The month of November threw up many trials and tribulations for Liverpool Football Club and their manager Brendan Rodgers. Having lost four out of the six games played during the month and only collecting 4 points, there have been a few rumblings of discontent amongst the Liverpool faithful. Is the Northern Irishman's time up on Merseyside? Or can he turn it around?First of all, this piece can not begin without mentioning the terrific season they had last year, and probably should have even won the league. Rodgers made a very shrewd investment in Sturridge and his partnership with one Luis Suarez merited 55 goals in all competitions. The infamous partnership of Sturridge and Suarez (SAS) contributed greatly to their 101 league goals in that campaign, over twice the amount they scored two seasons prior in the 2011/2012 league season and thirty more than the 2012/2013 campaign. Without Rodgers' guidance, Liverpool probably wouldn't have been in that position at the end of the last campaign.
The most notable negative about the last season for Liverpool was sheer amount of goals conceded at the back. Seven teams in the Premier League conceded less goals than Liverpool and the net of the Champions' Manchester City was only breached 37 times - a colossal difference compared to the 50 goals conceded by Mignolet and co. Sticking with the topic of Simon Mignolet, I find similarities between him and David de Gea who was like Bambi on ice, when he first arrived at their fierce rivals Manchester United. He appears quite indecisive and is prone to one or two mistakes from set pieces. Although two years older than de Gea, he is nowhere near his peak, he has plenty of time to grow, and develop into a solid keeper. With the attacking prowess of Suarez sold to Barcelona, and Daniel Sturridge battling repetitive injuries, the problem at the back has only been emphasised. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Liverpool struggle at the back, and it looks like Rodgers' signings in the summer has done nothing to aid this cause.
This leads on to his summer signings, which if I'm honest have largely failed to impose any confidence for the manager in their short times on Merseyside. I'll always remember thinking that Brendan must be desperate if he is sinking as low as to sign a problematic Mario Balotelli. Even though he isn't setting any fireworks alight in his bathroom, neither is he on the pitch either. Scoring a measly 2 goals in his 12 appearances on Merseyside, the Italian has to do a lot better if he is going to remain employed, nevermind replicate the accomplishments of one Luis Suarez. Rodgers signed Alberto Moreno and Javi Manquillo to improve Liverpool down the flanks. In fairness to their manager, he has given his new signings plenty of game time, but they too have been unable to prevent Liverpool conceding a large number of goals. Having been sent on loan from Atletico, Manquillo, will be looking to gain vital experience and challenge Glen Johnson for his position, something which he seems to be achieving.Rodgers raided Southampton FC to acquire Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana. Lovren was signed to plug a leaky defence, but he has found himself on the bench recently after a few questionable performances. At approximately £20m, it seems to be that Brendan overpaid on the Croatian. The signing of Rickie Lambert stems back to that fateful Sunday afternoon in April when Jose Mourinho's Chelsea parked at coach in front of the Kop at Anfield. Plan A wasn't working for Liverpool and Plan B was plan A revisited. In short, Lambert was signed to offer them a target man for them to pump balls into the box whenever their usual exciting football was not breaking the defence down. So far this season, he has made most of his appearances of the bench.
Similar to Lovren, Lallana has not imposed himself upon his new club, but his appearances in the Premier League have been sporadic to say the least. Now that he netted his second goal for Liverpool on Tuesday night, Brendan will be hoping that he can kick off and net a few more before the end of the season. We need to consider the 'wonderkid' that Brendan Rodgers brought from Portugal. Lazar Markovic is tipped to be the next best thing to come from a nation that contains all of youthful talent. Markovic epitomises Liverpool's season so far: hasn't started. A factor that could be hindering the Serbian's growth is his lack of playing time. He hasn't played in the Premier League since the Merseyside Derby at the end of September and has only come off the bench to accumulate 172 minutes out of the games played so far. Yes he has disappointed so far, but he hasn't been given enough game time to shine, on the other hand, he has age on his side. At 20 years of age, he has an abundance of time to turn into a future Liverpool star.Brendan Rodgers needs time. He recruited the players that he wanted in the summer and he has to be given time to see if they can produce the goods. There is no point in sacking a manager and having to start the process all over again. I believe Rodgers himself said that it will take time to get this right and time is what he must be given. Having taken Liverpool to within a hair of the title, the board should reward him by sticking with him throughout the tough times, and this will make the highs taste ever so more sweeter. On the contrary, very football management is a cut throat business, and results are demanded imminently as the cliche goes; if you can't handle the heat, get out of the dugout...
