Kevin Keegan has rushed to the defence of Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson, insisting that the club's fortunes were on a decline much before he was appointed as boss.
Hodgson was handed the reins after the exit of his predecessor Rafael Benitez, who parted ways with the club after an underwhelming season that saw the side fail to qualify for the Champions League.
The former Fulham gaffer began his reign in a morose manner as the Reds plunged into the relegation zone owing to poor form during the start of the season. But a small patch of positive form saw them make it to a mid-table position, before inconsistency played its part in putting the team only four points above the drop zone.
The recent defeat to Blackburn Rovers saw several calls for Hodgson's head, amid reports that the ex-Inter boss was on the brink of being shown the door. But Keegan believes that it would probably be unfair to give the gaffer the boot, as the club's problems precede his reign.
"The decline of the club is not down to Roy Hodgson," he said, according to The Mirror.
"It goes back way before he came.
"All you can blame Hodgson for is the 20-odd games he’s been in charge. He’s picked those teams. The problem Liverpool have got is that they are trying to live with history. We all over-achieved for that club. There’s no divine right to win the league, no divine right to win it year after year.
"But the standards have been set and these players have not been able to live up them. They’ve not won the league for 20 years and it’s getting longer every minute.
"Hodgson has been in charge for about 20 games. If they thought he was right in June, what are they going to do to back him?
"The attention over the last two or three years has been away from the manager and on the owners. The fans are looking at a lot of things and the players have to look at themselves as well.
"You can’t blame Roy for the lack of talent coming through, for the fact they’re playing in a stadium I played in and that has hardly changed since before I arrived 40 years ago. It’s too simple just to say: 'Hodgson has got to go.'"
Keegan added: "The new owners have got some big decisions to make.
"Fans don’t have unrealistic expectations but they want to go on a Saturday and see their team play.
"Those Liverpool fans are used to seeing opponents turning up at Anfield worrying about what was coming, fearing conceding an early goal, not wanting to kick towards the Kop if they won the toss. But you can’t say that any more.
"Teams have gone to Anfield for the last few years and had a go because they think: ‘Liverpool haven’t got six or seven good players any more - they’ve got two. If you can stop [Steven] Gerrard and keep [Fernando] Torres quiet, what else have they got?' The answer is not very much and the players have had plenty of opportunities to prove otherwise."
The Reds have an FA Cup clash with heated rivals Manchester United on Sunday at Old Trafford, and the former Newcastle United boss believes that it represents the club's last chance to win some silverware this term.
"Manchester United away is the hardest game you could have, but in some ways it’s the best game they could have. If they were going to Derby or Nottingham Forest and got beat, that would be pretty lethal," Keegan said.
"The FA Cup is their last chance this season. They can’t win anything else. They’re still in Europe, but there will be some big teams in the last eight of the Europa League, they’re not going to get in the Champions League again and they’re falling behind the top four all the time."
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