{"id":374594,"date":"2019-03-04T11:26:19","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T16:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=374594"},"modified":"2019-03-04T11:27:05","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T16:27:05","slug":"the-era-of-brendan-rodgers-at-anfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2019\/03\/04\/the-era-of-brendan-rodgers-at-anfield\/","title":{"rendered":"The Era of Brendan Rodgers at Anfield"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After a 1-1 draw in the Merseyside derby about three-and-a-half-years ago, <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/feeds\/liverpoolfootball-co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Liverpool<\/a> decided to part ways with manager <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2019\/02\/26\/leicester-city-appoint-celtic-manager-brendan-rodgers-as-claude-puel-replacement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brendan Rodgers<\/a>. The Northern Irishman, who came close to winning the Premier League title with the Reds just a year-and-a-half before his sacking, was replaced by Jurgen Klopp. Liverpool fans have some good memories of their time under Rodgers. The current <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/clubs\/leicester-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Leicester City<\/a> manager did a brilliant job at Anfield with limited resources but was not able to fix Liverpool\u2019s mounting problems by the end of his spell at the Merseyside club. The former Liverpool manager faces <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/feeds\/manchestercityfootball-co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Manchester City<\/a> in Gameweek 37 of the Premier League and has a chance to fix all his mistakes at Liverpool by beating the reigning champions and assisting his former club to the crown.<\/p>\n<h1>The Era of Brendan Rodgers at Anfield<\/h1>\n<h2>Liverpool&#8217;s Unforgettable Season<\/h2>\n<p>Liverpool had an unforgettable 2013\/14 season. On the very first game week, a penalty save from <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/d436eb94\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Simon Mignolet<\/a> helped the club earn a narrow win over <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/clubs\/stoke-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stoke City<\/a>. That was the beginning of a ruthless Liverpool side under Rodgers. The Merseyside club\u2019s attack was the most entertaining in England at that time. The front three of <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/a6154613\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luis Suarez<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/b400bde0\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Raheem Sterling<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/1b7ec703\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daniel Sturridge<\/a> had the ability to rip apart any team\u2019s defence. One of the best examples of this attacking masterclass was against<a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/feeds\/arsenalfootball-co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Arsenal<\/a> at Anfield. Liverpool went 4-0 up against their fellow title contenders in the opening 25 minutes of the game. Nobody had seen anything like this in a long time at the club. This was the time when the supporters started to believe that this might be their year of winning the title after such a long wait.<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers earned a Premier League double against <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/feeds\/manchesterunitedfootball-co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Manchester United<\/a> for the first time in many years during that memorable campaign. The Northern Irishman had really done something incredible at Anfield. A late\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/0ef89a37\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Philippe Coutinho<\/a>\u00a0winner against Manchester City made Liverpool favourites for the Premier League title, but the end was not sweet for Rodgers; Tthe end of the 2013-14 season was actually the beginning of the fall of his era at Anfield. A shocking defeat to <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/feeds\/chelseafootball-co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chelsea<\/a> courtesy of a <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/caeb5442\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steven Gerrard<\/a> slip followed by a 3-3 draw at <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/clubs\/crystal-palace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Crystal Palace<\/a> marked the end of Liverpool\u2019s title hopes. Luis Suarez left the club for <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/clubs\/barcelona\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barcelona<\/a> in the following summer, taking the situation from bad to worse.<\/p>\n<h2>Fall of Rodgers&#8217; Era<\/h2>\n<p>Replacing Suarez with <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/8ff07990\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mario Balotelli<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/495de82c\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rickie Lambert<\/a> was not the wisest of plans. Both of these strikers collapsed at Anfield. They weren\u2019t able to live up to the high expectations set by their talismanic Uruguayan. The season after the title slip was a disaster for both Rodgers and Liverpool. The \u2018Rodgers Out\u2019 signs at Anfield were seen after defeats to Arsenal and Crystal Palace at the end of the season. Gerrard\u2019s final game for Liverpool was a humiliating 6-1 defeat to Stoke City, which was the final game of the nightmare season for Rodgers.<\/p>\n<p>Everybody expected Rodgers to get sacked after that crushing defeat to Stoke, but the Liverpool owners kept faith in him. The big money signings of <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/ab070c55\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Benteke<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/4c370d81\/?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Roberto Firmino<\/a> helped Rodgers in making the fans believe in him again, but the curse was still on at Liverpool. After a handful of inconsistent performances, Liverpool&#8217;s hierarchy finally lost their patience and decided to bring in Klopp.<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers went to Celtic to rebuild his career and his reputation and enjoyed an unbeaten league season at the first try. Just last week, <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2019\/02\/26\/leicester-city-appoint-celtic-manager-brendan-rodgers-as-claude-puel-replacement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he was announced as the new Leicester City boss<\/a>, replacing Claude Puel. He returns to the Premier Leauge hoping to prove his worth in England once more.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"D9Ul-4HyRV9CuE-B77O0Kw\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/490113596\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'D9Ul-4HyRV9CuE-B77O0Kw',sig:'qCa9KWkS2EtURxs9QVIvyF9Am7ebBef3fxTtu2JgeVw=',w:'594px',h:'423px',items:'490113596',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a 1-1 draw in the Merseyside derby about three-and-a-half-years ago, Liverpool decided to part ways with manager Brendan Rodgers. The Northern Irishman, who came close to winning the Premier League title with the Reds just a year-and-a-half before his sacking, was replaced by Jurgen Klopp. Liverpool fans have some good memories of their time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2943,"featured_media":375206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,16],"tags":[127,95,511,128,40,632,136],"class_list":["post-374594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-premier-league","category-featured","category-liverpool","tag-brendan-rodgers","tag-liverpool","tag-luis-suarez","tag-mario-balotelli","tag-premier-league","tag-steven-gerrard","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Nat Goodlad, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2943"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}