Roy Hodgson offered an eloquent expression of his powerlessness by sitting, almost motionless, in the Anfield dugout as Liverpool lurched further into crisis against Northampton on Wednesday.
Even as Liverpool rocked under the League Two side's onslaught in the second half, even as they found themselves outplayed and out-thought by a team some 69 places below them in the league pyramid, Hodgson did not stir from his seat.
He did not rise to exhort his young players as their nerves shredded, or upbraid the five internationals included in his second-string side as their abilities seemingly deserted them. Hodgson, impervious, impassive, has found himself impotent to stop Liverpool's continued fall from grace.
That should not be read as a criticism. Liverpool's defeat on penalties against Ian Sampson's determined side rounded off an annus horribilis which began with their excoriation in Florence on Sept 30 last year, took in an early exit from the Champions League, humiliation against Reading in the FA Cup and a seventh place finish in the Premier League.
Rafael Benítez could not retain his job as manager. His replacement was identified as the man to steady the ship, to steer Liverpool through the choppiest waters in their recent history.
His appeal was understandable. Off the field, he would not indulge in the Machiavellian politics so beloved of the Spaniard, while on it he could be relied upon at least to return a sense of style to a club whose substance was crumbling. He could work on limited resources and unite a fractured dressing room.
It seems now that Liverpool was simply rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Their troubles begin in the boardroom and infect every pore of the club.
The root cause of all of those defeats, from Fiorentina to Northampton, is Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Steven Gerrard might yesterday have insisted that the club's fans could trust the team "to get it right in the end," but while his faith is admirable, such a statement lays bare Liverpool's desperation.
The Americans must depart before any genuine recovery can begin.
When judging Hodgson, the circumstances in which he is working must be taken into consideration, though Benítez was scarcely afforded the same courtesy.
Unlike his predecessor, Hodgson, to his credit, has made it clear he does not wish to use his absentee employers as an excuse. "I will not go down the ownership route," he said in August. "If you do not think the team is doing as well as it should, then as a player you can do something about it." Presumably, the same must go for the manager. Yet by his own criteria, and those used by the club when appointing him, Hodgson's opening months at Anfield have hardly been a success.
Daniel Agger may have distanced himself from comments suggesting the 62 year-old favoured a long-ball style, but even if his original words were lost in translation, few observers disagreed with him. Liverpool are hardly winning points for artistic impression.
They are hardly winning points of any sort, in fact – just five in the Premier League, albeit with a solid start in the Europa League. It is not hard to explain why. Few teams struggle more to create chances. Instinctive striking from David Ngog and Fernando Torres gave them a point against Arsenal and a win against West Brom, two set-pieces from Gerrard averted embarrassment at Old Trafford.
That Hodgson's reserves required two slices of good fortune even to take Northampton to penalties, though, suggests the problem is not only chronic but is one of system, rather than personnel, despite the criticism directed at Torres, in particular.
However, that the Spaniard is not alone in appearing to be "fed up", to borrow a phrase from Jamie Redknapp, is telling. The rationale for Benítez's dismissal was that he had lost the dressing room. For all the public utterances of support from his new players, there is no on-pitch evidence Hodgson has found it.
Perhaps that is not his fault. Perhaps that is the fate of Liverpool's manager in an era when disaffection with the ownership, with the status quo, permeates even the dressing room. Perhaps Hodgson cannot be expected to steer a course to safety. Perhaps all he can do is go down with the ship.
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