THE ‘honeymoon period’ has commonly been used in football circles to refer to the first few months of a manager’s tenure at a new club, during which criticism is largely held in abeyance while new ideas, players and tactics take effect.
In the over-hyped, success-or-failure atmosphere of the Premier League however, the phrase is beginning to reflect the timescale of the more traditional sense of a short, pleasant break following a new union – maybe a week, a fortnight at best.
If he was under any illusions about the level of scrutiny he would be subject to as manager of Liverpool, Roy Hodgson would need to be under the spell of both Derren Brown and Paul Daniels to now believe he will be given a decent period of time in which to make his mark and transform the fortunes of our great club.
The absurdity of this position after just four league games seems to escape the critics, but I suppose we should expect nothing different.
The performance at Birmingham, where the outstanding Pepe Reina obviously saved us from defeat, led to the usual outcry about the deployment of two holding midfielders, lack of creativity etc, which dogged Benitez through the latter stages of his stay.
While these comments are no less valid now than then, did anyone really expect that we were going to be instantly transformed into a free-flowing, attacking unit with the wave of a new managerial wand?
Just a glance at the team for the game would have revealed that the side had lost Mascherano and Kuyt from the usual line-up last season, so it was highly unlikely that we were going to show significant improvement on our appalling recent away form.
Fernando Torres also came in for some over-the top criticism from some quarters.
Being at the match, I was thankfully spared Jamie Redknapp’s claims that Torres was ‘diabolical’ and looked ‘uninterested’.
Now we all know that Fernando’s demeanour can sometimes reflect frustration at poor service or over-physical attention from opponents, but to heap opprobrium on a player of his class who has struggled with serious injury and had just returned from a totally pointless trip to Argentina just defies belief.
I think I’d get frustrated too if my teammates kept banging aimless balls at my head from 50 yards away.
The reality is that last season was not just a ‘blip’ in an otherwise steady progression under Benitez; it was the unhappy conclusion for a team which, for whatever reason, had lost its way and its confidence in equal measure.
That the decline was terminal was there for all to see, and it will take time to rebuild a playing style which will accommodate the new signings and allow all players to understand their roles.
