Topic: The Media honest/dishonest assessment thread

[Elzar]

What anoys me most is them now blaming the performances on everything but the manager. Whereas last year it was the manager and only the manager.

Roy Hodgson is being defended none stop by sky. And unfortunatly, Sky is who people seem to believe the most.

[redmonkey]

that's what i don't get

all these great players that played for us most are still mates, esp with kenny, surely they should be looking to him as the role model for how an ex-red should act . . . but they make a concious choice to sell their souls to the pundit-ary £

really makes you feel sick sometimes . . . feels like a real betrayal

Exactly.

All of these players are minted from their playing days.  Why can't they do something honourable in retirement?

[Trumps]

   

Liverpool's gold standard has been debased by army of tin soldiers
Roy Hodgson's problems are not only of his own making but reflect many years of expensive blow-outs in the transfer market

Roy Hodgson saw on his arrival from Fulham that Liverpool's first and reserve team squads were burdened with mediocre or unused personnel. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Paul Hayward
The Guardian, Thu 30 Dec 2010 17.44 GMT
Comment
When Paul Konchesky joined Liverpool this summer a rival Premier League manager invoked the ghost of Julian Dicks, another bald English left-back from central casting. "He's not a Liverpool player," the manager remarked of Konchesky, who was jeered from the pitch in Wednesday night's 1-0 defeat at home to Wolves, days after his mother had allegedly called the club's fans "Scouse scum" in a hastily erased Facebook post.
"A Liverpool player" is an instantly evocative title that evokes Dalglish, Keegan, Souness, Lawrenson and Rush. The question of who is – and who demonstrably is not – a candidate for this deification has exercised the minds of Liverpool supporters since Graeme Souness handed the shirts of living saints to several comparative journeymen in his three-year reign from 1991-94.
Konchesky's acquisition from Fulham by Roy Hodgson was a rational attempt to solve a positional shortcoming and is cited here only because Liverpool's deep structural weakness is easy to identify. In the 20 years since they last won the league title, an ocean liner of substandard or under-achieving footballers has disgorged its human cargo at the Mersey docks and sent it up to Anfield, where the team now sit in 12th place in the Premier League, three points above the relegation zone.
On his own journey from the Thames to the Mersey, Hodgson saw straightaway that Liverpool's first and reserve team squads were suffocating under the weight of mediocre and unused personnel. A reader of highbrow fiction, the former Fulham manager used a fine phrase to describe the surfeit of drifters he came across while Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Dirk Kuyt did most of the hard work. Hodgson called them "purposeless."
Critics will say he has added to the ranks of the purposeless by taking delivery of Konchesky, Christian Poulsen and Milan Jovanovic (Joe Cole and Raul Meireles are of a higher calibre and still have time to assert their talents). But equally Hodgson could point to his excellent rebuilding work at Fulham and his shrewd eye for a hidden jewel. He could also say Liverpool are deluded by old glories (Carol Konchesky said that, too) if they think the budget exists to spend like Manchester City after so many expensive blow-outs in the transfer market.
Simply: Liverpool have recruited dozens of duds over the last 10 seasons while Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have signed very few. The Kop, the team's best players and Hodgson himself are toiling against this debilitating imbalance, which has become manageable only in bursts: first when Rafael Benítez's team won the 2005 Champions League and then when Gerrard, Carragher, Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano gelled to propel the 2008-09 side to second place in the Premier League with 86 points.
Any professional footballer will tell you a trophy-winning team needs a decisive ratio of gifted players and committed winners. Benítez's best side possessed that magical half-dozen. But when Alonso and Mascherano left, Torres lost interest and Gerrard and Carragher were hampered increasingly by injuries, the mediocrity all around them again became Liverpool's defining characteristic.
There is no memory game on red Merseyside quite like the recitation of nearly-men and no-names – starting with the forwards. Sean Dundee, Erik Meijer, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Fernando Morientes, Titi Camara, Ryan Babel, David Ngog and Andriy Voronin demand inclusion. In other wide or attacking midfield positions room would be found for Anthony Le Tallec, Albert Riera, Mark González, Jermaine Pennant and Bruno Cheyrou. Defenders worth a mention are Philipp Degen, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Andrea Dossena. This random selection from a lengthy list leaves out many obscure French or Spanish purchases who barely sniffed first-team action. The vast scale of waste is a huge rolling problem for a club once renowned for precision in the scouting department. Each wave of mistakes creates a new challenge of culling and dispersal, restricts budgets and overloads those players capable of challenging for titles with the responsibility of carrying passengers.
The homegrown Liverpool contingent have complained privately for years about this annual influx of sub-standard punts. A scattergun transfer policy has conspired with the failure of the academy system to produce heirs to Gerrard, Carragher, Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler. Under extreme pressure to correct the slide of Benítez's last campaign, Hodgson tries to perform major surgery on a bloated workforce while bad results whip up a wrecking gale.
The emotional disengagement of Torres bites at the hopes of supporters because he is the one world-class foreign import still wearing the Liver bird, unless Reina creeps in. Called to the stand, Gérard Houllier and Benítez would defend themselves with weighty evidence. Houllier won a domestic and European cup treble in 2001 and Benítez took them to two Champions League finals (winning one) from 2005-07. Neither, though, could bounce the team any higher than second in the Premier League.
Both surrendered that momentum straight after building it. Houllier spent £20m on Salif Diao, Cheyrou and El-Hadji Diouf in the summer before Liverpool fell back to fifth (2002) and Benítez went from second in 2009 to seventh 12 months later. The reason, in both cases, was a dilution rather than a deepening of the talent pool.
So an exasperated Anfield crowd mock the manager ("Hodgson for England" they sing) while Liverpool arrive in a new year with their worst points total since Don Welsh's team were relegated in 1953-54. The club's new American owners, who have no experience of making football decisions, must calculate whether to back Hodgson's cull or simply transfer a chronic structural problem to another manager.
In the past 10 years major transfer miscalculations by Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd can be counted on the fingers of two hands. At Liverpool they swarm like sheep. The Noughties were an age of mass auditions and experimentation, and culpability extends to owners and directors.
Unveiling Ron Yates, Bill Shankly invited journalists "to walk around" the "colossus" he had signed. Yates was "a Liverpool player" in the intended sense. Not just good, but special. There are too few now.

