Does Roy Hodgson's Spell Underline Rafael Benitez's Genius at Liverpool FC?

Rafael Benitez left Liverpool FC in a matter of days after Liverpool FC for the first time under his managerial spell couldn't end with a place in the Champions League.

Christian Purslow, the former MD of Liverpool FC is still considered as the culprit by many as the key element who forced the Spaniard out of Anfield inspite of a majority of the fans wanting the ex-Valencia manager to stay on.

Now only months after the Liverpool management's and media favorite Roy Hodgson has been put to place at Anfield, Liverpool FC are possibly going through their worst spell in recent memory.

After the defeat at the Britannia last night, Liverpool FC recorded their first loss to Stoke City after 26 years and that came after being completely outplayed by the Potters throughout the match.

If you thought that it was just a fluke. Here's more , prior to that loss which came after a small string of victories Liverpool lost for the first time to Blackpool in 43 years! And even that came after an almost unprecedented loss to Northampton Town, a club then lying 17th in the fourth tier of English football! (PS: the last time Liverpool lost to a newly-promoted side before the Blackpool match was more than a decade ago, back in 1999).

Roy Hodgson though seems to have a logic to everything. After the loss to Blackpool, he was recorded to have said that coming back from a 2-0 down against a team of Blackpool's quality would be tough! Really Roy!

Earlier he had remarked FC Rabotnicki, Steau Bucharesti and Northampton Town were all formidable opponents!

The former Fulham boss also has this habit of being pleased by his team's very apparent awful performances like those against Sunderland and Everton.

Wonder how many times were the Reds' fans as thoroughly embarrassed for such duration by both on-field performances of their players and off-field by the mindless performances of their manager.

As things stand the only thing the expulsion (if it can be put that way) of Rafael Benitez has left Liverpool in a very uncomfortable as well as unfamiliar territory.

For a second let us consider Benitez's so-called biggest flaw at Liverpool FC and admit that Rafael Benitez was aweful in his transfer window transaction and left Liverpool with a bunch of very ordinary footballers who weren't good enough to propel Liverpool FC much higher than where they are now.

Doesn't that also mean that Rafael Benitez was a prodigy of sorts to consistently finish in the top four for almost all of his spell at Anfield even with such a collection nobodies?

If the present is any testimony to facts, Liverpool have not risen even as high as they finished last season! The view may be a little premature at the moment, but any sane critic of Rafael Benitez should agree that Roy Hodgson so far has just proved that he is not the man Liverpool needed at its helm.

Roy Hodgson has also shown some real lack of vision in crunch matches and has surprisingly resorted to a wait and watch approach against the so-called weaker oppositions like Blackpool and Wigan when any other manager in his place would have resorted to a more of an attacking approach.

In what can be described as another instance of mediocrity. Hodgson also has gone though a transfer window with Liverpool FC and knowing Liverpool's budgetary strains, he went for some 30-year-old Juventus outcast and a mid-table left back of almost the same age. Both the players have almost nothing top-quality among them but have a very little or no resale value!

Hodgson also went for an 11m mid-fielder, who though very agile should never have been the priority of the squad when it surely needed another striker of quality and had the likes of Alberto Aquilani in the squad, who could have done what Meireles does now!

Incidentally, Aquilani was loaned off by Liverpool to Juventus, late in the summer window and Juventus are yet to lose a match when Aquilani has started for them and the Italian has been adjudged Man of the Match more than once.

Liverpool's off-the-field problems may have eased with the change of ownership; however, with Hodgson at the helm, the on-field problems for Liverpool FC look perilously gigantic and apparently needs some serious investment in the squad very soon and if things continue the same way as it is now, to even restore the minimal respect of attaining a place in Europe.

With the philosophy that NESV, the new owners of Liverpool have emphasized, at this rate Hodgson shouldn't be around for long. However, I think just in case they were genuine lifelong football (or soccer as John W Henry and Co. would understand) fans, and knew the Premier League well enough, they would have put Roy off much earlier.

At the end, just reiterating the topic, I would like to end this with a question:

What would you prefer, an average squad and a top-four finish, or an average squad and a mid-table one? Well, you know the answer. The strictest of Rafael Benitez's critic should know the answer too, I hope!

How wonderful would it have been if NESV came a few months earlier and found Liverpool FC in charge of a person who had given them any honors they ever managed in recent times, including the trophy which only the best in Europe fight for? Not to be though!