Luke Moore: Not-so-bad Liverpool will turn the corner soon.

Forget this portrait... Liverpool are in the relegation zone!
Despite not being a fan of 'that' portrait in Brendan Rodgers' home, Luke Moore believes Liverpool just need a bit of luck and a few goals to start climbing the table...
I'm a fan of Brendan Rodgers. Ok, sometimes he comes across as a little bit cringey, like a middle-manager at a call centre trying to make his department more effective, and I can imagine he uses a lot of three letter acronyms, but he's still some way behind Preston North End's Graham Westley in the David Brent stakes.
Westley couldn't be any more David Brent if he tried to sell shammy leathers out of the boot of his car before training and grew a little goatee beard. His ties look like they were bought from Nobby Clarke, two for a tenner, and his idea of man-management certainly appears to leave a lot to be desired being as he favours dropping players via rambling text message at 2am. He probably drinks in Chasers and listens to Des'ree in his spare time.
Brendan's not quite at that level yet, and although the revealing of a painting of himself above his mantelpiece in his house in the recent Being: Liverpool documentary is a step in the right direction (yes, I know it was a gift from a charity, but that hardly excuses him hanging it on the wall in his living room, does it?), he can always fall back on the fact that he is absolutely terrifying in a Liam Neeson 'Taken' kind of way. David Brent was a lot of things, but he was never scary.
To reluctantly drag this back to football though, his Liverpool side languishing in the doldrums of the Premier League doesn't tell the full story of their season so far. They may have only picked up two points from five games, but they dominated for large spells against Manchester City and probably should have won the game, were the better side against Manchester United despite going down to 10 men in the first half and were horrendously unlucky against West Brom. It's only really the Arsenal game that they were truly below par and the Gunners will surprise more than a few people this season.
It's clear that, had Liverpool actually gone out and got the striker/s that Rodgers so desperately wanted, they'd almost certainly not be in the position they're in now. Creating chances has not been a problem, but profligacy in front of goal certainly has. Luis Suarez conversion rate has been poor, and Fabio Borini is yet to settle. Missing out on Clint Dempsey was a real blow, as he's a player who has proven he can score goals at this level.
An encouraging sign for Liverpool fans though is that Rodgers appears to be being backed to the full by the owners at the club. There's absolutely no way the manager would have been permitted to offload Andy Carroll without the trust and backing of the board. The player was only signed 20 months ago for an astronomical fee, and John Henry, Tom Werner and Iain Ayre et al could have been forgiven for wanting Rodgers to try and at least get Carroll to come good. But, Carroll isn't a Brendan Rodgers player, and to their immense credit they've trusted their new manager in his decision. Many owners wouldn't.
Clearly, a problem of a chance-taking nature is largely about confidence and it's reasonable to suggest that once they score one or two, Liverpool will start scoring freely. What's more, Man City, Man United and Arsenal in the first five games of the season is tough and has certainly contributed to the position they find themselves in.
The fixture list is going to start to become a bit kinder, starting with this Saturday against Norwich, a team that have hardly set pulses racing so far. In reality, all Liverpool need to do is carry on the way they are and things should start to even themselves out. After all, 'If you're facing in the right direction, all you've got to do is keep on walking.' I'm sure that's what Rodgers said in Being: Liverpool. Or was it Graham Westley? I can't remember.
Recommended Bet
After sticking up for Liverpool this week, it would be remiss of me to not back them in their trip to Carrow Road. They're currently 1.84/5 to record their first win of the season, and I fancy them to do just that. After tipping a good double in the Europa League last week, I'm hoping to continue my success.
Back Liverpool @ 1.84/5 to beat Norwich