Roy Hodgson dealing with the glare of the Liverpool FC spotlight

25 September 2010 07:40
Roy Hodgson 300[LNB]THE glare of the spotlight might be intensifying on him but the heat is not affecting Roy Hodgson.[LNB]Having been plunged into a difficult situation that, to use his words, came from 'a moment of my making', it would not have been difficult to envisage Hodgson being chippy and capricious when he met the Press yesterday but, if anything, the opposite was true.[LNB]Relaxed and measured in his tone, the demeanour of Liverpool's manager was juxtaposed to when he walked into Anfield's Press Room on Wednesday evening and started to conduct a post-mortem on the abysmal result against Northampton Town.[LNB]Seeing a lowly League Two side end their Carling Cup dreams might have been the bitterest pill to swallow but Hodgson has no intentions of letting the fallout poison the remainder of a campaign that has failed to gain any significant momentum.[LNB] But while he - and the club - have had to withstand a number of hefty blows in the time since they fluffed their lines so spectacularly, one thing that has been impossible to knock is Hodgson's belief in Liverpool's top performers.[LNB]The 'A' team will return for this afternoon's clash at Anfield with Sunderland - the first time they have had a 3pm Saturday kick-off since January 31 - and Hodgson is confident once they get into a rhythm, the unsightly position which they current hold in the table will swiftly improve.[LNB]It needs to, of course. For everyone's sanity, Liverpool need to find a semblance of order but Hodgson is adamant that will come - all they need, then, is to gain confidence from embarking on a winning spree.[LNB]'Games like Wednesday night are real banana skins and we were foolish enough to skid on it,' Hodgson reflected. 'As a result you skid yourself into a lot of trouble and criticism.[LNB]'I have to say that after the Manchester United game I was very, very sad as after getting back to 2-2 that would have been a really good result and it would have buoyed everybody.[LNB]'We didn't get it because they scored a third goal quite close to the end but the training has been very good this week and I'm impressed with the players here.[LNB]'I think that we will get better as I've said all along. The players are working very hard and responding very well to the work we are trying to do but we need some results to back it up.[LNB]'The performances have been better after quite a poor one at Manchester City and not particularly good ones against West Brom and Birmingham. Manchester United was a step in the right direction and I expect that to carry on.'

Source: Liverpool_Echo