I was lucky enough to be at the first game under the new manager Roy Hodgson.
Even though it was only a draw, we can learn a lot about the new future of our club.
Firstly, the players were in their new black and yellow away-kit in a 4-5-1 line-up with N’gog playing up front.
In my opinion they only played in this new away-kit because they had to promote it. I personally like it but most of the people there would have loved to see them in they normal red kit.
At the beginning of the game the gaffer only watched and analysed the game.
Then from about 30 minutes into the game he started to give some advice to the players.
But over all Roy was more of a quiet manager.
Interesting was that he positioned a player on each post when GC took a corner.
Then he made some early changes in the second half but unfortunately it didn’t change the way of the game. Though I think it’s great that he made the changes not during the HT but only then when he saw that it’s still not working.
I’m not saying that the reserves team was bad, they weren’t, they tried really hard. But with this GC team, which didn’t contain much potential players, there was never a way of getting a great game.
We can only hope now that with the World Cup players back from their holiday he can finally start working on an again invincible Liverpool squad. But I have faith in Hodgson that he’s going to get us back on track. From what I’ve seen on Wednesday he seems like a really good manager with good tactics.
Lastly, I think Milan Jovanovic and Joe Cole are great signings so far. I met them both and they were really open and friendly. Jovanovic was really happy to be a Red, he couldn’t stop talking with the fans and giving them signatures and taking photos with them. This serbian player is also great for the merchandising because the serbian people are very proud to have a fellow country man in Liverpool. There were some serbian flags already. I also overheard some people say that Joe Cole’s being there was only for publicity. Well I agree, he was very popular there. Of course they have now to prove on the pitch that they’re worth their money.
So all in all it wasn’t a great game for the people on TV but it was very important for the players aswell as for the manager to get to know each other.
You’ll Never Walk Alone
-Nina