You've 13 points from eight games in the league, you've just lost 3-0 at home to Real Madrid but you know what the problem is? The fact that Mario Balotelli swapped shirts with Pepe at half time.
Now don't get me wrong, players swapping shirts before the end of the game irks me as much as anyone but the fact that this is grabbing the headlines instead of some kind of, I don't know, match analysis is yet another example of how football has become the world's biggest outdoor pantomime.
Apologise! Watch @JamesPearceEcho on why @FinallyMario must say sorry for shirt swap http://t.co/69Fuj5qPx9 #LFCVSRM pic.twitter.com/SbwsvVuo93
— Liverpool Echo (@LivEchoLFC) October 22, 2014
Jamie Carragher seems to agree, although his in-depth analysis of the swap is worrying:
Regarding Mario shirt swap more things to worry about regarding him. He was asked to swap not the other way round which is a big difference.
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) October 22, 2014
After the match, Rodgers told press that he will deal with the incident:
It is not something I stand for. If you want to do that, you do it at the end of the game. It is something I will deal with tomorrow.
A more interesting comment from Rodgers however, which could be message for Balotelli, was his praise for the Italian's half-time replacement, 'Adam Lallana came on and he was tireless. That’s the minimum requirement here. You need to press and you need to work. I felt we needed a bit more movement centrally to occupy the centre halves.'
Maybe that's the aspect which he should be dealing with today.
