Tony Barrett
Last updated at 12:01AM, May 20 2015
Brendan Rodgers will have to prove he is the right man to take Liverpool forward in an end-of-season review with Fenway Sports Group (FSG).
The club’s American owner will look to re-establish common ground with the manager after a season that has fallen short of expectations, and that has ended with Raheem Sterling — heckled by some fans when he accepted Liverpool’s young player of the year award last night — seeking to leave Anfield.
Although FSG has no intention of dispensing with Rodgers’s services, the outcome of the meeting will be pivotal in determining how the club go about addressing the failings that have resulted in such a disappointing campaign.
The main aim of the summit, at which Mike Gordon, FSG’s most influential figure at Anfield, will hold face-to-face talks with Rodgers, will be to learn from the mistakes that caused Liverpool to fail to win a trophy for a third successive season and miss out on Champions League qualification.
High on the agenda will be the need to address the disconnect between transfer strategy and team selection, with FSG hoping Rodgers is ready to convince them of his willingness to persevere with several signings who have yet to make the desired impact.
Rodgers’s lack of faith in a number of the players Liverpool signed last summer has become increasingly obvious in recent months with Lazar Markovic, Rickie Lambert, Mario Balotelli, Javier Manquillo, Alberto Moreno and Dejan Lovren all struggling to establish themselves to an extent.
While there is an acceptance that some of last summer’s acquisitions, Balotelli and Lambert in particular, left Rodgers short of the kind of options he needs, there is also a feeling within Liverpool’s hierarchy that such failings do not justify a season of underachievement after investing about £110 million in players.
This year, Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman, said that it was “important” to maintain Liverpool’s mid-season momentum and achieve a top-four finish, admitting that it would be a “disappointment” if those objectives were not reached. In the event, neither target has been reached with Liverpool winning only twice, against Newcastle United and Queens Park Rangers, in their past eight league games.
End-of-season reviews are standard practice for Liverpool under FSG’s ownership and although it is routine for the manager’s performance to be scrutinised, Rodgers will go into his latest assessment in the knowledge that Liverpool have fallen short of the place in the top four that was viewed as the minimum acceptable requirement at the start of this season.
Although there is no sense that Rodgers will, in effect, be auditioning again for a position he already occupies, FSG is looking to him to show them that it remains on the same page and to justify its belief that he is the right manager to implement the model it remains confident can allow Liverpool to become consistently competitive at home and abroad.
In keeping with that aim, Liverpool remain determined to keep Sterling, although Manchester City are understood to be preparing an offer that would make him one of their highest-paid players.
That position will be reaffirmed when Sterling’s agent, Aidy Ward, holds talks with Rodgers and Ian Ayre, Liverpool’s chief executive, on Friday. At the meeting, which is taking place at Ward’s request, he is expected to inform Liverpool of his client’s wish to secure a transfer this summer, but the Merseysiders will not sanction any departure.
Liverpool remain hopeful that they will be able to convince the England forward to commit his future to them, regardless of his agitation to move.
Last updated at 12:01AM, May 20 2015
Brendan Rodgers will have to prove he is the right man to take Liverpool forward in an end-of-season review with Fenway Sports Group (FSG).
The club’s American owner will look to re-establish common ground with the manager after a season that has fallen short of expectations, and that has ended with Raheem Sterling — heckled by some fans when he accepted Liverpool’s young player of the year award last night — seeking to leave Anfield.
Although FSG has no intention of dispensing with Rodgers’s services, the outcome of the meeting will be pivotal in determining how the club go about addressing the failings that have resulted in such a disappointing campaign.
The main aim of the summit, at which Mike Gordon, FSG’s most influential figure at Anfield, will hold face-to-face talks with Rodgers, will be to learn from the mistakes that caused Liverpool to fail to win a trophy for a third successive season and miss out on Champions League qualification.
High on the agenda will be the need to address the disconnect between transfer strategy and team selection, with FSG hoping Rodgers is ready to convince them of his willingness to persevere with several signings who have yet to make the desired impact.
Rodgers’s lack of faith in a number of the players Liverpool signed last summer has become increasingly obvious in recent months with Lazar Markovic, Rickie Lambert, Mario Balotelli, Javier Manquillo, Alberto Moreno and Dejan Lovren all struggling to establish themselves to an extent.
While there is an acceptance that some of last summer’s acquisitions, Balotelli and Lambert in particular, left Rodgers short of the kind of options he needs, there is also a feeling within Liverpool’s hierarchy that such failings do not justify a season of underachievement after investing about £110 million in players.
This year, Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman, said that it was “important” to maintain Liverpool’s mid-season momentum and achieve a top-four finish, admitting that it would be a “disappointment” if those objectives were not reached. In the event, neither target has been reached with Liverpool winning only twice, against Newcastle United and Queens Park Rangers, in their past eight league games.
End-of-season reviews are standard practice for Liverpool under FSG’s ownership and although it is routine for the manager’s performance to be scrutinised, Rodgers will go into his latest assessment in the knowledge that Liverpool have fallen short of the place in the top four that was viewed as the minimum acceptable requirement at the start of this season.
Although there is no sense that Rodgers will, in effect, be auditioning again for a position he already occupies, FSG is looking to him to show them that it remains on the same page and to justify its belief that he is the right manager to implement the model it remains confident can allow Liverpool to become consistently competitive at home and abroad.
In keeping with that aim, Liverpool remain determined to keep Sterling, although Manchester City are understood to be preparing an offer that would make him one of their highest-paid players.
That position will be reaffirmed when Sterling’s agent, Aidy Ward, holds talks with Rodgers and Ian Ayre, Liverpool’s chief executive, on Friday. At the meeting, which is taking place at Ward’s request, he is expected to inform Liverpool of his client’s wish to secure a transfer this summer, but the Merseysiders will not sanction any departure.
Liverpool remain hopeful that they will be able to convince the England forward to commit his future to them, regardless of his agitation to move.
