Roy Hodgson

The Reds have suffered their worst-ever start to a Premier League campaign and currently sit in 18th place in the table with just nine points from their first nine games played.

The boardroom battle for ownership of the club has hardly helped matters but, with John Henry now in charge, the financial side of affairs at Anfield appear to be sorting themselves out (Liverpool 11/1 to win Europa League).

The low point came in the 2-0 Merseyside derby defeat to Everton, which left Liverpool staring up at all but two teams in the top-flight table, while last Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers gave the club a boost and ensured that they are now only in the relegation zone on goal difference.

Such is the current state of the standings that one win from a team in the lower reaches could propel them into the top half and Hodgson’s men will have a chance at moving in the right direction when they face Owen Coyle’s side at the Reebok Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The former Fulham tactician admits that the early part of the campaign has been one to forget but believes that it is how the players react to adversity that will ultimately determine if they come out of the season with any credit.

“It is quite easy to kick people when they are down,” he said. “We are down at the moment so the kicks are going to rain down on us. We just have to deal with it.

“The first quarter of the season has not been a good one for us in terms of league form. The next three quarters is going to be very important.

“At the moment we are still in a poor position as far as our league position is concerned. We need to get a result in every game to get out of it.”

The 63-year-old is determined not to get carried away with things, after the successful takeover and the Blackburn victory, but he is confident that there is enough quality in his squad to improve their league position over the next couple of months.

“I am a bit wary of saying the problems are over, we have turned the corner, but I believe in the team and I believe we are capable of doing a lot better in the next quarter of the season than we have in the first quarter,” he added.

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Australia

The Socceroos have only picked up a solitary point from both their games and have a poor goal difference due to the 4-0 hammering they received in their opener against Germany. Australia have also had a man sent off in both their matches so far and have come under fire from their nation’s media for their disappointing conduct both on and off the field.

Neill was visibly disappointed about the criticism and stated that he believed it to be totally unfair. Australia need to beat Serbia by three or more goals and then hope that Germany beat Ghana. (Australia 16/5 to win)

He told reporters: “Everything that’s been written in the last couple of days is the fact that we’re all of a sudden a team of whingers. I think it’s everybody else who’s doing the  whinging.

“Australia have never been a team that whinges, we don’t want to be regarded as a team that whinges.”

“Did we whinge when we were down to 10 men (against Ghana)? We took it on the chin, stood up and in the end probably could have won the game. That’s not a team that whinges.

“A team that whinges is a team that would have lost 3-1 or 4-1 and then come in and complained to the referee.”

The comments came after both Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell told the press that they felt hard done by after being sent off against Germany and Australia respectively and Cahill was even quoted as saying that side had “have never been given the fair go”.

The skipper was keen to come to the defence of the Everton playmaker and insisted that that the midfielder had been misquoted.

“Tim never said that. Why would he?” Neill added. “Every single player went out of that dressing room the other day and took it on the chin. There is nothing we could have done about it.

With regards to Kewell’s dismissal was also quick to defend the player, saying his comments were borne out of pure frustration.

“Harry Kewell said he has worked hard to get where he has and now he has been sent off after 20 minutes,” Neill continued.

“That is not really a whinge, that is disappointment. “But we are going to give him another game, we are going to try anyway.”

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