I have the fairly unenviable task this week of convincing a fanbase currently bordering on open revolt that the best thing to do is not sack the manager.

Yikes.

What I will say, quickly, is that I do fully understand, and appreciate the case against Rodgers, but perhaps now is not quite the time to flip the little plastic cover and furiously mash that big red panic button… yet.

To sack the manager, you have to be unequivocally certain that doing so will bring about a change in fortune and, to my mind, this implies you are able to say with certainty, that Rodgers is solely to blame for our current, rather precarious predicament.

At the moment I believe that there are significant mitigating circumstances which at the very least buy Brendan time, if only for a few games.

Money, money, money

The old adage is that money makes the world go round, and I can’t think of a place where this is more apt than the Premier League. Despite all the positives associated with the footballing behemoth and self-proclaimed “best league in the world”, there is a general rule that success, or lack of it, can be directly correlated with money spent.

For Leicester, the spending of cash is doubly important. Their recent model has been to sell one key player, and reinvest the funds to improve the squad, making canny signings that both add value to the club and keep us moving upwards. This strategy of course, only works if the signings are actually made, and in turn, prove successful.

After enjoying a number of years with a transfer record as the envy of the league, Leicester have made precious few signings since Rodgers took over, and of those that have joined, there have been several failures (looking at you Jannik) amongst the positives.

To put this into context, Leicester’s net spend across the past 5 seasons ranks 18th out of the current Premier League teams, £35m an absolute pittance compared to the likes of Southampton (£129m), Nottingham Forest (£151m) and West Ham (£355m).

Has Rodgers received the appropriate backing, especially given the undoubted success that he had delivered on the pitch in the previous seasons? It’s nearly been a year since Leicester were unceremoniously dumped out the FA Cup by Forest, a year since Rodgers spoke about the squad needing a refresh, and since then, we have signed Alex Smithies and Wout Faes… not exactly what Brendan would’ve meant.

The league’s busiest physios

Leicester’s injury record across the last few seasons has been catastrophic with key players out for long periods, usually coinciding with crucial stages in the season. Now there is a train of thought that Rodgers is to blame for this, and perhaps it is his training methods, but I cannot pretend to know the inner workings of the club’s training regime, and also can’t imagine that Brendan is alone in deciding how best to condition his players anyhow, so can’t put this at his door.

This season we have an injury list unmatched by any other club, with eight players missing at the time of writing. Other teams have more, but ours is more significant given the player’s importance to the side, and an already paper-thin squad.

Against Newcastle we were without Maddison (our best player), KDH (the engine room to our side), Soumare (who was finally playing well), Praet (backup to those three), Evans (captain and best centre-half), Justin and Ricardo (hugely important full-backs).

This is a list that would constitute a crisis and likely back page news at a “big six” club, but is not really mentioned outside of Leicester.

Perspective

Football is a fickle beast by nature and public opinion of Brendan has swung wildly this season, with good reason. Heading into the break, Leicester had been in terrific form, unbeaten in seven and calls for Rodgers’s head largely quietened after a hilariously bad start to the season.

Since the World Cup though, results have been poor at best and have understandably resulted in this debate rearing its head once more.

Against Newcastle, we were the architects of our own downfall. Staggering individual errors on Boxing Day meant the high-flying Magpies took three points, poor but perhaps not unexpected given their league position.

Liverpool away was the Wout Faes horror show. Leicester should’ve won, and were let down by a player who had been rock solid in the run-up to Christmas.

Fulham at home was a similar story. I still don’t know how we didn’t win.

Newcastle away - again, a threadbare squad undone by a side that were flying high on confidence and momentum.

Performances haven’t been great, but realistically Leicester did enough to take 4 points from their 3 league games – putting us 6 points away from Everton in 18th and in relative comfort. I am well aware that points on the board are what matter of course, but Top et al are likely to look at the wider picture.

Confidence breeds confidence

The last game displayed perfectly exactly what I believe to be the real issue with the team at the moment: confidence.

Newcastle are rampant at the moment, with a nearly completely fit squad, and buoyed by a vibrant crowd who are understandably loving every minute of this season (nothing to do with a net spend of £237m in 2 seasons of course).

Leicester however looked bereft of any positivity. Harvey Barnes is a shadow of the player that frankly terrorised defences for a couple of seasons, both Amartey and Ndidi look petrified whenever they have the ball again, Patson Daka hates shooting and even Jamie Vardy has been taking chances in a frankly timid manner.

This could stem from a lack of seniority within the squad. It could also be as a result of a lack of signings, but is nothing that a couple of wins can’t solve.