Half A Century Up For Rodgers...

50 league games up for the Northern Irishman, despite a difficult six months 2013 has been a good year for Liverpool Football Club heading into a gruelling month of fixtures how can or will Brendan Rodgers be perceived. From the initial airings of Being: Liverpool, Rodgers was cast as the "David Brent" of the footballing world by opposition fans and even some our own.

While that perceived image portrayed during that series, fast forward to today that image has been dispelled by not only the man himself in a recent interview with ESPN but he has let his Liverpool side on the pitch do the talking.

Even before we come to that side of things, the right signings, the actions, the team selections, the tactical changes. All of it dictate if the manager is going to get the time, patience and fortitude to ride out the teething issues which in Rodgers case he experienced in his first few months last season.The table below shows exactly how difficult it was for Rodgers, a situation not to dissimilar 30 miles down the road which is happening at Old Trafford.

POS	CLUB	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Manchester City	12	8	4	0	25	10	15	28
2	Manchester United	12	9	0	3	29	17	12	27
3	Chelsea	12	7	3	2	24	13	11	24
4	West Bromwich Albion	12	7	2	3	19	13	6	23
5	Everton	12	5	5	2	22	16	6	20
6	Arsenal	12	5	4	3	23	13	10	19
7	West Ham United	12	5	4	3	15	12	3	19
8	Tottenham Hotspur	12	5	2	5	20	21	-1	17
9	Fulham	12	4	4	4	25	22	3	16
10	Swansea City	12	4	4	4	18	16	2	16
11	Liverpool	12	3	6	3	17	16	1	15

A lot of information has been documented about the possession stats, passing figures etc..during this period all down to the "Death By Football" phrase coined by Rodgers himself that was jumped upon. In those games that was the philosophy, the myriad of the changes since then not only need to be more looked into and give Rodgers his due. Clearly at the time, the Death By Football concept didn't work for a number of reasons specifically the personnel in the squad didn't have the necessary quality too play that game. Rodgers was a man learning on the job, in my personal opinion those few months in 2012 could prove to be a catalyst for the manager is on the cusp of becoming at Liverpool. 

What we have witnessed is a manager still learning but been more pragmatic in his approach to how the team plays. Yes he can unstuck sometimes, more occasionally sides who press like Arsenal, Southampton in this past year. The signings of Coutinho and Sturridge have pointed as catalysts to Rodgers ever improving side, it is the core element of the side which has improved, improved as footballers. Jordan Henderson, Luis Suarez, Glen Johnson, Jose Enrique to name a few players who have flourished under Rodgers. He has shown to be ruthless which only Martin Skrtel and Sebastian Coates know all too well, in Skrtel's case it has shown that you can show you deserve another chance despite the additions in his position during the summer. 

As we look at the table now below as of  November 2013, the improvement on last season couldn't be transparent. At the end of the day the talk of Death By Football is probably where Liverpool and Rodgers will end up given time right now he needed, needs results. The way Liverpool have dispatching sides below Spurs in the table if it continues there is no reason with surely Liverpool picking up points against the sides in and around them who knows what the limit could be for Liverpool. 

POS	CLUB	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Arsenal	12	9	1	2	24	10	14	28
2	Liverpool	12	7	3	2	24	13	11	24
3	Chelsea	12	7	3	2	21	10	11	24
4	Manchester City	12	7	1	4	34	12	22	22
5	Southampton	12	6	4	2	15	7	8	22
6	Manchester United	12	6	3	3	20	15	5	21
7	Everton	12	5	6	1	17	13	4	21
8	Newcastle United	12	6	2	4	17	17	0	20
9	Tottenham Hotspur	12	6	2	4	9	12	-3	20

One game at a time is the mantra and rightly so but these 3 games could be crucial going into December with what we have coming. Points on the board puts pressure on the teams below, that is why at the moment everyone else is playing catch up to Arsenal. Who so far are the consistent side bar their blip at Old Trafford which was far from a disaster has proven by United's lack of consistency especially at Cardiff last Sunday.

In what probably is the most open League race probably since the late 70's/80's when a number of teams could win the title, 2013/14 could be landmark season in the Premier League era where any number of teams could be Champions come May which would be could be for the game in England as it badly needs it. Quietly, both LFC and Rodgers will be dreaming of something special while publicly been realistic which are both good things. 

2013 so far reads with still 7 games to play Games: 30 Won: 16 Drew: 10 Lost: 4, a decent return for a manager building from a position of weakness so far behind the sides above him this time last year. Hopefully come the final whistle is blown on his 57th league game in charge Liverpool will still be up where they are. Currently haven't been outside the top 3 all season thus far. Come New Year's Day when we kick off against Hull at Anfield and the kick off of the transfer window will tell a few things about what 2013/14 season will be. Maybe the quiet thinking could be looked upon as quiet wondering if the club invested in their midfield and left back in a position of strength, could we dare to dream?

At this moment in time the fans are enjoying the position  currently been held, proving a lot of doubters wrong so far in the process. 

The Energizer Bunny Era Begins For Irish Football

Come this Friday the tandem of Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane comes to life at the Aviva against Latvia. My honest opinion I hope it works for the good of country (but doesn't stop me from believing we could have done better) as we need to qualify for the Euro's in France in over two and half years time. The chances are good with the way UEFA have expanded the tournament to 24 teams but I will come to that later in the future.

For now, the "dream ticket" as has been mentioned numerous times is being for by Denis O'Brien as with Trappatoni the FAI, some of the most mentioned pundits believe its a great thing for Irish football. Personally, the fact a businessman has to come in and pay for a manager of our country while our national association can't says that all needs to be said about the acumen of Delaney and his cohorts in the offices of the FAI. Our previous manager described our national game to such a degree he labelled us not having our own league, that goes deeper which as all League of Ireland fans know all too well is nothing new in this country when it comes to the care of the national game at domestic level by the FAI.

Entirely not wanting to bash the FAI throughout this post but how hard is it not too?

The meal ticket of O'Neill and Keane only serves to placate a minority of football fans in this country who go along with what the FAI serve up every year. Going from one qualifying campaign to another and not actually planning for the future with a manager that plays the football heir coaching programmes tell aspiring coaches in this country to play "the Barcelona model".

Thankfully some club's coaches/managers adhere to that policy especially at my local club and the benefits can be seen due to the conviction one man has implemented throughout the club(some people who read this will know who the club and man I am referring too). The structure is their and are more organised as a Junior club side than our own International side tells it all for me. If someone like that can put something in place why are the FAI employing foreign coaches when they have the people here in this country who actually adopt the philosophy that the FAI portray on their coaching courses.

I got told  the above when I did my Kick Start course and this was TWO years ago, Martin O'Neill nor Roy Keane just like Trappatoni are the people who are/were going to be leading that model(which throughout their coaching careers(so far in Keane's case) haven't played that way) which is still being coached at these courses. The whole situation is maddening to say the least for my point of view.

The FAI in my honest opinion need to look closer to home as to what they exist to be -- are they a football governing body that actually governs the game properly or are they financially motivated/quick fix organisation which is becoming more apparent as time passes?? It's been a long time since they acted as a governing body.