Reuters Soccer Blog

Patience not always a virtue in Hodgson’s case

The Liverpool owners’ decision to use this weekend’s break for the FA Cup as a chance to sit back and ponder the club’s future under Roy Hodgson is a rare patient act in the hasty world of soccer but it might not end up doing the manager any favours.

The Anfield club, just four points clear of the Premier League relegation zone, face rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford in the third round of the Cup on Sunday after another week of speculation and supporter unrest surrounding Hodgson’s future.

Even with the ‘magic’ of the FA Cup, a win against league leaders United seems unlikely on current form, and a defeat to their bitter rivals who could field a slightly weakened side, would only rub salt into already very sore wounds on Merseyside.

A defeat to United does not go down well even when Liverpool are fighting for the title or Champions League places, but when they are faltering in mid-table, a loss would add further ammunition to the club’s unhappy fans.

Hodgson’s decision to dodge Friday’s media briefing was met scornfully by some, but it could prove a decent move as the manager does his best to keep any further criticism of him and his players at bay before Sunday’s showdown.

Having appeared to patiently wait for the FA Cup to pass before making any managerial decision, a Liverpool win could be Hodgson’s only hope for salvation.

Liverpool have new owners – what they need now is Torres back to his best

Buying Liverpool may prove the easy part for new owners who will be expected to spend freely to rescue the five times European champions from their worst start to a season in more than 50 years.

What John W Henry really needs is for Fernando Torres to recapture the form that made him the most feared striker in the Premier League.

While he, Roy Hodgson and the Liverpool fans wait for developments on the pitch, here are some of the other known unknowns around the club:

 Q – Is manager Roy Hodgson’s job safe?

A – The vastly experienced Englishman was recruited as a safe pair of hands in the wake of Rafael Benitez’s departure but so far there is no sign of a new dawn at Anfield. Hodgson cannot take the blame for that though.

Most new managers at a major club would demand a war chest to start re-building but Hodgson was restricted by the off-field problems during the pre-season transfer window.

Henry, given the credit for rebuilding the Red Sox, will know that an instant turnaround is unlikely and will be under pressure to provide transfer funds. Chairman Martin Broughton was responsible for bringing Hodgson to Anfield and he has the board’s backing but Henry will want to see a big improvement in the next two months.

A neighbour remembers modest Bill Shankly

It is 50 years this week since Bill Shankly first arrived at Anfield, when Liverpool were languishing in the second division, writes Martin Roberts.

The Scotsman soon turned them into a team feared across Europe, and set up a managerial system with enough momentum to carry on after his shock 1974 resignation and make the club the most successful in English footballing history.

For those of us who used to bump into Shankly as his neighbours, however, the anniversary is about far more than hero-worship or nostalgia brought on by cringing defeats prompted by beach balls.

Nor is it simply a yearning for a time when Shankly’s Red Army used to pound the opposition and amass silverware, season in, season out.

Shankly evokes a not-too-distant but very different time when a manager at the top of the game would be content to live in a modest semi, drive a Ford Capri and feel guilty if the team’s followers saw a draw in return for paying two pounds at the turnstiles.

He lived among his supporters and was a good neighbour, true to his upbringing in a closely-knit coal-mining village.

Thinking the unthinkable: should Liverpool sell Torres?

It is a little glib to suggest that Liverpool have a one-man strike force in Fernando Torres.

It seems almost beyond dispute, though, that whenever the Spaniard is unavailable Liverpool look ill equipped to challenge for the title, a situation hardly helped by the sales of Xabi Alonso, Robbie Keane and Alvaro Arbeloa in the past year.

I realise this could come across as heresy to Liverpool fans, but might the answer be to sell Torres too?

Torres is, without question, an exceptional player but he is not irreplaceable. Liverpool have won nothing with the Spaniard in attack because they simply do not have the same in-depth quality that Chelsea and Manchester United can boast.

If Cristiano Ronaldo was worth 80 million when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid, Torres should command a similar figure.

With that money Liverpool could buy three, maybe four, top drawer players who would give their squad more balance. Valencia striker David Villa would cost around 30 million and would be a handy replacement for Torres, as would Atletico Madrid’s Argentine frontman Sergio Aguero. Either, or both of them, would leave manager Rafael Benitez enough left over to strengthen in other areas.

Villa’s team mate David Silva would add some creativity in Liverpool’s midfield as would Tottenham Hotspur’s midfield spark Luca Modric or his team mate Aaron Lennon, if they could be prised away.

Where’s the new Gary McAllister when Liverpool need him?

Liverpool’s run of four straight defeats has generated a lot of discussion about what has gone wrong, but precious little about how to put it right, aside from the suggestion that it might be nice to see Kenny Dalglish back in the dugout.

