Football Special Report: Liverpool and Roy Hodgson; Why have they not shined yet? – Part 1
When Liverpool decided to give Roy Hodgson the reins for the club, this was responded with different kinds of responses from fans, pundits and the media. Still the thought that prevailed over all others, and that was a general
consensus in the club administration, was that the club needed some stability.
When Roy Hodgson was being brought on as manager of Liverpool FC, there was also a lot of support from the boss’s former club. Fulham’s players supported Roy Hodgson and standing in front of the line of supporters was Simon Davies.
Simon Davies is a very influential figure in football and he was also a major influence in Manchester United’s fiasco at Craven Cottage, a few weeks ago.
When Simon Davies was asked to comment on Liverpool’s actions at Craven cottage, he said that Roy Hodgson’s tactics were very dull but what the manager stressed on afterwards was very vital for the team.
Davies continued on by saying that under Hodgson’s control every player knows exactly what their roles are, everyone in the team knew what they were doing, what was expected from them.
What ‘The Reds’ fans need to understand is that it will take time for Roy Hodgson to get to know the team properly and he is experimenting with players right now, with good reason and the fans just need to be patient right now.
Under the current circumstances, it would be unfair to demand consistent wins from Hodgson right now. Here is a list of reasons why Liverpool are still very far from becoming a success story in the Premiership.
Joe Cole and Experiments
Though most people who only lightly follow Liverpool’s games would not get it right now but Joe Cole has been very influential in Liverpool’s play till now.
One thing is for sure, that the player has not been anything near to spectacular but his finishing skills have worked their play from time to time.
Joe Cole has been the best player from Liverpool in the European fixtures when you look specifically at support play and work rate.
Most people dismiss matches against feeble clubs but these matches serve a very important purpose as they act as warm up matches, and also let the new players gain some experience which gives the team the chance to experiment as
well.
To sum it all up Liverpool have been above average when it comes to matches like these and if you look at the stats then ‘The Reds’ have scored more goals than Manchester City in the Europa.
The reason for mentioning all of this is as Joe Cole has played in almost one half of the five Premier League matches thus far and did in fact miss out on the creative part of playing with the ball and breaking the opposing team’s
defences.
One thing is for sure, Roy Hodgson’s experimentation did not help with Joe Cole’s performances at his new club. Though Cole did a very good job playing just behind the striker and actually scored in the match against Steau Bucharesti.
After this performance Joe Cole was played in the left wing position in the match against the ‘Red Devils.’ One thing that everyone agrees on is that Steau Bucharesti is not a benchmark to set the standards for, at least not for
Liverpool and Manchester United is a lot stronger opposition for the team any day of the week.
Tags: