Hodgson left out the entire starting eleven players from the previous encounter against Manchester United; and when Liverpool went  ahead after only nine minutes, it looked like a good decision.  But when Northampton drew level in the second-half, and even more shocking, went ahead 2-1 in extra-time Roy Hodgson was probably wondering what was going on.

David Ngog appeared to save the day with an equaliser four minutes from the end of extra time to take the cup tie to penalties. Beforehand, both teams had chances cleared off the goal line to win the game.  But it was Northampton who went on to win on penalties 4-2.

Listening to football phone-ins after the match several callers suggested the Liverpool job was too big for Hodgson, a step too far and that he couldn’t cope with the pressure of expectation.  Maybe those fans don’t know the level of success Roy Hodgson has had in football management, and why he was targeted as a replacement for Rafa Benitez this summer.

As a player Roy Hodgson was on the books with Crystal Palace in the 1965-66 season but only ever played at non-league level, most notably for Gravesend & Northfleet (now Ebbsfleet United) between 1969-71.  But as a manager he has had success at club level in Sweden with Malmo, in Italy with Udinese and Inter Milan and in England with Fulham; though his time at Blackburn was less successful. Possibly his greatest managerial achievement was taking Switzerland to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup & qualifying for the Euro 96 finals.  Before then Switzerland hadn’t qualified for a major tournament since the 1960s.

There’s no denying the poor start Hodgson has made at Liverpool, who are currently 16th in the Premier League with five points from a possible 15, but things need to be considered here.  Firstly, Roy Hodgson has by and large inherited a squad from Rafa Benitez; and the squad is not that good.  Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reyna, Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson and possibly Martin Skrtel & Dirk Kuyt on their day aside, Liverpool are not a team with strength all over the pitch, let alone in depth.

The addition of Joe Cole is a step in the right direction but there is no way that Liverpool can continue to be considered one of the best sides in the Premiership, let alone a member of the so-called ‘Big Four’.  Past glories need to be forgotten and money needs to be made available to rebuild a depleted squad left in a worse state by Rafa Benitez than he inherited from Gerard Houllier.

Whether Roy Hodgson is the right man for the job or not, I believe Liverpool have got to be satisfied with a mid-table finish at best this season, and hope that new owners are put in place by next summer and money made available, not simply to buy new players but to reinvest in their academy to bring on a new generation of young players like Steven Gerrard & Jamie Carragher.

Manchester City won the game 4-3 against Sunderland in another exciting goalfest.  But on the final whistle Mark Hughes appeared subdued, and after congratulating each of his players he applauded the crowd and gave them telling goodbye wave.

Surprisingly, Mark Hughes claimed on Sunday that he had not been told until after the match that was to get the sack and be replaced with immediate effect by Roberto Mancini, who had been in the crowd at Eastlands.

Mark Hughes went on to say it was agreed at a pre-season meeting with the Manchester City owner, Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour, that  a top six finish or 70 points was a realistic target for the 2009/10 season. After Saturday’s win Manchester City was in sixth place and on target to reach 70 points this season.

Furthermore, they had only lost two games all season. One to a last minute injury time winner against the current Premier League champions Manchester United (4-3) and last week to an inform Tottenham Hotspur (3-0), the best record in the Premier League Chelsea have already lost three games, Manchester United have lost five games, Arsenal have lost three games and Liverpool a whopping seven games – none of which have sacked their manager, yet!

They are also in semi-final of the League Cup.  Manchester City’s first semi-final for 28 years!

The fact that Manchester City, not necessarily Mark Hughes, have spent £200 million of Sheikh Mansour’s money is apparently enough to sack a perfectly good young manager who I believe this season would have finished with a trophy and a very real possibility of guaranteed Champions League football next season, which in turn would have opened the door for some of the biggest names in world football to choose the blue half of Manchester over the red devils.

Too many draws and not enough wins was of course Mark Hughes’ problem. This I believe was caused by too many top quality attacking options and not a strong enough defence.

Panic buying led to inflated transfer fees for Jolean Lescott and Kolo Toure when the lure of money failed to capture John Terry’s signature in the summer.  And to rub salt into wounds, former captain Richard Dunne, who was hounded out of the club by someone, is having a great season for Aston Villa.

Whether Mancini will continue to look for proven players in the Premier League or use his Italian connections to bolster a very weak defence we will see in the coming January transfer window.

