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Following the departure of Rafael Benitez, Liverpool installed Roy Hodgson as manager in the summer of 2010 - but his Merseyside tenure would ultimately last little more than six months.
Liverpool acted swiftly to appoint Hodgson in July after the Benitez era drew to a close by mutual consent. He arrived at Anfield with a gleaming reputation having helped Fulham to two of the greatest seasons in their history.
The Croydon-born coach's final act with the Cottagers was to steer them to the Europa League final against all odds, where they were narrowly defeated by Atletico Madrid in the Hamburg final.
However, Hodgson's endeavours were enough to clinch the LMA Manager of the Year accolade by a record margin, serving to add to an already rich footballing pedigree.
It was no surprise, therefore, to see the 63-year-old heavily linked with the vacant hot seat at Anfield and on July 1, the Reds confirmed his appointment on a three-year deal.
Upon signing in at Anfield, Hodgson commented: "This is the biggest job in club football and I'm honoured to be taking on the role of manager of Britain's most successful football club. I look forward to meeting the players and the supporters and getting down to work at Melwood."
After a below-par 2009-10 season, Hodgson's arrival reinstalled a wave of optimism amongst supporters, helped in no small part by the decision of star duo Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to commit their futures to the club shortly after speaking with the new manager.
The acquisition of England World Cup winger Joe Cole on a free transfer from Chelsea ahead of an extensive queue of other elite teams from across Europe only bolstered the feel-good factor reverberating around the walls of Anfield.
Things certainly begun brightly on the pitch for Hodgson too. He oversaw a routine 2-0 Europa League qualifying victory over FK Rabotnicki in Macedonia in his first competitive game in charge on July 29, before Liverpool won the return leg by the same scoreline at Anfield one week later.
On August 15, Hodgson took charge of his first Barclays Premier League game for Liverpool as Arsenal travelled to Merseyside on 2010-11's opening weekend.
Despite going down to 10 men on the stroke of the interval following a red card for Cole on his league bow, the Reds staged a gallant second-half display and duly took the lead through David Ngog. However, an uncharacteristic stoppage-time error from Pepe Reina gifted the Gunners a point.
Hodgson moved quickly to swell his midfield ranks in the aftermath of the departure of the Argentina captain to the Nou Camp, signing FC Porto's Raul Meireles to add to the earlier purchase of Christian Poulsen. Full-back Paul Konchesky would later be drafted in from Fulham.
But Liverpool's form was beginning to stutter domestically and after a scrappy defeat of West Brom at home and a low-key goalless draw at Birmingham, they suffered a morale-sapping loss against Manchester United in mid-September.
Having gone two goals down, the Reds staged a dramatic fight back as two Gerrard goals restored parity at Old Trafford, only for Dimitar Berbatov to break Kopite hearts with a late winner.
That frustration was compounded by a shock penalty shootout exit from the Carling Cup at the first hurdle to League Two outfit Northampton Town at Anfield just days later.
A 2-1 defeat to newly-promoted Blackpool in front of the Kop on October 3 left Liverpool languishing in the bottom three of the table - and the Reds fared little better in Hodgson's first Merseyside derby, crashing to a 2-0 reversal against Everton at Goodison Park.
However, the Europa League was providing Liverpool with some welcome respite from their Premier League form, and a hard-fought goalless draw in Napoli proved the catalyst for the Reds to embark on their best run of the campaign so far.
Following a win over Blackburn at Anfield, Hodgson oversaw his first league away win at the helm against Bolton on October 31 courtesy of Maxi Rodriguez's dramatic winner at the death.
Napoli were then put to the sword at Anfield thanks to a superlative second-half hat-trick from Steven Gerrard to all but assure the Reds of a spot in the knockout stages of the Europa League.
Liverpool then manufactured arguably their finest performance of the entire calendar year, comprehensively dispatching defending champions Chelsea 2-0 at Anfield with an on-song Torres firing a memorable brace.
A draw at Wigan extended the Reds' unbeaten run to six matches in all competitions, however defeat at Stoke City was cause for further disappointment. Back on the continent, though, a 1-1 draw in Romania against Steaua Bucharest was enough to secure top spot in Europa League Group K with a game to spare.
Meanwhile, dominant home wins over West Ham and Aston Villa, and a spirited display at Tottenham gave cause for renewed optimism, only for Liverpool to slump to defeat at Newcastle.
A surprise 1-0 Anfield setback to bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers on December 29 intensified pressure on the Reds.
And though a New Year's Day win over Bolton was achieved, a 3-1 defeat at Blackburn - Liverpool's ninth of the campaign - sadly proved a result too far for Hodgson, who vacated the Reds' helm by mutual consent shortly after.
During his six-month stint in the hot seat, Hodgson took charge of 31 games in all competitions, winning 13 and losing nine.
From Liverpoolfc.tv
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