No more excuses.. no more regrets.. no more apologies..

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JUST DO THE RIGHT THING and GO !!!!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roy-Hodgson-Resign-Or-Liverpool-FC-Sack-Him/154966791204901

My Match Report on our LSCM website..
http://www.lscm.com.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=211&catid=47&Itemid=41

If nothing changes in the coming weeks.. it will be a very bleak season if you wear the RED of Liverpool..

Surely, this game once again amplifies the glaring shortcomings of our players.. and indirectly, the indecisiveness of our dear manager.

We started out with a seemingly strong first eleven, enough to see off Premiership newbies Blackpool.. or so we thought.

Carragher was shifted to the left side of defence in the absence of Konchesky, Agger and Aurelio, all stricken down by injury. Kyrgiakos came in to partner Skrtel in the middle with Johnson, as usual, at the right.

In the heart of midfield, Poulsen was paired with Gerrard, with Meireles playing as the makeshift rightwing again while Kuyt supported Torres upfront. Cole completed the attacking formation on the left.

Within the first 5 minutes, both sides had chances to open the scoring !! A power freekick by Blackpool just palmed away by Reina.. and then a Torres low cross, just missed by Cole in front of goal. Sadly, by the 8th minute, Torres was limping and signalling to the bench to be replaced. In came Ngog as Torres trudged off into the tunnel amidst worried looks of the fans in Red and also in Black.. the Black of the “alternative jersey” protesting against our current American owners.

Soon after, it was a ding-dong, end-to-end stuff as play switched sides at great speed.. aided by a Blackpool side who went for the jugular, while our Liverpool side were just blocking off the blows but were still attacking back with equal vigour.

Yet one reason why Blackpool was enjoying chunks of possession and looked threathening then was the fact that our own midfield collapsed like a deck of cards at times. Poulsen was chief culprit throwing away loose passes and equally careless in possession at times. Even players like Meireles, Kuyt and Cole were guilty.. more so as they lacked the cutting edge creativity into the final third of the pitch.

We were also caught out very often at the flanks, especially on the right with Johnson and occasionally on the left with Carragher.

It was from one of these forays that Blackpool gained a penalty after slack defending and a silly tackle by Johnson in the box. Penalty converted but the home crowd were still singing and urging our Reds on. Credit to the home fans !!

Soon after, a “guilty” Johnson wanting to make amends, was getting forward with greater purpose. Regretfully, when you start playing with your anger as the driving force, you get clouded and lose focus. How many times have we seen Johnson advance in a menacing position only to waste his delivery or pass, just when an open Meireles was available as the better option. In fact, this goes back to the repeated decision by Roy to play Meireles there despite the ineffectiveness of this pairing in the Utrecht game. Maxi would have coordinated play better with Johnson. But both Maxi and Jova were “made to pay” for their role, or lack of it, in the Man Utd and Northampton losses respectively.

You can sense disaster was going to happen as we made little headway to trouble the Blackpool keeper. And happen it did at the end of the half, in injury time. Again a Liverpool attack that broke down lead to a sweeping counter-attack that brought hordes of Blackpool players right to the edge of our penalty box. And as our defenders sat back to cover their line, Blackpool players had a free role in the middle to dictate play as our own midfielders Poulsen and Gerrad were already stranded upfield.

So a perfect pass that beat the offside trap enabled the away fans to rejoice in an unimaginable manner. 2-0 up in what used to be “Fortress Anfield”..

We did respond in the second half. We were now carving out more chances, especially with BOTH Carra and Johnson advancing at will to support our attacks. Ngog had a near miss just a minute into the second period. A well-flighted cross by Kuyt that Ngog headed just wide. Oh, how things would have changed if that had gone in !!

But we didn’t wait long, a quickly taken freekick by Gerrard at the edge of the box had Kyrgiakos meeting it with a thunderous header that went in off the underside of the bar. 1-2 and it was game on with 40 minutes to play for !!!

REDS poured forward at will.. it looked like it was only a matter of time the Blackpool goal would cave in.. Then another bad miss.. A swift and precise throw from Reina set off Carra on the left who placed the ball for Cole to do the rest. And Joe did everything right; turning the defender.. positioning himself for the shot.. had the goal in his sights and the keeper at his mercy.. he missed !!!!

