The fixture list can be a fickle mistress, the kind who offers to cook your dinner and then puts rat poison in the pasta. For Liverpool, an opening day trip to The Hawthorns to face West Bromwich Albion would usually be met with confidence; for West Brom, hosting Liverpool would be a start to relish, a free hit in a game they wouldn't expect to win. Things changed this summer.

Things changed for Brendan Rodgers. If not for the intervention of Fenway Sports Group, he would be preparing for Swansea's trip to Queens Park Rangers. From the liberty of improving an 11th placed finish to the tyranny of expectation at Anfield, it has been a demanding summer for the Carnlough man. Juggling with Liverpool's past, present and future is a tough ask: some believe Kenny Dalglish should still be in charge; some worry the squad is not good enough; some doubt the long-term vision of the club. It falls upon the shoulders of the 39-year-old to alleviate all those fears.

The fixture list must have given itself a cackle when it handed him Steve Clarke's West Brom. Rodgers' grapples with Liverpool's past will be played out publicly during the first 90 minutes of the season. It will be a grapple for Rodgers' personal past as well, given both worked under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.

Things have changed for Clarke this summer too. After leaving his assistant role at Liverpool, the perennial bridesmaid became the bride when asked to replace Roy Hodgson at West Brom. Clarke's first game in charge will be against his former employers; Rodgers' first for Liverpool against a man he's worked under before. You couldn't write it; you probably wouldn't want to, either, though neither would admit it publicly.

"He's a good man. I've known Steve for a long time," said Rodgers in Thursday's press conference. "He's been a loyal number two for many years with a variety of mangers, and he has now got himself into the job as a number one. He's earned the right for that and I'm sure he'll do very, very well."

Rodgers is a meticulous planner, studious to every aspect of the opposition. But in Clarke he faces unknown territory. Rodgers likes to speak of organisation and mentality: he'll know both of those with regards to Clarke. What Rodgers won't know is how Clarke will line up his West Brom side - although, if pre-season is any indication, neither will Clarke himself. The Scot has experimented with a number of formations – 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-4-1-1, 4-1-2-3 – in a futile attempt to find his best set-up. No clues there for Rodgers or the watching world, then.

There could be some in his 18-month stint at Anfield, however. After joining Kenny Dalglish in the dugout, the side's defensive improvement was immediately credited to him. As a defender himself, it seemed a logical move. No longer did Agger look uncommanding; no longer did Skrtel look unsophisticated. Most impressive of all, no longer did Carragher look unedifying on the ball. A run of four consecutive clean sheets and six in seven during the early stages of 2011 were mainly attributed to him; so too the magnificent tactical performance against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The camera stalked Torres on that bitterly cold February afternoon as he made his Chelsea debut, but the story was elsewhere. Liverpool went with three central defenders, two wing-backs and a fluid five in front, interchanging, dropping, bobbing and weaving like a primed heavyweight boxer. When Meireles landed the knockout punch, the camera's gaze shifted. There was Dalglish, saluting the travelling support with unbridled child-like glee; there, too, was Clarke if you squinted, out of focus.

Clarke is not the type of person to seek revenge. In fact, he claimed his time at Liverpool was successful – a bold claim given it ended with an eighth-place finish, and perhaps an insight to his expectations in the West Midlands. But any hope of using his familiarity with the Liverpool set-up as an advantage is tossed aside with Rodgers at the helm at Anfield – something Rodgers himself realises.

"Steve will know I work different to most, he'll have probably done his homework but he's obviously worked with the players so he knows their mentality," said Rodgers. "But I am a different tactician with different ideas."

A different tactician indeed, although there is no mystery of Rodgers' set-up. That won't help Clarke much, especially if Lucas, Gerrard and Suarez show similar form they did against FC Gomel. Rodgers spoke this week of the aggression and charisma of the squad; two things the club lacked throughout most of last season. The build-up of the squad continues; the weaknesses, both mentally and physically, have been identified, with Rodgers' sharpshooting at its parsimonious best. The arrival of Joe Allen brings a much needed compliment to Lucas; the signatures of Borini and Assaidi bring an outlet ball and pace both through the centre and down the channels. But alongside the actual players comes one of the things Rodgers is most keen to develop: mentality.

Mentality will be the thing Rodgers will look for most against West Brom. People know what to expect from Rodgers' sides; the trickery comes in stopping it. The players, so far, appear to have dived feet-first into the vision of Rodgers - though it is made easier when Lucas Leiva strides through the midfield as the embodiment of everything the manager is trying to achieve. The task is to take that into the opening day, something Rodgers is aware of.

"There's a long way to go for us, we will be much better next year than we will this year purely because there will be more time to work with the players," said Rodgers. "They become adapted to my way of working and the methods, but all we can do is retain our focus and our concentration to improve how we play, and more importantly to be effective."

Irrespective of the final result on Saturday, don't expect panic from Rodgers. He knows the fate of the fixture list has thrown him a curveball to begin his odyssey. He just has to hope his side are ready to step up to the plate; so too himself, given there will be a lot more attention on him than if he was heading to Loftus Road with his Swansea side. Things changed this summer, after all.

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