So after the performance versus Chelsea hopes were raised of Liverpool fans after a dominant display versus the champions. The hope that there would be some form of consistent attacking football to ensure that Liverpool would continue to pick up the points that are needed to keep climbing up the table. However we had two away games on the bounce and this had lead to a draw at Wigan and a defeat at Stoke. It seemed that an over cautious defensive approach had held us back and continues to do so especially when we play away from home.
This was followed by an international break which saw captain Gerrard ruled out for 3 weeks starting with the victory over West ham on Saturday after a hamstring strain sustained while playing for England. Liverpool where furious that Gerrard was on the pitch for longer than the agreed hour when Barry and Ferdinand were taken off as injury precautions both of which returned to play this weekend. Only thing that I took from this is the importance of the Liverpool skipper to both club and country.
So the game on Saturday allowed the Reds fans to see their team play in dominant fashion against a West Ham team who failed to turn up in the first half and where barely able to string two passes together.
However credit where it’s due, the team played well and stuck to their task of ripping part West Ham in the first 45 minutes with good performances all over the pitch. Even the much criticised Christian Poulsen had a good game which forced a save from Green just after moments earlier Fernando Torres rattled the cross bar in the second half.
However in terms of Poulsen, I think the opposition helped him there as West Ham did nothing in terms of creating chances and it was more like watching a training session at times attack versus defence, Green pulled off some good saves to ensure they didn’t lose by more. You can only beat what’s in front of you and Liverpool did that and although the opposition wasn’t great Liverpool can take positives but the worrying thing is that we don’t seem to be scoring many goals in the second half.
Now I see this as worrying as if we are in a loosing position and we are not scoring in the second half then we won’t pick up points where we may be able to nick a draw or even later go for the win, a good example of this is Manchester United coming back against Aston Villa to draw 2-2. Another thing we need to look at is sometimes another goal helps to seal the win. A good example of this would be Arsenal’s capitulation on the weekend versus Tottenham, has they scored one more goal I doubt Spurs would have gone on to beat the Gunners.
Back on to Liverpool much has been made of the worrying statistics about Roy Hodgson’s form as a manager away from home, as a manager in the Premier League. Roy Hodgson has been manager for 105 away games in English football. He has only won 13 of those games.
This is a particularly worrying statistic as throughout his whole managerial career in English football what it boils down to is this Hodgson has won the same amount as Liverpool won in just 19 games in 2008/09? 13 games, this is a shocking statistic and it is not real wonder to see why we struggle away from home.
So looking at some other facts about the current Liverpool manager is another one that is truly shocking prior to Liverpool, 713 career games, 311 wins. 43.6% win rate. So these statistics don’t lie about the manager. It shows that he does adopt a defensive approach and goes for draws in certain circumstances rather than wins the game against Manchester United shows that.
Hodgson has also not been happy with the lack of creativity in the squad, it’s plain to see that he got rid of two of our most creative players last season now out on loan. Aquilani was top assist-maker in the Premier League in first half of 2010. Insua was top assist-making full-back for the period between Aug-March and these are two players who he has let go on loan. He replaced these players with the likes of Konchesky, Poulsen and Miereles.
We do have a solid defence none of which are really confident on the ball and our midfield is very narrow too, also there’s not much support for Torres at the top end of pitch for many games this season he has been subjected to chase down hopeful long balls. After watching him play it’s clear for the fans to see that this isn’t the service he thrives off. So how the manager doesn’t understand this it’s not really clear.
It’s clear to see that the club doesn’t really have a vision in where it’s going and the style of football that they should be playing. The club firstly needs to establish a style of play before signing players. All teams have a style a philosophy of how football should be played. Two good examples of this would be looking Arsenal and Barcelona who look for players with certain characteristics within players to put in to their team.
This is what Liverpool need to find again a sense of direction and individual style to their play and the best way to do that is by finding that style with the current players at the squad, It’s is clear that they need a new model that will be adaptable for senior players as well as the youth and reserve teams.
I feel that doing this will give Liverpool a solid base then they will be able to get the right staff in order to get the team playing in the way they are expected to play. Once this footballing philosophy has been set up then it would be appropriate to find a manager who will implement this as Arsene Wenger has done at Arsenal.
