Following Saturday's shaky win over Aston Villa, Brendan Rodgers reiterated his belief that there is a campaign to get him sacked.
Harking back to the glorious 2013-14 season, he made some bullish statements about his own abilities as a manager. Indeed, he declared that he is the same manager who took Liverpool to within a whisker of the League but also that he wasn't.
I am the same guy who nearly won us the league, but better.
This improvement since early 2014 has yet to manifest itself in Liverpool's results. But then his next utterance heavily implied that he wasn't working with the best of materials.
I think I have shown in the early stages of my management – without being arrogant – that with a talented group of players I can compete at the top end of the league. I know how to manage top players. If you give me the tools, I’ll do the work.
There are very short memories in football. The team was eighth when I got here. We built a team to excite people throughout European football, that should have won the league.
Rodgers then deliberately referenced Marc Antony's eulogy in Julius Caesar - 'the evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred within their bones'.
All the good work gets forgotten. That’s how it works. It seems the focus has not been on what’s gone on and what we’ve been missing, but more about getting me out of the club. That’s sad. There has been a frenzy, there is no doubt about that, to get me out of here. Whether that’s a Liverpool hysteria or big-club hysteria, I am not so sure.
Rodgers contention that he is a better manager now than he was in 2014 is an intriguing one. It flies in the face of one particular stat which looks rather damning from this remove.
Since March, Liverpool have won only five League matches. None of these five teams constitute especially big scalps.
The 5 teams Liverpool have beaten in the league since March 17 are currently 16th,17th,18th and 19th in the PL and 12th in the Championship
— YNWA5TIMES (@MayatYahya) September 27, 2015
