The Liverpool FC Thread

reply to post by Kandinsky


I agree, he had to go, mainly because of the hysterics of the fans. If fans had any sense of fairness they would look at the context and appreciate how difficult Hodgson's job has been and in time I think many will come to realise that his record wasn't as bad as they make out.

I'm sure those who were calling for his head will be made up that King Kenny is now in charge, what a wonderful position to be in for Dalglish, it's win/win for him. If he does well, he will get the applause. If he doesn't Hodgson will get the blame.

Let's just hope his history brings a bit of a lift to the club as a whole, that's the only thing we can count on.

reply to post by LiveForever8


8 of the 11 players that lost to wolves were in the team that beat Real Madrid 4-0.

He didn't have that hard of a job - the truth is, he's a very bad manager with regressive tactics, who was voted in by the press and Purslow.

If his signings of Konchesky and Poulsen weren't enough to fill you with dread, let alone the fact he also wanted carlton cole and robert huth, then seriously, you need to stop watching Sky.

A career win percentage of less than 40% with an away wins record of less than 20% tells you all you need to know.

He messed up at every big job he had - the inter fans booed him, and he got Blackburn relegated.

Benitez on the other hand, has a career win percentage of well over 50% and during his Liverpool time had a win percentage 2nd only to Paisley in all competitions, and 3rd behind Paisley and Dalglish in the league.

As usual, the media will portray him as being hard done by - but the fact is that the media are clueless when it comes to football, and the only fans who really got behind his appointment were those who get their opinions from Sly Sports.

Any fan who knew anything about football knew exactly what what going to happen.

It's not down to the fans that he left, and contrary to popular media opinion the squad is pretty good, having sent 14 players (more than any other team in the EPL) to the world cup.

It was all down to Hodgson, and his tactics of playing 2 banks of 4 very close together, inviting the opposition on and then hoping to get lucky with a hoof up to Torres.

He bought a CM then played him on the right wing, wouldn't play Agger because he actually plays the ball out of defense, and got bullied into playing Gerrard in CM which is probably his worse position.
That coupled with persisting with the dreadfull konchesky, and getting rid of 2 of our best youngsters to bring him in was terrible business.

The fans who wanted him out were educated fans, who knew they were seeing pure dross, week in, week out and for that reason they wanted him gone.

Yeah I'm glad he's gone.

I kinda feel sorry for him, mainly that he got the job.... I was annoyed that he got the job and I'm annoyed that anyone (Liverpool fans, media or whoever) actually thought he could do the job.

Benitez had to go when he did.... had the owners gone a year or two a go... Benitez would still be boss and we'd be doing a lot better, that wasn't to be, fans had had enough of Rafa and he had to go.
Hodgson is not even half the manager Rafa was.... Hodgson is a journeyman manager.... a joker who will guarantee you boring, defensive football and mid-table mediocrity.

I predicted we'd finish between 8th and 12th this season.... and I still think It'll be somewhere around there.... that's with WHOEVER is in charge.

We don't have the right balance at the club and morale is at an all time low.... you can see it in every player.

I watched Newcastle go through it the season before last (My best mate's a Newcastle fan) and I really feared that we may go the same way this season.
I think with Hodgson now gone, early enough, we may save our season.

I truly hope so.

I'm embarrassed for our club and for us.... to see us struggle and lose at home to teams we should wipe the floor with, is never easy.... but to see a joke of a manager like Hodgson (reminds me of McClaren at England) on the bench looking clueless.... just adds insult to injury.

It's not a very appealing place to come at the moment for new players, so I can't see us getting anyone of a world class standard in this or the next transfer window, unless we secure European football.


We'll see I guess.


At least we're not walking alone.

reply to post by budski


I think you need to come to terms with the fact that Benitez has gone and the team that remains is a shadow of it's former self. Comparing career win percentages is just silly. The funny thing is that Rafa's record and Roy's record (after the same amount of games in charge) are actually VERY similar and we aren't doing as bad points wise (compared to last season) as some would make out. Especially when you factor in the very much improved Man City and Tottenham squads.