For much of the season fans have been critical of Hodgson even though I am one of those people i do feel that some of the criticism has be brought on to the manager by himself. I think from comments around the squad that Benitez left to bemoaning the lack of creativity as mention earlier he has not helped him self.
Now things was never so bad under Rafa and it was actually evident that we improved under Rafa but under Hodgson it looks like we will be stuck in mid table obscurity, it’s strange that we find ourselves in the situation we do, Hodgson record to date isn’t even as good as Rafa’s at his worst and it doesn’t even match up to his own record at Fulham.
It is clear to see that we need a manager who has the ability to adapt ot different situation and a forward thinking approach because it seems that even though we took a step forward versus Chelsea overall we are going in a backward motion at the moment and it could take time to build the forward momentum again.
So you called about manutd,arsenal,barcelona and the others. Why don’t you quit as a liverpudlian and become their fans. I still back Hodgson and ehatever he do.. Because the family badge is upon his chest.. And I will suport whoever use that badge.
I cant belive you have wrote this article..
Give the man a chance will you? you say we never had it this bad under Rafa, he lost the plot last year, Rafa Rants and bad tactics, bad buys etc
Who the hell is out there to take over? yes I would have liked Kenny but who is to say he will be any better. So we change the manager, he doesnt do that well and then you start writing articles! We sack the next manager because of the fans..most of whish are from SOS who scream in the street like classless scallies..
Get a life or we will end up like newcastle, screaming wannabees..
Have some bloody patience and show the guy some humility!
Roy Hodgson has not had a chance, give him time to buy the right players…Poulson was a stop gap because Roy didnt have any money..
Get behind him will you..
Good on you guys who posted wanting to defend Roy Hodgson. However I don’t think Arun’s points are that off-target. All his managerial career Roy has managed underdogs, and had them playing in a certain way. Too many of our players don’t fit that – they’re stars who want to dominate the opposition. That gives us a choice – change our style to aim to dominate teams (and even though last season was so poor, we did that on many occasions then, but have only managed it once this season) or change the players to fit Roy’s preferred style. Changing the players means less like Torres and more like Poulsen, in case you were wondering. Changing the style means getting in a new manager.
i do think hodgson needs to think about wot players play where with the right tactics will help us more gainin points but also needs time to do this.
In dont want Roy to set the blue print that has served him well with lesser teams to my team Liverpool but he may just be trying to get us to January when we can buy some attacking players. But in the mean time until the people who can make changes take any action if its needed, remember we need some calm after the last 2 years, we need to support the team and that goes for the manager too.
The board are just finding their feet so dont make it hard for them because they have a hard job, but so does the manager..I feel we can make 4th if we all pull in the same direction! Yes if we go on a loosing streak action will need to be taken but then again its all about the right man. They dont come easy!!!
Have some patience and stop trying to brush the muck under the rug and hope it will be ok again..
Hodgson is out of his depth,we are playing negative sh*te football playing for draws away from home playing players out of position (meireles)signing below average players (Poulsen) Hoofing the ball for nando who i wouldnt blame for wanting out, west ham were terrible which allowed poulsen a one off good game.13 away wins in english football FFS!Get him out now before all hope is lost.
With Inter being linked with Capello, The FA will hopefully target Roy as he new England manager. The current Inter form may end up providing a dignified solution to a management conundrum which risks alienating /estranging many fans from the club for the want of keeping a tradition that does not advocate firing managers even though the manager himself is not conducting himself in a manner befitting of such a position.
People defending the current setup are admirable for their belief in a time like this but I like many would rather douse a flame in the kitchen before it consumes the house.
Clubs of comparable size would not tolerate going through what we are going through, i.e Rafa is under pressure at Inter for underperfomances of comparable nature to liverpool. Many people would argue we are doing enough to keep up with the top 4 but I dont accept us staying close but falling ultimately short as happened last season when we would hold the spot periodically but ultimately fall away when it matters.
The arguement about inheriting a squad and Royy wanting his on players seems to ignore that for most of his 35 year career he has worked with directors of football using one title or another who did the buying while Roy worked with the players at his disposal. How that is different now I dont understand given he himself confessed as much when Commolli was appointed. When he signed up to manage the club, he knew the players at his disposal and presumably felt he could work with them and improve them otherwise why would he bother leaving Fulham players who when reading between the lines, he seems to rate higher than inherited players at Liverpool.
