Rodgers must buck the trend BREN NEEDS BIG WIN
BRENDAN RODGERS continues to personify that famous quote from Sir Isaac Newton: ‘What goes up, must come down’.
Rodgers (left) isn’t a mathematician, physicist or philosopher, of course, although he might argue the latter when it comes to football because few think more deeply about the game than he does. But not many managers in recent times know more than he does about how dangerous the pull of gravity can be at the elite level of his sport. His biggest fall came back in 2014 when he led Liverpool to the brink of what would have been their first league title in 24 years. Rodgers must still wake up in cold sweats from the memories of Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip on that fateful April afternoon when Chelsea won at Anfield – not to mention those of the following game when Liverpool led 3-0 at Crystal Palace with 11 minutes to go but left Selhurst Park with just a point.
Liverpool went on to finish second, the Premier League trophy had slipped from his grasp and 18 months later Rodgers was sacked.
It was a spectacular fall from grace and although Rodgers went on to find some form of rehabilitation in Glasgow with Celtic, his consistent domestic success there was still measured against equally consistent failings in the Champions League. There is no shame in being tonked by Barcelona, but losing to the likes of AEK Athens and Zenit St Petersburg hinted at some flaws that needed addressing. Winning in Scotland will always be accompanied with an asterisk due to the lack of competitiveness of the SPL. Rodgers knew he had to return to English football to deal with his demons – and he chose Leicester as the place to do it. It appeared to be a fight he was winning, too, having led the Foxes to third in the table and within sight of a return to the Champions League. Then Covid-19 came along.
Since Project Restart the Foxes have won two of eight league games and crashed out of the FA Cup. The lockdown hasn’t been kind to Rodgers and few managers look like they have been exposed more than the Irishman.
Leicester has returned to lockdown due to a spike in the virus – and so has Rodgers’ beaming, white smile. A five-point lead over Chelsea and an eight-point lead over Manchester United has evaporated. The Foxes are now on the outside looking in, desperate to earn themselves an invitation to the biggest football show in Europe.
Rodgers is facing accusations that his tactics and philosophies are not flexible enough when injuries strike. When Plan A fails, he has no Plan B.
That he is a great coach, but comes with certain limitations – and one of them is his refusal to compromise.
Rodgers will seemingly live or die by his sword today when United visit the King Power Stadium for a winner-takes-all shootout to see who finishes in the top four and gets to dine at the top table of club football once more.
Whatever happens the Foxes are guaranteed to finish in the top six and achieve their goal at the start of the season – European football.
But Rodgers can ill afford to fall at the final hurdle once again. He has to beat United if he wants to rid himself of the tag of being ‘the nearly man of English football.’
His achievements need to start matching what his personal ambitions demand.