Suarez leaving the club.
Sturridge getting injured for the majority of the season to date.
Having 9 players to bed in, half of them being very young players.
Injuries and a lack of impact from our "hit the ground running signings" - Lallana, Lovren, Balotelli
A captain that dropped his head when we started performing poor (Maybe realized last season was his best chance)
A difficult fixture list (Southampton, City and Spurs in our opening 3 games)
Lack of confidence / loss of form from key players such as Mignolet, Coutinho
Too much responsibility too soon for new / young players - Sterling, Balo, Markovic
Players conditioned to start hitting peak form in December / Jan
When you read through this list of problems, in hindsight it seems almost inevitable that we've failed.
What we've seen in the last game or two though is a reminder of why I want Rodgers to remain in charge. For years we have craved an attacking football team. We got exactly that last season. The passing, pace, movement, intensity and pressing was immense and we battered half the sides in the league.
Now that we are hitting some form again, the next 5 games suddenly appear to be more winnable games.
If we were to go on a bit of a run, we'd back in the mix.
Do i think we will finish top 4? probably not at this point. We'd need title winning form to achieve it.
Should finishing 2nd last season and a strong second half to this season buy the manager another season? Absolutely.
Especially if we were to get our hands on some silverware.
What I would like to see though, an were I find it hard to argue against other posters is:
A fullscale review of our transfer policy. From the scouts to the committee to Ian Ayre. We spend too much time lowballing, missing targets and signing too many for the future players. We need to find some balance so we can benefit in the short and long term. If we continue to stock the squad full of 20 year olds then we just can't expect to compete for titles. No manager can turn a team of kids into champions in this league.
Our defence is the other area that needs focus. It looks like its time for Rodgers to reach out and ask for some help with this area of the game. 3 years is a long time to still be conceding such soft goals like the ones we did yesterday. I hope this is something Rodgers is prepared to look at.
A good starting point would be to get a proper goalkeeper signed. With Brad Jones between the sticks we can forget about having any kind of success.
I do genuinely believe though that come May we will have shown progress and hopefully bagged a trophy.
So what are peoples thoughts on the season? Do you agree that we've had big issues? Do you think they could have been managed better? What changes do you think we need to make? Do you think the second half of the season will be successful? If you are struggling to get behind the manager.. what does he need to do to gain your support?
If possible, try to write some of your own views on the season looking at the full picture
