This time last year, Liverpool were midway through an 11 game win streak in the Barclays Premier League and Brendan Rodgers was well on his way to claiming the prestigious manager of the year award for his efforts, that saw him take a Liverpool side who had finished seventh the year before, to a title challenge that they maintained all the way until the final day.
The Liverpool fans were dancing from the rooftops and chanting the name of the man who they believed was taking the back to the top, whilst there were words ushered in some quarters that the Reds could lose their beloved Ulsterman to one of Europe's elite clubs, with Barcelona reportedly sniffing around as they looked to replace Tata Martino, the Catalan heavyweights eventually gave the job to homegrown talent Luis Enrique.
Putting being linked with the Barca job aside, Rodgers was excelling as he carefully saw his Liverpool side go from strength to strength throughout the season, a variety of tactical manouvers as he went from game to game ensuring that his side kept going until falling to a Jose Mourinho masterclass at the final hurdle. Yet the nature of that 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea on that sorrowing day at Anfield does offer an explanation as to why Liverpool haven't prospered under the same management this season, but I'll get to that later.
Everyone expected Liverpool's season to be tougher than the last after the sale of Luis Suarez, however nobody expected it to be as poor as it has been in parts. Knocked out of a weak Champions League group where the Reds could only take five points from the likes of Basel and Ludogorets, Rodgers seemed persistent in playing a 4-2-3-1 formation that didn't suit any of his players, including an influx of summer signings. Things weren't helped by Daniel Sturridge's injury, meaning 'impact' signing Rickie Lambert was often thrust into a lone striker role. At the same time, Liverpool's league form wasn't much better as they found themselves in the bottom half until December.
Around this time, huge sections of fans were joining the 'Rodgers out' bandwagon and calling for the Northern Irishmans head, just months after he had led the club to it's highest league position in six years. These shouts were short lived, as Rodgers' change to a 3-4-2-1 formation saw Liverpool gain places quickly, going on a 13 game unbeaten run and very nearly knocking league leaders Chelsea out of the Capital One Cup. Everything was good again as Liverpool surged up the league and found themselves right back in the battle for the top four, and two huge games against Manchester United and Arsenal dawned upon them.
It was then that Liverpool's season unravelled again, with losses in both games basically ruling them out of getting back into the Champions League, a competition which is becoming more and more crucial each year. So once again, we've got certain parts of the Liverpool fan base banging the Rodgers out drum, but should we agree with them?
In some cases, you say of course not. In his (nearly) three years at Liverpool, Rodgers has taken a team that was slipping further and further down the league and reinvigorated them with exciting young players and fantastic brand of football, making them again competetive. He's rid the wage bill of various deadwood, and propelled players such as Luis Suarez, now at Barcelona, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling onto levels they may have never thought possible.
On the other hand, people do have reason to question his management. Rodgers has a stubborn streak that tends to put Liverpool in difficulty at times where he refuses to change his attacking princeples, for example in the 2-0 loss to Chelsea last season. His lack of big game experience has cost Liverpool in the Champions League as they were knocked out by Basel on matchday six, and in the league in games such as Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal. His man management skills appear to see him be favourable towards players, often freezing out sporadic squad members. Finally, his record in the transfer market hasn't been superb since taking over, and huge sums of money have been wasted. In Rodgers' defence, nobody is quite sure about how transfers are settled at Liverpool, and he has got some cracking deals for the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge.
In conclusion, I would probably say that calls to sack Brendan Rodgers are a little pre-mature. He's made mistakes during his reign as Liverpool manager, but who wouldn't? The good has certainly outweighed the bad and that it what John W Henry and co will be looking at towards the end of the season. Some may agree with me and state that a potential FA Cup success (Liverpool face Aston Villa in the semi final on April 19th), would secure Rodgers' position. This is logical, but wasn't the case for Kenny Daglish when he won the League Cup and finished as runner up in the FA Cup during 2011/12, but the club's American owners are more likely to be thinking long term if, and when, they consider the idea of letting Rodgers go. One things for shore, the Ulsterman wouldn't be short of job offers if they did.