Liverpool Staring Into the Abyss

There are moments as a Liverpool fan, where you genuinely feel as though your head is spinning, you can watch things unfold and have nothing but a sense of dread. The end of last season felt that way, one loss to West Ham at home and here we are again.

Things should not feel this way.

Hope and Trust though, is in short supply.

The manager is constantly treading a tightrope due to the absolute nature of his side’s demise last season. Decisions are magnified, errors compounded and each word uttered after a performance is analysed in such a fashion that they make being Brendan Rodgers PR manager the toughest job in the world. This you see, is what happens when FSG decide to stick with their man, an admirable gesture to be sure, but there is now a very real element of doubt that creeps in as soon as things are not even slightly positive.

Rodgers and FSG have laid the foundations for a manager who will always be seen as the next manager to be sacked. That is the situation that confronts Liverpool FC right now.

A loss to West Ham, should not have this sort of impact and people need to be able to make decisions about performances in isolation to a certain extent, however, with no trust in the man charged with building a successful campaign this season, a loss to West Ham may as well be the end of our season, such is the vicious vicarious venom that is being sprayed at Rodgers.

Can Rodgers survive this? Well, the answer is if he does, it will take one of the biggest turnarounds modern football has ever seen.

But this leads us all to contemplate the one and only question that matters, How possible is it for Rodgers to turn around this team?

As things stand, the answer is clearly, not likely if you’re being somewhat optimistic and no chance in hell if you’re being a realist.

Rodgers has made decisions that have a real impact on the team, he continues to play with a few liabilities and it was never going to take long for Lovren to do Lovren things.

Gomez, who I absolutely loved during our preseason and was more than thrilled to have been able to find such a gem for a very small fee, was NEVER the answer to our Left Back woes. He is great when asked to play basically as a wider Centre Back, but what was clear was the moment, we had to go chasing a game, he was absolutely in no way shape or form capable of providing the thrust that our system absolutely requires from our fullbacks. This IS NOT Gomez’ fault, because he is NOT a Left Back and what we saw against West Ham was the writing that was on the wall from day 1. The poor kid suffered and I would hate to see him being turned into a scapegoat for that abysmal performance by our entire backline.

Rodgers, continued to persevere with a player who in fairness, did remarkably well when asked to defend, but the worry always was, what happens when you ask him to join in the attack? And that was answered in yesterday’s match. Rodgers decided that babysitting Lovren, was better for the team than playing with a competent Centre Back and by doing so, he has opened himself up to not only criticism which is absolutely warranted given the way Lovren performed last season but he has hurt the team.

And it is that hurt, which is still felt after last season, that is so quick to resurface after that defeat to West Ham. The fans feel hurt, they feel battered and they feel defensive. Even the slightest wrong, whether that be perceived or real, is latched onto in a fashion that is better suited to a Saturday Night alcohol fueled act of violence, than a discussion about Liverpool FC’s future. We are all ready to get our gloves up, ready to swing because we have all felt that visceral sense of betrayal.

This is the abyss and the abyss is now in all of us and that is the most worrying aspect of Rodgers fourth season in charge.