Hicks, Gillett and Benitez are to blame for current state at Liverpool
I curse those awful Benitez signings Reina, Kuyt, Maxi, Torres and Lucas. Curse them I tell you.
Mr.Hodgson can't decide who to blame either right now - he's almost schizoid. First it's the team, then it's not the team but mystery factor X, then it's the team again. To put it bluntly, he knew the circumstances he was walking into (and his willingness to be the 'yes' man for dictatorial owners was a key part of his being appointed - that and his supposedly brilliant relationship with the media) and has to be judged in that light. We're well aware of the damage that Hicks and Gillett did to the club, but we sacked a manager for finishing 7th under those circumstances. So far this season, Hodgson's results and the performances of his team have been even worse. Even worse.
Hodgson is a good manager, 7th with Fulham (their highest ever finish) and then mid table safety juggled a small squad with a very good cup run (when ipswich finished 5th a few years ago and they tried to balance league with europe they got relegated - west ham needed Tevez to save them on the final day when they tried to balance europe - remembering these examples surely 12th last season wasn't that bad)
Liverpool aren't Fulham. This is the problem. When Liverpool go away from home and play 'le hoof' (we've had it before in recent memory...) we've ten men behind the ball most of the time, it does not make for happy supporters. A top-half of the table finish isn't cutting it with Liverpool. A decent cup run is expected every season at Liverpool not as a generational event.
As for his '11 away wins since 97' comment, i have no idea if this stat is true or not but what i am sure of is that this would refer to english premiership only and as he had a gap from the prem between 98 to taking the fulham job in 2007 this statistic isn't quite so glaring - also this doesn't mean all the other away games were losses, i'm sure there are a few draws thrown in. Also doesn't reflect on the home form, he turned Craven Cottage into a fortress.
The only decent record away from home Hodgson has was his handful of matches with Udinese. Can't be bothered to paste the stats of his managerial career over the past 35 years if you can't be bothered to check your comment matches reality, but when you do take a look you'll be amazed at how this has been a persistent problem throughout his career. Lovely jubbly getting home results, need away results too for CL places though.
Liverpool are still recovering from a bad start, this doesn't suddenly make Hodgson a bad manager. With new owners in place and hopefully more funds, Hodgson should be given time to stamp his mark on the team - cant just go around sacking managers before they've had a real chance - case in point SAF
Mr.Hodgson's marks so far have been the frankly embarassing Poulsen and the abysmal Konchesky. Oh and Joe Cole who has sustained the standard of football which saw Chelsea happy to let him run his contract down (in fairness to the lad, I think he's now a sick note after too much football too young). His 'good' signing Meireles he thought was a right winger in spite of playing all his career in central midfield - Mr.Hodgson seemed very proud of himself that the right winger did such a good job in the centre of the pitch when he finally did play him there.
Mr.Hodgson asked to be judged after 10 games. We're now 17 league games in and we are in no way happy with the football or the results. This is, according to him, as good as he gets - he's at the top of his game as a manager - couldn't do better. He'll be gone as soon as NESV have got someone they like lined up or if the damage he's doing to the long term future of the club outweighs the cost of bringing in someone short term to do the job he was meant to be doing.