What is going on with Liverpool? You will have to go a long way to find someone who has more respect for Jurgen Klopp than me, but I’m really puzzled by what I’m seeing from his team.
Had they maintained last season’s momentum and consistency, to be in and around the title race, we would have been talking about them as one of the Premier League’s greatest ever sides.
The levels they had shown were off the scale, which makes what is happening now so baffling. Liverpool are stuck between systems — they kept switching between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 at Manchester City — and that ferocious press of theirs is now non-existent because one man will charge on his own and there is no cohesion.
All season I have thought, ‘Liverpool will turn up today’, but I can’t say that now. Your senses tell you when you turn up to watch them that you will see a quality side, but then the game starts and you can’t quite work out what is going on.
Klopp has been too loyal to some of the men who have been with him throughout and a little too slow in refreshing.
Leicester were harsh in sacking Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers gave Leicester City one of the greatest days in their history in 2021 when he won the FA Cup. He took them to the brink of Champions League qualification twice — they were talked about as dark horses for the title in the winter of 2019 — and made them European regulars.
He was sacked on Sunday after defeat at Crystal Palace and, inevitably, there were plenty of people who couldn’t wait to criticise Rodgers and pick holes in his achievements.
I try not to let sniping get under my skin, particularly when it is on social media, but the lack of respect shown and short memories of those in football staggers me. Rodgers was superb for Leicester.
Yes, this season has been poor and they are in grave danger of being relegated, but there have been mitigating circumstances, such as a lack of signings and injuries.
I wonder whether Rafa Benitez would be a good candidate to take over.
Potter wasn't ready for Chelsea
On the subject of managers being sacked, I have great sympathy for Graham Potter. He is an excellent coach and I backed him during his time at Chelsea, but it feels like he needed one more move elsewhere before he took a job of that stature.
Who's laughing now?
Let me take you back to a column I wrote on October 17, 2020. The headline? ‘Nobody is laughing at Arsenal’.
Many people laughed at me for saying that about what Mikel Arteta was doing, but I had seen him work and knew the club had secured a top-class coach.
This season has proven that once and for all.
West Ham should back Paqueta
My eye kept being drawn to Lucas Paqueta when I watched West Ham beat Southampton yesterday. Things never quite worked for him, as has been the case for most of the season.
It’s disappointed me because I thought it was absolutely unbelievable when they managed to sign a Brazilian of his class. Paqueta has suffered due to the system West Ham have played and because the team has struggled.
All I would say is this: keep the faith. I hope he flourishes in the same way Nigel de Jong did when he arrived at Manchester City.
There were some eyebrows being raised in the dressing room during Nigel’s early struggles but those of us who worked closely with him knew he was class.
Paqueta is class, too, and can go on to be a massive player.
Forest owner makes damaging mistake
Evangelos Marinakis, Nottingham Forest’s owner is said to have headed to the tunnel to deliver some home truths to the squad after the draw with Wolves.
That will certainly not have helped the players nor will it have helped Steve Cooper, their excellent manager. I remember Khaldoon Al-Mubarak coming in to see us at Manchester City when we had lost games but it was always with a message of staying positive.
If Marinakis wanted to get things off his chest, he should have waited to do it in private.