[Classic goal]

the horrible fuckwits are pulling out all the stops to defend their precious Hodgson and they are painting us as the villains in order to achieve it. Fuck them. We know what we want and their agenda driven shite can't change that.

[John C]

read patrick barclays twitter today - he's either the biggest WUM ever or simple.

What did he say mate. PB is a bad, bad knobhead to be honest.

[scottys3k]

   
 But when Alonso and Mascherano left, Torres lost interest and Gerrard and Carragher were hampered increasingly by injuries, the mediocrity all around them again became Liverpool's defining characteristic.
There is no memory game on red Merseyside quite like the recitation of nearly-men and no-names – starting with the forwards. Sean Dundee, Erik Meijer, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Fernando Morientes, Titi Camara, Ryan Babel, David Ngog and Andriy Voronin demand inclusion.

disagree on FSP and def David Ngog!

Defenders worth a mention are Philipp Degen, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Andrea Dossena.

Soto has been prob our most consistent player!

The homegrown Liverpool contingent have complained privately for years about this annual influx of sub-standard punts. A scattergun transfer policy has conspired with the failure of the academy system to produce heirs to Gerrard, Carragher, Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler. Under extreme pressure to correct the slide of Benítez's last campaign, Hodgson tries to perform major surgery on a bloated workforce while bad results whip up a wrecking gale.

we did have some good youngsters coming through like pacheco, and now rafa's buys of Shelvey, Kelly, have proven thheir worth!)

hOWEVER, the comment that Jova was actually rafa's signing should be mentioned though haha)

[John C]

Paul Haywood is another smug faced prick but you can''t disagree with our decade of poor transfers.

[Red Bird]

Thats seems to be his Twitter job wind up Liverpool as much as he can.

I agree. He's a poor journalist whose main mission seems to wind up Liverpool fans. I'd ignore him, if I were on tweeter.

[vader90]

Unveiling Ron Yates, Bill Shankly invited journalists "to walk around" the "colossus" he had signed. Yates was "a Liverpool player" in the intended sense

Mr.Haywood, you never knew the intended sense at all and that sentence you actually used to defend Roy Hodgson is the one which debases his entire time here. I am surprised that English is your language of profession.

