Since you Ben gone

Spare the Rod ... Brendan Rodgers

Getty Images

By TONY CASCARINO

BRENDAN RODGERS will see what it could be like for him at Anfield when Rafa Benitez pays him a visit tomorrow.

But he has got it all to do if he is ever to earn the adulation Rafa will receive from Reds fans because, right now, he will be remembered for some cringe TV and ditching Andy Carroll.

By contrast, Liverpool fans still love Benitez for everything he did for the club.

Many would still probably like it if he was their manager — and the funny thing is, a lot of Chelsea fans wish he still was too!

But chairmen look at Rafa and are impressed with how he has dealt with everything at Chelsea.

He has made mistakes. How John Terry and Frank Lampard are not starting every game is mystifying but he has done a terrific job with so much uncertainty at the club.

While owner Roman Abramovich says nothing, it appears certain a new manager is on the way.

Therefore, the club was always going to be a difficult place because no one knows whether they are coming or going.

Good Kop ... Rafa Benitez

EPA

So getting Champions League qualification and winning the Europa League — I am sure they will do both — makes it a good season and I’m sure Rafa will have a queue of clubs coming in for him this summer.

Liverpool will not be one of them, but that is only because I believe their owners bought into the Rodgers project last year.

But he needs a good start to next term as a lot of Liverpool supporters are still unconvinced by him.

You look at Liverpool now and they are still well off Champions League qualification and you have to say they haven’t improved much.

Rodgers’ judgement also has to be questioned. He looked to dump Jose Enrique, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson early in the year but now they are back in favour.

Joe Allen and Fabio Borini have not worked out and he persevered with giving young players a chance for too long when they clearly were not working out. Raheem Sterling is not a Michael Owen or a Wayne Rooney type who can step into a Premier League side as a teenager. He is a kid of huge potential but never looked ready for the role Rodgers tried to give him.

Jonjo Shelvey is older than him but I find it incredible he got so much action earlier in the year. He is a long way short of the finished product.

Then there is Andy Carroll.

Why he let him go still confuses me because I cannot understand why a manager would not want a game-changer like him at his disposal.

I really like Andy and everything he does. When I think of him, I always think of last year’s FA Cup final when he came on and bullied John Terry. Believe me, there are very few players who can do that.

But Rodgers decided he did not need him and he was wrong.

Hi ho silver ... Steven Gerrard and Rafa Benitez

Liverpool have had a lot of draws and a lot of narrow defeats when a Plan B like Carroll could have made all the difference. Just look at last week’s 0-0 with Reading.

Compare Rodgers’ attitude to Sam Allardyce, who told the West Ham board that signing Carroll would keep them up. Sam was right.

But Rodgers’ selection policy was only his second biggest mistake this season — his biggest was doing that ‘Being Liverpool’ programme. I don’t know what he was thinking doing that. It was cheese on toast, it was that cheesy! I was watching it with my hands over my eyes.

Liverpool are all about the boot room and doing things in-house, so it was terrible watching that TV documentary.

I know a lot of people in football look at Rodgers now and are questioning him — and I do wonder if the club’s board are too.

This could be a big summer for him and it will be interesting to see if they give him the usual €25-30million transfer war chest you would expect if they are backing him fully.

If he gets it, all eyes will be on how he spends it given that his signings to date have not been great. The word is out that he wants central defender Ashley Williams from his old club Swansea, which does not fill me with confidence.

While I have my doubts about Rodgers and expect Benitez to walk into a job, spare a thought for Big Sam.

How he has not got a new contract already I’ll never know. He has done a terrific job at West Ham by making them a really difficult team to beat.

West Ham are not an easy club for him to manage given that he is ex-Millwall and the Hammers believe they are all about good football.

But Sam has done a great job at Upton Park.