes.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers shown during his team's League Cup match against Carlisle United on Wednesday. Craig Brough / Action Images / Reuters / September 23, 2015

Brendan Rodgers has never been under greater pressure. Ahead of Saturday's home match with Aston Villa, Liverpool's manager faces a struggle to retain that position. His chances of continued employment seem to deteriorate by the game.

Here are 10 reasons for his troubles:

Read more: Will it get any better against for Liverpool against Aston Villa? Thomas Woods's Premier League predictions

1 – Lack of goals

Rodgers’s Liverpool set a club record in 2013/14 when they scored 101 league goals. Yet that tally was almost halved last year, when it slumped to 52. They are averaging less than a goal a game this season (six in eight games in all competitions) and have not struck twice in a competitive match since May. The statistics are a consequence of a creative malaise. Too often, Liverpool do not look threatening enough.

2 – Dodgy defending

A regular problem. Liverpool conceded 48 league goals last season, 50 the year before. They have a capacity to repeat mistakes, such as conceding from set pieces, and have not had a defensive leader since Jamie Carragher retired or a reliable goalkeeper since Pepe Reina declined. Rodgers has not addressed either issue. While he was not hired as a defensive coach, their defending has to be better.

3 – Strange selections

When they succeed, they look brilliant. Too often, however, they simply seem strange. Rodgers keeps players out of position – Danny Ings on the left wing, Lazar Markovic, Raheem Sterling and Jordon Ibe as wing-backs, Emre Can as a right-back – and has a habit of adopting out-of-the-blue tactics, whether with a false nine or a back three. Orthodox choices would bring less criticism when Liverpool lose.

4 – Bad business

Liverpool have spent more than £300 million (Dh1.7 billion) in Rodgers’s reign, including £205m in the past two summers. Yet only two signings – Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho – are definite successes. Others may yet become hits and it is too early to judge this summer’s signings. The transfer committee must take the blame for some of the failures, but there have been so many.

5 – A loss of identity

What does Rodgers stand for anymore? He was supposed to espouse perpetual possession, almost won the title with high-speed counter-attacking, and now Liverpool offer neither. He was hired for his coaching prowess, but Liverpool look ever more reliant on signings yet struggle in the transfer market.

6 – Looking luckless

Sometimes the best managers are also the luckiest, and fortune seems to have deserted Rodgers. Injuries – to Sturridge, Christian Benteke and Jordan Henderson – have been ill-timed. He has lost pivotal players, in Luis Suarez and Sterling, in the past two summers, while the most influential characters in his dressing room, Steven Gerard and Carragher, have departed. The circumstances would have posed problems for any manager.

7 – Available alternatives

Liverpool denied they met Carlo Ancelotti to discuss replacing Rodgers. It is a moot point if Jurgen Klopp would want the job. Yet the availability of two managers with better CVs scarcely helps Rodgers’s cause. Fans can imagine a world under the urbane Italian or the charismatic German. The spectre of successors looms large over him.

8 – Supporters in revolt

Liverpool were booed off at half time, full time and after extra time against Carlisle United. Supporters are starting to turn against Rodgers in a way they did not against his idolised, but failing, predecessor Kenny Dalglish. They are at their loudest on social media, where extreme opinions can rule, but it takes a brave owner to ignore the supporters.

9 – Lack of silverware

Since Bill Shankly’s appointment in 1959, only one Liverpool manager has failed to win a trophy: Roy Hodgson. But even he only actually failed in one attempt. Rodgers has had 12 chances and, while top-four finishes may be the priority, last season’s FA Cup semi-final defeat to Aston Villa was particularly damaging. He is left looking a nearly man at a club with a tradition of winners.

10 – Poor results

The biggest problem for any manager. Liverpool were taken to penalties by Carlisle, who are 65 places below them in the league ladder. They were beaten by West Ham United, who had not won at Anfield since 1963. They were poor as Manchester United beat them in a fixture of particular importance. They have 16 points from their past 15 league games. By their standards, that is nowhere near good enough.

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