Liverpool were broken when Hodgson found them - Keegan
Published 23:01 06/01/11 By David Maddock
Kevin Keegan last night blamed “decades of decline†for Liverpool’s plight under Roy Hodgson – and not the embattled Anfield boss.
The club’s 1970s hero believes Sunday’s FA Cup trip to Manchester United represents the game in which Hodgson can still turn round Liverpool’s campaign and his own fortunes.
But Keegan is shocked by the state of the Merseyside giants and insisted: “The decline of the club is not down to Roy Hodgson. It goes back way before he came.
"All you can blame Hodgson for is the 20-odd games he’s been in charge. He’s picked those teams. The problem Liverpool have got is that they are trying to live with history. We all over-achieved for that club. There’s no divine right to win the league, no divine right to win it year after year.
“But the standards have been set and these players have not been able to live up them. They’ve not won the league for 20 years and it’s getting longer every minute.
“Hodgson has been in charge for about 20 games. If they thought he was right in June, what are they going to do to back him?
“The attention over the last two or three years has been away from the manager and on the owners. The fans are looking at a lot of things and the players have to look at themselves as well.
“You can’t blame Roy for the lack of talent coming through, for the fact they’re playing in a stadium I played in and that has hardly changed since before I arrived 40 years ago. It’s too simple just to say: ‘Hodgson has got to go.’â€
Keegan added: “The new owners have got some big decisions to make.
“Fans don’t have unrealistic expectations but they want to go on a Saturday and see their team play.
“Those Liverpool fans are used to seeing opponents turning up at Anfield worrying about what was coming, fearing conceding an early goal, not wanting to kick towards the Kop if they won the toss. But you can’t say that any more.
"Teams have gone to Anfield for the last few years and had a go because they think: ‘Liverpool haven’t got six or seven good players any more – they’ve got two. If you can stop Gerrard and keep Torres quiet, what else have they got?' The answer is not very much and the players have had plenty of opportunities to prove otherwise.
“Manchester United away is the hardest game you could have, but in some ways it’s the best game they could have. If they were going to Derby or Nottingham Forest and got beat, that would be pretty lethal.
“The FA Cup is their last chance this season. They can’t win anything else. They’re still in Europe, but there will be some big teams in the last eight of the Europa League, they’re not going to get in the Champions League again and they’re falling behind the top four all the time.â€
Liverpool have already suffered nine league defeats – with just one away win all season.
Some of those defeats have been shambolic. Being outplayed at home by Blackpool was bad enough, as was losing to Newcastle. But the last two losses, against Wolves and Blackburn, have hinted at a deeper malaise.
Against Wolves and Blackburn, the lack of commitment, character and heart in the side bordered on the criminal.
At Ewood Park, only Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina and, to a lesser extent, Lucas looked as though they cared. The blame for that, of course, rests squarely with the manager.
But a theme seems to be recurring with this current crop of players.
They too often lacked heart under Rafa Benitez last season and now it looks set to cost Hodgson his job.
Steve McManaman, an FA Cup winner with Liverpool in 1992, accepts that fan discontent – something which never surfaced even in the final days of Graeme Souness, Gerard Houllier or Rafa Benitez – could prove terminal for Hodgson.
“This has been the worse it’s been for a while,†said McManaman. “When you hear Roy talk, he’s a very affable man and seems a great bloke. When he’s on the television, I think his interviews are great.
“The managers seem to really like him. I don’t think it’s a problem with him and the fans, but if you lose more games than you win thenthere’s a problem.
“If they beat Manchester United and Everton and the other teams they’ll all be singing his name again. Of course he can get them back on side.â€
Poor Roy. Not his fault.
