Liverpool have had a mixed start to the new Premier League campaign, opening with two victories before losing two of their three most recent fixtures. The Reds, who lost 3-1 to archrivals Manchester United in their latest encounter, are expected to finish in the top four this season and manager Brendan Rodgers is under severe pressure to ensure that Liverpool achieve this goal.
Whilst some would claim that this is unrealistic, Rodgers was fortunate to keep his job at the end of last season and the board have allowed him to spend more money this summer as the Northern Irishman attempts to lead Liverpool up the Premier League table. Unfortunately for Rodgers, he has a number of flaws and will continue to fail at Anfield until he corrects these negative traits. In fact, Bookies.com have revealed that Rodgers is now one of the leading candidates to ‘win’ the Premier League sack race this season.
Rodgers is a great manager, there’s no doubt about that. But has he taken this Liverpool side as far as he can take them? Possibly so. Luis Suarez starred for the Reds under Rodgers and perhaps the Uruguayan hid many of the deficiencies that are plaguing Liverpool’s current squad today. The Reds have never been solid or reliable defensively under Rodgers but they are now shipping goals too – a huge worry for Liverpool fans.
Essentially, Liverpool are now far too reliant on Philippe Coutinho. Rodgers hasn’t learnt his lesson from last season after placing his faith solely in Raheem Sterling and building his team around the England international, only to see Manchester City come in with a huge bid for the want-away winger. As with Suarez and Sterling, if you place too much emphasis on Coutinho, a bigger club will come in and lure him away from Anfield next summer. For more transfer news, as well as tips, odds and other information, visit Bookies.com.
Liverpool are struggling to score goals this season, despite investing in attacking areas during the summer. Danny Ings is yet to make a real impact at Anfield while Christian Benteke has looked out-of-sorts and cuts a frustrated figure up front. The Belgium striker joined the club from Aston Villa in the offseason and probably expected to be blessed with opportunities to score at the forefront of Liverpool’s attacking unit. Unfortunately, it hasn’t materialised that way at all.
The biggest problem of all is simply that Liverpool are just not as good as the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. Those three teams all have multiple match winners in their starting line-ups, with Liverpool it is often difficult to see where the next goal is coming from unless Coutinho is on the pitch. Given time, things may improve at Anfield but at the moment, Liverpool are struggling to show signs of progress and Rodgers’ tenure may be coming to an end.
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