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Following Liverpool's first league victory since August and the first time this season his club scored more than a single goal in a game, manager Brendan Rodgers hit out at those he sees leading the drive to push him out of the job. Pundits and ex-players, he said, are doing their best to create a frenzy for his sacking that makes it seem inevitable.
"I saw that Brendan felt there was a campaign against him, and that he was maybe blaming ex-players for that," was former Liverpool midfielder and current Sky pundit Jamie Redknapp response in the Liverpool Echo. "I don't think that's the case at all, personally. At the end of the day, people are just giving their honest opinions on the team that they care about.
"I can understand why Brendan said what he did after the game on Saturday, because it's emotional. I can understand why he's had a bit of a go, but he's just got to win games. If he thinks ex-players are against him, if he thinks the Pope is against him, it doesn't matter, he's just got to win football matches. That's the only way he will keep the criticism at bay."
With the pressure on and desperately needing results, it's easy to sympathise with Rodgers. Whether or not he's the right man for the job, he's spent three years putting his all into making Liverpool a success. That it could end up a failure, that he could end up leaving a Liverpool side mired eighth in the league just like the one he joined, cannot be easy.
At the end of the day, though, he has been given strong backing by the club's owners over his time in charge. He has been given the tools to succeed. And he has brought the pressure on himself by so far largely failing to deliver results. It's a difficult situation, but it's not one that has been made by the fans or pundits, and the only way out of it for Rodgers is to win.
"He needs a good season," Redknapp added. "That's the bottom line. I don't think the fans will suffer another season like last. They want to be competing for the top four. When he gets everybody fit, I like the look of what there is. I like Benteke, I love Coutinho, and when you have Daniel Sturridge up there as well, it makes such a difference.
"You have to give it a bit of time. It's obviously not the perfect situation, because the manager is under immense pressure, and that then transmits to the players and the fans. But all you can do is win games."
