Sunday, 26 August 2012
Months of doubt, 90 minutes of promise
Having made the difficult decision of relieving Kenny Dalglish of managerial duties at Liverpool, the appointment of Brendan Rodgers attracted many cynical comments.
There was the obvious criticism that Liverpool, the five time European Cup winners, should be recruiting someone more high profile than a man whose only experience of top flight football was with Swansea in the Premier League last season.
Although the expansive brand of football that Rodgers had Swansea playing saw them finishing just five points behind Liverpool, his appointment still drew derision from fans.
Remarkably, Liverpool fans were adamant that Dalglish should have remained at the helm despite the win ratio during his tenure being less than 10% better than the under the much-maligned Roy Hodgson's stewardship.
Many would argue that Hodgson was denied time to settle as manager because he wasn't the fans' choice. The calls of "Dalglish" from the Kop soon told the board who they wanted.
Having won the League Cup and reached the final of the FA Cup, eventually losing to Chelsea, it was the eighth placed finish in the Premier League that saw Dalglish's time as Liverpool manager come to an end.
With Rodgers sworn in and wanting to have his new team playing in the style that saw his Swansea side attract many plaudits, his foray into the transfer market saw him bring in two players that he had previously managed in Fabio Borini and Joe Allen.
The two signings only served to bring more negativity in certain quarters with many, like Rodgers' appointment, seeing it as a decline in the club's ability to attract high quality personnel.
Following their opening day defeat, a 3-0 loss away to West Bromwich Albion, the early cynicism resurfaced. The knee-jerk reactions were already apparent on the terraces and on radio phone-ins.
Today, they entertained Manchester City at Anfield in a match that many predicted would see a second straight defeat for Liverpool. How wrong they were.
Although it ended in a 2-2 draw, with both City goals being defensive lapses, the Anfield faithful will be encouraged to see their side play with such tempo and tenacity that the current Champions struggled to contain them.
Joe Allen, pulled the strings in a three-man midfield and was awarded the Sky Sports Man of the Match award for his efforts. It was a performance to silence the critics and to alleviate the pressure on the team and Rodgers.
After a terrible opening day, perhaps Rodgers' work on the training ground is starting to come to fruition.
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