End is nigh for Ancelotti and Hodgson

LIVERPOOL and Chelsea may not be the most natural of bedfellows but such are the size of the crises enveloping both clubs, they are inextricably linked in misery as headline writers struggle to decide who go first: Roy Hodgson or Carlo Ancelotti.

The two clubs, who battled each other so dramatically in the Champions League in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009, appear to have hit rock bottom after miserable midweek defeats — Liverpool at Blackburn and Chelsea at Wolves.

The results have left both managers under intense pressure — and both sets of owners facing huge decisions, especially at Anfield where the board are still deep in discussion over whether to retain Roy Hodgson.

The plain facts are that Chelsea have won only once in their last 10 league games, a run that leaves them bottom of the current form table and outside of the precious Champions League qualifying places — an arena which Liverpool exited even before this season’s run of five defeats in their last eight league games which leave them a lowly 12th, only four points above the relegation zone.

In many ways it seems unfair to compare the two, considering Liverpool’s crisis has been a slow burner — 21 years in the making, in fact, since their last league title — while Chelsea’s hit unexpectedly only six months after the most successful season in the club’s history.

But Liverpool legend John Barnes sees a correlation between the problems at each club, or at least those that have risen most prominently to the surface.

“I see lot of similarities between them,” he insisted, speaking in his role as a pundit for ESPN ahead of their live FA Cup coverage this weekend. “And I’m not just talking about loss of confidence which has affected both teams. I’m talking about the fact that both mangers have been undermined.

“At Chelsea, they got rid of Ray Wilkins from underneath Carlo Ancelotti and it’s had an effect on morale.

“And at Liverpool the fans, if they want the club to do well in the short term, need to get behind the manager.

“The new board didn’t appoint him but they need to get behind him too and give him money to spend.

“And for both clubs it’s important the manager chooses who comes in. I’m a firm believer that a manager needs to be all-powerful. But you hardly see that any more. You see it with Sir Alex Ferguson at United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal but it’s rare. You need to give your manager power to make the big decisions.”

Hodgson, of course, hardly helped his case on Merseyside by alienating the Kop just when he needed them most; his criticism that he hadn’t received enough backing only served to make him a bigger villain.

“As much as he shouldn’t have said it from a diplomatic point of view, he was 100% right. He knows, we all know, a lot of the fans didn’t want him so I don’t know why people are all of a sudden are taken about when he’s told the truth,” said Barnes.

“Maybe fans they think they can boo him and get rid of him in the summer and someone else will come in and save things. But if they want success now, they have to get behind him and they have to be realistic. They expect Bill Shankly to come back and manage, they expect to sign the biggest players. That is why the players and manager are being judged on the past — so be realistic in terms of who you appoint as manager — which is why Roy was the right man in the circumstances — and in accepting you are not going to buy the best players in the world when you are not in the Champions League.

“We can sill spend money and get better players because Liverpool right now still has the history and the name to attract big names. Give it two or three years without Champions League football and that may change — so we need to buy now.”

That will be no easy task for new owners NESV, who have brought in Damien Comolli as Director of Football Strategy to look after transfers, further eroding Hodgson’s influence at Anfield, because big-name players may be reluctant to commit at a time when the future of the manager is uncertain. So what better reason to make the decision quickly? At Chelsea, transfers are less of an issue because Ancelotti has already admitted he has little input in signings, as seen by shelling out £18m on Brazilian misfit Ramires and by the firing of assistant manager Wilkins despite the Italian’s pleas for him to stay.

Ancelotti, last week promised new arrivals by Roman Abramovich, also has one last trump card — that he was brought in to win the Champions League following outstanding results in the competition with AC Milan, and he has already guided Chelsea to the last 16.

Whether that will be enough to save him is now in doubt. Until two weeks ago Abramovich had absolutely no intention of parting with a manager who won him the Double last year; but the embarrassment at Wolves was something else.

The Russian could cope with missing out on the title this season if it came with a European silver lining, but finishing outside of the top four, frankly, is unthinkable.

Barnes, of course, who endured miserable and cruelly short managerial spells with Celtic and Tranmere, is adamant he would keep both Ancelotti and Hodgson in place and invest in their ability to put things right; but he is not the man making the decisions. Those that are, both in America and Russia, are ruthless men used to success and to back page headlines of a different kind. It would be no major surprise if by the time Liverpool play at Stamford Bridge in February the two clubs have one more thing in common; a new manager.