Rodgers Appreciative of Fan Support Following Tough Start

Liverpool's start to Premier League life under Brendan Rodgers may not have gone quite as smoothly as many would have hoped, not least the manager himself. However, unlike in the cases of some who went before him at the club, Rodgers has consistently said the right things in the press when it comes to the club, its history, and an approach to football that matches how the vast majority of fans want to see Liverpool play.

That and a realisation that the manager was working under some difficult restrictions in the transfer market over the summer, needing to trim the wage bill to free up funds and sell in order to buy—and even then sometimes not being able to complete deals he had been counting on—has given him some leeway with the supporters that many on the outside looking in might not understand were they to simply see at the club's record while hearing talk of Liverpool's worst start in fifty or a hundred or a thousand years.

"The one thing that has always been behind me since I walked in has been the supporters," said Rodgers in his post-Norwich press conference following a 5-2 demolition of the Canaries that could easily have seen an even more lopsided final result. "They have been absolutely phenomenal—especially for a young manager to come into a club of this status and standing.

Glimpses of fluid, pleasing, pass and move football and a high pressure defensive game that have grown increasingly prominent with each match that passes haven't hurt, either. And though it wouldn't have been their intent, Manchester United's traveling fans even played a role in galvanizing support for Liverpool's manager when they serenaded him with calls of "You're getting sacked in the morning" towards the end of a match that had seen their club thoroughly outplayed by Liverpool and only in the lead thanks to the generosity of referee Mark Halsey.

Liverpool's supporters responded with chants of "There's only one Brendan Rodgers"—perhaps not the most original terrace chant a manager has ever been granted, but important nonetheless for the unplanned collective response it represented. Liverpool outplayed United comprehensively on the day, making it one of the few occasions where one might legitimately say the losing side was the one more deserving of three points. And on either side of that match a pair of cup ties provided more encouragement such that when the first win did finally—belatedly—arrive the following weekend against Norwich City it was hardly a surprise for the fans at least.

"This is a group of supporters who have been educated for a number of years so they understand when the manager is trying to play football and the Liverpool way—they appreciate that. They appreciate the work the team has been doing and that we have had no luck."

Along with a more manageable schedule in the league over the next month, hopefully the coming weeks will see something of the luck that Liverpool's been missing so far this season—or maybe just some unbiased officiating. If it does, the results should easily put to rest the incessant media talk of poor starts that has dominated the first six weeks.