Riled Red Roy Hodgson stares down the barrel of the Anfield gun
Yesterday was the best Premier League day that Roy Hodgson has had for some time.
Admittedly his team didn’t play, but Andy Carroll’s second half winner for Newcastle at West Ham, coupled with Wolves’ 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge meant that Liverpool actually moved up a place in the table without even kicking a ball. Finally upwardly mobile, maybe Hodgson has cracked it? If only things were that simple.
Wearing the look of a man who’s signed up for more than he’s bargained for, these are troubled times in the life of the Liverpool manager. He knew what he was getting himself in for though.
By accepting the job as Rafael Benitez’s successor in the summer – amid all of the uncertainty surrounding the club – Hodgson was effectively backing his own ability. Backing his ability to get Liverpool into a position that ensured that the club’s new owners – whenever they had wrestled the keys to the Shankly Gates out of Tom Hicks and George Gillett’s hands – would deem him indispensable and a key part of the Red revolution going forward. Instead, New England Sports Ventures’ will watch their first match at Anfield today between two teams divided only by the line that signifies the relegation zone, and their new asset are on the wrong side of it.
John W Henry – who won’t be at the match against Blackburn Rovers today due to illness – took in his first Premier League match at Goodison Park last weekend, and saw a Merseyside derby performance as weak as any Liverpool side have produced in recent years. It wouldn’t have gone down well, but a similar performance and result today would be considered even worse.
There is a school of thought that suggests Liverpool have only really had two drastically poor results under Hodgson – the home defeats to a fired up Blackpool in the league and to League Two Northampton Town in the Carling Cup, when the Reds fielded several youngsters and lost on penalties.
The rest of the losses – away to Manchester City, Manchester United and Everton – could have happened under Benitez’s watch, and did, while only Pepe Reina’s late blunder prevented Liverpool beating Arsenal in Hodgson’s first league match as Reds manager.
Such a theory has been put forward by Hodgson’s many sympathisers, and while it can’t be doubted that Liverpool have had a tough fixture list at the beginning of the league campaign – their only win even came against West Brom, who are currently riding high in fourth – there is more to the struggles than results alone. With some players reportedly unhappy at some of the coaching methods – which 68-year-old Mike Kelly, a close Hodgson confidante has a big say in – Liverpool appear to be going through an identity crisis at the moment.
Maybe it’s the unfamiliar shirts – these days emblazoned with something called “Standard Chartered” – but it has been a distinctly substandard Liverpool this season, and their manager’s demeanour often hasn’t helped matters.
Perhaps it’s his honesty and openness working against him, but at a time when Benitez or even Gerard Houllier would be railing against each and every injustice that he thinks has befallen his team, Hodgson simply gets out the stiff upper lip and bravely battles on. Admirable of course – and it may seem strange to criticise a man for this aspect of his character – but it hasn’t really helped supporters identify with him or faithfully support him. They now see him as characterless at a time when Liverpool need all the characters they can get. Comments such as describing young right back Martin Kelly – who has played in every Europa League game this season – as “not ready” to replace the unfit Glen Johnson today haven’t really helped either.
Maybe it’s getting to him, as the attack on prospective replacement Frank Rijkaard’s managerial credentials hints at, but he’s unlikely to change his ways now, and frankly why should he?
He has his ways, and the club have theirs, but Hodgson and Liverpool is a marriage on the rocks, and at the moment they just don’t look suited to each other.
Nothing would give the majority of the football community more satisfaction than to see them iron out their differences, something that would have to start with a win over Blackburn today. A win by three clear goals would even see them escape the bottom three, but that seems fanciful.
The three points are the important thing – the Reds haven’t needed a win as much as this for a while, Hodgson possibly ever.
Liverpool have never sacked a manager during a season. Fail this afternoon, and their current boss could carve his name into Reds history, for all the wrong reasons.
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