Former Liverpool midfielder Jason McAteer admits that he wasn’t surprised that Brendan Rodgers was sacked on Sunday evening, but feels the club's owners could have waited a further day to announce his departure.

The Northern Irishman was relieved of his duties as Liverpool manager hours after a 1-1 draw in the Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.




After another summer of heavy spending, Rodgers failed to lead the Reds to a good start to the season and had to lose his job as a consequence of a mounting number of poor performances by his side.

While McAteer feels the timing of his departure could have been handled with more care, he feels Rodgers' time at Anfield was coming to an end and he is not surprised by his departure.
 


“To be honest, I wasn’t [surprised]”, McAteer told LFC TV.

relatedNewsStory

“After the performance against Sion and the pressure that was mounting on Brendan, you just felt that it was following a script; it was something that was going to happen sooner rather than later.

“The timing of it, straight after the derby, could have been handled better. They could have allowed the dust to settle and announce a day later.”

The former midfielder feels Rodgers received a fair amount of opportunities to turn his fortunes around at Liverpool and was backed by the club with heavy investment during the summer.

But he admits that though Liverpool got seven points from the first three league games, the performances were never up to the mark and the first home defeat to West Ham earlier this season was a sign of things to come.

“I think in Brendan’s case, he was given a fair crack at the job.

“Everyone expected a change in the summer, it didn’t come. Two new backroom staff members were brought in; more players were brought in during pre-season.

“We started the season with seven points from three games, but you can see the performances were cold in terms of tactics and Brendan’s philosophy.

“They were losing identity and a defeat was always round the corner and it did come against West Ham at home. You just felt it was a slippery slope from there on.”