The Reds face Arsenal in their opening game on Sunday before a trip to big-spending Manchester City the following weekend.
But Hodgson told his pre-match press conference at Melwood: "It's pretty much as tough as it gets at the moment, but t...hat's the way the league programme pans out. Whatever happens, we have to play Arsenal at home and City away over the course of the 38 games.
"I've been feeling pressure for the last 35 years, since January 1, 1976. That's part of the job. The day when I don't feel pressure any more is the day when I shouldn't be doing the job.
"You could say Halmstad and Liverpool shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath but when I was 29 years of age that's not how I felt about it. What Halmstad were going to do was very important to me and I felt a lot of pressure to get good results for the team."
Journalists suggested to Hodgson that he had arrived at the club ahead of a pivotal season. Again the tactician was philosophical.
"Every day I drive into the training ground I see the year 1892," he said. "In two years' time the club will be 120 years old. I won't get involved in discussions about pivotal seasons. I realise you people have got to do that because every day's pivotal in your promotion of the news.
"If you don't mind, I'll take the 120-year view. There'll be plenty more games to be played and titles to be won."
Hodgson has squeezed a lot of good work into his first six weeks on Merseyside, helping to persuade top stars like Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to stay and bringing in Joe Cole.
Asked if he was enjoying life in L4, the boss replied: "I enjoy it everywhere to be honest but I'd be foolish not to like it here at a club like this where you've got the most magnificent training facilities, where you work with top players and where you play in front of arguably one of the most passionate and supportive crowds you could find anywhere in the world in a magnificent stadium.
"It would be very strange if I wasn't enjoying it, but I've enjoyed the work at all my clubs. The day I stop enjoying it is the day of my sell-by date.
"There have been an awful lot of uplifting factors. The way the fans have embraced me and given me support, I feel that.
"It's very positive that the players who are very classy players who were part of the very good season - the one before last - are still here, and we've been able to add one or two."
Hodgson has overseen just seven full training sessions with his entire squad due to late arrivals after the World Cup.
And he is keen to stress that moulding a team in the fashion he desires takes time.
"Everyone's working very hard at their game and to make sure we become a team, not just a group of very talented individuals," he explained.
"It's pretty obvious that we're a long way from where teams like Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are, teams who've been working under their coach for at least one year, and in the case of Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson, tens of years.
"I don't even pretend that a team after six or seven training sessions or a week and a half working with me is anywhere near the team I would hope we're going to be.
"You do your work on the training field every day, week after week, month after month."
Reporters who were packed into the Melwood press room were eager to know what expectations the gaffer thought were realistic in 2010-11 - and whether the Reds were genuine title contenders.
He responded: "I don't put myself in any bracket, I never have. I never make any predictions about what the club is going to do apart from doing our best. That's what we'll definitely do.
"I'll be very disappointed if at the end of the season the fans say this team has not done its best, or that it didn't try or work hard. We'll see how far that gets us.
"We have some talented players, we are a big club and one would hope that if everything falls into place we'll have a good season. I'm not going to make any bold statements about what we're going to do."
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