[Mr Rossi]

Paul Haywood is another smug faced prick but you can''t disagree with our decade of poor transfers.

A decade of poor transfers wtf?!!! What he means those players who won us 2 FA Cups, 2 league Cups, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Cup and 2 European Super Cups? Surely he cant mean those players? Those players who also helped us achieve our record points total in the EPL and helped make us one of the most feared sides in europe? Nah surely he cant mean those players. Only a complete numpty would think they've all been poor transfers.

[Laughter is the best medicine...]

paul hayward you are a fucking mongoloid

[Mr Rossi]

paul hayward you are a fucking mongoloid

Mongoloid lmao!!! For some reason when I read that I got a picture of an android John Terry in my mind.

[GrkStav]

How the heck is Milan Jovanovic in the same category as Konchesky and Poulsen?

How in the heck did HODGSON bring in Jovanovic?

Hodgson disavowed being in any way desirous of or instrumental in bringing in Joe Cole, for crying out loud.

He misleadingly has taken credit for Meireles, even though he knew NOTHING of him and his playing capabilities as evidenced by his having used him, repeatedly, on the right flank. When he was FORCED to deploy him in his proper role, next to Lucas, as a CM tandem in a 4-2-2-2, he shone. Predictably for such a clueless man, as soon as Gerrard was fit, he shipped Meireles back out to the flank, with predictable results. Hodgson once claimed that Meireles was brought in to make up for Mascherano's loss.

Was a now finally fit Aquilani part of the 'purposeless' contingent of players that Hodgson found himself 'burdened' with?

What was the rationale of first trying to unload Insua and then bringing in Konchesky to shore up the LB position?

What the fyck was up with spending good money to bring in Brad Jones?

Why on earth was ANY money spent on acquiring the services of Poulsen?

We "sold" Nemeth for a pittance. We loaned-with-an-option-to-buy-for-peanuts El Zhar to PAOK and Plessis to Panathinaikos. I am ok with the latter move, but El Zhar was a perfectly serviceable squad player, very useful as a wide player, on both sides.

As Rafa said repeatedly, we were 3-4 quality acquisitions away from having a deep enough, quality-enough squad to compete for Champions League football.

[REDbrown]

Now saying Liverpool fans will be thrilled if MON gets the job.

Honestly, I kinda rate MON. If nothing else he is extremely stubborn and doesn't take shit from anyone, much like Benitez. He also did a decent, if not awesome job at Villa, there is no denying that. That said, he was fucking cringe worthy during the Barry saga from a Liverpool perspective, but had I been a Villa supporter, I would have loved how he handled it.

[therockbox]

Honestly, I kinda rate MON. If nothing else he is extremely stubborn and doesn't take shit from anyone, much like Benitez. He also did a decent, if not awesome job at Villa, there is no denying that. That said, he was fucking cringe worthy during the Barry saga from a Liverpool perspective, but had I been a Villa supporter, I would have loved how he handled it.

He did an alright job at Villa.  He's left them with a stunningly average squad though, and the man has absolutely no idea of how to manage a team over a season.  Every year Villa burned themselves out around February, and it was only the complete and utter inability of the clubs outside the 'top 8' or so to progress that kept them within screeching difference of 4th place.

Plus, the jumping around on the sidelines is the sign of a man who isn't in control.  His reaction to Torres' last minute winner at Villa Park last season was as bad, if not worse, than Roy's face rubbing against Newcastle.  Luckily for him his passport, coupled with his jumping around being misconstrued as 'passion', means his record has avoided serious scrutiny.

Average manager, shithouse of a man.

[IanBrown]

The body language on MOTD said it all for me, really.  Hansen was intimating that Hodgson was on the verge of getting sacked, but then after a look from Lineker and a shuffle in his seat by Shearer, backed off and said it was just a choice between a January transfer kitty and no help at all for Hodgson.  Shame, really.  He should have just come out and said it.

i noticed that.  bit similar on sky, Gray and Redknapp before the game were saying how the midfield should work well with Merelies and Kuyt out wide.  Then they blamed Torres and N'Gogg and avoided pointing out how poor the midfield was.  wonder why?

