After losing another big match in quite a convincing manner, Brendan Rodgers is quite aware it’s going to take a miracle for Liverpool to finish among the top 4 and make the Champions League, something they don’t deserve.
Arsenal beat them 4-1. Manchester United beat them 2-1, but were completely dominant in Anfield, something that rarely happens. Liverpool had a big day against Manchester City, but Rodgers seems to stick a bit too much to tactics that teams have time to learn.
While he had Luis Suarez, he had a World Class wild card who could make preparations to the team’s style redundant. Liverpool don’t have that anymore and while Rodgers is the kind of manager who seems to be open enough and flexible enough to learn from these mistakes, he has also had quite a few moments of actually costing his team matches and points.
Raheem Sterling might want more money. Or maybe he wants more money and leave to another club. However, it’s impossible for a player to demand so much and fall short of expectations in almost every big match his team had this season.
Brendan Rodgers likes making tactical changes midway through a season when things don’t work, and ride out the next trend until it fades away. After losing at home to Manchester United, Rodgers should have understood he has a problem. When he had to play Jordan Henderson on the wing and Kolo Toure at centre back he should have known he had a problem. But he went into the match without a striker and was punished for it. Things looked better with four in the back.
The dream of the Champions League, of making it, is over. Sure, theoretically, there are enough points on the table to win and nothing is really over. But Liverpool have shown they’re simply not cut out for that level of football at the moment. They are a tier below.