It’s little wonder that Roy Hodgson had a spring in his step at Melwood yesterday. By his own admission his first four months as Liverpool manager have been “traumatic” but he’s just enjoyed the best days of his short reign.
Last Sunday’s vital 2-1 victory over Blackburn lifted spirits and since then he’s enjoyed the rare luxury of a full week on the training ground to help ensure the Reds’ improvement is maintained at Bolton on Sunday.
Owner John W Henry’s public declaration yesterday to rubbish rumours that top stars could be sold in January was music to the boss’ ears.
“This week has been very nice,” he said.
“When you have a midweek game it does impact on what you can do training wise. You’re always concerning yourself with ‘can we do this?’ because it’s either too close to the next game or too soon after the last one.
“It’s advantageous having a free week as it gives you extra time to work on things. It means you can give the players Monday off and get a nice rhythm to the week.
“Training has been very good this week and hopefully we carry on from where we left off last Sunday.
“Against Blackburn we had more incisiveness around the penalty area – there was more devil in us.
“It was a good team performance and a good victory.
“It’s important from the first minute at the Reebok that we are as committed as we were in the 90 minutes against Blackburn.”
The win over Blackburn may have represented Liverpool’s best display of the season but Hodgson knows it’s far too early to be talking about turning corners.
For the manager it simply represented the final chapter in a miserable first quarter of the campaign.
Nine games have yielded just nine points, but Hodgson insists the Reds, who remain in the relegation zone, will start the second quarter of their league fixtures at Bolton in much better shape than they were in back in August.
“I’m wary on the back of one good result to say our problems have all finished as we’re still in a poor situation in terms of our league position,” he said.
“The first quarter of the season hasn’t been good for us in terms of the league and the next three quarters are going to be very important.
“When I came there were a lot of things that needed changing here and there’s still a lot of work to be done at the club.
“But going into the next quarter I’m hoping it won’t be quite as traumatic as the first quarter.
“Hopefully by the halfway stage we will start to see a bit of light. In January, with one or two transfers to improve the team and with the work the players have put in every day, we’ll be a stronger team.
“I’m looking for a good second half of the season but the next quarter, starting at Bolton, is important to continue the stabilization process and move us up the table.
“I’m not believing naively that we’re going to win seven out of our next nine and fly up to the top.
“But I want us to move away from the relegation zone and give performances that make us hard to beat and ask plenty of questions of the opposition with our attacking play.
“I believe in the team and I believe we’re capable of doing better in the next quarter of the season.”
Eighth placed Bolton are only three points better off than Liverpool but have only lost once so far this season and that was at Arsenal.
The Reds’ record against the Trotters is impressive having done the double over them in three successive seasons but Owen Coyle’s side are unbeaten at the Reebok since April and Hodgson is wary.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Bolton,” he said.
“They are a very good club and have been successful for a number of years.
“Sam Allardyce started it off and it was carried on by Gary Megson and now Owen Coyle.
“They are a very stable Premier League team and hard to beat. We will have to be at our best to get a result.
“They have had a lot of draws so far this season but that’s been the same throughout the league and is why so many teams are bunched together from bottom up to 10th spot.
“It’s strange because you get teams like us who have had a poor start and are disappointed with everything that has gone on, while there are teams like Bolton and Fulham on a similar number of points who are happy with the way they’ve done so far.
“They’ve drawn a lot but from what I’ve seen I don’t think Bolton are a defensive team. They like to go forward and have a lot of attacking players.”
One player tasked with halting the Trotters will be Sotirios Kyrgiakos.
The Greek defender has grabbed his chance to shine in recent weeks and produced a man of the match display against Blackburn last weekend.
With Glen Johnson still sidelined by injury, Kyrgiakos is set to continue at the back alongside Martin Skrtel as the Reds look to combat the aerial threat of Kevin Davies.
“I’m very happy with Soto and he’s certainly done a good job since he has come into the team,” Hodgson said.
“He didn’t have many chances here last season but he got his chance this season partly due to injuries to Daniel Agger and Glen Johnson and has taken it with both hands.
“He’s a whole hearted player who defends well and causes problems in opposition penalty areas. He has scored some good goals for us and it’s a good weapon to have.
“In the games so far he has been one of our better players.”
Kyrgiakos rose in front of the Kop to thump home a header from Steven Gerrard’s corner against Blackburn and Hodgson believes that combination with the skipper will bring plenty of rewards.
“We all know about the importance of set-pieces,” Hodgson said.
“It’s not just about movement and position, you need quality from the delivery and someone who is desperate to get their head or foot on the end of it.
“We have someone who can give us excellent delivery. There aren’t many better kickers of a dead ball than Steven Gerrard.
“Having someone like Soto to attack them is great. Long may it continue.”