[REDbrown]

He did an alright job at Villa.  He's left them with a stunningly average squad though, and the man has absolutely no idea of how to manage a team over a season.  Every year Villa burned themselves out around February, and it was only the complete and utter inability of the clubs outside the 'top 8' or so to progress that kept them within screeching difference of 4th place.

Plus, the jumping around on the sidelines is the sign of a man who isn't in control.  His reaction to Torres' last minute winner at Villa Park last season was as bad, if not worse, than Roy's face rubbing against Newcastle.  Luckily for him his passport, coupled with his jumping around being misconstrued as 'passion', means his record has avoided serious scrutiny.

Average manager, shithouse of a man.

When Benitez was here and MON was touted as his replacement, I was in full agreement with your sentiment. With Hodgson here, MON has magically transformed from a hysterical prick, to an almost sensible guy. This is the effect Roy is having on my brain.

[conman]

I can't describe the English media...

words fail me

I can honestly say "i feel sick when i think of them"... Cannot read an article on Liverpool these days unless its by certain non agenda driven journo's.

[The Jackal]

Guardian Weekly podcast discussing LFC/ Roy (first 8 mins). Fairly accurate assessment for the most part.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/audio/2010/dec/30/football-weekly

[John C]

A decade of poor transfers wtf?!!! What he means those players who won us 2 FA Cups, 2 league Cups, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Cup and 2 European Super Cups? Surely he cant mean those players? Those players who also helped us achieve our record points total in the EPL and helped make us one of the most feared sides in europe? Nah surely he cant mean those players. Only a complete numpty would think they've all been poor transfers.

We've purchased some world class stars and just a few bargains like Hyypia & Pepe but you'll probably be shocked what our turnover of players has been in a full decade mate. I bet its close to 200 players who at the time of purchase were first team hopefuls.

[FernandoTourettes]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/aug/06/premier-league-preview-liverpool

Just to note:

Guardian writers ( on average ) predicted us to finish 6th with Roy this season back in summer.

[Promised to never post on RAWK again]

Liverpool fans' backlash leaves manager Roy Hodgson twisting in the breeze

Roy Hodgson's grip on his position as Liverpool manager appears to be loosening after comments suggesting he had never enjoyed the full support of the fans prompted a furious backlash on Merseyside.

By Rory Smith
30 Dec 2010

His remarks, made in the aftermath of the 1-0 defeat to bottom club Wolves, are also believed to have caused concern among the club's hierarchy, who fear his relationship with the Anfield public may now be stretched beyond repair.

Hodgson stated after the defeat to Mick McCarthy's side on Wednesday that he hoped Liverpool's "fans would become supporters" after failing to offer him their backing throughout his six-month reign.

The comments were seen as a serious error of judgment by the club's owners, Fenway Sports Group. Thousands of fans demanded his dismissal on websites and internet polls, with one survey finding that 97 per cent of supporters favoured his departure.

Though John W Henry and Tom Werner, the American group's principal backers, have shown nothing but support in public for their beleaguered manager, in private they are believed to harbour concerns that the furore marks the end of any hope he had of winning over the fans, who offered ironic chants of "Hodgson for England".

FSG had hoped to allow Hodgson to continue until the summer – when his position would be reviewed – but concerns are growing that, should results continue to prompt almost unprecedented insurrection in Anfield's stands, they may need to act much more quickly.

Liverpool face Bolton at Anfield on Saturday before travelling to Blackburn on Wednesday. That is followed by an FA Cup fixture against Manchester United. A programme of five games in 15 days is rounded off by a Premier League fixture with Blackpool, rearranged from Boxing Day, and the Merseyside derby with Everton.

There remains little appetite for a change of manager mid-season – especially with such an intimidating schedule looming – but with the club hovering just three points above the relegation zone, FSG know poor results might force their hand.

The sound of Anfield voicing its displeasure will not, at least, have come as a surprise. Henry and Werner are well aware that Kenny Dalglish's name has been chanted several times this season, while the pair's appearance on a phone-in on the club's official television channel this month triggered a string of calls demanding Hodgson's dismissal.

Then, Werner and Henry offered Hodgson time to rectify the early errors of his reign. Werner admitted that "performance has to improve, especially on the road, but we believe in what he is doing", but made clear the pair's displeasure at Liverpool's poor league performance. "This season and the last half of last season were unacceptable for Liverpool," said Henry. "We are in sync with fans for what it is going to take."

