Liverpool's Roy Hodgson expects strong showing from Manchester City

Hodgson says Manchester City can emulate Chelsea
Manager intends to scour Liverpool's academy for talent
Liverpool's Roy Hodgson hopes his team can improve their away form against Manchester City tonight.
Liverpool's Roy Hodgson hopes his team can improve their away form against Manchester City tonight. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Roy Hodgson has issued a fine rebuke to the theory that his and Liverpool's miserable away form last season can be eradicated by a change of scenery or manager. "It's not about giving the coach a magic wand," he said. "And I am the ultimate anti-magic wand man." He does, however, subscribe to the view Manchester City's millions can transform them into title contenders overnight.

Liverpool lost eight times on their travels last term, winning only five league games away from Anfield, and face an immediate examination of their resolve under Hodgson at Eastlands tonight. Hope of a return to the Champions League is tempered not only by Liverpool's lack of new investment, with Kenny Huang withdrawing from the sales process on Friday night, but the continued largesse and development at City. And Hodgson believes the demand for a quick return on Sheikh Mansour's £130m outlay this summer alone is not without foundation.

The Liverpool manager said: "Chelsea did it. I'd say they were nothing like title contenders when Roman Abramovich came in and took over the club. Since he has, they have won titles. Blackburn Rovers did it, too, with Jack Walker, who came to a club that was never winning anything. They spent an awful lot of money on the likes of Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton and Tim Sherwood, and were champions almost straight away. So you've seen it done with Chelsea and you've seen it at Blackburn, so why isn't it possible at Manchester City?"

There will be no extravagant spending at Anfield in this transfer window, although Liverpool officials insist several bidders remain interested in buying out Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Sources close to Huang, however, claim his QSL Sports company is the only serious player in town. Regardless of who is telling the truth, Hodgson believes it is too early in his Liverpool reign – and too late in the transfer window – to embark on a City-style spree, even though Kenny Dalglish was sent on a scouting mission to look at PSV Eindhoven's Carlos Salcido and Ola Toivonen yesterday.

"I'd like money to spend if I had time to research where that money could be spent wisely," he said. "Giving me a lot now and saying: 'Go out and buy some players,' with one week of the transfer window left, would not be tremendously advantageous.

"I've only been here five weeks or so and first of all I'd want to make sure I had assessed absolutely everyone at this club, including those under the first team in the academy, just in case we have an outstanding 17-year-old. We might have a [Javier] Hernández so I don't want to go out and spend £50m on a Hernández if we've got one already in the academy. Secondly, I'd have to make sure we have scouted them as much as possible to make sure they are the same quality as the likes of Gerrard, Reina, Torres and Carragher. We don't want to get someone and find they're no better than what we have.

"Of course I would like money, though, just like Manchester United, Chelsea and every other manager in the league. I'd like to be able to spend that, but the most important thing is to get some stability and a platform so if we have money we can spend it wisely and not waste it."

What Hodgson does have in common with his opposite number at City, Roberto Mancini, is a shared history of managing Internazionale. And he believes that this experience has left them both immune to the respective pressures of Eastlands and Anfield.

The Liverpool manager said: "Mancini has worked at Inter and I don't think any English coach works under the pressure you get there. He's worked there, he's been a top-class player with Sampdoria and Lazio, and won titles at both clubs. Pressure will not be something that bothers him unduly. Inter is Inter. That's real pressure. It's an institution in Italian football, even more than AC [Milan]. They're a traditionally stronger club, they've been doing it since the 1960s. AC have only been doing it since the 1990s."

In Hodgson, Liverpool appointed a manager whose own away record at Fulham last season made them look seasoned travellers in comparison. Fulham won once away from Craven Cottage last year and only four times in total during Hodgson's two full seasons in charge. Asked if he was concerned with Liverpool's away form, the manager replied: "Give me a chance to bugger it up myself first!"