FOR Rodgers:
The wealth of young talent currently at Liverpool could thrive under Rodgers.
One of our manager’s biggest strengths is his ability to instil confidence in youngsters, and trust them on the biggest stage. He’s turned Raheem Sterling into a £50m player (via the Telegraph), brought Jordon Ibe and Jon Flanagan through, signed very talented young stars such as Divock Origi, Emre Can, Lazar Markovic, Coutinho and Alberto Moreno. If all these stars maximise their potential and grow together as a team – Rodgers’ failure in the transfer market will be irrelevant, as we’ll already have the players at the club to succeed. In terms of a fantasy ‘Under-23’ side, Liverpool probably have as good an outfit as anyone in Europe. Rodgers has built this, and should be given a chance to watch it grow.
AGAINST Rodgers:
His questionable relationship with the players.
Rodgers had to deny reports of a team riff (via the Guardian), but there’s undoubtedly some fractious relationships between himself and certain squad members. The boss has been hugely critical of Mario Balotelli (via BBC Sport), allowed Steven Gerrard to sign a pre-contract at LA Galaxy, saw Luis Suarez sold to Barcelona (although this was definitely not his decision) and has failed to convince Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson to renew their contracts yet. How much this has to do with Rodgers is uncertain – but he’s the boss, and his role in keeping our best players needs to be at least analysed.