Given the nature of Liverpool's capitulation against Wolves – the visiting goalkeeper, Wayne Hennessey, did not make a save of note in the second half – FSG are unlikely to believe that Hodgson is the man to entrust with that task. It is thought both Henry and Werner are concerned that the former Fulham manager may not retain the faith of the club's squad, despite his statements to the contrary.

The fans, too, made it clear on Wednesday that they would like Dalglish installed immediately, at least until the end of the season. FSG, though, are not thought to favour appointing an interim manager, should they dispense with Hodgson. The group wish to rebuild the club around a young coach.

While such a policy almost certainly condemns Hodgson at the end of the season, it may help secure his position in the short term. Of those managers who FSG could identify to take charge for the coming seasons, only Frank Rijkaard, the former Barcelona coach, is not under contract.

Hodgson is unlikely to be the only victim of Liverpool's season of nadirs. Liverpool will announce the departure of chief scout Eduardo Macia by mutual consent on Friday, and with the club's wage bill running at more than £100 million a year, FSG are thought to be increasingly convinced of the need for a major overhaul of the playing staff in the summer.

The Liverpool manager has made it clear he does not wish to sell any players in January – his dismissal of suggestions from Wolfsburg that they had been offered the chance to sign Daniel Agger, and the imminent recruitment of Sylvain Marveaux from Rennes, suggests the emphasis is on strengthening resources – but either he or his replacement may have to oversee an exodus in June.

Few who played on Wednesday improved their chances of remaining at Anfield beyond this season, with Ryan Babel admitting on his Twitter account that he did not have the "words to describe" the performance, while admonishing the club's fans for turning on Paul Konchesky. FSG must decide whether it is those players, or Hodgson himself, who is first to depart.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/8232437/Liverpool-fans-backlash-leaves-manager-Roy-Hodgson-twisting-in-the-breeze.html

[4pool]

We have 22 points from 18 matches...the first half of this season.

Last season under Rafa---our last 18 matches: 8W-6D-4L 30 points.

Last season under Roy at Fulham their last 18 matches: 5W-4D-9L 19 points.

Now 19 plus 22 = 41 and probably relegation.

I bet he'd take 30 points that Rafa achieved with these crap players of Rafa's, wouldn't he?

Naturally Roy is reasonably happy with 22 points as that means he's doing better than he did with Fulham the last half of the season. So what could be wrong in his eyes? He's improved 3 points.

Of course IF we were on 30 points from 18 matches like we were with Rafa the last half of last season, we'd have a shot at 4th place. But we're not. And we have no chance at 4th thanks to Roy.

Go on media, do your research.

[Reeves]

   

Liverpool's gold standard has been debased by army of tin soldiers
Roy Hodgson's problems are not only of his own making but reflect many years of expensive blow-outs in the transfer market

