The Roy Hodgson era is BACK at Liverpool

Anfield, once famed for fortress-like resolve, is beginning to feel like a scene from a decade past. Liverpool’s latest setback—a 2-1 home defeat to Manchester City that could easily have been 3-1 had a bizarre late non-goal been awarded—extended a winless sequence that has resurrected memories of the ill-fated Roy Hodgson regime.

The parallels are impossible to ignore. Since a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace triggered the club’s worst run of league defeats in more than 70 years, Liverpool have collected 24 points from their last 20 Premier League fixtures. Hodgson, working under very different circumstances, managed 25 from the same span before being dismissed in January 2011. The symmetry is striking, yet the wider context could scarcely be more different.

Hodgson inherited a squad in financial disarray, epitomised by Javier Mascherano’s forced exit to Barcelona on the eve of the 2010-11 campaign. There was no £400 million summer outlay to refresh the squad, no Premier League title the previous May to cushion expectations. When new owners NESV—now FSG—completed their takeover that October, Hodgson was an inherited appointment, making his eventual removal a straightforward call. Kenny Dalglish’s immediate uptick in results sealed the decision.

Current head coach Arne Slot, by contrast, arrives with the backing of heavy investment and, crucially, the goodwill that comes from delivering a league championship. That achievement alone affords a latitude Hodgson never possessed. Ownership continuity further strengthens Slot’s position; he is the chosen project of the same board that now evaluates him.

Perhaps the most sensitive variable is one no statistic can capture. The squad is still processing the death of forward Diogo Jota, an event whose emotional toll is impossible to quantify from the outside. Players themselves may not fully understand how it affects performance on a weekly basis. Back in June a downturn was widely anticipated given the circumstances; while impatience has grown with each subsequent defeat, the club retains the option to treat this campaign as an exception, judged through the prism of extraordinary grief rather than cold league tables.

Whether the board ultimately reaches that conclusion will determine if the Hodgson comparison ends at 20-game point tallies or extends to the same final outcome. For now, Liverpool must confront a more immediate concern: reclaiming Anfield as a venue opponents fear rather than relish. Until that happens, echoes of 2010 will continue to reverberate around the red half of Merseyside.