Reds suffer full Brunt of old boss Hodgson

ROY HODGSON might have got one over his old club, and proved a point to the board that dispensed with his services 12 weeks ago, but he couldn’t resist pondering what might have been, if Andy Carroll had been signed when he was Liverpool manager.

No sooner had Hodgson been replaced by Kenny Dalglish in January than the club sold Fernando Torres and replaced him with Carroll and Luis Suarez, who have helped lift the Reds up the table into fifth place.

Hodgson has not done badly, either, unbeaten in five games since taking over at West Brom, who moved up to 12th place following this well-deserved victory at the Hawthorns.

The manager was too dignified to gloat, saying simply: “I drew a line under events at Liverpool on January 8 when I left and signed a compromise agreement and packed my bags.”

But he was willing to talk about Carroll, and how his side set about minimising the threat of a striker who scored his first England goal four days earlier. Hodgson’s defenders got into Carroll early on, making sure the big man got as good as he could give, and he ended up spending more time arguing with opponents and officials than troubling home goalkeeper Scott Carson.

One exception came five minutes into the second half, when Carson had to tip over a stinging shot from Carroll for the corner from which Martin Skrtel powered in a header to give Liverpool the lead.

But the opposing centre forward Peter Odemwingie was far more dangerous with his quicksilver runs and willingness to shoot on sight, and when the Nigerian was fouled by first Sotirios Kyrgiakos and then Pepe Reina, Chris Brunt smashed home the resulting penalties to give West Brom victory.

Both front-men need support, but with Steven Gerrard missing again after a recurrence of his groin problem and Suarez moving wider as the game went on, Carroll looked isolated.

In contrast, Odemwingie was well supported by the returning Simon Cox and then Marc-Antoine Fortune. “Cox hasn’t played since I’ve been at the club, but James Morrison felt a thigh strain in training,” said Hodgson.

“We were anxious not to isolate Odemwingie. We think he is a major threat for us, he has a lot of qualities. We don’t want him having just crumbs to feed on, he needs someone to play with and if we had put a midfield player on he may have been isolated.”

Dalgish insisted Suarez was comfortable playing wide rather than as a second striker. “He’s happy playing there and we’re happy to see him,” he said. “We tried to change things a wee bit to see if we could get a winner.”

Hodgson compared Carroll with Mick Harford, another big powerful striker who was good in the air and skilful with his feet: “Carroll is an excellent player. I was making the comparison with a player I worked with 30-something years ago, Micky Harford — fantastic in the air, lovely technique, a real handful. When the ball is played into the penalty area and you are playing against these players, you have to accept you won’t win every ball and you have to be careful not to give away too many free-kicks, because when the ball is in free play they are struggling to get their midfield players up in support.”

Gerrard’s season could be over after breaking down in training following a groin operation last month. “It is disappointing for Steven and for us because he was training really well and looking forward to being back amongst the lads,” said Dalglish. “He is a hell of player. We will know more towards the end of the week.”

Hodgson, meanwhile, was careful not to get carried away with the win that takes his unbeaten run to five games since taking over.

“It’s nice to be four points off relegation zone rather than one, and psychologically it is good. But it would be foolish to think it was like being 12th last season as I was with Fulham, when relegation was not an issue.

“It will be a question for us here until the last game of the season because I think the magical 40 points mark will be well and truly shattered.”