Rijkaard’s threat lingers on Hodgson’s head
Liverpool’s manager, Roy Hodgson, is facing a dilemma these days. There are changing scenes at the top management of Liverpool football club, which has put Hodgson under a lot of pressure. The new owners, John W Henry’s New England Sports Venture, has demanded
results from their manager, which is a hard thing to do for Hodgson at the moment.
Recently, Liverpool played in a local derby against Everton. It was a very important match for both the teams, as both of them were in the relegation zone of Premier League table. David Moyes, the boss of Everton, was also under pressure, but Hodgson had
his job relying on the results of that match. Unfortunately for Hodgson, his team lost the fixture, which has made him weaker in his position.
Therefore, the speculations regarding Hodgson’s future have started to circulate the media. The contract of Hodgson has a clause that allows the new owners to sack him without giving any proper reason. Although, NESV decided to give some time to Hodgson
to prove his worth, but Hodgson might need some extra matches. The Liverpool’s manager wants to bring in some new players, which would only happen in January. Before the transfer window arrives, there is a lot of football to be played. The owners cannot allow
their team to keep on losing, as Liverpool is already facing a relegation threat.
In the media, there was news that Roy Hodgson might be replaced by Frank Rijkaard, if the owners see him as unwanted personnel in the club. Rijkaard is a former Dutch player, who had been coaching Barcelona for some time. During his reign at Catalan, Rijkaard
took his team to Champions League glory, along with two Spanish La Liga titles. During his time, Rijkaard had the honour of having players like Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o in his side. However, after a series of misfortunes and mishandling of a few players,
Rijkaard got sacked from Barcelona’s job, giving way to Pep Guardiola.
After the Barcelona job, Rijkaard became the manager of Turkish giants, Galatasaray. Although, he has produced some good results for the Turkish team, but he had not been doing well in recent times. Therefore, quite recently, Rijkaard got another sacking,
from the Turkish club, which makes him a free agent at the moment.
Despite of having ups and downs in his career, there is no doubt that Rijkaard is a great manager. There are many who would doubt his player management skills that have led to some mishaps in the past, but he remains a great tactician. He is the one responsible
for making the current Barcelona squad and giving them shape of a European giant. Nevertheless, Rijkaard is being linked with Liverpool, and in the current situation he seems to be the only person capable of doing such a job, as he has prior experience in
managing big teams.
However, Hodgson has turned down all such speculations, as he thinks that he would retain his job. Hodgson said that he faced similar kinds of news when he was in Inter Milan, but he remained there until he decided to join Blackburn. Hodgson also gave sarcastic
remarks about Rijkaard, as he said that if the Dutchman is a great manager then why he got fired from Galatasaray. The Liverpool’s manager blamed Rijkaard’s manager for creating these speculations, which carried no legs at all.
Liverpool faced Blackburn in their recent match in English Premier League, which they won by 2-1. Therefore, for a time being, Hodgson should relax as his job seems to be safer right now. However, there are tough times coming ahead of him, while he would
have to keep on putting good results for new owners. If he shows any signs of weakness at any point, there is no doubt that he would be fired and some other person would be brought in. Now, only time would tell, whether that person would be Rijkaard or someone
else.
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