How a manager can struggles with a core that includes Reina, Gerrard and Torres is disheartening. Even top teams are lining up for Johnson who is not being utilised effectively by the overly defensive nature of the new tactics. Many people laud Gareth Bale, a similar right back who is now an effective winger while we doddle with Johnson who in my opinion would also be devastating as a winger. watch any other manager buy him or take over and do exactly that. what better way to have Kelly come in as the right back and see Johnson save us millions for a right winger, money that can therefore go towards a left sided winger and a striker.
Against West Ham it was frightening to see the difference in touch between Konchesky and Aurelio. Konchesky is laboured and you half expect him to give away possession and be caught out of possession while looking. To sum it up can anyone compare the attributes of our right backs and left backs and I believe the answers would be our problems in a nut shell.
I don’t believe in supporting a manager just because he wears the club’s crest on his chest. I will full heartedly support Roy if he had demonstrated good tactical acumen, good leadership and had moved Liverpool in the right direction even if we don’t win every single game. Sadly, he really has not shown to be any of these.
With the experience that he had, he should have been able to at least get the team to play decently. Mind you, he had better quality players at his disposal now than at Fulham.
Football should be simple – accurate passing, good mobility and effective, i.e. score goals. Arsenal and Barcelona demonstrated that only that Arsenal are less effective. So, the system that we adopt should be kept simple.
Roy is definitely not long term solution. Kenny is stop gap measure to buy us time to find a long term manager. I don’t see how giving more time to Roy would make any difference. I agree with the article. We had creative midfielders and he loaned them out. Merieles will prove to be a good buy but only if Roy plays him correctly.
We cannot keep saying that Torres is still not back on song. Even if he is, without players to feed him the ball, how is he going to score. The whole set up of the team is an issue. And this where we have an issue with Roy.
Can’t we get aquilani back???
I think the majority of us agree with this article and I’m sure the majority of Liverpool fans have learnt by now (even after a mere 14 games) that we shouldn’t get overly excited over the result. Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic with the win and especially with the football BUT I still don’t believe Roy will open his eyes and mind and realise that THIS is the kind of football the players (at his disposal) CAN deliver. THIS is the kind of football the fans want to see, week in and week out (win, draw or lose!). The only reason Mereiles (brilliant performance btw) played in central midfield was because of Gerrard’s absence, otherwise you can bet he’ll play him on the right. I won’t be surprised if he puts Mereiles back on the right of midfield this weekend (seeing that Lucas & Cole will be back). I won’t be surprised if we go to White Hart Lane with a defensive set up because he’s so afraid of losing.
Until and unless he shows more guts and opens his eyes to how much talent he actually has at his disposal – I still feel he should go after Christmas (as I don’t see the owners sacking him right now). Ofcourse we want to support anyone who wears the Liverpoool badge but NOT everyone who wears a Liverpool badge on OR off the field wears it with enough pride to deserve that support.
I’m not saying Hodgson isn’t trying…. but he’s not the manager to carry Liverpool forward.
I hope Hodgson takes a good look at our match against West Ham and realises how our players played their best football because they were in their rightful positions. A good manager should look at the strengths of the players and not force them to change positions just because that’t the way the manager wants it. The majority of our players are way better than the ones he had at Fulham but he just doesn’t want to acknowledge it because they’re not the kind of players that suits his LAME system.
So for those of you who think we fans are just being too critical of Hodgson, think again. We’re being critical of him because we’re worried he’s dragging Liverpool FC into a mediocre club and not moulding and nurturing LFC back into the best English club they should be.
HINT OF THE WEEK
“Johnson has privately indicated that he does not believe a switch to Inter hinges on the future of Maicon as Benitez has plans to play them in the same team, with one of the pair in a more advanced role.”
Taken from the latest article on EOTK.
@lfc4ever, are you for real when you say that “Hodgson is dragging Liverpool FC into a mediocre club” because that is EXACTLY what it has been since last season under Rafa. Mediocre clubs finish outside the top six in their domestic leagues, mediocre clubs are only capable of qualifying for the Europa League as Fulham has done, mediocre clubs have not won a league title for 20 years. That is PRECISELY what Hodgson has inherited from Rafa. Accept and deal with it.