Have Liverpool Really Improved Since The Hodgson Era?

It’s been a tough week to be a Liverpool fan, having to mull over yet another defeat that could and should have been a win. At some point we have to start asking questions, such as why when we’ve created nigh on 70 chances in the past two games (including 120 minutes of the cup final), do we have only 2 goals to show for it? Granted, we ‘scored’ against Arsenal last weekend but let’s be honest, to say we’d scored it would be clutching at straws. It just isn’t acceptable any more but that doesn’t mean I want Dalglish sacked this instant, nor does it mean that I’m happy with his management to this point, either.

You see, there are arguments on both sides but on both sides there needs to be a degree of perspective also. I will be the first to admit that, in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s defeat to Arsenal I was so angry that I couldn’t think straight but over the years I’ve come to the conclusion that there are more important things in my life than football, so I spent the evening having a few beers, watching a film and drowning out the disappointment with other, more positive things; this is how I get my own perspective on the state my team are in.

On the one hand, I can understand the argument that we need to give Kenny time. This is true, to a degree but how much time is enough? How much time is too much? Kenny has completely changed the way the team plays and, usually, we come out of the blocks at full-pelt more often than not starting games quickly and attacking impressively. Our football in general has improved since Dalglish took over and we’ve played some great stuff at times this season, as well as performing well in both cups, winning the Carling Cup and picking up our first silverware in almost 6 years.

However, last weekend sadly epitomised what has gone wrong this season: great performance, numerous opportunities but an almost uniform inability to finish any chances we get. Some Liverpool fans (those who worship all things Kenny, namely) will argue that the performances are a sign of progress and that we’ve moved on and that the style of football we now play is a sign that we’re moving forward. I would tend to disagree, we haven’t suddenly become Arsenal overnight; we don’t value a style of footballing over winning matches, all of a sudden do we? I’d happily take goals over performances and winning matches over entertaining the crowd any day of the week. This is why I’ve always had a begrudging respect for Jose Mourinho’s style of coaching; I loathe his character and personality but his methods win games – style comes second.

Roy Hodgson was swiftly sacked just over 13 months ago for a below average league performance and for making ill-informed signings, not to mention being incredibly weak-willed and cow-towing to a certain Scot that works just up the motorway and effectively killing team-spirit and the faith of the fans in the team. However, a lot of fans appear to have short memories in this respect because, while Kenny has certainly instilled a sense of purpose and camaraderie that can only be admired back in to our squad, there are some startling similarities between Hodgson and Kenny when you consider the below average league performance and the ill-informed signings. You can’t judge one manager on these things over 5 months and then argue that another hasn’t had enough time when he’s had the job twice as long and spent over 5 times as much and the results are pretty much a mirror-image. That, my friends, is called massive hypocrisy.
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I will be honest: League Cup aside, I’m not happy at present. Yes, we’ve won our first silverware in years but even then we laboured for over 2 hours, creating near 40 chances and scoring twice, then managing to nearly squander it all in a shoot-out. In years to come, we will forget the final was a close-run thing but it was and no matter how much you argue about it, we were lucky. Like I said above though, winning is what’s important and no matter how you do it, that’s all that matters.

Which is why Kenny should be given until the summer to prove his worth. We have a Cup, with the potential for another and the players seem to be enjoying themselves the majority of the time. But anybody blinkered enough to argue that we’ve seen significant improvements since the change in management and the near £120 million outlay in the past 13 months needs to take a bit of their own advice and look at the bigger picture and that is quite simple: we haven’t. The improved on-field performances and the first trophy in years show only that we’ve had a slight upturn since this time last year. Between now and the end of May, Kenny and his staff have to look at where our issues lie in terms of tactics and in terms of personnel and there needs to be definite signs that our inability to finish teams off is becoming a thing of the past during the remaining months of the season because the personnel are certainly there, we had no problems at the end of last season (I won’t mention Maxi’s unfathomable benching for the umpteenth time).

And on the outside, all Reds (no matter which side of the battle-lines you fall on) need to keep a bit of perspective during good results and bad and remember the favourite mantra of all Liverpool fans: no one man is bigger than the club and that includes King Kenny. I only hope we’re judging him on the back of a massive upturn in form and praising some late season performances from last summer’s signings.

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