Lugodorets vs Liverpool: No threat to Brendan Rodgers despite poor start to season

Liverpool manager admitted he's under increasing pressure to turnaround Liverpool's form but he will be given time to do so

Brendan Rodgers leaves the pitch at Selhurst Park (GETTY IMAGES)

Brendan Rodgers’ job at Liverpool is safe, despite the team’s worst start to the season since 1992-93 and his own admission, after the defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday, that he could not expect the club’s American owners to back him indefinitely.

Such has been the confidence in Rodgers among the Fenway Sports Group hierarchy, that they see no reason to make any on-the-record statement affirming their manager’s position, a move they feel would only add to the debate around him.

The Liverpool squad are in Bulgaria today for their Champions League game against Ludogorets tomorrow, seeking to end a run of four straight defeats in all competitions.

The strength of the relationship between Rodgers, chief executive Ian Ayre and Mike Gordon, a key figure in the Fenway Sports Group, and a director at the club, is key to the manager’s position. Gordon is a very wealthy investor in Liverpool who is also on the club’s board and has a close day-to-day relationship with the club.

Rodgers has the backing of Gordon as well as owner John W Henry and chairman Tom Werner. The club is confident that it will show a profit in the next set of financial results, a reflection of the huge changes that FSG has made since taking over four years ago.

Given the strides FSG believes Liverpool have made since then, off the pitch and more recently on it, there is no appetite to push Rodgers out.

As things stand, it is inconceivable that the Liverpool manager, who signed a new contract in May taking his deal to 2018, would not be given the rest of this season at the very least.

Javier Manquillo is passed by Yannick Bolasie (Getty)

The owners believe that Rodgers has put them on the right path and accept that they simply cannot compete with the two Manchester clubs – or Chelsea – when it comes to signing players.