Roy Hodgson has refuted suggestions Brendan Rodgers needed to rebuild his reputation again after being sacked by Liverpool in 2015 and insisted he always has been a “good quality” manager.
The 72-year-old will do battle with the Leicester manager on Sunday at Selhurst Park and both have the unwanted tag of being dismissed from their role at Anfield.
Hodgson was able to recover and went on to manage West Brom before being handed the opportunity to take charge of England and now he finds himself at boyhood club Palace.
Rodgers’ path has taken him to Celtic – where he won seven trophies – and Leicester, who are threatening to break the Premier League top six monopoly this season, to show there is life after being sacked by Liverpool.
“You (media) make the reputation and then you decide the reputation is destroyed,” Hodgson said.
“As far as I am concerned, Brendan Rodgers was a good coach when he went to Liverpool, a good coach during his time at Liverpool and then a good coach after leaving Liverpool to work at Celtic and then Leicester.
“I don’t work along the basis that his reputation was ruined and he had to rebuild it. I saw it as him doing a good job at Liverpool, but he left in favour of someone else and chose his next job where he went and had great success.
“Now he has chosen his next job, so we are talking about a manager of really good quality who works for good, quality teams.”
Some would struggle to come back from failing at Liverpool, but Hodgson says self belief is key.
He added: “I would very much doubt he ever lost any belief. I never lost belief in what I thought I could do and I’m pretty certain Brendan Rodgers would be in the same category.
“Unfortunately with regard to so-called reputations, they are made for us and broken for us. All we can do is remain the people we are and if we think we are any good or have anything to offer, to keep offering that.”
While Leicester are third and enter this game following a 9-0 win at Southampton and a 3-1 Carabao Cup success over Burton, Palace and Hodgson have a good record against the 2016 Premier League champions.
It is four wins from four for the former England boss, with Wilfried Zaha scoring four of the 13 goals they have managed against the Foxes.
He is yet to get off the mark this season, but Hodgson commented: “If he was a penalty taker, he would have three goals already. He just doesn’t take penalties.
“For me, the guy who gets the penalty is often the guy who puts it in the back of the net, but Wilf doesn’t. He gives the duty to someone else.
“It would be nice if he could get off the mark soon, he is obviously desperate to do so himself, but we are more than happy with his contribution.”
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