Being a Liverpool supporter, perhaps my viewpoint is slanted, but Roy Hodgson, with every statement he makes, comes off more as a man desperate to somehow hold his job as opposed to a manager with a plan to win games and progress England forward. Whether by design or by happenstance, Hodgson seems to cement the murmurs of the rumors that he has a grudge against Liverpool. Trying to test a player's resolve by forcing him to train and/or play while you know he has an injury comes of as antiquated thinking at best and petty at worst.
There will always be spats between club and country. The very makeup of having different managers with different philosophies and different styles lends itself to these confrontations. Even US Soccer, though still in our toddler stages compared to other FA's, has seen a spike in club vs country issues, especially under Jurgen Klinsmann. But those problems have more to do with actual issues like contract dollars in MLS vs quality of play and amount of play in Europe. This Hodgson fued, that seemingly only has to do with Liverpool players and the club, seems more and more like an actual feud with the club and anyone associated with it.
At least in American media, there are no reports of any disputes with Tottenham or Wenger at Arsenal or Van Gaal at United. No words have been spoken by Hodgson over the lack of deveolpment by any BPL clubs to develop more English keepers or veiled attacks on City for not somehow correcting the mistakes that Joe Hart likes to make. It all seems centered on the Reds. How childish for someone of, not only Hodgdon's age but his pedigree. No, he hasn't had sparkling records everywhere he has gone, but he has won almost twice as many games as he has lost in his managerial career. But, whether by grudge or by a feeling of mounting pressure for his job, the man has sunk to media attacks on players he must rely on if he is to keep his job.
While some may argue their overall quality, the bottom line is that when in form, there aren't many players in the English FA better than Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling. At least at the moment, there are not. Things are obviously fluid in football. But Hodgson needs them to perform well for England to perform well. Yet here he is, trying to test their resolve and coming out in the media to shame them for not manning up. Managers have many odd ways of getting players to play their best, but these hardly come off as ways of doing so.
I have long been a proponent of the idea that modern players are too coddled and selfish. That they need to play through a bit of pain. However, those days are no more. Players today do play through more pain than we probably know. As weekend warriors we often whine about the aches and pains come Monday. Even though these are super-fit athletes, to think they don't suffer from the same ailments is foolishness. The days of "rub some dirt on it kid" are gone. Players are in control and Hodgson's ways of dealing with the realities he has been faced with are very unbecoming of a manager of any national level, let alone with the pedigree of the English FA.
This feud cannot continue. Perhaps Liverpool does need to tweak their training regime. It is obviously not all on England, when players like Loveran and Markovic go down as well. However, that is up to Brendan Rodgers and him alone. It is not for Roy Hodgson to worry about. It is not for Roy Hodgson to question. Roy Hodgson needs to worry about his own camp, his own training regimes and focus on moving England forward. He is obviously not doing a bang-up job, so to speak, if he has England at the top of their group with 9 points and people still clamoring for his job. Be a man Mr. Hodgson. Leave the petty feuds of the past at your doorstep.
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