Depending on whose “sources” you trust, Brendan Rodgers could either be fired as Liverpool manager with a loss to Aston Villa on Saturday (Watch live, 10 a.m. ET on Live Extra), or he could have the rest of the 2015-16 Premier League season to right the ship and save his job.
[ FOLLOW: All of PST’s PL coverage ]
While it’s impossible to know what’s going on inside the heads of owner John Henry and chief executive Ian Ayre, Liverpool striker Danny Ings is absolutely sure of one thing: it’s time for the players to step up, do their part, win for Rodgers and ease some of the pressure currently weighing down their manager.
Ings, on the Reds’ must-win mentality for Saturday, from the Mirror:“We’ve gone through a sticky patch as a team but it is just important for us now to start winning games and go on a run for him.
“As players you just approach every game the same as before all this. It is about us as a team winning games, and that is all we can do for the manager.
“It is important that we get wins under our belt for him and for us so we can move forward.
“All you need to look at is the chances we are creating. You can just sense there is a big result around the corner.”
Of the Reds’ five most recent managers, just one (Roy Hodgson) was relieved of his duties during the season, so giving Rodgers the boot midseason — just seven games into the campaign, to boot — would seem almost counterproductive. As much money as Rodgers has been allowed to spend on players ($390 million over seven transfer windows, including $102 million this past summer), would indicate his job is probably safe, at least for now.
[ MORE: West Ham’s Bilic says refs are biased toward “biggest clubs” ]
Saturday’s showdown with Villa will be made slightly more difficult, as Liverpool will be without Brazilian midfielder Roberto Firmino, who suffered a back injury in the Reds’ penalty shootout victory over Carlisle United on Wednesday.