Roy Hodgson saw on his arrival from Fulham that Liverpool's first and reserve team squads were burdened with mediocre or unused personnel. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Paul Hayward
The Guardian, Thu 30 Dec 2010 17.44 GMT
Comment
When Paul Konchesky joined Liverpool this summer a rival Premier League manager invoked the ghost of Julian Dicks, another bald English left-back from central casting. "He's not a Liverpool player," the manager remarked of Konchesky, who was jeered from the pitch in Wednesday night's 1-0 defeat at home to Wolves, days after his mother had allegedly called the club's fans "Scouse scum" in a hastily erased Facebook post.
"A Liverpool player" is an instantly evocative title that evokes Dalglish, Keegan, Souness, Lawrenson and Rush. The question of who is – and who demonstrably is not – a candidate for this deification has exercised the minds of Liverpool supporters since Graeme Souness handed the shirts of living saints to several comparative journeymen in his three-year reign from 1991-94.
Konchesky's acquisition from Fulham by Roy Hodgson was a rational attempt to solve a positional shortcoming and is cited here only because Liverpool's deep structural weakness is easy to identify. In the 20 years since they last won the league title, an ocean liner of substandard or under-achieving footballers has disgorged its human cargo at the Mersey docks and sent it up to Anfield, where the team now sit in 12th place in the Premier League, three points above the relegation zone.
On his own journey from the Thames to the Mersey, Hodgson saw straightaway that Liverpool's first and reserve team squads were suffocating under the weight of mediocre and unused personnel. A reader of highbrow fiction, the former Fulham manager used a fine phrase to describe the surfeit of drifters he came across while Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Dirk Kuyt did most of the hard work. Hodgson called them "purposeless."
Critics will say he has added to the ranks of the purposeless by taking delivery of Konchesky, Christian Poulsen and Milan Jovanovic (Joe Cole and Raul Meireles are of a higher calibre and still have time to assert their talents). But equally Hodgson could point to his excellent rebuilding work at Fulham and his shrewd eye for a hidden jewel. He could also say Liverpool are deluded by old glories (Carol Konchesky said that, too) if they think the budget exists to spend like Manchester City after so many expensive blow-outs in the transfer market.
Simply: Liverpool have recruited dozens of duds over the last 10 seasons while Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have signed very few. The Kop, the team's best players and Hodgson himself are toiling against this debilitating imbalance, which has become manageable only in bursts: first when Rafael Benítez's team won the 2005 Champions League and then when Gerrard, Carragher, Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano gelled to propel the 2008-09 side to second place in the Premier League with 86 points.
Any professional footballer will tell you a trophy-winning team needs a decisive ratio of gifted players and committed winners. Benítez's best side possessed that magical half-dozen. But when Alonso and Mascherano left, Torres lost interest and Gerrard and Carragher were hampered increasingly by injuries, the mediocrity all around them again became Liverpool's defining characteristic.
There is no memory game on red Merseyside quite like the recitation of nearly-men and no-names – starting with the forwards. Sean Dundee, Erik Meijer, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Fernando Morientes, Titi Camara, Ryan Babel, David Ngog and Andriy Voronin demand inclusion. In other wide or attacking midfield positions room would be found for Anthony Le Tallec, Albert Riera, Mark González, Jermaine Pennant and Bruno Cheyrou. Defenders worth a mention are Philipp Degen, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Andrea Dossena. This random selection from a lengthy list leaves out many obscure French or Spanish purchases who barely sniffed first-team action. The vast scale of waste is a huge rolling problem for a club once renowned for precision in the scouting department. Each wave of mistakes creates a new challenge of culling and dispersal, restricts budgets and overloads those players capable of challenging for titles with the responsibility of carrying passengers.
The homegrown Liverpool contingent have complained privately for years about this annual influx of sub-standard punts. A scattergun transfer policy has conspired with the failure of the academy system to produce heirs to Gerrard, Carragher, Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler. Under extreme pressure to correct the slide of Benítez's last campaign, Hodgson tries to perform major surgery on a bloated workforce while bad results whip up a wrecking gale.
The emotional disengagement of Torres bites at the hopes of supporters because he is the one world-class foreign import still wearing the Liver bird, unless Reina creeps in. Called to the stand, Gérard Houllier and Benítez would defend themselves with weighty evidence. Houllier won a domestic and European cup treble in 2001 and Benítez took them to two Champions League finals (winning one) from 2005-07. Neither, though, could bounce the team any higher than second in the Premier League.
Both surrendered that momentum straight after building it. Houllier spent £20m on Salif Diao, Cheyrou and El-Hadji Diouf in the summer before Liverpool fell back to fifth (2002) and Benítez went from second in 2009 to seventh 12 months later. The reason, in both cases, was a dilution rather than a deepening of the talent pool.
So an exasperated Anfield crowd mock the manager ("Hodgson for England" they sing) while Liverpool arrive in a new year with their worst points total since Don Welsh's team were relegated in 1953-54. The club's new American owners, who have no experience of making football decisions, must calculate whether to back Hodgson's cull or simply transfer a chronic structural problem to another manager.
In the past 10 years major transfer miscalculations by Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd can be counted on the fingers of two hands. At Liverpool they swarm like sheep. The Noughties were an age of mass auditions and experimentation, and culpability extends to owners and directors.
Unveiling Ron Yates, Bill Shankly invited journalists "to walk around" the "colossus" he had signed. Yates was "a Liverpool player" in the intended sense. Not just good, but special. There are too few now.

I could rip this article to shreads but it would take too long