So it was time for Jovanovic to come in for the shaky Poulsen. After today, those Lucas-haters amongst us better reconsider our stand.. because if you consider carefully.. the Brazilian would have done a better job than the Dane, favoured blindly by Uncle Roy.

We still had our anxious moments.. Blackpool returned to their threatening self after seeing us blew chance after chance.. and losing the way countless times when we got near the penalty box. The introduction of Maxi for Cole in the dying minutes did fashion a final last-gasp diving header by Soto which was cleared by the keeper.

In the end, to cut a long horror story short.. we lost out.. again.. to a much more determined side, who wanted to run for the ball, challenge each situation and work for each other tirelessly.. attributes that were sadly insufficient in our Men In Red.

We have 2 weeks to do something that can change our fortunes.. we all know what it is.. New owners aside, it is now increasingly obvious that we need a new man in charge.. We need King Kenny !!!!

For now, we will suffer being in the relegation zone for 14 long days..

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13 Comments

  1. We can’t sack him now, We dont even have the money to afford his sacking Bro!

    It’s sad really, but I get a feeling as soon as a new owner comes in, things will really start to kick off.

    Right now, we need to ride through this HORRIBLE HORRIBLE STORM.

  2. The thing that i do not understand is , we have used many options and so far nothing works, i say play a young left back instead of these patch up jobs. We need goals then stick torres up front with ryan babel for 6 weeks and see how that goes. Pacheco on the right wing, Mereiles with gerrard in the middle. Cole left that can alternate with Jovanovic, Kuyt if need be as he played there for the dutch. I hate to admit it but jamie must go or become super sub. Johnson Skertl agger and mavinga at left back.

    Players that need to go Poulson, Lucas and Maxi Rodriguez. sell them get some players with speed and dribblin ability to become less predictable. If we keep losing then use some young guys for the future: ecclestone, Amoo,etc etc. Play players in their rightful positions and stop the using of band aids to patch things up week after week. young players will bring enthusiasm back and freshen this club up. Its very stale at Liverpool. start earning the famous red jersey rather than handing it around cheaply !!!!!!!!!

  3. we can call kenny,but kenny still got the same players to choose from. Liverpool’s key player to turn this crap around is bring ryan babel into the team and not just for a 25 min cameo. play the guy 6 weeks for 90 plus minutes. he craps all over Poulson Maxi and Lucas. Play pacheco also!!!!!!!!!

  4. I know people are saying give Roy a chance. However, if there had been a chocie of managers available / clambering for the job, would he have been our first choice. I appreciate the experience of the man, but he had a huge job to take on after the failings of Benetiz. Kenny should be there, surely it must be breaking his heart to see the increasing amount of lack-lustre performances of his beloved club. What is going on behind the scenes is obviously going to have some impact on the players, but the need for somebody strong and passionate about the club is needed now to take us forward and allow us to put this abmismal start to the season behind us.

    YNWA

  5. No matter what way you cut this, we had 11 men on the pitch that should be capable of winning the game hands down.

    Calling for the head of the manager, meh, knee jerk. You need to be questioning the guys who went out and DID NOT have the desire (we all know it’s not the lack of skill) to win the ball or the game.

    I hope the boys who started the game are deeply ashamed because in the final analysis that is where the blame squarely lies.

  6. I cant help but notice that we have quite a few players that have recurring injuries. It’s plain to see that some of our players cant stand the rigours of the epl. If that be the case surely they should move on.

    As talented as a player can be, it does no good that they sit on the bench for half the season stuck in a vicious cycle of “injured, just back from injury, out of form due to lack of game time” When will it stop? No one wants to see the likes of Torres go but the question is are we better off with a striker not as talented but available for selection for most of the season? Or rather have one of the worlds best strikers sitting on the bench half the season?

    Now I know you are probably thinking what guarantee do we have that another striker will not get inured and the answer is we dont. But personally I think we need to get back to the basics of the english game and get in players that are physically adept and up to the challenge of the epl. Just my opinion.

