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Posts Tagged ‘faith’

• Despite supporter dissatisfaction Hodgson will persevere
• ‘I want to be here, to change things, to turn it around’

Roy Hodgson insists he will never quit as Liverpool manager as he remains convinced he is the man to lead the club back to former glories. The Anfield crowd turned on the 63-year-old after Wednesday’s defeat to Wolves but despite speculation increasing about his future he stressed he would never walk away.

Hodgson apologised for causing offence to supporters after saying that he had not seen the “famous Anfield support” in his time at Liverpool. His side sits three points above the relegation zone after their worst start to a season since 1953-54 and faces sixth-placed Bolton Wanderers at home on New Year’s Day with the pressure building.

“It has taken me a long while to get to this elevated position coaching one of the best clubs in Europe,” said the former Fulham manager. “I was very pleased to get the job – I left a very good job to take it – so the last thing in my mind is walking away from a club like this or walking away from football.

“I want to be here, I want to change things, I want to turn it around and I want to help the club and the new owners get the success they want. There is no security as a Premier League manager and when you take any job you don’t take it for security, you take it because you believe you can do it and do it well.

“No one gives you security because having the job I have there are an awful lot of people who would like to be standing where I am today. There are a lot of people who believe they can do the job better so that would automatically diminish your security. But you believe you can justify the faith of other people who have appointed you.”

Despite recent performances having taken a turn for the worse it seems the owners, New England Sports Ventures, are reluctant to effect a change of manager at the current time.

“I can only beg for the patience and the time we need to do it, especially considering the difficult start we’ve had,” he said. “I am confident given that time and the competencies I possess and the quality of players we have in the club – with the possibility of maybe adding to that in future transfer windows – this club will once again be up the top there.

“In the past there was a little bit more time and patience but that has diminished over the years. If you go back over a longer period there was more patience as people realised it took time to build a team and turn things around.

“Now we – those of us who are working and those who are supporting – want the change to come very quickly. I know with the right amount of time and patience and with a little bit of luck we will get back to where we should be. We are not there at the moment and we have to keep working towards it.”

Hodgson admits the criticism he has received is painful but pointed out he has been in many difficult situations before and believes he will turn things around.

“Of course it hurts, The day when it becomes water of a duck’s back is the day you don’t do the job,” he said. “The job is about sadness and occasionally it is about a bit of gladness and euphoria. This year there has been plenty of sadness – there’s been a few glad moments – but I’m confident that will change.

“Strangely enough, two or three weeks ago everything was looking very bright and people were being very positive. Suddenly after a defeat at Newcastle and a very bad defeat at home to Wolves things have swung round enormously.

“Let’s not make everything ridiculously doomy and gloomy because we lost a game. We are not in a crisis situation but on Wednesday we let ourselves down very badly and we have to bounce back and give a totally different performance against Bolton.”

The midfielder Joe Cole is the only injury concern for tomorrow’s visit of Bolton after the England international aggravated an ankle problem in training.

Roy HodgsonLiverpoolguardian.co.uk

The portents were not exactly encouraging for Roy Hodgson and Liverpool in Trabzon. Absences, enforced or otherwise, had complicated their interest in a competition the manager conceded fell a distant second to the Premier League and, as the thunderstorms rolled off the Kacker Mountains and Trabzonspor led, the watershed Hodgson had denied witnessing against Manchester City threatened to follow. His relief on the final whistle, however, showed this did matter.

With a clenched fist salute, a yelp that pierced the night air and a bear-hug for his assistant Sammy Lee, Hodgson demonstrated that, regardless what his team selection and pre-match comments may have suggested, embarking on a prolonged European campaign as a Liverpool manager was a prerequisite to any honeymoon period. “You’re Alone Here” taunted the fanatical home fans on one banner, but Liverpool will be in the hat with 47 other clubs in the Europa League group draw.

“Liverpool are a team with remarkable European pedigree so it would have been very sad to go out in the qualifying stages,” said Hodgson. “I think this is a very, very good victory. We were looking down the barrel here coming down to Trabzon, you saw their incredible support, you saw how fanatical their fans are. To get a result here was something important that will stand us in good stead for plenty of other matches throughout the coming season.”

Liverpool matured with the game but then they could hardly have started worse. Only poor finishing by Trabzonspor and another vital contribution from Jose Reina kept Hodgson’s team in the tie before the opening 25 minutes had elapsed.

The Liverpool manager was hamstrung to some extent in his selection but, having declined to risk Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger and Maxi Rodríguez due to various yet slight ailments (all are expected to be fit for Sunday’s league game with West Bromwich Albion) he took a major gamble in sparing Fernando Torres and Milan Jovanovic the journey. A Kop zealot would hesitate to show as much faith in the remainder of this Liverpool squad than Hodgson did in both encounters with the Turkish Cup winners. In fairness, his early days as manager are complicated by having to assess all options during an unrelenting, demanding sequence of matches. Most importantly, his decisions and his faith were vindicated.

It was the absence of Javier Mascherano that had the most detrimental effect on Liverpool’s fragile start. The displays at Manchester City on Monday and in Trabzon, where the hosts frequently by-passed a ponderous, rigid and soft midfield centre of Lucas Leiva and Christian Poulsen, have demonstrated the importance of the Argentinian. An anticipated move to Barcelona would leave a sizable void in this team but his replacements did eventually wrestle the tie in Liverpool’s favour.

Trabzonspor levelled the tie on aggregate with just four minutes on the clock. Dirk Kuyt, who will not be joining Rafael Benítez at Internazionale, was dispossessed deep inside his own half by Gustavo Coleman. The Argentinian’s shot-cross dissected the centre of the Liverpool defence and the unmarked Teofilo Gutiérrez prodded past Reina. Alarmingly simple, and the tone of the night did not alter until Trabzonspor’s energy and adventure drained late in the first half and anxiety plus Liverpool took over.

A characteristic block from an airborne Jamie Carragher prevented Ibrahima Yattara finding the target after the visitors were caught on the break from their own corner. Reina, targeted by lasers from the crowd, tipped a low drive from Colman wide seconds later and Yattara, the captain, squandered a glorious chance when he headed Burak Yilmaz’s free-kick wide when unmarked in front of goal. Liverpool did not respond with an accurate shot of their own until the 43rd minute, when Lucas drove straight at Onur Kivrak, but they had at least stemmed the tide.

Poulsen and Lucas began to impose themselves, Glen Johnson started to find space down the right, Joe Cole, on the receiving end of several fouls, improved the supply to the previously isolated David Ngog and Trabzonspor players and crowd alike were suddenly afflicted by doubt. They were silenced completely when Liverpool capped a vastly improved second-half display with two goals in the final seven minutes.

Ngog had gone close twice before helping to secure Liverpool’s passage into tomorrow’s group draw when, after Johnson had easily beaten the left back Hrvoje Cale and crossed low, he pressured Remzi Kacar into slicing the ball in off his own near post. With two minutes remaining the impressive substitute, Dani Pacheco, forced Kivrak into a desperate low save and Kuyt’s predatory instincts took over. The Dutch international converted into an empty net from close range. His Liverpool career, and his club’s involvement in Europe this season, is far from over.

Europa LeagueLiverpoolAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk