Liverpool Crisis Predicament

What must be most worrying for Liverpool supporters...(Ahem!). Sorry, let me start again. What must be most worrying for supporters of Liverpool Football Club is manager Roy Hodgson's contention, in the aftermath of a two-nil defeat to Merseyside rivals Everton, in the 214th derby, is that this was the finest performance of his 17 game incumbency.

"[T]he second half was as good as I saw a Liverpool team play under my management, that is for sure."

There are two possible reasons why he made this statement. He either believes it, or as a man under (unprecedented?) pressure, he is attempting to use language to build momentum for his team, endeavouring to give them a starting point come Monday morning. If one accepts the former assertion and takes this statement at face value, then surely one must concede that it is a worrying foreshadow cast across Liverpool's season. If this is the best his team have played all season, and yet, were comprehensively beaten by a team who habitually finish below The Reds domestically, the performance alone can offer little solace.


However, if the latter - that he is using language in an attempt to redraw LFC's landscape - is more likely, is it possible to analyse his post match comments and from them deduce Roy Hodgson's state of mind and the performance thereof? One may dismiss the significance of such post match sound-bites, but as in all language, they are revealing.

"We didn't score goals and Everton did but I refuse to accept that we were in any way outplayed or any way inferior."

Not only are Hodgson's comments somewhat delusional, but increasingly contradictory. It is incongruous to suggest your team were not inferior against opponents who beat you comfortably (there are, every season, results which belie the performances of one or both teams, but this was not one of them), but in the following statement the Liverpool boss begins, yet again, discordantly:

“We are not trying to disguise this is a predicament, or whatever word you care to use. For any team to take six points from eight games at the start of the season is a predicament, maybe you argue being Liverpool the predicament is even greater. We do not in any way try to deny that." 

One notes the use of the words you and predicament in the above quotation. Hodgson himself chooses to use predicament, which insufficiently describes LFC's position. He uses it again and both times follows it with the accusatory use of the word you. The you Hodgson refers to is most probably the media, (but critics in general too), and is perhaps an attempt to establish a siege mentality in the dressing room, an us against the world state of mind, often a powerful psychological and motivational tool at a mangers disposal. José Mourinho is perhaps its finest exponent.


But in this instance, Hodgson has chosen the lump hammer instead of the chisel. The players know they are playing badly. On that basis, they also know the criticism to be justified. There is nothing to be gained by the manager's insistence that Liverpool face a predicament and not a crisis. 


He bookends the last statement with a declaratory we're in deep shit, but we are facing the challenge head on, when stating that the team are not 'disguising' or 'denying' the task in front of them. But that is exactly what he is doing. An analyst might refer to this as classic denial. "You may argue, being Liverpool, the predicament is even greater."


Hodgson's Liverpool are in a critical condition. His statements neglect the reality. His team lack cohesion, his players lack belief, not in themselves, but in his system, a system which has marginalised Fernando Torres. They are as leaderless on the field as they are in the dressing room. Joe Cole has yet to deliver anything other than huff and puff, while Alberto Aquilani continues his end of last season form on loan at Juventus. Paul Konchesky, has demonstrated that he is a poor replacement for the promising youngster Emiliano Insua, who has proven to be no more culpable on Liverpool's left flank than his vastly more experienced and higher paid usurper. Christian Poulsen is quite simply dreadful.


Hodgson's remarks are disingenuous. I am not suggesting he is a liar, merely that pressure and resultant stress warps our view. The scale and importance of the Liverpool's manager job is not measured by a 7th place finish last season (what would Liverpool supporters give for that this season?). Liverpool managers must contend with the infinite echo of the past. The tradition of success, the lionised predecessors and tragedies engrained in the psyche of the club inflates the position of LFC beyond market value or league position. At Anfield, reasonably or not, you are expected to win.


Hodgson's pallid team are a reflection of his inconsistent tone and uninspiring language. 'To get a result here would have been Utopia,' said the Liverpool manager following Liverpool's first derby defeat since 2006. 'I can only analyse the performance. There is no point trying to analyse dreams.'


It is comforting to know that Roy does indeed dream. In analysing his own performance, perhaps Hodgson should, in future, encourage his players to dream; to break the bonds of fear that his own unimaginative and meek tenure has fostered.