manager of the year to fighting for his managerial life, it goes to

TORONTO - The Kansas City Royals have recalled third baseman Mike Moustakas from Triple-A Omaha and activated left-hander Francisley Bueno from the 15-day disabled list. Infielder Danny Valencia was placed on the 15-day DL with a sore left hand, and right-hander Aaron Brooks was optioned to Omaha. Moustakas was at third base and batting eighth against the Blue Jays on Sunday. The four-year veteran and one-time top prospect was batting just .152 with four home runs and 17 RBIs when he was demoted to the minor leagues earlier this month. He appeared in eight games with Omaha, batting .355 with one homer and eight RBIs. Valencia injured his hand on a swing on May 24, and missed five games before returning to the lineup Friday and going hitless in two games. Air Max Sale Australia .5 million. The 25-year-old Varlamov is thriving under first-year coach and Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy, posting a 26-9-5 record with a 2. Cheap Nike Air Max Shoes Wholesale . -- A lawyer for the fiancee of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez asked a judge Friday to throw out perjury charges, saying Shayanna Jenkins did not wilfully lie as she was bombarded with 1,630 questions over two days before a grand jury. http://www.cheapaustraliaairmax.com/ . -- John Fox will coach the Denver Broncos from the sideline and not the booth upon his return Sunday five weeks after heart surgery. Cheap Air Max Online Australia . Moments after his Brooklyn Nets teammates ran out onto the court to congratulate him following their 100-98 overtime win over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, Johnson could only shake his head at scoring only 13 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Buy Nike Air Max Australia .com) - Intrastate rivals collide Saturday as the Texas State Bobcats hit the road to take on the eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns in a non-conference battle at Frank Erwin Center.Liverpool is out of the Champions League. Thud. Dreams of the glory days returning to Anfield have gone as quickly as they came. The magical 2013-14 season brought back the nostalgia, the mystique of a football club seemingly searching endlessly for their identity in the modern game. Ardent support re-emerged as the team dazzled on the field. Attack-minded, attractive football pushed Liverpool FC to the brink of winning an elusive Premier League title and took them back on to Europes most prestigious stage; the Champions League. The future seemed bright. The present, exciting. Folk heroes were made. Books were written. Titles such as Poetry in Motion celebrating minimal success seem even more preposterous now as the current script more appropriately reads, Stuck in Reverse. Five months of football have seen Liverpool regress back into a team lost in a sea of mediocrity and devoid of any idea how to stay afloat. A 1-1 home draw with Basel relegated Liverpool to the Europa League; a competition more suited to match the teams ability. The Champions League draw putting Liverpool in a group with Ludogorets Razvad and Basel seemed as advantageous as could be. Home and away marquee fixtures against Real Madrid were the icing on the cake at the party. Manchester United were out of Europe and Liverpool back where they belonged. Life was good. To not get out of the group goes beyond failure. Its a statement that Liverpool is not ready to rejoin the ranks of European powers. The failure to launch lay on the shoulders of the manager as much as the players. When the team needed tactical wherewithal the most, Brendan Rodgers was MIA. The teams valiant effort while a man down, pushing forward and searching for a winner, will be overshadowed by coaching incompetence. It was an awful first half performance by Rodgers men. Accountability to a player is one thing; whether Rodgers set up his team to succeed was another. At home, with all to play for in a must-win game, Rodgers elected to play a 34-year old Steven Gerrard in an advanced, attacking midfield role. The average-at-best Lucas and Joe Allen occupied the defensive midfield positions, with Gerrard and Jordan Henderson pushed forward alongside Raheem Sterling. At a time where the game is predicated on speed and inventiveness like never before, Rodgers sent out a slow, predictable unit, looking steadfast to maintain rather than attack. It may have worked pushing Gerrard high against the likes of Leicester City. But this was the Champions League. Again, this was a must-win game for Liverpool. The team selection was shocking. The tactics were negative and unthreatening. The players available for selection leave much to be desired. Thats on Rodgers as well. The disaster that was the summer sale of Luis Suarez has been compounded by two factors: 1) long-standing injury to Daniel Sturridge, and 2) an awful dealings in the transfer window. The prior is troubling considering the loss of one player can have such a profound effect on a so-called elite Premier League team. The latter is predicated on a group of players either not good enough and/or players having yet to earn the trust of their new manager. Rodgers transfer window failures were