Hodgson: Liverpool Will Fight For Honours This Season

ROY HODGSON believes Liverpool have proven they are ready to fight for success this season following a dramatic opening to their Premier League campaign.
Despite playing the second half with 10 men after Joe Cole’s dismissal, the Anfield outfit were within moments of securing a 1-0 home win over title challengers Arsenal when Pepe Reina fumbled the ball over his own line for a heartbreaking equaliser.
Cole had been controversially red-carded on the stroke of half-time for a late challenge on Laurent Koscielny, who was later dismissed himself in injury time for a second bookable offence.
David Ngog gave Liverpool the lead a minute into the second half and a stout defensive performance appeared to have earned a deserved victory.
That was until the 90th minute, when Reina uncharacteristically dropped the ball over his own line after Marouane Chamakh’s header struck the inside of the post.

However, Hodgson – who saw Fernando Torres make his comeback from injury as a late substitute – preferred to dwell on the positives of his first domestic game in charge at Liverpool since taking over from Rafael Benitez.
“The one thing I learned is that the spirit is undimmed, the fans can expect the players to run around and fight and if we can add a little tactical organisation allied to the obvious skill then we could have a good season,” said Hodgson yesterday.
“It was a great debut for me. I thought ‘you can’t ask for much better; Arsenal here, a full house, the atmosphere fantastic’. I thought the fans would be very much behind the team and we gave them every reason to get behind us.
“It is a positive for the future. There are 37 games to go. Everyone knows it is going to be a tough year so it was good to show that we have got the spirit to do well this season and now have to keep working to make ourselves a better team.”
Hodgson added: “It was a fantastic effort but points are hard to come by and when you get so close you can’t avoid that that feeling of disappointment, and maybe that second-half performance meant we deserved all three. Albeit at half-time if someone said you’ll defend well and get a 1-1 or 0-0 then I’d have accepted it.
“To lose it at the end to a scrappy goal was tough on us. It was an excellent game of football and we did all we could do.”
Ngog’s goal took his tally to four in three games this season and the young Frenchman was afforded a warm ovation by the Anfield crowd on being replaced by Torres with 16 minutes remaining.
And Hodgson said: “It was a wonderful goal. It was a good piece of pressurising between Johnson and Kuyt that made it difficult for Arsenal to clear. David took it superbly.
“We had some other chances and both goalkeepers had saves to make.
“We were playing with nine men for a short while when Danny (Agger) had to go off with concussion, and it turned out the game went on four or five minutes too long for us.”
Besides Reina and Torres, both Javier Mascherano and Dirk Kuyt were making their first appearances for Hodgson and the manager admits he is still learning about his team.

“The closest I have seen to seeing the team was the game against the Macedonians and that was a simple attack v defence exercise,” said Hodgson. “I’m learning about the team all the time and seeing players play for the first time at any level.”
Mascherano was included despite expressing his desire to leave during the transfer window, with Liverpool yet to receive any official offers despite rumoured interest from Barcelona and Inter Milan.
“We’ve worked with him for two weeks,” said Hodgson.
“I thought he and Gerrard were excellent in the centre of midfield, but I’m not surprised. He’s one of the best at his job in the world.
“I’d play him on Thursday in Europe. But he has a slight tightness in his muscle and he’ll have a scan tomorrow.”