It was barely a month ago that the scoring drought of Mario Balotelli was being cited as the chief reason for Liverpools problems this season. Joe Maddon Jersey.Now, the critics are turning their sights away from the maverick Italian and fixing them on manager Brendan Rodgers.A few months ago I was manager of the year, Rodgers said Friday, and now I am favourite to get the sack.Lauded for reviving one of Englands great clubs and steering Liverpool to an unexpected title push last season, Rodgers has found life at Anfield a whole lot tougher over the last four months.After 12 matches in the Premier League, Liverpool is in 12th place and without a win in four games. The team has won just one of its last eight matches in all competitions and needs a victory in its final Champions League group game against FC Basel to qualify for the last 16.There are problems throughout the team.Deprived of the departed Luis Suarez and with Daniel Sturridge out injured since August, the vibrancy and spark that marked Liverpools attacking play last season has disappeared. Balotelli was signed as the big-name replacement for Suarez but he is yet to score in the Premier League and is currently out injured.Liverpools defence continues to be shaky, keeping just two clean sheets in 19 matches this season, and goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has been under scrutiny, with his latest mistake coming in the 2-2 draw with Ludogorets Razgrad in the Champions League on Wednesday.Rodgers spent more than 100 million pounds ($156 million) over the summer, using the proceeds from the sale of Suarez to Barcelona, but not one of his big-money signings has worked out — yet.The goodwill from Rodgers impressive first two years in charge at Anfield is fading fast.Its a different challenge because everything has been hunky-dory for about 18 months and on the up, Rodgers said. But its a different deck of cards we have this year. Its a different hand that we have been dealt.We havent been on a good run but let that be the making of us. In sport, you get the chance to go again.Some believe Rodgers wont be given time.One British bookmaker has odds of 4-1 for the Northern Irishman to be the next Premier League manager to lose his job. Former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar told the BBC that Rodgers has three weeks to turn things around, otherwise the clubs American owners — Fenway Sports Group — could act.Its part and parcel of this wonderful life working in football, said Rodgers, speaking ahead of Saturdays league game against Stoke. Very short-termism thinking. All you can do is focus on the immediate job.If the Premier League reaches Dec. 7 without a managerial change, it will be the third-longest period from the start of a season without a coach moving jobs. Pedro Strop Jersey . Henderson (20-3) received winning scores of 48-47 and 49-46, and the other judge scored it 48-47 for Thomson (20-6). The announcement drew boos from the United Center crowd. "Train this hard for this long, its such a long camp and I see my title shot disappear," said Thomson, who fought most of the fight with a broken right hand. Ryan Dempster Jersey . He made that dream a reality Wednesday night. Olt, who grew up in Branford, Connecticut, attended UConn and made a nearly 2 1-2 hour trek to Boston a handful of times to watch the Red Sox, belted a two-run homer, one of four hit by Cubs in a 16-9 rout that completed a three-game interleague series sweep. BERLIN -- Klaas Jan Huntelaar scored twice as Schalke moved provisionally third in the Bundesliga with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Augsburg on Friday. The home side capitalized on a mistake from Schalkes Tim Hoogland to score in the fifth minute. Tobias Werner ran onto his weak back header, took the ball on his chest and dispatched it inside the far post with his next touch. Huntelaar equalized on a rebound in the 33rd. Augsburg captain Daniel Baier lost the ball and Julian Draxler back-heeled it to Kevin-Prince Boateng, who tried his luck from 22 metres (yards). Alexander Manninger saved but spilled the ball. "The Hunter was there where he should be," Boateng said. Sead Kolasinac crossed for Huntelaars second in the 49th. It was his fifth goal in two Bundesliga games, and a league-leading seventh since the winter break. "t;It was a difficult game for us," the in-form Dutchman said. Lee Smith Jersey. "We werent in it in the beginning. Too many individual mistakes. We really had to fight to get into the game. Thankfully we got the goals but we could have conceded at the end too." Augsburg finished the game in the ascendancy but the visitors hung on to move within a point of bitter rival Borussia Dortmund. Schalke moved three points clear of Bayer Leverkusen, which visits runaway leader Bayern Munich on Saturday, while Augsburg stays sixth for now. Schalke visits Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, faced with the seemingly impossible task of overturning the 6-1 defeat from the sides first-leg of their round-of-16 tie. "Itll be difficult to progress but were not going just for the sightseeing," Boateng said. ' ' '
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