Certain players definitely appear to have been bought on the request of Mark Hughes.  Rocky Santa Cruz followed him from Blackburn Rovers and Craig Bellamy who had always been admired by Hughes since his days as manager of Wales I would be confident in saying had Mark Hughes stamp of approval.  But remember how both Hughes and Robinho looked dumbstruck the night  he was signed from Real Madrid?

Fitting then that in what appeared to be a final stand, Mark Hughes left Robinho and Emmanuel Adebeyor on the subs bench on Saturday and Rocky Santa Cruz and Craig Bellamy both had a great game and scored three of Manchester City’s four goals.

Roberto Mancini has managed Fiorentina and Inter Milan, where he won three successive Italian League titles and two Italian Cups, before being dismissed in May 2008 and replaced by Jose Mourinho.

Mancini definitely has the right pedigree to take Manchester City to the next level, and with the astute appointment of Brian Kidd as first team coach maybe Manchester City are looking to emulate the successful Anglo-Italian  partnership of Jose Mourinho and Steve Clarke at Chelsea. But with several players – Rocky Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy, Shay Given, Gareth Barry, Kolo Toure, Nigel De Jong, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stephen Ireland – already stating how unhappy they are with the sacking of Mark Hughes, Mancini faces a baptism of fire as he prepares to take over the reigns for three games in quick succession, starting with an awkward game against Stoke City on Boxing Day.

At the beginning of the season I wanted Manchester City to break into the top four but now there’s a part of me that wants them to finish mid-table and get thrashed by Manchester United in the forthcoming League Cup semi-final!

But there is one position that Harry Redknapp will surely be looking to strengthen, come the January transfer window.

Last night Tottenham beat Liverpool 4-2 to go throught to the quarter-finals of the League Cup. Liverpool scored both goals with headers from corners, and goalkeeping clown Heurelho Gomes was again to blame for both goals.

Now, if the Spurs strikers were still finding it as hard to score as they were before Redknapp’s arrival then Tottenham could have lost this game. Luckily for Spurs, Roman Pavlyuchenko has at last found his scoring boots, and Harry Redknapp’s decision to give on loan striker Fraizer Campbell a chance ahead of the inform Darren Bent, also paid off. Between them they scored two goals each.

I wonder what was going through Redknapp’s mind when Gomez was stretchered off in the second half after a nasty collision – David James mobile phone number, perhaps?

Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy has already stated there will be no money to spend in January, and that Harry is doing a great job with the squad he has inherited.

As far as Portsmouth are concerned, I can’t see Levy giving Redknapp money to buy strikers like Jermain Defoe or Peter Crouch, or midfield general Lassana Diarra if they continue to win games over the next couple of months. But surely Redknapp will state a case for buying a first-class goalkeeper to stop leaking goals.

Last season Harry Redknapp won his first major trophy as a manager. After last night’s victory over Liverpool, there are only three games remaining if Tottenham are going to retain the League Cup.

This was Tottenham’s greatest margin of victory over their north London rivals in 25 years.

Tottenham got going straight away and stopped Arsenal’s passing game and deserved the lead with a Jermaine Jenas goal in the third minute. And they were 2-0 upwhen Nicklas Bendtner scored an own goal in the 27 minute, and Dmitar Berbatov should have scored a third goal for the home side before half time.

Arsenal and Arsene Wenger were well and truly rattled. Cesc Fabregas was introduced from the bench before the half time whistle, as was Eduardo and Emmanuel Adebayor in the second half. But Tottenham were on fire and Arsenal could do little to prevent the onslaught.

Arsene Wenger’s bad day at the office was rounded off when Arsenal team mates Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner. had to be pulled apart by captain Willaim Gallas. While the new Tottenham manager Juande Ramos has already etched his name into Spurs legend.

Tonight Everton try to over turn a 2-1 first leg result against Chelsea at Goodison Park, for a chance to play Tottenham in the League Cup Final to be played on the 24th February at the new Wembley Stadium.

Both Semi final games were a rare treat for the neutral, with end to end attacking football from start to finish. While Chelsea controlled much of the game at Stamford Bridge, Everton showed amazing character to get back into the game and set up a grandstand finish in the final 20 minutes, that could easily have gone either way.

And in last nights game it was a similar story only this time it was Tottenham away at the Emirates stadium, who enjoyed most of the possession and were made to pay for their surprisingly lack lustre finishing. At 70 minutes the young Arsenal team somehow grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck earning an equaliser and once again setting up for a frenetic end to end finish.

If this is what the Carling Cup is all about, then I am all for it. I just hope the second leg fixtures will bring more of the same.