  7. who appointed roy hodgson at the first place??????mr chelsea and purslow right????did anybody else fancy the job?????yes king kenny ( the last manager under whom we won the league)so the board chosed roy in the place of king kenny!!!!! why??????answer is, because he’s been around europe coaching loads of clubs!!!! with great respect to all the clubs he coached around europe but none is in the caliber of the premier league!!!!!!!execpt fulham which he brought to the final of europa league!!!!and lost!!!!!now we are in relegation and we still ask for patience!!!!how long????we are going through 9pts deduction soon and we have only 6pts!!!!time to open our eyes and stop being so nice to our manager and board!!!!!!

  8. I would never bet against the Reds, but having seen the way we have been playing recently I very nearly popped in to Ladbrokes to put some money on Blackpool.

    I don’t get to Anfield much these days – kids, money and I now live 200 miles away – but against Sunderland I sat high up in the main stand. I was able to watch the play and see what you don’t see on the TV – the way we are set up – the defensive line – the positioning of the players. It was a disgrace.

    We are defending 10-20 yards further back. This means that the defence is sitting too far from the midfield and for the first time i can remember, teams (even Northampton & Blackpool) are able to play football against us getting men in between the midfield and defence.

    The midfield is all over the place. With no natural width the wide players are cutting into the centre and when we have posession there is nowhere to go with the ball – movement is shocking from the players and we haven’t stretched the play once this season. It seems as though we are playing with 10 men all the time.

    We look vulnerable at set pieces. The move away from the zonal marking system has not worked – although i appreciate it can take time to adapt.

    Torres looks lacklustre. We are creating no chances and he is playing with his back to goal – not on the shoulder of the last defender looking for his trademark runs.

    Poulsen is too old – too slow and not fit to lace Mascherano’s boots. The way we are set up with the gap between midfield and defence means he is too exposed. He is ineffective and the worst foreign player i’ve seen at Anfield since Istvan Kozma (give me Bruno Cheyrou any day of the week). By the way, given that he only lasted 60 mins against Sunderland and Blackpool – Hodgson can see this – if he plays him in the Derby then this will mean that Hodgson really does not know what he is doing.

    The point of all this rambling is this. It is Hodgson’s fault. He picks the team. He bought Poulsen. He sets them up and tells them how to play. He has told the back 4 to sit deeper and it is not working. What bothers me most is the lack of passion, desire and fight shown by our players. Again i see this as a result of Hodgson’s ‘disciplined’ approach which is stifling the players. We have created less chances so far this season than i can ever remember – even in the dark Souness days. It is not good enough and we are playing poor football for the first time i can remember in 30 years of going to Anfield.

    Hodgson was only moderately successful at Fulham. They finished 12th last year and won once away from home. Well i can see us finishing 12th this year and it is simply not good enough. Another manager could get more out of this team and that is why i want him to go and go quickly. The rot has got to stop.

    Kenny would get another 20% out of this team and set them up to play football. He might not be able to turn water into wine or turn Babel into Barnes – but he will get them playing football the right way and scoring goals. I would rather we struggled playing the right way, creating chances, than the Hodgson way.

    I don’t buy the argument that the ownership situation is affecting the team. A good manager would sit down with the players and explain the situation to them. It could even act as a galvanising affect – creating more harmony and a feeling that the players are in this together. In short it is poor management.

    I have never been more disillusioned with Liverpool and it isn’t going to get better quickly. I’ve never called for a managers head before but he should go now. It is embarassing and he will go down in history as our worst manager ever. Do it now before we really do get ourselves in to a relegation fight.

    Shanklyman – YNWA

  9. When are people going to realise lfc are a dead club. Unless we get a filthy rich owner who cares for the club and builds a huge grand new stadium lfc will be doing nothing but struggling to stay up. Unfortunately the players of today are nothing compared to what i’ve seen in the past. Players of today dont really care and thats a fact. Over paid models if you ask me. There is no incentive to play with your heart out when your on 100k plus a week

  10. Shanklman, you are spot on about identifying why we are doing badly I agree many of those weaknesses are due to Hodgson bad judgment. and thing will improve if he drops Poulson and bring Mierles instead of him. Poulson has been so bad that many fans are asking for Lucas to brought back.
    I like Shanklyman hope that the Blackpool game would be the kick in the ass we needed.
    I dont think sacking Roy is right atm.

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