Risk Assessment

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." - Ambrose Redmon

Everything ends. Players - people - come and go. Trophies that take so much effort to acquire can be given up half as easily. Entire eras of domination washed away in what seems like the blinking of an eye. So why bother? Why work so hard for something that isn't guaranteed to last? The chance - and seeming inevitability - of failure is too large, surely? For some people, simply trying is too big a gamble. Willing to have massive failure on your hands rather than hoping for very little, because in the end neither are good enough. The few bold enough to take those risks are the ones that rise above. Those that do can under the right circumstances build something that lasts, however long. Triumph exists in the mind. A place where time stands still, and a single memory can last forever.

Those that are truly ambitious never get comfortable. Comfort implies a level of acceptance that the quest for perfection will never allow. Believing in your own ability to achieve something is one thing, it's another to do so with a massive weight on your shoulders. What kind of a man leaves a position in which he's completely at home in? Who would play with their career like that, having already rebuffed the advances of Chelsea? This man chose to place the burden of getting this club back to where it wants to be. He relished the prospect of it. He is Brendan Rodgers.

The challenges that appeal most are the ones that frighten. Taking up something that could later make one appear foolish for having even attempting, that's where the real competitive edge lies. Those that take chances sometimes crash and burn but when they don't, they become heralded. That mythical line between genius and insanity is measured by sucess, after all. These are the kind of undertakings that appeal directly to the ego, the idea that you alone could hold the key to a seemingly impossible situation. In coming here there were no guarantees, but he would never had bothered if Brendan did not have the belief in himself that he could provide those answers.

All the confidence in the world mean nothing without the resources, even if you have a mastery of your craft.  The world's best carpenter can do very little when there's no wood to carve. That's not to say that Brendan Rodgers is either the best tactician or not, just that right now any manager would struggle to find the perfect balance. Cliches are spouted so often - especially in the world of football - that people don't even acknowledge them, but there if often at least a degree of truth to them.  From everything he says one thing is abundantly clear; this is a man that wants to win every single game.

Maybe it's naivety or even arrogance on the part of the manager, thinking he can actually keep everything going in this day and age.  Just because you accept that defeat is a part of the game however does not mean that you have to accept defeat.  Why else would he have played such a strong team against Anzhi just three days before Everton? Having lost the grip on that particular game at the time, it's become part of the footballing lexicon that we wouldn't make a change before the hour mark but he thought differently, changing both shape and personnel. Likewise against Swansea, Gerrard and Suarez were thrown in and why? They were his - and ultimately Liverpool's - best opportunity to win the game.

Fans have become conditioned into believing football is a rather formulaic game. There is no one tactic, no one player that guarantees victory. All we have is the knowledge of our opponent and the talents to both outplay and outsmart them. Only doing one of them will only get you so far and right now we don't have the players to do both with any real regularity, so we have to be consistently smarter. To try new things and have new ideas. Be bolder, brighter and more inventive than they could possibly imagine. If it works to even the smallest degree, that will only begin to snowball once the other pieces fall into place.

There is another way. Victory is a road which can be arrived at through many different means of transport but some things have to be sacrificed.. Rather than risking anything all, gamble with nothing.  Don't leave anything to fate and ignore all that is good within the team because of the fear deprived from it's limitations. Instead of expressing ourselves, we play within and hope for a break rather than trying to force it. That didn't work when Hodgson was here and it's not going to any time soon.

As a footballing entity and a nation, England has always had a fascination with a certain brand of football. In regard to shortening the gap between the best and the rest, it's all about negativity. Destruction is far easier than creation. Make sure whatever happens, that the opposition don't actually play any football. Up and down the country, there are a lot more amateur Robert Huths out there than there are players like Joe Allen. Jamie Carragher smashing it into the stands is likely to cause a cheer but if anyone dares try to use their ability and run with the ball, panic sets in. Nobody said this was going to be easy.

So far this season we've had barely a taste of what the manager has brought to this club. Games against Stoke and Arsenal we looked lethargic and bereft of ideas whereas on the opening day and since that same profligacy that haunted us last year looks set to continue. There have also been some signs of progress (away at Norwich and in the League Cup at West Brom) and - perhaps born out of necessity - those young players that have been asked to make the step up are thriving.  Losing to Swansea may have been a bitter pill to swallow for all involved; fans, players and the manager especially.

In order to shake things up, Liverpool as a whole needed something new. Playing it safe with an appointment like Martin O'Neill or a Roy Hodgson clone would only have ended as badly as it did the first time.  A chance needed to be taken and as far as that goes, Rodgers is already doing exactly what he needed to do. Throwing in a seventeen year old for his debut against the league champions. Having the nerve to switch to a back three away from home in your first Merseyside derby. Trying to win doesn't always work. There will be times when no matter how good the play or how well intentioned the thought process, it ultimately comes undone.  You have to admire the nerve of a man that's willing to try.