Following a disappointing campaign, Brendan Rodgers may not be the Liverpool manager for too much longer.
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The Northern Irish boss has failed to take the club back into the Champions League for next season, while the club’s continental campaign this term ended in group-stage disappointment.
The manager has not succeeded in building upon the successes of last term—when the Reds pushed Manchester City close for the title—and has lost the favour of many of the club’s fans.
His tactics, motivational skills and transfer dealings have all come in for criticism.
As Rodgers perhaps approaches the end of his stay at Anfield, let’s look back to his first competitive game in charge of the club—a 1-0 victory over Belarusian side Gomel in the Europa League at the beginning of August 2012—and look at what became of his starting XI that day.
Brad Jones
The Australian goalkeeper remains at Anfield, albeit in an almost exclusively non-playing capacity. He has featured three times in the Premier League this season—not particularly successfully—and still has another year on his contract.
Glen Johnson
Now 30, the right-back has never truly realised the promise of youth and is fully expecting to leave the club this summer when his contract comes to an end. Perhaps a return to former club West Ham United is on the right-back’s horizon.
Jose Enrique
29-year-old Jose Enrique has never truly had Brendan Rodgers’s faith and has only managed two starts in the Premier League this season, although injury has majorly affected his progress at Anfield.
Jamie Carragher
The Liverpool icon retired at the end of Rodgers’s first season in charge of Liverpool following 17 years of service for the senior side and 508 league appearances. He is now one of Sky Sports’ most high-profile pundits.
Martin Skrtel
Centre-back Skrtel has only one year left on his current contract at Liverpool—who he joined from Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2008—and the ongoing uncertainty has prompted rumours of a switch to the likes of Wolfsburg or Napoli.
Steven Gerrard
Club legend Steven Gerrard is playing his final few games with his beloved Liverpool as he prepares for life in Major League Soccer. The ’05 Champions League-winning captain is due to move to Los Angeles Galaxy this summer.
Joe Cole
Joe Cole was a major flop at Liverpool, where injury and a lack of fitness prevented him from every truly making his mark. Subsequent stints back at West Ham United and Aston Villa have barely been more successful.
Jordan Henderson
One of the bright hopes of the club’s future, Henderson has recently signed a new five-year deal at Anfield and is the favourite to replace the departing Gerrard as club captain this summer.
Stewart Downing
Downing—who was much maligned as a waste of money at Anfield—enjoyed a renaissance of sorts with West Ham United earlier this season, and he even earned an unlikely recall to the England squad. In general, he has struggled to recreate the impact he made at Middlesbrough and then Aston Villa.
Jay Spearing
Despite praising Spearing as having the ‘soul of Liverpool in his heart’, Rodgers was ultimately quick to offload the local midfielder. First, Spearing was loaned to Bolton Wanderers, before moving permanently in 2013. He is currently on loan at Blackburn Rovers.
Fabio Borini
Borini—who worked with Rodgers at both Swansea City and Chelsea—became one of the coach’s first signings when he was recruited in 2012.
Since then, however, he has been little more than a peripheral figure—scoring only twice in the EPL—and spent last year out on loan at Sunderland.