5 Things That Roy Hodgson Needs To Do To Survive Till the End Of the Season
Most Liverpool supporters were not happy with a finish of seventh place last season. Many people demanded the sacking of Rafael Benitez since they were not able to comprehend his style and tactics.
Hence, when Roy Hodgson was appointed, there was a sense of optimism and expectation. An era of stability was expected with his appointment.
But in the recent past, no manager of Liverpool has angered the Kop faithful in such a short span of time.
Here are five things that Roy Hodgson needs to do to earn the support of Liverpool faithfuls and players, if it's not too late already
Stop Discussing Player Confidence and Criticizing Players in Public
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Roy's era has been plagued with his outbursts in media regarding the quality of players in the squad. He has openly criticized players like Glen Johnson. He had openly questioned the quality of the squad at the beginning of the season—many of whom he has started hailing now like Lucas and Maxi.
Worse still was discussing player confidence with the media. Fernando Torres and Joe Cole, both among the best talent that the squad consists of, have been victims of this. Even if a player has confidence issues, it is up to the manager to deal with it with the player within the club structure and not discuss it with the media.
If Hodgson, stops this and spends that time more with resolving players issues, he would gain better approval of players as well as supporters.
Stop Giving Too Much Respect To Opposition
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The press conferences this year are one of the things that have angered the supporters as much as the performances on the field. Many people feel that the current manager treats a draw in an away match as a good result.
Almost all the press conferences before a match entail the manager saying that, Liverpool are playing against a very strong opposition away, even for teams like Steaua and Utrecht. Even in torrid times, a Liverpool team always tried to win matches—home or away—irrespective of whether the team was a newly promoted team or the European Champions.
The manager's happiness in getting a point away or his lack of disappointment losing away to strong teams suggests that he is happy with a mid-table standing.
The manager needs to display confidence if it has to translate into team performance. It might also be a sign to the Kop faithful that the manager at-least intends to take the team to the top.
Target Top Talent in Transfer Window
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Liverpool in the past has prided on the ability to attract top talent. Most people still believe that the club still possesses that ability.
With the manager's questionable record in the transfer market with the signings of Konchesky and Poulson along with the list of transfer targets like Carlton Cole does not provide the supporters with a reason to support the manager.
He needs to target really world-class impact making players or at-least try to do it. Fail in the signing, but people would be happy about the effort. Sign an average player without effort, that is something that anger the supporters.
Hopefully, he completes more Raul Meireles like signings than Konchesky and Poulson.
Stop Being Stubborn With the on-Field Tactics
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Roy Hodgson has been repeatedly found saying that his tactics have held him in good stead throughout his managerial career and he won't change them.
Many times in the season, Liverpool has found itself on the back foot with no Plan-B to execute on the field. A good manager, while following his own tactics, should be ready to adapt.
Rather than forcing his tactics on the players, he should understand the strengths and weaknesses of his players and try and adapt his own strategies to it.
For example, a player like Torres would prefer playing lone striker, which is the reason why he succeeded under Benitez and his not-so-profilic form for Spain which plays 4-4-2.
So, more pragmatic on-field tactics would help in indicating that the manager is trying his best.
Accept Mistakes and Don't Promote Mediocrity
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Hodgson has never accepted mistakes made tactically over the entire season—whether that was on-field tactics or the dealings in the transfer market.
He obviously did not have the best transfer market dealings and his tactics did fail more than once this season. But accepting mistakes and moving on would have been a better strategy than blaming everyone other than himself.
Furthermore, Liverpool fans are used to being the best or at-least competing to be the best. Losses are always bad but a manager of Liverpool saying that he saw the best of Liverpool in a 2-0 loss to Everton smells of mediocrity.
He needs to aim for a good result every match and express disappointment at every opportunity lost.The only time Hodgson was seen doing that this season was in the loss to Newcastle. Hopefully that is a good sign and it spurs him on to better results.
Let's Support Our Manager
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I don't feel that Roy Hodgson has been the best manager this season. There have been loud calls for his ouster. But all true Liverpool faithfuls need to support the manager as long as he is the manager. Hence, I feel by following these steps, he would give the Kop faithfuls greater reasons to support him.
Ultimately, the success of a manager depends on the results and not on anything else but early in the managerial tenure, it is these things that matter.
