Hodgson Has Work Cut Out to Rebuild Liverpool Empire

By Leigh Sanders

Roy Hodgson has just walked in to one of the most enviable, yet difficult, jobs in English football. He has to rebuild the once-magnificent empire known as Liverpool FC in to a real force in the domestic game.

It is a club steeped in history that has won trophy after trophy on both home soil and the European stage. Many of the games’ greats have plied their trade in front of the famous Kop stand while legendary managers from the old-skool ‘Liverpool Boot Room’ such as Bill Shankley and Bob Paisley have become iconic figures and household names by leading their players to victory.

Kenny Dalglish, Robbie Fowler, Kevin Keegan, John Toshack, Ian Rush, Ian Callaghan, Michael Owen – the list of great names is endless and just as star-studded as any Hollywood gathering.

But over recent times the well has somewhat dried up. Yes they have won domestic cups on occasion and Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez led the club to a UEFA Cup and Champions League title respectively as well as the UEFA Super Cup too.

But despite all the magical days out in Cardiff, London and most notably Istanbul the one grating thorn in the side of this great club is their failure to land the sparkling Premier League since its inception in 1992 and the fact that Manchester United have now caught up and equalled their long-standing record of 18 league titles.

Chelsea may have prevented Utd. getting to 19 last year, but Liverpool will now be looking to hit that number themselves on the back of this gargantuan wave of hope brought in to the club by a man few really cared about before he took the reigns at struggling Fulham in 2007.

His patchwork career has seen him manage Halmstad (Sweden), Bristol City, Orebro (Sweden), Malmo FF (Sweden), Neuchatel Xamax (Switzerland), Switzerland, Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, Grasshopper (Switzerland), Copenhagen (Denmark), Udinese, United Arab Emirates, Viking (Norway), Finland, Fulham and now he has landed in the hotseat at Anfield. That’s some journey!

He has won four Swedish titles, 8 domestic Swedish cups, 1 Danish title and cup, while he led both Fulham and Inter Milan to the Europa League/UEFA Cup final. He took Switzerland to the 1994 World Cup (their first since 1966) where they reached the last 16 before losing to Spain and helped them qualify for Euro 1996 in England before leaving to take over at Inter before the tournament began. He also almost led Finland to the Euro 2008 Championships but narrowly missed out.

Yet, before Fulham, he was never really viewed as too successful by his compatriots. His spell as Blackburn manager was unsuccessful and this led to him missing out on the England job when both Glenn Hoddle and then Kevin Keegan left. His success with Switzerland and Finland led to his name being considered when Steve McLaren was sacked but, again, he was seen as not too successful in his home country so Fabio Capello got the nod instead.

But in 2010 it is all a bit different. Under Hodgson Fulham were challenging the top half of the Premier League and not scrapping it out at the bottom. They played attractive football, they scored magnificent goals. Beating arch rivals Chelsea became an expectation and not a wild dream. When Capello’s boys flopped in South Africa many were calling for Hodgson to replace him.

Now Liverpool fans will be hoping for the same. Hodgson has already tied down enigmatic England winger Joe Cole, convincing him to leave London for the first time and turning down Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in the process. He has convinced skipper and talisman Steven Gerrard to stick it out on Merseyside in his quest for medals. That’s two down.

Now he has to convince Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano to stay. Speculation will not stop surrounding the two who are continually being linked with moves to pastures new.

Torres is an absolute must for staying. Easily one of the world’s best strikers his goalscoring exploits have been one bright spark for the club in two miserable seasons. Mascherano, on the other hand, may not be such a loss. There is no questioning his defensive abilities but his passing is often suspect and he is increasingly becoming a liability with his hot-headed approach to big games and continual sendings off against the likes of Manchester United.

If Liverpool can get the reported £25m for him then sell, sell, sell. A suitable replacement is ready and willing in Alberto Aquilani and Lucas Leiva can also fill in the role, though his ability is far inferior to both Aquilani and Mascherano admittedly. But this is Liverpool FC. There will be a long line of willing midfield generals to fill the role and pass masters chomping at the bit to dispel the Xabi Alonso-shaped ghost haunting the halfway line at Anfield.

Cole is a huge step forward. A big name and English too. The Liverpool fans already seem to think they have what it takes now and there has been a marked increase in Liverpool shirts on display in South Wales since his signing, a hotbed of Liverpool support (unfortunately for Cardiff City).

But there is a hell of a lot of work to do. The one problem over recent years has been a lack of help for Torres in scoring goals. Dirk Kuyt is an incredible workhorse but far from a prolific goalscorer. Andriy Voronin was as useful as a solar-powered torch and David Ngog is as comical as he is talented. This weight now falls on the shoulders of Serbian Milan Jovanovic and I am unsure as to whether he’s ready to take such a responsibility on just yet.

Question marks still also remain over a sluggish defence too. Jamie Carragher continues to age, Martin Skrtel isn’t the quickest while Daniel Agger continues to sulk at playing third fiddle. A centre half with pace is a must for Hodgson as is a quality left back as Liverpool have just sold all theirs. Wayne Bridge is one name being touted by the British press and that is not a bad place to start!

They will be delighted by their rivals’ defensive problems as well. Chelsea have a wantaway Ricardo Carvalho while Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand continues to man the injury table although Nemanja Vidic has just committed to a nice new £18m contract. Arsenal seem to have strengthened their backline as have Manchester City but Tottenham Hotspur’s Ledley King and Johnathan Woodgate continue their injury-plagued careers.

But it’s not all about looking at your rivals’ plights. You have to get your own house in order and as his career has proved Hodgson is masterful at this. Defensively he has always been tight and gets his teams working as a unit. If he can add that extra attacking spark to his Liverpool team they could do some damage this year.

I hope he gets the success in this country his career deserves. At 62 this may be his last hurrah and he looks like he may be joining the likes of Brian Clough in the list of the greatest managers England never had. A couple of league titles and legendary status as the man who restored Liverpool FC to the top of the English game would definitely be a worthy consolation prize though.

The clock is ticking and the season approaches. Let’s see how Roy gets his Rovers playing and whether they can return to the summit of a game they used to rarely let other teams get involved in twenty years ago.