Liverpool Sacks Brendan Rodgers, Klopp Likely Replacement

On Sunday afternoon, the inevitable finally became a reality for Liverpool F.C., as Brendan Rodgers was sacked as Manager after a little over 3 seasons on the job. Ever since striker Luis Suarez left for Barcelona in July of 2014, life has not been kind to Liverpool. After several new transfers failed to meet expectations, Liverpool finished a disappointing 6th in the 2014-15 season. Liverpool went on another spending spree this summer in an effort to compete for a spot in the Champions League. James Milner, Danny Ings, Nathaniel Clyne, Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke were all signed over the summer, and expectations were high that Liverpool would be improved. However, through the first 7 games of this season, Liverpool has managed just 12 points and currently sit at 10th in the league table. After a disappointing draw at Everton in the Merseyside Derby on Sunday, Liverpool finally decided to pull the plug on the Rodgers Era. Although I have never met the man, Rodgers seems like, from most accounts, a good, hardworking man. That makes it all the more unfortunate for me to say I feel that, as a Liverpool fan, the Board of Directors made the right decision. Here are what I think are  five big reasons that ultimately led to Rodgers being sacked.

Good, not great pre-Anfield resume 

Before being hired at Liverpool, Rodgers had been a successful manager at Watford, Reading and Swansea. However, Rodgers's only season in the premiership across these 3 clubs came with Swansea in 2012, in which the club finished 11th. It is my theory that if Rodgers had a more polished resume upon arriving at Anfied, it may have been a little easier for John Henry and the rest of the Liverpool Board of Directors to be patient with him. At 42, Rodgers still has plenty of time to have a successful managerial career, but as of right now, he remains relatively unproven.

Poor Record Against Top 4 Teams

Since Rodgers took over at Liverpool, the Scousers have had 25 games against the ''big four'' of Chelsea, Aresnal, Manchester City and Manchester United, and won just 5 of them. Liverpool simply could not get the job done against the big boys, and since a big club like Liverpool should be fielding a team good enough to compete with the best the premiership has to offer every year, that is completely unacceptable. Rodgers's record against top 4 teams was not a good recipe for a manager who wanted to keep his job, and it is another reason why hitting the unemployment line was inevitable for the Irishman.

Failed Transfers

Since Rodgers took over as Liverpool boss,Liverpool bought 31 players for a whooping 291,550,000 pounds. Out of those transfers, here is a list of players that have made a splash at Anfield:

Daniel Sturridge
Philippe Coutindho
Simon Mignolet

and here is a list of players that have either not lived up to their money or just flat out flopped at
Anfield:

Mario Balotelli
Rickie Lambert
Dejan Lovren
Adam Lallana
Joe Allen
Alberto Moreno
Lazar Markovic
Fabio Borini, just to name a few.

While it is yet to be seen what will become of the players that Liverpool acquired this past summer, last year's transfer window is one of the biggest reasons why Rodgers is no longer Liverpool boss. With Suarez gone, Liverpool decided to makeover their roster. Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert (all from Southampton), Mario Balotelli and Alberto Moreno were among the players brought in, and none of them lived up to expectations. I think that losing the best striker in the world caused Rodgers to panic, and he thought that bringing in a bunch of ''good'' players was a better alternative than bringing in 2 or 3 stars that really could have made the impact that Liverpool needed. Raiding Southampton proved to be unwise, and Liverpool finished the season only two points clear of the club that less than one year prior had decided to sell off their stars to the Reds.

Two failed transfers from that summer stand above the rest, and those are the two strikers who were brought in to replace Suarez: Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli. Lambert was a 32 year old who had been a journeyman throughout his career before recently becoming a big fish in the small Southampton pond, and Balotelli, although a talented striker, was not a huge star and had a history of poor effort and attitude, which both were on display in his one miserable season at Anfield. Collectively, the players brought in by Liverpool in 2015 barley managed to score more goals than Harry Kane did that season, which is an embarrassing reality. It is hard for me to believe that Liverpool could not have acquired better players with the money they spent, and I think that these transfers were questionable with or without the benefit of hindsight. These questionable decisions contributed to a disappointing season, as Liverpool finished just 6th in the league table and were bounced from the Champions League in the group stages.

Assuming that Rodgers played a large role in bringing this disappointing batch of players to Anfield, he deserves to take heat, and last season really put him on a short leash with Liverpool fans and management. Being unwise with money is a huge reason why Rodgers is no longer behind the home bench at Anfield.

2014 Collapse
Without question, the highlight of Rodgers career at Anfield was the 2013-14 season. Everything seemed to fall into place for Liverpool. Luis Suarez was a machine, Daniel Sturridge actually stayed healthy and Steven Gerrard had a renaissance year. However, it all fell apart in the end. In the final three games of the season, Liverpool lost to Chelsea and blew a late 3-0 lead at Crystal Palace, losing the title to Man City by two points despite being five points clear of second place with three matches left. It is hard to imagine just what would have taken place had Liverpool won the league. Rodgers would have been hailed as a hero after bringing a historic club their first league title in 25 years despite being just 41 years of age. Rodgers might not have been forced to sell Suraez to Barcelona, making all of the transfers above unnecessary, and, above all else, Rodgers would likely still have a job. The heartbreak that Liverpool suffered at the end of the 2014 season were

the first seeds of what eventually evolved into a garden of disappointment over the next 17 months.


The Anfield Standard 
Liverpool F.C. is one of the most famous sports clubs in the world, and their list of silverware goes on forever. Therefore, the standard that Liverpool fans set for their team and their managers is different than most places. For a club like Crystal Palace or West Ham, finishing in the top half of the league three years in a row might not be the worst thing in the world. But for a club like Liverpool, it is simply not good enough. Although Liverpool had been in decline for a few years before Rodgers was hired, the bar is still set extremely high, and although Rodgers was able to get his hands on it, he was never able to hold on to it long enough to keep his job.

Now, it is up for John Henry to find a manager who will be able to hold on to the bar, and it sure looks like that man will be Jurgen Klopp. Klopp most notably managed the German side Borussia Dortmund from 2008-2015 before announcing this past April that he would leave the club in order to take a sabbatical. It looks like Klopp's break might be shortened, as he has already been contacted by Liverpool, and it was reported on Monday that Klopp could be hired as early as this Friday. Klopp did wonders at Dortmund, twice beating out Bayren Munich for the Bundesliga title and reaching the Champions League Final in 2013. I am very excited at the likelihood of Klopp coming to Anfield. I think that the combination of his football knowledge as well as his enthusiasm and energy level make him a great fit for Liverpool, and at 48, he is young enough to be at Anfield for several years. Hopefully, he has what it takes to eventually lead Liverpool back to the mountaintop of English football.

I wish Brendan Rodgers the best of luck in the future, and hope that he catches on at another club. But at the end of the day, results are all that matter in sports, and Rodgers could not deliver the success that this club expects. For Liverpool, Rodgers is now part of the past, and it looks like Jurgen Klopp is the future. Hopefully brighter days are ahead for this legendary club.

Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart,
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone.