Rodgers "Buck-ing" The Trend

He wouldn't last six months some said when appointed Liverpool manager in May 2012. That summer's tour in the USA coincided with the Being:Liverpool documentary which was commissioned to be done before his appointment brought the David Brent comparison's with Rodgers one liner's and some would say cliche quips when been interviewed or when talking to players.

Hindsight is a great thing in football, at the time you think differently. Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and Kenny Dalglish's reign's in the last decade for example; more so the latter, where Kenny performed a key role to where we are now in transitioning from Roy Hodgson's disastrous reign to Rodgers's reign. A lot of fans felt despite(including myself at the time) Kenny got a raw deal. Yes the league form was bad but he ended up getting Liverpool to two cup finals and almost easily could have come away with a domestic double had it not been for the disallowed Andy Carroll goal against Chelsea. That is for another day, but the impact that his 18 months in charge had setup Rodgers with the foundation to build from something.

Not only have Liverpool clearly improved under him but the one thing which is finally getting recognised is his man-management of players, specifically 3 players which I think throughout his reign have improved immeasurably as footballers. As much as the young players like Sterling, Flanagan, Suso, Wisdom to name a few, the players I am referring to are Jordan Henderson, Daniel Sturridge and the mercurial, controversial but unbelievably talented footballer Luis Suarez.

The latter if he stays at the club, could undoubtedly be the greatest player to ever grace the Red shirt of Liverpool, you think who are regarded as the greatest; Dalglish, Gerrard, Barnes, Rush et al...Taking into account Suarez's two almost full seasons under Rodgers his goal return conversion rate has gone beyond what even I imagined. Like Cristiano Ronaldo, Suarez just obliterates the opposition to such an extent its frightening. The man is a genius.

The other two players mentioned, Suarez's strike partner Daniel Sturridge what can you say about him: lethal finisher. His goal return and assist making aligned with Suarez is probably the most feared strike partnership around at the moment. One thing defenders hate is players running at them with pace and also movement, as we seen yesterday in the 5-1 defeat of Arsenal, the League leaders defence were taking apart piece by piece by the aforementioned key attributes. Sterling was involved in a lot of the damage but Suarez and Sturridge strike fear into each side the come up against. Arsenal won't be the last side to come away from Anfield with a beating like that, if Liverpool could transfer 50% of that performance into their away games its fair to say to dream the impossible dream could be mentioned among Kopites in the coming weeks who knows.

 That brings us to possibly one of my favourite players at the club, not Lucas who I admire a lot but the similarities between him and Jordan Henderson could not be more striking. One thing I have learned, never write players off too young, Henderson is one of those and his performances this season have put him in the frame to be on the plane to Brazil with the England squad come the summer. I would go on to say he should be a starter for them, everyone knows he has the energy and stamina to run all day but his in game intelligence is improving all the time.

The runs he makes, the passes in key areas, his defence side of the game all of it. The lad has it all, in years to come when he hits his prime we could look back at what a piece of business it was that we signed him. He has taken time to settle, flourished under Rodgers despite Liverpool trying to get rid of him in the deal to sign Clint Dempsey, again hindsight looking back missing out on Dempsey was a god-send.

Things happen for a reason in every day life, in the football world Liverpool massively dodged a bullet on that one. The attitude and work ethic of Hendo doesn't go unnoticed among many Reds, six assists this season tells its own story from midfield that is a cracking return. We can only remember he is only 23 years of age already has over 160 Premier League appearances under his belt, playing at a massive club and under a manager who rates him highly, he can only get better and will.

All of the above is down to the man-management of Rodgers, long may it continue. Rodgers is been smart in playing things down, keep the feet on the ground but this coming week against Fulham is a massive game for everyone involved.