Roy Hodgson has told Liverpool's star names it is their responsibility to inspire the club's revival and that the Anfield ownership saga is no excuse for another season of under-achievement. The new Liverpool manager, who has confirmed his interest in a £6m move for the Juventus midfielder Christian Poulsen, yesterday welcomed Fernando Torres's public commitment to the club following a summer of uncertainty surrounding the Spanish striker and captain Steven Gerrard. Nevertheless, Hodgson had little sympathy for Torres's previous declaration that Liverpool needed to sign "four or five" top-class players. He insisted the onus is on leading players "to look in the mirror" rather than blame a lack of investment by the co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett for the recent malaise at Anfield.
Hodgson is looking to recruit "quality signings … we are not looking at cut-price deals in any way", despite being unsure if a takeover will be completed before the close of the transfer window and how it might affect his budget. But he is adamant the fight for control of Liverpool should not distract Torres, Gerrard and others, even if the club does not make the signings they crave.
"People on the outside will have more sympathy with those comments than me," said Hodgson of Torres's frustrations with Hicks and Gillett. "As a player you have a chance to change things. If you don't think the team is doing as well as it should, as a player you can do something about it. If you are a big player, maybe you will. "I don't get involved in that. My attitude is that we want our big players because they will help the team to win. If they are not playing well and not helping the team to win I will be advising them to look into the mirror rather than look for excuses elsewhere and blame the owners for not having spent £500m.
"If we look at Real [Madrid] last season they spent a fortune on two or three players and it didn't give them what they wanted. They didn't win the Champions League or even get to the semis, and they didn't win the Spanish league or the Spanish cup. The two most expensive players in the world par excellence didn't help them get what they want. Are those players then entitled to say :'I should not have come here because the club lacks ambition.' Or is the club entitled to say: 'We spent £150m on you two, we wanted you to help us win.'"
Hodgson's rallying call echoes the assertion Rafael Benítez made after Liverpool's home defeat by Aston Villa last August, when the former manager said it was "up to the senior players to take the responsibility and take us forward". That comment was frequently cited as the moment a chasm appeared between Benítez and influential figures in the Liverpool dressing room, although Hodgson does not anticipate a repeat performance.
Hodgson takes charge of his first home game as Liverpool manager tonight against FK Rabotnicki in the second leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie. "What a coach does is to say 'look into the mirror and do something about it'. That is our job. The players of the highest echelon do look in mirrors and analyse performances, so I am not fearful of that. I am just sceptical about comments where players are questioning the club's ambition. I would tend to throw that back at them and say that the club's ambitions rest in your hands, you're the ones playing for us and you're the ones people are paying to watch."
Hodgson added: "The 20 or 25 big European clubs are only big clubs if they have good players. Players are the key. We pay to watch football. We do not pay to watch José Mourinho, we pay to watch his [Real Madrid] team. Sometimes I can be lured into thinking that is what fans do pay to see, that they go to see the owners in the stand, but I refuse to believe that. People go to watch players, like they go to watch film stars when they go to the cinema, not who the director was or who produced it."
The Liverpool manager confirmed there has been no bid as yet from Internazionale for Javier Mascherano, who was not on the original squad list for the Rabotnicki tie, and that he was keen on bringing 30-year-old Danish international Poulsen to Anfield. "One of our representatives went on Tuesday to Italy to speak to Juventus. Poulsen is a legitimate transfer target if it can happen," said Hodgson. "He's a player I know well. I kick-started his career some years ago now [at FC Copenhagen] and I've followed him closely ever since. "If we could get him from Juventus for a price I consider to be reasonable, he will be a very good addition to our squad."
