Brendan Rodgers: Long Road Ahead

Without conflict, there is no story.  For there to be triumph there has to be something that needs to be overcome.  The greater glories come from the biggest obstacles, for the greater rewards are there for those who are prepared to risk failure.  Men become heroes and the stuff of legend beyond that because of the frequency with which they are prepared to take those risks.  Champions are held up for all to see while challengers lick their wounds and plot for the day when it is their turn to be crowned.  In the end, losing doesn't matter anywhere near as much as is made out.   It's how you react to those setbacks that determine whether or not you can eventually become a winner.

Brendan Rodgers was given a baptism of fire, of that there was never any doubt once the fixture list had been released on June 18th.  Consecutive home fixtures against last years top three represented as hard an opening as any Liverpool manager has had to negotiate for some time, let alone someone who had only just accepted the job.  Two seasons ago, a similar task fell to another man who was still getting his feet under the table. Defeat to both Manchester clubs compounded an exasperating last minute equaliser by Arsenal on the opening day of the season and a miserable draw with Birmingham City.  Though on the face of it things may seem eerily similar, the approach of both men - on and off the pitch - could not be different.

Comparing Brendan Rodgers to the current England manager is not something that covers Roy in glory.  In virtually every way they are polar opposites of each other, right down to splendidly superficial point where Rodgers comes on on top by virtue of looking somewhat shark-like as opposed to Hodgson's antiquated owl appearance.  Whereas one of them had to sit by and wait for a transfer window to slam shut ahead of players he had been promised the other got exactly what he wanted; and that was Christian Poulsen and Paul Konchesky.  Regardless of whatever the results may bear out in the next six months, Brendan Rodgers and what this team are trying to do is as far away from the fear and lurid football that Liverpool supporters once had to endure.

Before a ball was even kicked, optimism was high.  A man had come in that was like a breath of fresh air over supporters and the club as a whole.  Things have happened since to dampen that enthusiasm but the fact still remains that even though things may not have gone the way everyone would have liked, there was a real foundation underneath all that idealism.  This will be the first proper test of whether the talk of implementing a new structure into the club was just that.  There will be some quarters of both the media and Internet - 606 and the like - that will be the first to run, screaming from the battlefield, should anything go wrong in the immediate future.  An ignorable minority they may be, but if that is the case it is the job of the rest of us to be even more resolute.

The next eight days represent as difficult a challenge as we could hope to face so early on in the season.  Progression through to the group stages of the Europa League has given an additional dimension to Rodgers' already demanding schedule.  Shoehorning a troublesome trip to Switzerland to take on Young Boys in between an away game at the Stadium of Light and an encounter with Manchester United at Anfield and it's hard to imagine any side who could emerge completely unscathed.  What's important is that even though the potential for taking a hit or two in the next week appears to be great, that faith in what the manager is building suddenly disappears.

It's already happened once, on a very minor scale.  Little over an hour into the season and thoughts of missed opportunities and bad luck dominated the minds of supporters everywhere.  The game that took place at the Hawthorns almost exactly a month ago now would not have looked out of place in the seemingly weekly torment of last season.  What it should have done is made everyone realise that the problems that Brendan Rodgers inherited would not go away overnight, regardless of how technically sound a coach he is.  Now that the dust has settled on the transfer window fiasco, it's time to give full support to those that remain.  Especially the manager.

Of all the corresponding fixtures played last season, the only game to have a negative point disparity is West Brom.  A victory on Saturday against Sunderland would actually put Rodgers level with the points picked up against those same teams.  Over the course of the pre season, it was pointed out at painstaking length that for the club to do better this year it would have to pick up better results against the lower tier of the league.  The last thing Rodgers needs is for there to be even the smallest murmurs of discontent.

This is not meant to sound like imperious defeatism.  The fact that everything had gotten Liverpool fans - up until very recently - incredibly excited is not a bad thing but right now there stands a crossroads to which there needs to be a certain realism.  Five games in the next fourteen days even at this point of the season mean that this is a period in which things will get tough.  The squad will be stretched as far as the manager believes it can be and some may be thrown in at the deep end just as Rodgers has been.  Some may not be ready to take the opportunity while others will fail the test altogether, what's important is that the process that was initiated over the summer is allowed to bear fruit.

It's easy - and almost certainly factually accurate - to point out that our priorities this season lay elsewhere and that the game against West Brom in particular isn't one that will matter.  The game next Thursday against Young Boys would have a similar significance were it not for the fact that even if the unthinkable happens and whatever team gets sent out there is shell shocked, there are still five games left to make up for it.  The cup games last year weren't so much a pleasant distraction as something of a wet dream as the season went on by and we certainly soiled our sheets in the league as a consequence.  That cannot be allowed to happen this time around.

At this point it's about getting through games and building a platform from which we can push on from later on in the season.  Tottenham started last season with not only back to back defeats by United and City but demoralising, heavy ones at that.  Once those fixtures were put behind them they went on a run that would see them in control of their own fate right up until the final stages of the season.  Nothing will be settled until May, all that has to be done until then is hold steady.  It may appear daunting but Brendan Rodgers is the man who has been charged with the task of guiding the club through this.  The next few weeks will be exhausting for the football club and as such support for both the team and manager will need to as loud as ever.  Win or lose, they will learn.