Thursday, December 30, 2010

Hodgson Hits Out At Anfield Crowd After Liverpool Loss

Under-fire Roy Hodgson has blasted Liverpool's supporters for not supporting the team after his side suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of Wolves.

Mick McCarthy’s Wanderers heaped further misery on the Anfield club after Stephen Ward’s goal condemned them to their eighth defeat of the season.

The home fans were understandably angry about the loss to the side who, before the match, were bottom of the Premier League, and made their feelings known during the game and at the final whistle.

Chants for Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish rung around Anfield and a chorus of boos greeted the defeat but Hodgson insists it is nothing new and asked the fans to keep supporting the club in the bad times.

He said: "I'm getting used to the negativity. Kenny [Dalglish] was a rival for the job and it was given to me. He's a Liverpool legend.

"But I don't like it. It's the Kop's way of showing they are not happy with what the team is doing. We've had to live with negativity ever since I came here.

"The famous Anfield support has not really been there – there were problems with the owners and they have been singing for Kenny.

"I can only hope these 'fans' become 'supporters' as well because this is a time when the club needs support.

"The negativity does affect confidence."

Hodgson revealed he was disappointed with how his players reacted after an extended break because of the winter weather disruptions.

"Disappointing is the buzzword at the moment. There is not a stronger word than that," he added.

"We came here hoping we would fly around the field and play well but we did the opposite. It's as bad a team performance as we've given, certainly here at Anfield.

"Rather than a disappointing 0-0 we let them in to score for an even more disappointing 0-1. That compounded the problem.

"Credit to Wolves, their gameplan was good. They won challenges. I don't think we had the tempo to our game to say we deserved anything more than we got."

Despite the lackluster defeat the former Fulham boss insists his side are desperate to show the fans they can move up the table.

He added: "It's a sad way to end 2011. We were desperate to show the supporters we can move up the table and we let them down.

"They made that perfectly clear to us. I can only empathize – if I was a supporter I would be extremely disappointed.

"But I've seen times like this. I have belief in my own ability, the players are working hard to bring me and the club success.

"It's going to be picking them up after they didn't do the job last night."

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