That Stoke Game...

I've held off from writing anything about the 6-1 trashing at the hands of Stoke City for a while. I was hoping to be able to calm down and put things into some kind of perspective, but, well, I guess time may not be such a great healer after all.

Charlie Adam and Peter Crouch, celebrate a win over their former side.

Talking of time, this was the worst Liverpool defeat in my lifetime, which goes back rather longer than I would care to admit. All of which makes it particularly unfortunate that it should be Stevie G's last game for us. He deserved far, far better.
Aside from the score, there were a number of elements to this match that left me perplexed.

No Strikers

Until Rickie Lambert was introduced late in the second half, we didn't have a single recognized striker on the pitch. This highlights two problems. Firstly, it signaled a complete lack of faith by Rodgers in Lambert, Balotelli and Borini—so much so that the latter two didn't even make the bench! When the manager picks wingers to play in your position ahead of you, you know you've got some work to do. Secondly, it highlights just how bad we've been both at signing good strikers, but also, as I have previously mentioned, how poor we've been at getting any contribution from our strikers. All three of these guys netted pretty regularly for their other clubs, but Rodgers just can't seem to find a way to get anything out of them, and that's what really concerns me.

Prior to the 2013/14 season, we signed total duds in the form of Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto. Aspas seemed to be a decent player to me, but he never showed he could adapt to the speed and physicality of the Premier League (which is why I always prefer that we sign proven Premier League players to foreign stars; there's a lot less risk). Luis Alberto looked like someone who'd somehow found himself on the pitch after crawling from the nearest pub. I can't ever recall seeing a player so lost in a Liverpool shirt. Rodgers inherited Suárez from Dalglish, but he can take some credit for signing Sturridge. Other than that, he's had precious little success in the striker transfer market. I was both amused and saddened to see that Divock Origi, the young striker that he bought and loaned back to Lille at the beginning of this season, was named in the worst Ligue 1 team for this past season. So, something to look forward to next season, then...

But going back to the subject of wingers, has anyone else noticed just how obsessed Rodgers seems to be with them? Coutinho, Markovic, Assaidi, Lallana and Moses are all wide players he's signed in addition to Sterling and Ibe whom he inherited. He has also failed to sign a number of others, including Marco Reus, Alexis Sanchez, Yevhen Konoplyanka and Mohamed Salah. I think he'd play 11 of them, if he had the chance.

To sum up, it seems that Rodgers wants a very specific type of striker, and can't work with players who don't quite fit the mould. That's a big risk if opposition defences wise up to his tactics—which seems to have been the case this year—and there's no Plan B.

No Defence

Throughout Rodger's tenure, the one aspect of the game that he seems to be particularly clueless about is defence. We make far too many mistakes, and while some of that certainly has to be put on the player's shoulders, a large part of it is down to the way Rodgers has the team play.

The great Liverpool teams of old were always built from the back, on a solid defensive platform that conceded few goals while dictating the tempo of the game. They would hold on to possession well, would be comfortable on the ball and would be able to make a range of passes. Rodgers seems to aspire to that type of play, but he doesn't have the players capable of doing it. Instead, we'd be far better off hoofing the ball upfield every single time.

Sakho looks like he has at least one wooden leg at times, while Lovren always looks rushed, Touré off the pace and Can at times imperious, but more often—as against Stoke—completely ill-at-ease. I could go on about Manquillo, Moreno, Enrique, etc., etc., but I'm already too depressed. Only Škrtel looks the part, and even he's guilty of more than his fair share of mistakes.

I think what really bothers me is how Rodgers has at least one or two midfielders playing right in front of the center-backs. This allows the opposition to push up and put us under a lot of pressure, which leads to most of the mistakes. There's no room for the players to pass and move, and he doesn't trust his defensive players to pass the ball upfield, so everything has to go through those midfielders. So that's pretty easy to stop. So, whenever Lovren, Sakho & co. are passing the ball around, I feel nervous and anxious—and I doubt they feel any better.

No Confidence

Confidence. It's a word that seems to define our play. When we're confident, we can move mountains. When we're not, we couldn't find our way out of a soggy paper bag. I think Rodgers places so much emphasis on tactics and formations that he forgets he's dealing with humans. When we lose, we invariably look dispirited, unenthused, lackluster and without hope. Gerrard aside—indeed, his sending off against Manchester United was probably a symptom of his frustration at watching a bunch of losers from the bench—no-one seems to have any fight or ambition. That too is the players' fault, but Rodgers must share the blame too. He signed most of them, and he doesn't fire them up before games.

His squad rotation tactics—my pet hate—doesn't help; there is no greater way to demotivate a player than to tell him you're resting him because he'll be too tired, before he's even kicked a ball. Or dropping a player after he's had a great game, because it's someone else's turn.

Let's compare how Mourinho treated John Terry with how Rodgers treated Gerrard. Mourinho tells Terry that he can play, but he's going have to earn his place on merit. The second his form drops, he's out of the side. Result? Terry plays every minute of every game for Chelsea this season. Meanwhile, Rodgers tells Gerrard that he's going to play him at the back so that he doesn't get too knackered, while also "managing his playing time". Result? Gerrard thinks, "sod that, I'm off". I find it interesting and noteworthy that Mourinho works with a fairly small, but high-quality, 25-man squad and doesn't rotate his squad too often, while Rodgers has a huge squad (35+ players?) of considerably less individual quality that he's constantly tweaking.

Rodgers is a master of being honest with players, and likes telling them the way it is. But you can be too honest. Shankly, by contrast, was very good at building up players, even if he wasn't being 100% truthful. Why? He wanted to boost his players' confidence, so that they went onto the field as winners. The players knew that, but they liked it all the same.

Media Circus

First it was Suárez wanting out, then it was Sterling's contract saga, then it was Gerrard's last season. There have been far too many distractions and drama going on around the club. That certainly hasn't helped players focus on winning each match.

Time For A Change

I don't think Rodgers is up to this challenge. Not yet, at any rate. He's tactically astute, particularly going forward, and he's been generally good for the younger players. But he has a lot to learn about how to motivate players, and he needs help on the defensive side of things. It doesn't help that he talks about Liverpool FC like it's his job, instead of his passion.

He's meeting with Tom Werner, John Henry and other FSG luminaries later today, and, with some reluctance, I hope he's relieved of his duties. To be in rebuilding mode after three years on the job is simply not acceptable. I just hope that we don't just import another foreign manager with no experience of the Premier League, who buys similarly inexperienced players from his home league and takes years to realize the error of this ways...
UPDATE: It looks like Rodgers has survived. I was struggling to identify a manager who would fit the bill for us (Jürgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti don't do anything for me, I'm afraid), so maybe that's not the worst decision in the world, but Rodgers has to step up now. We shall see...