Liverpool’s unbeaten run came to an end in embarrassing fashion on Saturday against Stoke, and while fans may be calling such a catastrophe, Roy Hodgson is urging supporters to keep cool heads about the loss and patient in their judgement of him.
“I don’t see why it should give us enormous reason to doubt what we are doing or doubt what we are capable of doing,” he said of the loss to LFC TV.
“I don’t think I need to fear one setback in six is going to throw us back into a bad situation… I don’t expect this result to dent confidence any more than any bad result does or any end to a good run dents your confidence,” he added.
Hodgson instead looked to highlight how much of a long-haul a Premier League season is.
“We are talking about two or three games in a season. I find it hard to have to explain that every time you win a game things are flying forward and when you get a bad result they are flying backwards… I don’t get euphoric when we play well against Chelsea and I certainly won’t become anything other than realistic and determined to move on to the next step when we lose a game.
“I’m a 38-to-55-game-a-season man and I make my judgment over that period,” he proclaimed.
Still, Hodgson acknowledged that things could be better.
“We’re realistic. We know we’ve still got some work to do, get some players back to fitness and work at our game. The conclusions that are being attempted to be drawn are too big conclusions.”
Owner John W Henry and Director of Football Strategy Damien Comolli expressed their support for the embattled manager on Tuesday. Henry said that supporters should not blame the manager for results so early on in a long-term rebuilding process, and Comolli stated that not only will Hodgson be involved in all transfer decisions, but that he will “work well” with the manager.
