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Liverpool are in 12th place in the English Premier League, behind all their rivals and a whopping 18 points out of first place. Even this weekend's opponents, the rarely-impressive Stoke City, are above Liverpool in the table.
A series of unconvincing-at-best performances in the Champions League have left Liverpool needing to beat a Basel side that handled them with ease the last time they faced in order to advance to the knockout rounds.
The team is struggling to score goals, and seemingly struggling more to not concede them. Some players have been over-used despite poor results while others who have shown flashes of potential have barely seen the pitch. Confidence is shot all over the pitch, including and especially in goal.
In short, Liverpool are a hot mess right now, and that's left Brendan Rodger's seat very warm indeed. Large sections of the fanbase have turned against their manager, as Liverpool struggle through a period terrifyingly similar to the start Roy Hodgson had as Liverpool's manager.
Rodgers knows just how stark the situation he's in has become. "A few months ago I was the manager of the year, now I'm favourite to get the sack," he told the media this morning ahead of tomorrow's Stoke match. "It's part and parcel of this wonderful life of working in football."
It definitely doesn't seem as though Rodgers is overly concerned about how shaky the ground he's standing on has become. Then again, he rarely seems to lack for confidence when speaking to the press about much of anything. Even though Liverpool have, by the end of November, already lost as many matches in the league as they did all last season, Rodgers almost seems to have absolute faith that he can pull Liverpool out of the fire.
The best way to do that, of course, will be to start winning games, starting this weekend. From there, Rodgers has to take this team through one match at a time, something he already seems to be working on:
"All you can do is focus on the immediate job, on what you can control. For me, it's about working with the players, providing even more clarity in their roles and the function of the team."
Hopefully Rodgers can get this season turned around, and soon. If he doesn't.... well, it's like he said. Rodgers is one of the favorites in the sack race. If things don't improve and FSG stop believing that Rodgers is the man to bring the club back to where it should be, then they'll move on to someone else.
