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Aly Cissokho. Luis Alberto. Jon Flanagan. Martin Skrtel. Joe Allen, and many, many more. All of them came to within touching distance of actually winning a Premier League title. Who do they have to thank for overseeing what will arguably be the peak of their careers? Brendan Rodgers.

The man who is now a meme thanks to his overuse of the word 'character', and his David Brent-like showing in the documentary 'Being Liverpool' has not been given the credit he deserves for what he achieved at Anfield, and should have had more time in the dugout on the red half of Merseyside.

Just take a look at a few of the aforementioned names. You can't tell me that Rodgers didn't work a miracle getting that side to even finish in the Champions League positions let alone as runners-up.

Obviously, Luis Suarez ran the show and did a lot to mask his inferior teammates' deficiencies, but that isn't the be all and end all. Chelsea have Eden Hazard. Tottenham have Harry Kane. Neither of them are mounting serious title challenges. Rodgers was axed way too soon, and would've spent the Suarez money much better if he had been allowed to work with the genius that is Michael Edwards - a luxury that Jurgen Klopp has been afforded.

To lose the title in such a manner as Liverpool did was catastrophic, and any team would've needed a season or two in order to properly bounce back.

In all honesty, it wasn't even entirely Rodgers' fault that the title, ahem, slipped away. If Steven Gerrard hadn't come crashing onto the Anfield turf with Demba Ba breathing down his neck, we could well be sat here whilst a huge, bronze statue of the Welsh manager stands tall outside the Reds' famous stadium, and history would be made.

Rodgers has been an overriding success at almost every other club he's been at. Swansea - achieved promotion against all odds. Celtic - won back-to-back trebles. Watford - kept them in the Championship after looking likely to go down.

He improves players. He oversaw the best season of Daniel Sturridge's career, Flanagan's too. Luis Suarez became one of the world's best strikers under his tutelage, and so on.

The decision to sack him after a poor run of form was hasty and unjust as Rodgers, or any manager for that matter, would've needed a lot of time to rebuild the side and get their spirits back up after suffering title failure in the way that Liverpool did after losing Suarez and Raheem Sterling.

When in charge of the Swans, Rodgers was tasked with keeping them in the Premier League, something that he achieved with ease and in fact overachieved with his exciting team. When in charge of Liverpool, it is unlikely that Rodgers would've been asked to win the title, so in that respect, you could say he overachieved with the Reds as well before being dismissed in October 2015.

Now in charge of Leicester, we get to see an improved, more experienced Rodgers attempt to manage a club whose goals are perhaps in between both of the aforementioned clubs' aspirations from years gone by.

With the likes of Jamie Vardy up top, who Rodgers will be hoping to count on as his Sheffield-born Suarez, and Harvey Barnes, Demarai Gray, Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell within his ranks, the former Liverpool manager has all the tools in place to prove to his former employers why they were wrong to hand him his P45 so hastily.