Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has asked for patience from Reds fans as he looks to build his own team at Anfield. Asked about when people will see the best from his side, Hodgson replied:
“I don’t know. I’m not unhappy with what the players have done. They are working very hard and trying hard to do the right things. We’ll get better but I’m not prepared to set a timescale. We need to be more creative, we need to better defensively, we need to be better at set plays. We need to be better at all the things we work at. We do as much as we can in training. But it is still a newish team and it will take some time before we can sit back and say we are firing on all cylinders. I am only confirming that of course it is a time of transition, which is always a difficult period. Every transition is difficult, even if there are no changes in the club itself. I came from a team where I had been for two-and-a-half years with the same team, same players and same ideas and same philosophy. Now I am at a team where I am trying to put a team together and put together a philosophy. Everything is new all the time and every training session and match is a learning curve and I will learn from those things. I have a very good, receptive group of players with talent. All of these games are important steps towards becoming a better team.”
Asked about the lack of goals and cutting edge in the opening matches of the season, Hodgson said:
“The style of play will get better. Birmingham was not one of our better games. But the style of play wasn’t a problem against Arsenal and that was the same style we played against Birmingham. I don’t take notice of that kind of criticism. Every time we play and win, people will say fantastic, great style, and it we play and draw or lose, people will say bad style. It’s as simple as that. There is no change in our style from the start of the season when people enjoyed watching us in the opening Europa League games and against Arsenal. Nothing has changed other than the fact we have lost one or two players through injury.”
