Don’t make Hodgson the bad guy for Ferguson’s reality by-pass

So the first five league games of the season are done and dusted, and sadly they have proved to be as difficult for Liverpool as was initially feared when the Premier League fixtures were published back in mid-June.

As has been written elsewhere on this site, it has not all been doom and gloom and although it is always galling to lose to our nemesis from the other end of the A580, I felt that the performance held some cause for optimism. That it was an improvement on the display at St Andrews a week earlier was beyond argument.

It was also a relief to see that the experiment of playing Lucas and Poulsen in tandem has been abandoned, allowing our talismanic captain to play deeper, where I believe he can be used to greater effect.

Usually in a game against Man United at Old Trafford the result is the be-all-and-end-all, but somehow with the ongoing ownership issues still grabbing the headlines this game did not seem to be the most important matter to be resolved at present. Last week’s revelations that our beloved Mr Hicks had met the board with proposals of fresh refinancing, and that he was confident of gaining fresh funding gave this particular writer feelings of foreboding that could not be overshadowed by a mere Berbatov hat-trick.

As is the perogative of the current football fan however, it is no surprise that phone-ins and web forums are awash with criticism of everything from the players’ attitude, the managers signings, the tactics, the quality of the players etc. I did find it particularly sad to see the brickbats directed at Mr Hodgson purely because he refused to get into a slanging match with Alex Ferguson.

Sir Alex, who is (not so) affectionately known as ‘Whiskey Nose’ by Liverpool supporters made comments after the game that flew in the face of hard evidence, and if anything only went some way in justifying the nickname. It may be nice for United fans and certain elements of the press to convince themselves that footballs knight of the realm (don’t even start me on that one!) is somehow playing clever mind games or being provocative, but I prefer to believe that the man actually believes the utter drivel that he delivers to the press.

Take yesterday’s offerings for example. First he claimed that his side should have won by “a cricket score”, and that it was “a farce and a travesty” that Liverpool had brought the match back to parity. He went on to explain the loss of two goals to bad decisions by his old mate Howard Webb and particularly his linesman. “They had to depend on decisions from the linesman to get back into the game”

His coup-de-grace was reserved for Fernando Torres who has been United’s tormentor-in-chief in recent years. Bizarrely he accused Torres of “making a meal of it (the O’Shea challenge).He tried to get the player sent off” He conveniently chose not to mention the antics of the otherwise impressive Nani cavoting on the Old Trafford turf at every opportunity. To most observers, the most partisan Manchester United fans aside, will see these comments as being a complete misrepresentation of the events of the day, but shamefully some newspapers decided that it would be a good idea to run the back pages with banner headlines stating “Torres is a Cheat”.

A casual reader who had not seen the match would see the headline and, well, mud sticks as the old saying goes. I wonder when the press are actually going to have the balls to jot down Fergie’s missives, then go away and come up with the headlines they deserve. “Fergie’s lost the plot” may be more representative of the truth.

Anyway back to my point. Some fans seem to be greatly put out that Roy Hodgson chose to react to these comments by saying they were “a bit harsh”, and telling the scribes that they would have to “get their headlines elsewhere”. There is a section of Liverpool’s support who have been out for the new manager’s head since he was appointed, some even making snide comments about his age.

Now I was as angry as anybody when Rafa was dismissed, especially with the manner in which it was carried out, and prior to the appointment Roy Hodgson would not have been my first choice. Once the appointment was announced I nailed my colours to the mast and will support him in the extremely difficult job he has taken on. To those who are using this week’s after match comments as a stick to beat him with I should refer them to a couple of example from our heritage. Messrs Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan were true gentlemen of the game and are symbols of the Liverpool Way. I think the reaction by Roy Hodgson this week were reminiscent of the sort of comments that his illustrious predecessors would have made, and to my mind that can only be to his credit.

If the dignified responses of our current manager has leanings toward the Paisley and Fagan (who were also no spring chickens – would they be ridiculed for their age if they were around today?) style of doing things, I for one welcome it. Let Fergie continue making a fool of himself if he wants to. We at Liverpool expect better of our managers.

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