http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/spor...y-hodgson-liverpool-revisiting-match-11373393 please log in to view this image Roy Hodgson in typical pose during his spell in charge at Liverpool, this after a 1-0 home defeat to Wolves over Christmas The mere mention of his name is enough to induce a collective wince among Liverpool supporters. And yet this summer, Roy Hodgson will carry the hopes of a nation upon his shoulders. Football, eh? As reigns go, Hodgson’s six months at Anfield ranks alongside Olly Murs’ short-lived stint as X-Factor host. Only far less funny. This weekend, Danny Murphy caused a minor stir among Reds when offering a “defence” of his former boss’ time on Merseyside. The excuses were unconvincing. Hodgson’s methods “grow”, said Murphy. He needed time. He had “no funds to get any real quality in”, was betrayed by injuries to key players and was not helped by “King Kenny up in the stands every week”. There may be a grain of truth in some of what Murphy says, but the reaction to his comments suggests Liverpool fans are in no mood to hear them. The first half of the 2010-11 season is not one to be remembered fondly. Ahead of Euro 2016, let’s revisit Roy’s ill-fated spell in the Anfield hotseat... The context Okay, first comes a caveat. The club Hodgson walked into was not a good one. Financially, Liverpool were crumbling, weighed down by the debts of Tom Hicks and George Gillett. They had an interim chairman, Martin Broughton, whose job was to ensure the sale of the club, and a managing director, Christian Purslow, whose interference in the football side of things had left Rafa Benitez, the previous boss, more than a tad bemused. They had finished seventh in Benitez’s final season, below Aston Villa and having won just five away league games all season. They went out in the Champions League group stages, and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League where they were beaten by Atletico Madrid. Atletico would beat Hodgson’s Fulham in the final. Benitez’s departure brought with it sadness – a banner reading ‘Ta Rafa La’ was attached to the Shankly Gates on the day it was announced – with many supporters wanting the club to appoint Dalglish, who was interested, as his successor. In the end, they opted for Hodgson. “This is the biggest job in club football,” he told his opening press conference, although it was telling that many of the questions centred around the futures of Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano. Gerrard and Torres would stay despite interest, while Mascherano would depart for Barcelona in August. The transfers Hodgson’s work in the transfer market is one of the main sticks used to beat him with Liverpool fans – though there are a few. Deals for Milan Jovanovic, Jonjo Shelvey and Danny Wilson had been set up before his arrival. The first signing of the Hodgson era was Joe Cole on a free transfer from Chelsea. It is easy to forget, given how things panned out, just how well received that deal was at the time. Cole was 28, and had just helped Chelsea to the Double before featuring in the World Cup for England. “I would never want to dupe the Liverpool public by telling them all is rosy now because Joe Cole has signed,” said Hodgson. Prophetic words indeed. Especially as Hodgson’s other deals saw him sign Christian Poulsen from Juventus, raid former club Fulham for Paul Konchesky and offer Fabio Aurelio a two-year contract, six weeks after the Brazilian had been released. Brad Jones and Raul Meireles completed his summer ‘spree’, that outlay was covered by the sales of Mascherano, Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera. The football Ah, the football. It wasn’t good, was it? It started off reasonably. Liverpool negotiated a Europa League qualifier with Rabotnicki, and held Arsenal to a respectable draw at Anfield despite Cole’s first-half dismissal. But a pasting at Manchester City, in which Hodgson played 4-4-2, exposed their flaws. They would win just one of their opening eight league fixtures, including a home humbling by Blackpool and defeats at both Manchester United and Everton. At that point, with the fraught takeover by New England Sports Ventures (now Fenway Sports Group) having been confirmed, Liverpool were 19th in the table, and playing sterile, disjointed football to get there. The nadir, of course, came with a defeat on penalties at home to League Two strugglers Northampton Town in the League Cup. Still, Liverpool negotiated a Europa League group of Napoli, FC Utrecht and Steaua Bucharest, and enjoyed a rare high in beating Chelsea at Anfield. But defeats at Stoke and Newcastle were abject, and Anfield was in revolt when Wolves came and won just after Christmas. By the time a dreadful Blackburn side had thumped them at Ewood Park on January 5, the jig was up. Liverpool were 12th. The comments The alarm bells quickly began to rang for Reds fans where Hodgson was concerned. Asked early in his reign if there was anywhere quite like Anfield for atmosphere, he replied: “Well, San Siro and Old Trafford are excellent.” Not the wisest of moves. He riled Reds by claiming his side’s derby defeat at Goodison was “our best performance of the season”, and hailed an away win at Trabzonspor as “a famous European night". Failing to defend Torres against criticism from Alex Ferguson was a blunder, as was his comment after the defeat to Wolves. “The famous Anfield support has not really been there ever since I came here,” he noted. The Kop, of course, had spent much of the evening chanting ‘Hodgson for England’ and ‘Dalglish’. “I still see a lot of things positively and my glass is absolutely half-full rather than half-empty at the moment,” he said following the defeat to Blackburn. Two days later, he was sacked. The postscript Hodgson would not be out of football for long, taking over at West Brom within a month of his Anfield exit. Indeed, in April he would gain a degree of revenge by beating Dalglish’s Liverpool at The Hawthorns. With a win percentage not dissimilar to the one he managed at Liverpool, Hodgson looked well-suited to Albion, guiding them to 10th, their best league finish since 1981. At that point, he was approached by the FA to take over from Fabio Capello in time for Euro 2012. He did so, leading England to a quarter-final defeat to Italy. He’s still in charge now, despite a disastrous World Cup in Brazil. His remodelled side are fourth favourites for this summer’s Euros. Success in France will make him a national hero. At Liverpool, though, the memory will always be of those six months. And on second thoughts, they might just have been worse than we realised at the time.
Is this your therapy for coping with despair, Luv? I prefer the avoidance approach in blocking out Hodgson's time at the helm of our club myself.
Not worth looking into again really. It was ****ing awful and I actually signed the petition which is something I wouldn't normally do. He was so **** which worries me going into the EURO's but i'll give him credit and he's done okay thus far.
Like other managers such as Pullis or Fat Sam, put him in charge of a team near the bottom and he'll make them tricky to beat and they'll pick up the odd win. Put it him in charge of a team expected to break teams down and with high expectations and he just couldn't adapt. I did actually think at the time of appointment for England he'd be decent because in tournaments he'd make us hard to beat and we could scrape through on the odd goal or Pens, almost like a ****ter Rafa! But last World Cup threw that one out the window!
You cant blame Hodgeson for Sturridge having calf and thigh muscles made of playdough, he needs proper training and building up his strength.
I think he was probably getting at the fact that he changes his training regime and seems to get injured while away from the club.
While on England duty the chance of injury while making coffee are increased due to the mis management of the England coffee making regime, while at the club the coffe making coach keeps a close eye on Sturridge and has a detailed plan in place that walks him through the process without injury. If Roy would only sort out the coffee making process with England it would solve a lot of problems and prevent so many injuries that are a detrimant to both club and country. Don't come on here giving us **** about his injury record, you'll soon be crying when Rashford does his knee ligament making a cup of tea.
Indeed. Thus sacking LVG and appointing mourinho how then buying zlatan is akin to making rashford the tea lady at old Trafford. Well done stiffeling martial and shoe horsing him into an le slot ala LVG , stunting the growth of rashford and believing a guy who is the football equivalent of will Ferrell in semi pro can take you to glory....
You hope not... I've said (much to astro's annoyance) that Utd need to buy cb, cm, lw to be really good. You do not need zlatan and his ego. You have martial and rashford and that's more than enough up front
