Roy Challenges Players To Build On Victory

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson
today challenged his players to
build on victory over West
Bromwich Albion last time out
and secure a first away success
of the season at Birmingham
this weekend.
The Reds boss felt his side
deserved more than the one
point they gained from the
opening two games of the
season, but he believes Fernando
Torres' winner in a hard-fought
clash with the Baggies a
fortnight ago could act as a
springboard for a sustained run
of winning results.
And the boss has urged his star
names to reach their top form as
soon as possible to aid the club's
quest for a successful campaign.
"We realise that every time we go
onto the field as Liverpool
Football Club we have a duty to
perform and a duty to win," said
Hodgson.
"My job is to prepare the players
and focus the players and then
it's their job to go onto the field
and be the players they are.
We've got players here who are
world famous and what they
need to do is bring that skill
which has made them world
famous onto the field week after
week. If we do that then you
become a winning team. If we
don't then you have problems.
"It's been a strange start for us
because I think the first game
was probably the best of all. We
didn't get the three points
against Arsenal, but to get a
point with ten men and to play
as well as we did was a
magnificent start. Then the Man
City game came along when we
didn't play as well and got well
beaten. That defeat soured the
mood a bit so it was good to get
back and win against West Brom,
albeit I don't think we played as
well as against Arsenal.
"We played a team who were
better than most people gave
them credit for. They weren't bad
at all on the day and played well.
We worked hard and stuck at
our task and if you are going to
have a good season then you
have to get your points that way
sometimes. It's not often going
to be easy in the sense you go
out there, score early, dominate
the game and it's a comfortable
win. In a 38 game season you
can count those games on the
fingers of one hand. Usually
victories have to be hard fought,
battled for and scrapped for, so I
was delighted we were able to
do that."
Hodgson will have the luxury of
an almost fully fit squad to select
from at Birmingham this
weekend, with only Dirk Kuyt
(shoulder), Fabio Aurelio
(achilles) and Joe Cole
(suspension) ruled out.
"We know Birmingham had a
good season last year," he added.
"They are a well drilled team who
have been together for a long
time and know what they're
doing. Away games in the league
are always difficult but if we can
get all of our players back and fit
then I'm hoping we'll get better
with every game and get a
result."