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Editorial October 2010
Soccerphile Editorial - October 2010
Liverpool decay needs time and patience
The irony of Roy Hodgson's insistence that yesterday's Merseyside derby defeat was Liverpool's best performance during his brief tenure would not have been lost on the club's beleaguered supporters at the close of the club's most tumultuous of weeks.
Whether NESV, the club's new owners after last week's bitter boardroom wrangle, could see quite as much promise in the 2-0 loss at Goodison remains to be determined.
Hodgson, eight Premier League games into his biggest club job for almost two decades, certainly received the kind of public assurances he sought before Sunday's third loss when co-owner Tom Werner said he could "see no reason" why the Englishman couldn’t be Liverpool's manager "this year and in the future".
But after being kept off the bottom of the Premier League simply because of West Ham's equally sluggish start to the season under new management, Hodgson's perception of the task at hand is increasingly raising eyebrows.
He has taken to defending his 30-year management record against growing media disenchantment on Merseyside and says he is insulted by questions of his pedigree – even though his detractors are not shy of pointing out that this is in essence Hodgson's first job at a big club since his spell in charge of Inter Milan in the early 1990s.
Hodgson has also brushed aside the suggestion that he was merely a short-term appointment while new owners were being sought and flamed speculation about his future by disagreeing with chairman Martin Broughton about whether the three-year contract he signed in the summer contains an opt-out clause that the new owners could activate.
Not only have Liverpool endured their worst start to a season since 1953, when they were relegated, but Hodgson's decision-making off the pitch is constantly being called into question – and that is not a recipe for success in this footballing heartland.
Prickling press conferences are turning the media tide against him already, while his transfer business throughout the summer has given little cause for optimism based on the opening two months of the new campaign.
The one-paced midfield player Christian Poulsen's performances have failed to convince and neither Joe Cole nor Raul Meireles have delivered their best so far.
Meanwhile, Paul Konchesky is at least better than Liverpool's more recent left-backs but back-up goalkeeper Brad Jones, at £2.5 million, represents a significant overpayment for a 'keeper who struggled to convince Middlesbrough fans he should be the Championship club's undisputed No.1.
Hodgson would languish on shaky ground if the club's two most sellable assets – Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres – were moved on in the January transfer window, and must feel he needs to spend the new owners' promise of a £25 million winter war chest wisely.
Liverpool's loss to Everton yesterday highlighted few differences in terms of quality between the two sides – perhaps for the first time in a decade.
David Moyes' declaration that Everton now have the players to match Liverpool shows the latter's fall from grace as much as the former's gradual progress under the Scot.
The trouble for both sides – although surely more pertinently for Hodgson – however is that both are hoping rather than expecting a top half finish this year.
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