Cole, Gerrard & Torres Buy Hodgson A Little Bit Of Time

• zocoss

  1 Jan 11, 09:26

  Roy: I feel so lonely at Kop

   

  

  ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT? ... Kop boss Roy is the current Manager of the Year. 'You'll Never Walk Alone' ?

   

   

   

   

  IT is the anthem which defines the whole of Liverpool and its history. And one which could not be further from the truth for Roy Hodgson right now.

  For when the Kop is belting out its pre-match rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone', the under-fire Anfield chief will beg to differ.

  Even Hodgson himself must need reminding at times that he is actually the current Manager of the Year, given how his six months on Merseyside have gone.

  Stuttering league form at best, a Carling Cup KO to tiny Northampton and - most damning of all - fears that the team simply are not playing for the boss any more.

  Even some first-team regulars feel the time for change has now arrived, a conclusion Liverpool's American owners have already reached.

  Hence their hunt for a replacement after deciding Hodgson is certainly not the man to realise their dreams of returning this famous club to its former glories.

  For Hodgson, Wednesday's 1-0 Anfield defeat to struggling Wolves - and his subsequent pop at the fans who had booed him - was as low as it gets.

  He may have 35 years' managerial experience under his belt, but for a man acclaimed as an England boss in waiting last summer, the feeling of isolation has never been stronger.

  While the players can always expect an arm around the shoulder from above in times of trouble, when quizzed as to whether this is as lonely as it can get for a manager, Hodgson admitted simply: "Yes."

  He added: "It would be nice to have people around who could help you a bit more but it doesn't really work that way. "It is a lonely job being a manager of a top club and you can't expect people to help you too much.

  "The staff are very good and supportive and so are the players, but your family is very important at these times. They try and encourage you that life isn't all doom and gloom and there might be a bright spot somewhere along the way. That is what you have to cling on to.

  "Two defeats in a row - and one of them at home against a team everyone expects you to beat - that is a bad time. It is a time when you are going to be very hurt and upset about everything.

  "Lonely is not the wrong word to use but, to be quite honest, you don't want company anyway. You want to be left alone with your thoughts, you don't have the desire to do anything but sit around with them.

  "In those moments you don't want to be social. You don't ever become weathered to it or not suffer." Message boards, websites and phone-ins have been flooded with irate Kopites who will not rest until Hodgson has left and a new man installed.

  That could still be as late as the summer if the owners feel the right man is not around until then, even though the search has already begun and Hodgson will go as soon as the ideal candidate is found.

  Marseille's Didier Deschamps, Bolton boss Owen Coyle and Borussia Dortmund's up-and-coming Jurgen Klopp are all under scrutiny, as are former Barcelona chief Frank Rijkaard and Porto's Andre Villas-Boas.

  Yet, for now, all Hodgson can do is soldier on and hope the second half of the season is a far cry from the first.

  The Reds have slumped to 12th in the league, giving him Liverpool's worst managerial record at this stage of a season since George Kay 75 years ago.

  Hodgson has won just six of his 18 league games. Kay, with five, is the only man to win fewer. It is a situation which cuts deep with 63-year-old Hodgson. He said: "I certainly cannot emphasise enough that it hurts me deeply, it hurts my professional pride.

  "It hurts all the things I believe in, to find myself in this situation, but I have to accept it. I feel very bad and very down.

  "After some poor performances I have voiced my disapproval in no uncertain terms behind closed doors to the players.

  "I also have been hurt, frustrated and disappointed by the performances. "We need wins. We need a run of them to try and show the fans the team is what they think it should be.

  "It has been an uphill struggle since I came. I've had a lot of situations to deal with and worked very hard and along the way there have been very big setbacks.

  "Those have thrown me into the firing line and I have had to deal with that as well. I accept it is part of being a big club and of taking on a job of this stature.

  "Coming to Liverpool for me was a pinnacle, to some extent a reward for the work I had put in, not just at Fulham but the years before.

  "It was a recognition for my competence and then you come here hoping you keep flying forward, but I did know it would be difficult.

  "I saw a quote from Benjamin Disraeli when he got the job as Prime Minister and said, 'I have achieved my goal and climbed to the top of a greasy pole'.

  "That's really what we do. And if we get the results between now and the end of the season, maybe people will respect us more for the hardship we've gone through."

  Sadly for Hodgson, as and when the time arrives he will already have slid down that greasy pole...

• zocoss

  2 Jan 11, 10:48

  HODGSON LOOKS ON THE POSITIVE SIDE

   

   

  

  Safe... for now: Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson

   

   

   

  Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson insists he will not be distracted by speculation about his future at Anfield and was determined to enjoy their last-gasp 2-1 win at home to Bolton.

  An injury-time winner from Joe Cole, after Fernando Torres had equalised Kevin Davies' first-half header, snatched three welcome points after two successive defeats.

  But with reports emerging on Saturday that owners New England Sports Ventures were actively seeking a replacement, the 63-year-old's position remains far from certain.

  Hodgson said he has spoken to the owners - John Henry and chairman Tom Werner - and they had wished him well for this game and that he was refusing to answer questions which he considered negative.

  "I spoke to the owners and they wished me good luck and sympathised with the frustration I must have been feeling after Wednesday night (the defeat to Wolves)," he said.

  Asked whether he felt he had the owners' support Hodgson added: "I guess so. "It is not about me. I am very pleased and honoured to have this job. "It is about Liverpool Football Club and performances so I don't take the speculation seriously of course.

  "I shall probably have to learn to accept I shall get a lot of brickbats. "I take enough negativity from you guys (the media), today I am going to be quite blunt and I am not interested in anything negative.

  "Had we won on Wednesday night you would now be asking me about the Champions League but because we didn't win on Wednesday I am asked about the negativity which, to be honest, is being created here in this room.

  "That is something I have to live with but it doesn't affect me in my job because my job is to make certain the performance of the team today was the performance you saw.

  "I am going to be satisfied the team has given the performance I want, they want and the fans want and a happy evening is ahead."

  Hodgson denied there were problems behind the scenes, adding: "I know when players are behind the club and their manager and when they are not and anyone who seriously suggests, after watching us for six months, that there is a problem on this front that is being dishonest."

  The Reds boss felt his side deserved their victory, even if there was a slight suspicion that Cole's winner was offside.

  "For 90 minutes I thought we were clearly the better team. We had to play well to give that performance and I am naive enough believer that if you give the performances then often you do win," he said.

  "I am extra satisfied we got the winning goal but even at 1-1 I wouldn't have been in any way dejected because I think today we put Wednesday's game well and truly behind us.

  "Even if you win it to a controversial goal I don't think we should be in any way apologising for it and anyone who begrudges us that victory after watching the game is a very churlish person."

   

  

  Red hot Cole: Liverpool's midfielder (centre) scores the winning goal

   

   

  Bolton manager Owen Coyle, who pointed out his side also lost to a late Maxi Rodriguez goal at the Reebok Stadium, felt Cole's winner was offside but allowed Hodgson his slice of fortune.

  "It's cruel because it happened in the home game," he said. "Maybe that is the little bit of luck Roy needed, who knows, but it certainly went their way today.

  "I've not had a chance to look back (at the replay) but I know the players are adamant Cole is offside - he is on the paint as he taps it in.

  "It has happened to us many times when we've gone to big stadiums and it happened again to us today.

  "We scored a good goal to get in front but Liverpool scored a wonderful goal through two world-class players; the pass from Gerrard was top class and the finish from Torres was exquisite."

• Y_Shun

  2 Jan 11, 19:27

  Tap in goal.