Eighteen months into his three-year contract, Brendan Rodgers still divides opinion among Liverpool fans. But what do other supporters think of the job he is doing at Anfield? We asked Football 365.com’s JOHN NICHOLSON to give an outsider’s perspective for The Anfield Wrap digital magazine.

MOST wisdom in football is delivered in hindsight. Once something has gone wrong, it’s easy to say the player that wasn’t picked or the tactics not deployed were the ones that would have made the difference. Similarly, everyone likes to think they made the right call on who was or wasn’t a good player or a good manager. Sometimes this is pretty easy but sometimes it’s almost impossible and nowhere is this truer than with Brendan Rodgers. The question many of us are wrestling with is this: Is he actually any good?

Outside Brendan's Bubble (Pic: David Rawcliffe / Propaganda)

It’s quite easy to construct an argument to say he’s progressive, has a real vision and is steadily implementing it. But it’s equally easy to say that his self-belief outweighs his abilities.

It seems to me that no-one can quite make their mind up on Brendan either inside or outside the Liverpool fan diaspora. If Liverpool reach the top four this season, there will be a lot of Brendan fans coming out of the woodwork to nod sagely and say how they always thought his ideas and methods were top notch. Equally if it ends up as another sixth or seventh position, his critics will be legion and keen to tell us he was always over-rated and pretentious.

No-one really knows which way to jump yet primarily because Brendan seems to manage to have his head in the clouds and one foot in his mouth at the same time. Just when things are going well, he starts saying how well things are going and thus somehow jinxes the side into losing. Then he shuts up and the results are pretty good, though the heinous defensive lapses are always a cause for concern.

Read the rest of this article, for free, in issue 6 of The Anfield Wrap’s digital magazine.

Outside Brendan's Bubble - from TAW Mag Issue 6