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.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. Nike Air Max 90 Schweiz .com) - Theres nothing better for a team than to send out the staff ace in the most important game of the season. Nike Air Max 95 Billig . Bouchard went down to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Svitolina in her opening match at the Sony Open on Friday. Bouchard got the rivalry going two years ago when she won the junior Wimbledon title over Svitolina. https://www.schuheshopschweiz.ch/gunstig...len-d126.html.Y. - Sven Andrighetto scored once and set up two more as the Hamilton Bulldogs hung on to defeat the host Adirondack Flames 5-3 on Tuesday in American Hockey League action. Schuhe Bestellen Großhandel . -- Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer, Colby Rasmus drove in two runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 9-4 on Saturday. Air Max Bestellen Auf Rechnung . J.J. Hardy drove in a run for the Orioles, who bounced back from an 8-4 loss in the series opener on Friday. Fresh off the 15-day disabled list, Derrek Lee went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Jake Arrieta (7-3) gave up three runs on five hits over six innings to pick up the win.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - The easy part for the Washington Nationals was signing former American League Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer to a contract. All they had to do for that to happen was shell out $210 million over seven years. The hard part, of course, will now be living up to some lofty expectations since most gambling web sites have pegged the Nationals as the odds-on favorite to win the World Series in the wake of Scherzer signing. With or without Scherzer, though, the Nats were going to have an extra eye or two on them. Thats what happens when you win an NL-best 96 games and bow out in the first round of the playoffs. In fact, the Nats have won two of the last three NL East titles and still have yet to win a playoff series since 1981 when the franchise was located north of the border in Montreal. In fact, no team has done less with more than the Nationals over the past three years. But with a $200 million-plus pitcher like Scherzer at the top of that rotation now, there is no more wiggle room. Speaking of that rotation. Scherzer, Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Doug Fister. Tanner Roarke. Five spots for six guys. Someone figures to be the odd man out, especially when realize the rotation alone makes $61 million-plus this season. By the way, this is a problem 29 other managers wouldnt mind having. What our plan is right now is to make sure everybody is training to be a starter. All of our guys are training who were scheduled to be starters are training as starters because you just dont know, Washington manager Matt Williams said. Well go into spring training in that mode. Again, during spring training you need multiple starters anyways, you need multiple starters for sure. It will work itself out. Right now everybody is getting ready for spring. Weve got less than a month before we get down there. Everybody is working hard and getting prepared. All of those guys are getting their arms in shape to be starters for us. You can never have enough pitching anyway, right? Of course, this is a formula that doesnt always worrk.dddddddddddd. Ask the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies, who boasted Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. Yes, they may have won 102 games, but they didnt get out of the first round of the playoffs. The smart money would be on Roark being the odd man out, but his 15 wins a season ago were one behind Fister for the team lead. But, Roark is the least distinguished of the group and he has pitched out of the bullpen in the past. Zimmermann and Fister are free agents at seasons end. There was some speculation that Zimmermann was going to be dealt earlier this offseason. And that could still be the case, but Id doubt it. Why deal him? Go for it this year, let Zimmermann walk at the end of the season and settle for the first-round pick that would come the Nats way. Some have even said they could deal Strasburg. Again, I just dont see it. He hasnt been as good as advertised, but at times he is electric. Plus, hes only 25 and still under contract for at least two more seasons. And in case you are keeping score, Strasburg is a Scott Boras guy, the same agent who just got the Nats to break the bank for Scherzer. Boras also represents Washington sluggers Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth. By the way, there is no truth to the rumor the Nationals are changing their nickname to the Fighting Boras. Scherzer, though, is a horse. If I was running a team, Jon Lester would have been my target, but Id hate to live on the difference between the two. Both are awesome. The 30-year-old Scherzer won the 2013 AL Cy Young Award, going 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA. He wasnt as sharp last season, but was still one of the best pitchers in baseball, posting a 18-5 ledger with a 3.15 ERA. I think this team is capable of winning and winning a lot, Scherzer said. When you look at near term and long term, this is an organization you want to be a part of. I want to win and thats why Im here. Scherzer doesnt give the Nationals the best rotation in baseball. They already were without him. It may give them a better shot in October. And at the end of the day, thats all that matters. ' ' '