Chelsea are a perfect example that the so called "top teams" are finding it much more difficult to compete in the league this year.

Also, Hodgson actually did a decent job at Inter, whether the fans liked him or not, coming in after a terrible start to the campaign and steering them to a respectable 7th place . Even when he was sacked he was sitting comfortably in 3rd place.

Like I've said before, I too was very frustrated with some of his tactics and his defensive posturing (especially at home) and I'll make no excuse that he didn't seem to know what formation he wanted to play. And his away record is just abysmal. But I wouldn't dream of blaming him 100%, like you do, because the situation at the club was shambolic before he even arrived, it was a job that not many managers would envy taking on, and when you crunch the numbers, it isn't the complete disaster that some make it out to be.

Let's just hope Dalglish gets us through this season in a respectable manner and then come the summer we get someone in who will kick a few people up the backside. More money in the transfer market would be nice too.

reply to post by LiveForever8


I came to terms with that a long time ago - but to suggest that hodgson is anywhere near Rafa in terms of managerial ability is laughable.

Also, Rafa's points average in his last 2 seasons alone was higher than Houlliers at any time during his reign.

You really think win percentage doesn't count?
Then how do you win the league?

Let me put it in simple terms for you - the top managers have a win percentage of > 55%

Hodgson doesn't.
He was a terrible appointment, and contrary to what you think, quite a few top managers applied for the job, amongst them was Pellegrini, who was told he wouldn't get the job because the board wanted an English manager.
Purslow, playing real life championship manager was behind his appointment, and it shows how deeply the odious little man became embedded in the club, when it transpired that he was telling hodgson which players to get rid of.

So, we now have a top class player setting Serie A alight with game after game of outstanding performances, who was sent out on loan by hodgson, on the advice of purslow.

hodgson has never been anything other than a journeyman, and to praise getting one of the top clubs in the world to 7th spot is laughable.

All he can do is play not to lose rather than play to win.

We will have a top manager in place come the summer - count on it.

He may not be the presses choice, and by default the choice of sly sports and therefore armchair fans who don't have a clue about football, but he will be a young manager who knows how football should be played.

We are 2 or 3 players away from challenging for the title - it really is that simple, unless of course you believe andy gray...

With Commoli in charge of transfers though, it will be young players that we get in, and with a young manager to get the best out of them we will be right back up there.

reply to post by budski


I didn't say win percentage doesn't count, I said it was silly to compare the win percentages of Benitez and Hodgson as their circumstances are completely different. What really matters are their respective records whilst at Liverpool and, like I've already said, they are very similar indeed.

Letting Aquilani go was absolutely a mistake. I just don't know how Hodgson could state that Aquilani wasn't going to be in his plans for the upcoming season. Ridiculous. But nobody knows what goes on behind the scenes and we must remember that he was a Benitez signing and so might not have been happy playing under a different manager.

It's hardly laughable. They were in a right state when he took over and so 7th was most definitely a respectable position to finish in, especially considering they were only a few points off third place. Only a season or two earlier they had been one point off relegation, they were hardly the Inter Milan we have seen in recent years.

Yeah, I agree we need to start buying young, something that has been hard to do without the appropriate funds, but it's absolutely essential in order to progress.

I'd like to see Villas Boas in charge, I've heard some great things about him. Only time will tell.

reply to post by LiveForever8


The only thing that matters is their CAREER stats, and they show Rafa to be a far superior manager.

Even if you look at the same period last season, to this, Rafa's record is a LOT better.

Hodgson was and always will be a joke - a journeyman, still stuck in the 80's who managed to blag his way into top jobs, only to be found out in a short space of time.

And in order to employ this clown, purslow sacked the best manager we have had in 20 years.

purslow told hodgson to get rid of aquilani - that's a known fact and hodgson himself confirmed it in an interview.