plain to see Tuesday. Rickie Lambert went off after 45 minutes, leaving Liverpool down a goal without a striker on the pitch. Substitute Lazar Markovic was sent off, seeing straight red for mindlessly hitting out at Basels Behrang Safari. Alberto Moreno was ineffective in the second half. Dejan Lovren was bang-average. Emre Can and Adam Lallana were nailed to the bench. And Fabio Borini, who the team decided not to sell, didnt make the teamsheet. No other new players were anywhere to be seen. So much for replacing Suarez. The list of Rodgers expensive transfer misses is damning, with the likes of Iago Aspas, Tiago Ilori and Luis Alberto not to be forgotten considering the current state of recruits. Rodgers failures in the transfer window are the biggest problem plaguing a club unable to recover from egregious spending. He has a goalkeeper who looks amateur with the ball at his feet, no true answer at centre-back, and nothing that resembles a true attacking threat other than a 20-year old in Sterling who is askedd to do too much heavy lifting too early in his professional career.dddddddddddd Liverpool still relies upon the same player in Gerrard who was central to European success 10 seasons ago. Expecting him to replicate the heroics against Olympiakos a decade ago is as far-fetched as disconcerting. His 81st minute set-piece equalizer was a thing of beauty. But the one-dimensional nature of his current game as set-piece specialist doesnt constitute a managerial strategy, rather than acknowledgment of a lack of other options in his tactical arsenal. This is a massive problem. While Rodgers eye for talent is entirely problematic, the emerging issue of how Rodgers is using his team has become just as alarming and raises true question whether he should continue on as manager. Down 1-0 after 45 minutes, Rodgers saw fit to take off his lone striker in a game his team was chasing goals. It was a tactical mess. To be clear, Rodgers response to facing adversity was to play without a striker. Puzzling. The second half tactics resembled a bunch of players merely taking up space, basically playing wherever they wanted. That turned into every player playing wherever they could after the Markovic sending off. So much for intelligence. So much for a calculated approach. The desperate play by Liverpool for long stretches this season hardly resembles the intelligent team football on display last campaign. Few teams across Europe moved better off the ball. No matter the formation at the back, scoring opportunities were produced. Suarez was the true predator who instilled confidence throughout the XI. No matter what mistakes were made, Suarez would come to the rescue. Without their security blanket, Liverpool plays tentative and afraid. Rodgers has tried to compensate by playing a 4-2-3-1. He doesnt have the players to execute and the result is stale, unimaginative play. Rodgers has lost the plot. Blame the players. But make no mistake; the manager is a hopeless mess at this point. One must lead with confidence, not desperation. There is no simple answer for Rodgers. His tactical vision is blurred and he has little to stand on. He has isolated newcomers to the club. And the old guard is not up to the task. Liverpool sits ninth place in the table, six points back of fourth place West Ham. Its a mountain to climb for a team still pre-occupied by European competition. Games against rivals Manchester United and Arsenal lay ahead, with an FA Cup tie with upstart AFC Bournemouth in between. There is no time to rest or recuperate for this wounded side. And there is nothing to suggest Liverpool can come away with all-important points against either Premier League foe. The return to the Champions League seems short-lived, which makes it even more perplexing Rodgers basically conceded defeat against Real Madrid at the Bernebeu, resting his preferred XI. Matches as such dont come around often. It may be quite some time before games of such prestige return. Rodgers masterplan backfired. It looks bad on the gaffer. In the meantime, Rodgers remains on the hot seat. Its hard to picture how this ends well. From League Managers Association manager of the year to fighting for his managerial life, it goes to show how fickle and demanding the football world is at the top level. Manchester United had to go through the similar painful decision-making process last season. The plug was pulled on David Moyes short-lived reign for the long-term benefit of the club. Liverpool must decide whether Rodgers is worth keeping and whether they trust him to set things right. It appears Manchester United made the right move. Will Liverpool do the same? Track record speaks to Manchester United getting it right more often than their famous adversary. Thirteen titles in the 22 years of the Premier League era to Liverpools goose egg provides more than enough evidence. The time to make another difficult decision has come. Sir Alex Ferguson knocked Liverpool off their perch. Will Louis Van Gaal knock Rodgers out of his job? Liverpools trip to Old Trafford Sunday was always going to have heightened importance. Rodgers managerial fate potentially on the line has raised the stakes even higher. @WheelerTSN gareth.wheeler@bellmedia.ca ' ' '