There is a parody account on Twitter, called simply Deluded Brendan. The impression many have is that Brendan Rodgers exists in a world of his own, distant from reality, where imaginary positives are taken.
The Northern Irishman’s valedictory press conference as Liverpool manager rather encouraged that image.
Owners Fenway Sports Group had never put him under pressure to secure a top-four finish, he said. They understood rebuilding Liverpool was a long-term job, whether for him or any other manager, he insisted.
He did not feel any pressure, he averred. He felt his position was secure, he argued. Less than two hours later, he was gone, sacked unceremoniously.
FSG’s ruthless reaction left Rodgers looking deluded. A run of one victory in nine games was deemed inadequate, along with a mid-table position.
Some £300 million had been spent in Rodgers’ reign and a descent into mediocrity was not acceptable. Five months after a cull of his coaching staff, following a summer when £88 million was paid to bring in new players, Rodgers was axed. His 166th match was his last.
He departs with a win rate of exactly 50 percent, the manager of the year award – for 2013-14 – but no silverware for his side. In the last half century, only he and Roy Hodgson have exited Anfield without winning a trophy.
He ranks as a nearly man; the man who almost won the title. The recent mentions of that near miss have started to grate with supporters.
The problem was that, while Rodgers railed at unspecified outsiders who he claimed were trying to unseat him last week, the majority of the supporters had lost faith in him. So, evidently, had his employers.
Neither the former Liverpool players now serving as pundits nor the Merseyside football correspondents had called for his head.
Instead, Rodgers’ undoing came from that most traditional of sources: results.
He leaves Liverpool with a distinction few of his predecessors share: he never lost a Merseyside derby after the 1-1 drawy at Goodison Park on Sunday night. A sixth draw in seven meetings with Everton was not enough to save him.
Instead, it revealed some of the shortcomings that hastened his departure. Liverpool have become draw specialists, with five of their last six games ending 1-1, each after they had taken the lead. This is a club accustomed to more than equality and to rather more quality.
Rodgers, like his Everton counterpart Roberto Martinez, has never successfully allied passing principles with watertight organisation. In the 225th Merseyside derby, Everton at least had the excuse that three of their first-choice back four were missing. Liverpool had their preferred personnel and conceded in calamitous fashion.
This was particularly panicky, Emre Can pinballing an attempted clearance into team-mate Martin Skrtel.
It bounced to a grateful Romelu Lukaku, who displayed rather greater accuracy with his finish. Lukaku thereafter showed capacity to induce dread among Liverpool’s defenders.
Skrtel was bullied, as he tends to be when he encounters physical forwards.
Rodgers never fixed the defence. His use of the converted midfielder Can at the back became a particular peccadillo.
His faith in the floundering Skrtel was invariably misplaced. However many tactical changes Rodgers made further forward, whether his left-field ideas were brilliant or misguided, an inability to keep clean sheets invariably undermined his Liverpool.
Holding an in-form Everton at Goodison Park ranked as one of his better scorelines in recent months.
Winning just five of 17 league games was nowhere near good enough for Liverpool. He never really recovered from May’s 6-1 thrashing at Stoke City.
Perhaps, in the final reckoning, they never recovered from Luis Suarez’s sale to Barcelona last summer.
Since then, they have given debuts to signings who cost £205 million and regressed. That is the reality, and why they rejected Rodgers.
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