So the FA are looking at Brendan Rodgers' comments after the Man City - Liverpool game yesterday, and it's not really a surprise. It won't be a surprise to Rodgers either. Will he be punished? Yes. Should he be punished? Probably. Will it bother him? No.
Saying the officials were horrendous is merely putting forward a personal opinion, even if any seasoned football fan can see it as a fairly accurate statement. Mentioning the Lee Mason is from Greater Manchester is implying, without saying it explicitly, that the referee favoured the home side. Suggesting a match official is / was biased isn't really acceptable and to be honest I very much doubt it's true. More to the point I doubt Brendan Rodgers believes it to be true. Bad decisions were made, but they were made because the officials were inept, not because they had any vested interest in seeing a specific team win. And Rodgers knows this.
I didn't watch very much of the 'Being Liverpool' documentary at the start of last season but the bits I did see made it clear our manager is very keen on the psychological aspects of the game. I have a strong feeling the Northern Irishman knew what he was doing when he laid into Lee Mason after our defeat at the Etihad.
Which manager has spent more time than any other criticising officials during the Premier League era? And which manager has had the most success during the Premier League era? You should have the same answer for both questions. As much as we despise Alex Ferguson as a manager and as a person you cannot argue with his ability to make a team play for him. Having a pop at match officials was part and parcel of this for him and it worked. 'Come on lads, everyone is against us, even the ref, we'll have to put twice as much in today to get a result'. It worked. The 'it's us against the world' mentality helped forge winning team after winning team and it can work for us the way it worked for them.
When Man City come to Anfield it will be a tough game for us, but imagine the team talk now - 'Right lads, remember the ref last time? We're not going to get any favours, we've got to give it everything out on that pitch'. And if Rodgers does receive a touchline or stadium ban for what he said, how easy will it be for his assistant to motivate a team to play for the manager who took a bullet standing up for them? The manager is the spokesman for the group and saying difficult things that you know will land you in hot water for the good of the group will earn you respect.
At the end of last season I hadn't really warmed to Brendan Rodgers, I don't mean I wasn't keen or I didn't have faith in him, I just felt he hadn't left much of an impression on me. Hearing him standing up for the Liverpool players and echoing the words of most of the fans watching the game yesterday will go just as far towards winning me over as some of the exciting football he's been getting out of the team. We're Liverpool and we stand by our own.
