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It’s time for Hodgson to go by lfctalk

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Yep, I am already advocating that Roy Hodgson be sacked as Liverpool manager.

I was never confident by his appointment and am witnessing an even worse outcome from his appointment than I expected. I believed that we would struggle under his management, but I did not think we’d be nineteenth after eight games with just one scraped win.

That statistic says it all – one win in eight games for a team containing the likes of Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and Pepe Reina. We should be doing better than that but the players just don’t look motivated – they look shockingly low on confidence. That is where Hodgson comes in. He should be building them up and getting them psychologically primed for matches – not that they should need much building up for a Merseyside derby.

The signings Hodgson made in the Summer have had practically zero impact on the side. Joe Cole looked a marquee signing, but he has been obsolete so far this season. Paul Konchesky is as out of his depth as his manager and Christian Poulsen looks every bit as inconsequential in midfield as Lucas. Raul Meireles has looked bright, at times, but at £11m you would expect at least that much.

Hodgson failed spectacularly by not signing another striker in the Summer. David N’Gog is simply not good enough to be regularly appearing for Liverpool. He’s barely up to being fourth choice for a club of this stature, and yet he is the only backup to an out of form and injury prone Torres. The shocking lack of quality is only further highlighted by N’Gog’s presence in the squad. Torres knows his place is under absolutely no threat, so he doesn’t have to play for his spot in the team, but he shouldn’t have one on this form. But who would put in N’Gog ahead of one of the best strikers in the world?

The defence looks atrocious this season. Jamie Carragher is on the downward spiral and is not being well supported by Martin Skrtel or Soitiros Kyrgiakos. Daniel Agger is a class act, but he has either been injured or overlooked for much of this season, strangely. The Dane is considerably more able a player than the aforementioned two, but Hodgson seems not to favour him. Glen Johnson has been woeful this season, but is another with no competition for his place. His counterpart on the left looks a signing made out of familiarity and a low budget by Hodgson, with Konchesky miles off the required standard.

While Hodgson hasn’t had much money to spend, having to sell to buy, he hasn’t looked like a manager with any burning passion or understanding of what this job entails. He is the physical embodiment of our current form – he looks beaten, worried and out of ideas on the touchline. He is not a character that inspires any kind of inspiration or confidence in me as a supporter and I am not surprised that he cannot get his players organised and motivated either.

Another worrying aspect of his arrival at the club is how much it cost us to sack Rafa Benitez and pay off Fulham – a staggering £11m in total. Just how is trading a Champions League winning manager for a journeyman veteran worthwhile – especially at that price? Could this club afford to make that move? No. But the clash of characters are disastrous slide to seventh last season meant that Benitez was a cert to go. But why go out and spend a further £3m on a risk like Hodgson when Kenny Dalglish was available for nothing?

The Scot understands that club and is a figure that would surely inspire even the lowest player in our squad. He is the greatest player, officially, to ever wear the Red shirt and should have been treated with more respect by the board when tendering his interest in the role that he left in 1991. He has unfinished business here and should be installed as boss at the first opportunity by the new owners.

Should NESV be willing to provide transfer funds of any considerable value in January, then Hodgson is not the man that should be handed that kitty. He looks woefully out of his depth at this level and clearly does not have the reputation or pull to bring in quality players to a club that has so clearly fallen from grace.

John Henry and his group will hopefully realise today that they have much work, and spending, to do to take this club back to anywhere near the level we were a few years ago – and the first bit of business should be to replace Roy Hodgson at the first opportunity.

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