Did you know that purslow told the medical staff to hide Torres injury from rafa so that we stood more chance of getting into the champions league?
Rafa sussed it out, and took him off against Birmingham, but Torres still needed another op.

If you want to talk about working under difficult circumstances, take a look at Rafa's last season, where he was undermined at every turn, with purslow briefing the press against him, and sabotaging him from within the club.

I'd prefer that we get him back, although I doubt it will happen, so that we could see exactly what he does with the right backing, and then make a judgement about him as a manager.

Losing to the mancs is seriously depressing, especially went they have the bent ref webb swinging the game for them.

I saw a lot of positives in the derby game, defensive atrocities aside.

Man, we really need some good defenders... and another striker.


I'm not sure we're gonna get anyone this window although I think we need it, we need a pick me up and a new striker could be just the job.


We'll see I guess.

reply to post by blupblup


LFC thread, thank Gerrard!
Definate improvement in the derby for sure, new LB in this window sort out CB in the summer.
Suarez or Negredo guys?

Originally posted by Rocketman1
LFC thread, thank Gerrard!
Definate improvement in the derby for sure, new LB in this window sort out CB in the summer.
Suarez or Negredo guys?

Suarez, he's a great player. And great result today, the passes that led to that final goal made it such an amazing way to cap the game off. Looks like we're finally returning to being a decent side again.

reply to post by Essence


All hail the King
Cant agree more we are really clicking into gear, good to see us going back to counter attack away from home, the tactic always worked under Rafa, and i think it will breed more confidence which is what we needed.

I must say i would be stoked if we got Suarez but im dubious the dutch league is not the premier their is a massive element of risk. I think Negredo would be a safer bet we could then play Torres in the hole, which is were he used to play at A.M, if we go 4-4-1-1. Thay way we keep the Gerrard Torres telepathic link

reply to post by Rocketman1


You are not gonna get Suarez, he's gonna stay with us. What does Liverpool think, that we'd let go off him cheaply? Ajax is currently considering to file a case with FIFA, since Liverpool has negotiated with Suarez' agent without informing Ajax.

Very cheap, the way Liverpool did this.

reply to post by Mdv2


In what way, exactly?

Reds agree Suarez deal

Liverpool Football Club announced this afternoon that they had agreed a fee of up to 26.5million Euros with Ajax for the transfer of Luis Suarez, subject to the completion of a medical.

The Club have now been given permission by Ajax to discuss personal terms with the player and his representatives.

Good for you guys. He will not disappoint. Nice transfer fee of €26,5 million. Pitiful though that we always must sell our talented players.

Yeah £22.5m for Suarez..... That's not bad.


We only paid about £20m for Torres and he's worth at least double that now.


I can't wait to see Suarez in action.


We need a couple more quality signings, preferably wide men and defence, and then we can put a really, really good run together and maybe get into Europe.


Here's hoping.

reply to post by blupblup


Here's hoping we keep hold of Torres.

Rumours are he's handing in a transfer request.

reply to post by LiveForever8




Really?


Well I said a while ago that we should have cashed in when the bids were £50m.... we could have got a couple of strikers as good.

BUT

I do like Torres and when he's in form and firing on all cylinders, it's hard to find a better striker.


Hmmmmmmm


I don't mind if he does go, but I thought that one of the conditions to Suarez moving was that Liverpool were going to keep Torres?

Possibly rumours


But I don't think we, a) need to sell Torres or b) should sell him.


We are financially secure now (relatively speaking) and we need to build on the squad we have.
We have a lot of dead-wood but Torres is not the player we need to be selling.


I dunno.... We'll see I guess.


If Chelsea offered £50-60m.... it would be hard to say no to be fair.

reply to post by blupblup


Really disappointed in him, just when things are looking up he bails on us.

Once someone like him hands in a transfer request there really is nothing you can do, that's the only reason we managed to stump up the cash for Suarez, they knew Torres was going and so upped the bid.

Oh well, let's hope Suarez can have as much of an impact as Torres did on his arrival.

Talk about a fresh start