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It seems embattled manager Roy Hodgson will be making a quick exit from Anfield as a truly atrocious Liverpool were beaten 1-0 by minnows Wolves. The display put on by the men in Liverpool shirts was at tits best incoherent as aimless passes sailed up hopelessly in to a static forward line, and players seemed to stumble over each when playing the ball into goal on the rare attack. While not reduced to trading puns, the BBC live text said it best; “How about stop boring me with moaning Liverpool fans and perhaps mention how well Wolves played? They didn’t even have to play that well. Frightening, isn’t it?.” Overall, I blame Hodgson’s lack of leadership and lacking of winning mentality for the disastrous performance. In all of my years watching Liverpool, I have never seen them play so badly, but what so troubling, it that this is becoming a pattern.
Hodgson’s attitude to managing the team is the same attitude he took at Fulham, the problem is, its not enough for Liverpool to consistently stay up around the middle of the table. For all his strengths, where Hodgson really excel is moving club who have just been promoted up to a level where they can expect to hold on in the middle of the table like the Newcastles and Evertons of the world. But he seems incapable of moving a side into the top flight, and that hasn’t changed at Liverpool. His tactics are wrong on the pitch, but the signings he’s made really show his lack of ambition,
It’s a simple fact that Hodgson does not plan to bring a single top player in during the transfer window despite having the funds available to him to do so. He has instead adopted to try and keep the players he has, some of whom are sure to leave in the summer, Torres and Reina being among them, and sign men who belong at Fulham or Wigan. He may think is playing for the long term, and building a base of reliable players who will allow the club to move forward in the future, but the fact of the matter he is like the captain of a rudderless ship starring off into the horizon that will never come. His are surely numbered at Anfield, and with Kenny Daglish waiting in the wings, one can have some hope for the future.
Written by: Matthew Wall, editor, soccerprose.com
