Liverpool 2 Bolton 1:THERE ARE some on the Kop so certain Roy Hodgson is not the right man for Liverpool their response to this desperate victory would be the same as that of Elvis Presley's manager, Col Tom Parker, when told his client was dead: "This changes nothing."
In the long term they are right. If avoiding home league defeats to Bolton Wanderers is the yardstick for success at Anfield, then no manager has failed since the wretched Don Welsh, who relegated the club, having lost to Bolton in the same month Presley recorded I'll Never Stand in Your Way.
Nevertheless, Joe Cole’s stab home from two yards has brought Hodgson that most precious of commodities, time, although it is unclear just how much. New England Sports Ventures has no desire to bring in an interim manager, but defeat to Bolton after the debacle against Wolverhampton Wanderers could have short-circuited its plans to review Hodgson’s position in the summer.
The trees may have thinned a little but Hodgson acknowledges his regime is still deep in the woods. On Wednesday he returns to Blackburn Rovers, where after some early success he failed to revive a team built by Kenny Dalglish, and then come Manchester United in the FA Cup, followed by a Merseyside derby at Anfield. In between lies Blackpool. These three matches are critical to Hodgson’s longevity.
“Any match now is a huge match, it seems to me,” he said. “It is just one huge match after another. It is exaggerated for us because we started so badly. When you are next to bottom after seven games, with four points, you are staring at a black hole. I remember saying back then, and I don’t apologise for repeating it, that we will do very well if we can get out of the hole and get ourselves into the top half of the table after 19 games. By then, we would have got a bit more discipline and organisation into our game and the philosophy I am preaching would be better understood.”
There has been no real pattern or discipline to Hodgson’s six months on Merseyside. Chelsea and Napoli have been swept aside at Anfield while Northampton Town, Blackpool and Wolves have all won there.
At least there were signs that while the supporters may be irredeemably hostile, the dressing-room is united behind their manager. Most made a point of embracing Hodgson on the touchline after the final whistle.
“We are all in this together,” Cole said. “We are fighting for the club, for the manager, for the owners and the fans. We are all right behind the manager. He is a gentleman and we want to do well for him.”
Bobby Robson, who proved a less successful manager of Fulham than Hodgson, used to talk of “blue-chip players” and Rafael Benitez bequeathed his successor three: Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Jose Reina.
On Saturday, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard combined as well as they have all season and Jose Reina’s save from Ivan Klasnic in the final seconds ensured his team and the manager would cling on.
Gerrard had begun on the bench, which given how desperately Hodgson required a victory was a decision that required some guts. Gerrard was said to be exhausted after the defeat by Wolves, although the manager said that had his captain insisted on starting he would have done so. After 21 minutes were up, he was on for the injured Raul Meireles.
Bolton manager Owen Coyle was relieved he did not start. As a Scot besotted with football there is something of Bill Shankly in Coyle’s make-up and, should Hodgson fall, he is a realistic candidate for the succession.
“While Gerrard wasn’t on the pitch, I was delighted,” Coyle said. “I actually said to him as he was coming on: ‘Could you not stay off for a wee while longer?’ He could play for any team in the world and the longer he was off, then the better chance I thought we would have. If you have to lose and someone is going to benefit then I’m pleased it’s Roy because I like him, I have a lot of time for him.”
How much time Liverpool’s owners have for their manager is another question.
Guardian Service
