Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This. And By "Mama" We Mean Rodgers

I didn't bother to find a feed for the game yesterday. Chances are, my computer and browser would not have been able to run it if I did find it. So I had to go through the Gamecast and twitter route. Man, I didn't realize that by expanding the Twitter footprint we would encounter so many meatballs. I actually saw two people clamoring for Kenny to be brought back after an immediate firing of Rodgers. They're amongst us.

I know many were upset with yesterday's performance, and there are some things on the surface that bother me too. But we'll get to those. All I could think of was what Rodgers said after the West Brom game. "There will be more days like this." And there will. With the combo of a thin, young squad and a transition to the whole structure and style of play, there are just some nights it's going to look awful. After encouraging performances against Young Boys and West Brom and sprinkled elsewhere, it's not really all that hard to believe that the kids and back-end first-teamers stunk it up last night. That's why what they are. If they were studs every time, they'd be first-choice, wouldn't they? Me, I'm just relieved that the truly awful performance came in the League Cup and not the league, where it would have mattered much more.

That's the thing about the League Cup. It's cool when you win it like last year, but it's hardly heartbreaking when you get knocked out of it the next year. It's one less match or two for a squad that simply can't handle all the fronts it's on now. You'd rather win, but there aren't any tears in the beer.

Now to the problems. There's really no way that Gerrard, Sterling, and Suarez should have been brought on last night. They need the break, and it showed something of a petty streak from Rodgers. I'd like to believe he just wanted to win the match and not win the match against Swansea. Hard to say, I didn't see it and don't live in Rodgers's mind. But it seems awfully desperate for a competition that we kind of already knew was bottom of the priority list. For right now I'd like to believe the best and leave it at that.

There were some strange lineup choices. Suso only played a half on Sunday and easily could have been ahead of Joe Cole for that spot. Joe Cole was apparently so awful that children cried everywhere. Jordan Henderson at right-back was curious, but if Flanagan isn't fit to play yet and giving Wisdom, Johnson, and Enrique a rest were paramount, what choice was there? Once you do that, I guess Allen has to play. But Shelvey and Sahin only had a half against Everton, could they have not supported Suso? Awfully thin defensively, but that's where we are.

But we won't know until Sunday how this affects things. I'm guessing it won't be too bad, or maybe I'm just hoping. I feel like the trip to Russia next week we'll be a better indicator of how Rodgers can balance things and how much facing his former team actually mattered to him. If Newcastle is seen off, will any of us really care?