Numbers don’t reveal real reason for Roy’s Red exit

ROY HODGSON, castigated and abused following a short and turbulent spell at Liverpool, has had to endure constant and derisory comparisons with Kenny Dalglish since leaving Anfield; but perhaps he will take comfort in statistics as he prepares to meet his former club.

Liverpool, revitalised under Dalglish, reacquaint themselves with their former manager on Saturday when they travel to his new club West Brom; and Hodgson knows the comparisons between his Liverpool and King Kenny’s will hurt his pride.

After all, the new-look Liverpool are buoyant, possibly heading for the Champions League, revitalised and re-invigorated by the joint joys of a new manager and a new owner.

And the old Liverpool were heading for disaster — so it couldn’t be clearer.

Or could it?

Perhaps history will eventually provide a more balanced perspective once a reasonable passage of time has passed — because as it stands, Dalglish’s record as manager is not statistically so different to his predecessor. Hodgson, who arrived on Merseyside having won the LMA Manager of the Year award by a record margin, spent just 31 games as Anfield manager — the shortest reign in Liverpool history — and managed to clock up a long list of unwanted ‘records’ during his time in charge.

But Dalglish, universally lauded for his handling of the club since then, has managed for 33 games and lost exactly the same number of times as his predecessor — nine going into last weekend’s fixtures.

So why is King Kenny the angel and Hodgson the devil?

Maybe the answer is in the detail because during Hodgson’s ill-fated time in charge Liverpool lost to Blackpool for the first time since 1967, lost to Wolves for the first time in 27 years and to Stoke for the first time in 26; they were even knocked out of the Carling Cup on penalties by Northampton.

The miserable list continued as Liverpool went into the new year of 2011 on only 22 points, their lowest total at that stage of the season since Don Welsh’s side in 1953-54 — a season in which Liverpool were relegated.

Even so, there is plenty of mitigation for anyone trying to build a case to defend Hodgson.

Many fellow coaches will tell you he had an impossible task at a time when the club was in turmoil off the field and preparing to be sold.

The loss of Javier Mascherano to Barcelona hit morale hard and the ever-public presence of Dalglish in the stands made every mistake more difficult to recover from. “I couldn’t compete with icons,” Hodgson later admitted.

The former Fulham coach hardly helped matters by criticising his own fans but he must have known he was never truly wanted by the Kop, who had always called for King Kenny and were never convinced Hodgson was a good fit.

It’s a situation hinted at by captain Steven Gerrard, who is now fit to lead his team’s revival as they prepare for a trip to The Hawthorns and also for a Carling Cup tie at Stoke this midweek.

“I don’t want to criticise the previous manager,” he insisted. “But I’ve been really happy with what I’ve seen since Kenny Dalglish has come in. There have been a lot of happy faces at our training ground and the supporters have been united behind us. It’s been fantastic.

“The signings we have made have been good and the club is going in the right direction. From top to bottom the club is united.

“I think Kenny has brought everyone together. Training has changed with him and Steve Clarke in charge, the tempo of it is different and the lads are enjoying going into training.

“You can see the difference when they go out on the pitch — we are taking our training performance out onto the field. We are all going to work smiling and enjoying it — and when that happens you normally see results on the field.”

It’s that sense of goodwill and bonhomie that is really the difference at Anfield — not necessarily the results — and you have to wonder where the smiles went during Hodgson’s spell. Maybe that is where he slipped up the most.

Of course he can rightly say he was in situ at the wrong time; but the team before he arrived finished second in the Premier League and the team he left behind (just a few points above the relegation zone) were subsequently taken to sixth place by Dalglish.

This year Liverpool are seen as Champions League contenders and even if Dalglish’s record is not perfect — just think back to miserable performances at Spurs this season and even a 2-1 defeat at Hodgson’s West Brom last year — he has certainly been able to lift expectations and unite the Kop behind him.

That, quite clearly, was part of the job that Hodgson under-estimated; a fact he will probably regret forever. But the real story is that his face just didn’t fit; which is why nine defeats in 31 games is a disaster and nine in 33 a triumph.

As they say in politics; there are lies, damn lies and statistics. And whatever the result at The Hawthorns on Saturday, for Roy Hodgson at least, that will remain the truest adage of all.