So let’s leave aside for a moment Rafa’s handling of big players and whether he should have kept hold of Sami Hyypia and Xabi Alonso, and consider what the club’s next moves should be.

As many have noted, without Fernando Torres they look impossibly ordinary in attack, and when Andriy Voronin was brought on with a few minutes to go against Lyon it seemed to many fans an indictment of the Spanish coach’s transfer dealings.

Certainly Liverpool could do with another top class forward but with money short the chances of them landing David Villa or someone similar in the transfer window are remote. And in any case, I’m not sure pitching in a player like Villa at the halfway stage of the season would provide the answer.

What Liverpool really need is a player with a touch of gravitas, the sort of performer who can command respect from team mates and opponents alike, can put his foot on the ball, weigh up the options and give players around him a lift.

Arguably the best signing Gerard Houllier made, apart from Hyppia, was Gary McAllister. The Scot was 35 when he moved to Anfield yet he still had a profound effect on the team, playing an instrumental role in the run to the Cup treble of 2000-01 and, more importantly, the club’s first qualification for the Champions League.

How Benitez could do with a player cut from the same cloth. But where should he turn?

So fans need instructions on scarf-waving now?

Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium gleamed in the sunshine on Saturday as the north London side produced an exhilarating display to beat Portsmouth 4-1 in the Premier League.

The impressive structure, wedged into a densely populated part of the capital, is one of England’s finest club grounds but many of the 60,000 fans sat on their comfy plastic seats would have pined for the old Highbury ground just across the road.

Highbury, like Goodison Park, White Hart Lane, Anfield and the old Maine Road, was born in an era when football was the traditional “working class” escape from a hard week’s labour.

Just being at the ground, watching your favourite players, was enough reason to raise the voice and wave the scarf. Things were spontaneous, sons followed fathers as the terrace folklore was passed down from one generation to the next.

Old-school football fans are watching the Saturday afternoon traditions die.

So it is that the image gurus at Arsenal are busy devising ways to re-create what the march of money, live TV, expensive tickets and millionaire players has eroded.

Johnson can provide home comfort Liverpool need

Last season, Liverpool dropped too many points against teams from the bottom half of the table and finally it cost them that long awaited title.

It may well be, then, that the signing of the impressive, energetic Glen Johnson at full-back turns out to be a more significant bit of transfer business than the much criticised decision to sell Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.

With the arrival of Johnson, Liverpool have found an extra man who can torment well-packed defences and the evidence was there in the 4-0 win over Stoke City last week.

What a difference from the two goalless draws Liverpool had against The Potters last season, as Johnson scored one and provided another.

The England man needed no time to establish a good working partnership with the tireless Dirk Kuyt and make the fans see just why Benitez spent so much money to buy a right-back.

It might sound strange to say you can replace a midfield maestro with a defender but that is what Liverpool have done.

As they showed last season, getting the better of your direct rivals is not good enough to win the league — you have to beat just about every other team as well, and a player with Johnson’s aggression and ability to make things happen is going to make a big difference, I expect.

A European night at Anfield is a trip back in time

I had heard a great deal about the fabled Anfield atmosphere on European nights but nothing quite prepared me for my first visit.

Quite a night I chose as well. The 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid in what was the first meeting on Merseyside between the two European powerhouses will sit high on anybody’s list of magnificent Anfield occasions.

The atmosphere on the day of the match was great, as hundreds of Real fans took in The Cavern district and Liverpool’s impressive waterfront but it was the walk to the stadium that brought home quite what the European Cup means to Liverpool fans.

Huge banners were paraded through the terraced streets that surround the looming stadium. Boarded up shopfronts displayed murals of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, two of the club’s greatest managers, although I didn’t see one of Rafael Benitez (well, he is yet to bring the league title back to Liverpool).

As a self-confessed traditionalist when it comes to football stadiums I loved Anfield.

Vlog on the Pitch: table football special

Owen Wyatt has invested in new 3-D technology to provide a fresh look at Real Madrid chances of knocking Liverpool out of the Champions League.

Click on the video above to hear our views on the key battles at Anfield, and a look at what the Spanish papers and Real Madrid players are saying ahead of the match.

The view in Spain seems to be that the form and fitness of Torres will be the decisive factor in this match but we’re not so sure. Liverpool are in charge after the 1-0 win at the Bernabeu but an early goal for Real would change everything. Watch out for that man Raul.

Vlog on the pitch – Why is Benitez looking closer to home?

Robbie Keane’s arrival at Liverpool and the long pursuit of Gareth Barry suggest Rafa Benitez is looking more at British Isles players than in the past.

Vlogonthepitch host Owen Wyatt went to his local pub to canvass the opinions of two Liverpool fans.

If Barry does eventually sign, will the new approach from Benitez help Liverpool compete more in the Premier League or might it cause them to suffer in Europe?

Let us know your views.