Tony Barrett
Published 1 minute ago
Brendan Rodgers will have to prove he is the right man to take Liverpool forward in an endof-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.
Although FSG has no intention of dispensing with Rodgers’s services, the outcome of the
meeting will be pivotal in determining how the club goes about addressing the failings that
have resulted in such a disappointing campaign.
The main aim of the summit, which will see Mike Gordon, FSG’s most influential figure at
Anfield, 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 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 going
forward 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 Raheem Sterling regardless of
the winger’s growing desire to leave, with Manchester City 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, although that position does seem
optimistic given the indications emerging from Sterling’s camp suggesting he wishes to leave
at the earliest possible opportunity.