by RED BEERGOGGLES » Thu Dec 30, 2010 10:23 pm
Jamie Jackson
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 30 December 2010 20.26 GMT
Five handicaps Roy Hodgson must overcome to survive at Liverpool
Big-name players are underperforming and signings failing to live up to their price tags, increasing the pressure on the manager
Take your pick from dire, broken and nonexistent to describe the bond between Roy Hodgson and the Anfield congregation. Liverpool's supporters claim that they never turn on their managers, but they are doing exactly that to the man appointed on 1 July. His public relations skills have proved questionable, his body language occasionally morose and, as when in charge of Fulham, Hodgson can be petulant and prickly when fielding an innocuous question.
This was all clear even before Hodgson proceeded to erase whatever goodwill remained (many Liverpool fans were unconvinced from the start) following Wednesday's insipid 1-0 home defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers. The 63-year-old decided that a night featuring ironic chants of "Hodgson for England" and a loss to opponents who had previously won at Anfield only once in 60 years could be recast as the game where fans had deserted the cause.
Accusing supporters of disloyalty rates high on the list of managerial sins. Hodgson said: "I have to hope the fans will become supporters because we need support. Ever since I came here the famous Anfield support hasn't really been there."
Even during the low points of Rafael Benítez's reign there was a collective refusal from fans to voice public discontent. Now they are queuing up on internet message boards and other media outlets to voice their anger.
Big names underperforming
Pepe Reina, Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and Fernando Torres are all arguably having the worst seasons of their careers.
Reina's 90th-minute own goal handed Arsenal a point in the manager's opening league game and the goalkeeper was also at fault for Stephen Ward's winner for Wolves as he gave away possession to Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, who set up his colleague.
Johnson's form has been particularly patchy and in November Hodgson questioned whether he is good enough to be England's right-back (another ill-advised move from the manager).
Carragher, who was awarded a new two-year contract in October, has been ponderous enough to suggest his 33 years have caught up with him, and the defender is out until February because of a dislocated shoulder.
Gerrard's tally of only three league goals reflects his anonymous season so far, and the team's talisman only returned after a month out with a hamstring injury for the Wolves match.
Cole's troubled season began with a sending-off on his home league debut against Arsenal in August and he is yet to score in the league for them.
Torres scored both goals in the 2-0 victory over Chelsea in November (Hodgson's best result) but the Spaniard has managed only three more in the league as he continues a substandard return from the injuries that occurred before and during the World Cup.
Poor signings
Another area of Hodgson's management that has gone awry. Although Cole and Milan Jovanovic were lined up before he arrived, Paul Konchesky, Raul Meireles and Christian Poulsen were the former Fulham manager's acquisitions and none has been a success.
When Konchesky was substituted against Wolves he was jeered off by Liverpool supporters, the latest display of derision the left-back has attracted since Hodgson went back to Craven Cottage to sign him. Earlier this month his mother was moved to brand the fans "Scouse scum".
Meireles's regular position has been in central midfield, yet he was deployed on the right against Wolves. If Hodgson is unsure whether Meireles can perform in his normal role for the club, then why was he bought?
Jovanovic's record for his previous club, Standard Liège, stood at nearly a goal every other league game. But he is yet to open his Liverpool account in the Premier League, with Hodgson allowing him only eight appearances. The Serb appears to have been acquired primarily to play in the League Cup and Europa League and he has scored in both. Yet if so, this appears puzzling given Torres' injury problems and the lack of genuine finishers at the club.
Questionable tactics
Hodgson's training-ground methods rely on the repetitive drilling of players in positioning, patterns and set-plays, an approach that caused bemusement among the Fulham squad last season despite their run to the 2010 Europa League final.
This approach has been reflected in on-field tactics, particularly when Hodgson attempts to plot an away victory in the league. After the opening day of last season he failed to win a further fixture on the road with Fulham, a record he has hardly improved at Liverpool, where the sole success was at Bolton in November by a single goal.
This rigidity is illustrated in Hodgson's recurring ploy whenever a goal is required late on in games: Sotirios Kyrgiakos, the central defender, is instructed to move into attack and the defence told to starting hoofing the ball up to him.
The spectre of Dalglish
The turmoil at the club is the one area of decline beyond Hodgson's control. When New England Sports Ventures bought Liverpool in October the divisions and day-to-day civil war at the club finally stopped. Yet the Tom Hicks and George Gillett legacy is still being felt as Hodgson was their appointment who was greeted with indifference by many supporters. They wanted Kenny Dalglish (who has not managed a club for a decade) to return 19 years after the Scot's resignation from the job.
When Blackpool won 2-1 at Anfield in October, 11 days after Northampton won a penalty shoot-out there in the Carling Cup, Dalglish heard his name being chanted by fans. During Wolves' 1-0 win "King Kenny" again heard the supporters pleading for his return.
Liverpool moved a scheduled press conference from yesterday afternoon to tomorrow. The club claimed there was nothing sinister about this, but the board is surely now considering whether Dalglish, or someone else, may do a better job than Hodgson.
I thought that was an excellent piece ,which describes perfectly why us fans are more than a little disgruntled with the current manager.
here's hoping the cancelled press conference will be revised so as to bring us some belated festive cheer ......fingers crossed he gets his marching orders
?? johnson
