Is the under fire Anfield manager about to lose his mind as well as his job?
Bet on Liverpool with Sportingbet.com and get a free bet worth up to £50
Liverpool Tickets Available from Tixdaq.com
Roy Hodgson is trying very hard to re-write history so that it fits his rather skewed sense of logic. Let’s take a closer look at some of the quotes that have come from the Anfield boss after our last minute win over Bolton yesterday.
“The owners wished me good luck and sympathised with the frustration I must have been feeling”
OK so that implies that somehow the frustration he is feeling is a) not of his own making and b) that the frustration is not justified. As though any barracking he has rightly received from Liverpool fans is in some way not warranted?
“Speculation is rife all over, I don’t think anybody is immune these days.”
Yes Roy, you’re right. No one is immune these days, especially those who preside over one of the worst starts to a season Liverpool have ever had to endure. When you lose more games than you win then guess what, speculation will be rife that your neck is on the block.
Asked whether he felt he had the support of owners John Henry and Tom Werner, Hodgson added: “I guess so. It is not about me, I am very pleased and honoured to have this job.”
Well again Roy, it is about you. You see it’s fairly simple. If you do a good job then you are unlikely to be sacked, strange that. You may well be pleased and honoured to have the job, and clearly you should be, but repeating this fact will not win you brownie points.
“It is about Liverpool Football Club and performances so I don’t take the speculation seriously. I shall probably have to learn to accept I shall get a lot of brickbats.”
Well yes again, you appear to be digging your own grave Roy. If it is indeed all about “Liverpool Football Club and performances” then clearly you will get every ounce of irritation and anger from the supporters that you deserve. Kudos for using the expression brickbats, haven’t heard that for a few years now.
“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.”
Yes, your right Roy. Had Liverpool beaten Wolves, who had the worst away record in the entire football league at the time, then yes we would have all been doing cartwheels in the street and be dreaming of the treble. Get real. Had we won against Mick McCarthy’s side, something we never deserved to do, then we would have been mildly better off than we are now. Hodgson is clearly attempting to pander to extreme’s it’s a classic defensive mechanism. I.e. If 95% of the suppporters want me sacked then I have to make out that somehow we are actually not doing that badly at all, an attempt to confuse people with little or no logic.
“I know when players are behind the club and their manager and when they are not and [if there is] anyone who seriously suggests, after watching us for six months, that there is a problem on this front, that is being dishonest.”
The question Roy is not so much whether the players are behind you as the manager of Liverpool Football Club, the question is why then are the players putting in such half hearted, below par performances week in, week out? If this isn’t as a result of them not being behind the manager then it is a case of you as a manager not getting enough out of the players at your disposal, either way it’s not really something that you can twist to your advantage.
I am happy we pulled off a last gasp win against Bolton and I was jumping up and down with sheer unadulterated joy as everyone else around me at Anfield but Roy Hodgson should really have taken the chance to show some humility following what was a very lucky escape for the club and indeed his position as manager of the club.
In much the same way as he mistakenly levelled an attack on us, the supporters, after the Wolves debacle he has decided to go on the offensive after scraping a rare win. His mannerisms and behaviour are in some ways similar to the final months of Rafa Benitez. Unwilling to accept what is happening and equally unwilling to accept that he is in the main the reason for what is going on.
I personally do not know if sacking Roy Hodgson at this moment in time would be a good idea but I do think that the veteran manager needs to take a long hard look in the mirror before he decides to vent his frustration on everyone but himself.
Fancy a flutter? Join Sportingbet and get a free bet worth up to £50! There are countless markets to bet on including which team will win, the first goalscorer, the correct score or even the time of the last goal. You can also try your hand at an accumulator and try to win big from a small stake. So visit Sportingbet.com and register now to put your money where your mouth is.