Topic: The way Hodgson speaks of Liverpool in the press, a matter for concern?

[Grobbelrevell]

Kingluisgarcia - I'm more than unhappy with Hodgson's attitude.  He's left me bereft (sp) of confidence from day one.  In his first press conference before a friendly he was hoping we wouldn't get beat too heavily.  I guess the fact it was rained off meant we had a lucky escape.  Other friendlies brought the same attitude.  That of defeatest.

We all know there are aspects of the club he has no control of, but one thing he can do is at least try and put some positivity across during the press conferences.  We see oodles via the photos of training sessions, but none of that appears during the press conferences.  It's all a case of woe is me, please don't beat us by too many goals,  we're playing a great team who has a great manager in charge etc.  There's far too much mutual masterbation from Hodgson for my liking.

I'd rather see a bit of Rafa like beligerance during press conferences.  Such as, we're going to win this game.  Dodge every question posed that the manager doesn't want to answer, a possible rant and of course, the rub of the face which was really a 2 fingered salute to the press.  I loved that moment, but Hodgson hasn't got the balls for that.  His heart is with LMA and kissing a lot of ass.

I have to say I completely agree with that. People criticised Rafa for such things as turning up for his press conference in a tracksuit and answering every question with: "I am just concentrating on preparing and coaching my team", but I loved it. He stood up for the best interests of the club and the fans and, yes he was realistic and would tell us when things needed saying (we cant compete in the transfer market for one), but he was also positive and would go into every game stating that we were there to win - and rightly so. Whether he thought that privately or not, he would still put that message across to the public.

He didnt take any shit off Ferguson either (the 'facts' conference was a classic), although the media would have you believe that Ferguson had him on the ropes with his "mind games" (which was a load of shite by the way).

Compare that to Hodgson so far, with the best of the lot being his statement after Birmingham regarding his expectations "not being that high anyway".

I want to support Hodgson, I really do, but his defeatest attitude coupled with the way he is setting us up to do absolutely nothing except contain teams is depressing. He needs to start showing some ambition because at the moment it seems to be nothing more than a damage limitation.

Yes, we're not the team that we were a few years ago, but I still believe we have a first eleven capable of beating anyone if, and heres the main point, they are actually setup to do so and sent out with the belief instilled in them by the manager that they can do so.

I can accept us losing if we at least go out and try to win. The fact is though we are not doing that at the moment and were still not getting the results and that simply isnt good enough.

He's a nice man Roy Hodgson and I do believe he is trying to do his best for the club. Is it good enough for Liverpool Football Club? Is he good enough for Liverpool Football Club?

He hasnt convinced me up to now I must admit.

[Kennys from heaven]

Simply not the man who should be managing our club. To think we paid £6M odd plus Rafa to get him in boggles the mind and shows that he's here for a while.

Madness.

Blame the board - not Roy though.

[SkinHimHesShite]

perhaps the first manager in the history of LFC to talk up the chances of West Brom and Birmingham prior to a game, and openly pray that we dont lose 6-0 vs city. forget rafa, can you imagine wenger or bacon face doing that???

i personally cant wait to see him leave and someone with a backbone come in and sort this shit out. he seems to have merged into the yank ownership bastard brigade.

[kcbworth]

Houllier: Sure we lost 3-0, but we were the better team of course. Didn't you see our 40% possession and 2 shots on goal!
Rafa: We lost 3-0, but we looked threatening, and I felt we held it together fairly well. Obviously room for improvement, but I'm proud of the team.
Shankly: This is mere setback but we will rise again because we are Liverpool!
Ferguson: Yep we won 3-0, but Liverpool are a pack of cheaters and we would have scored 3 more if the ref was on our side.
...
Hodgson: Yep we lost 3-0, just like I thought we would because my squad of international captains and world cup finalists is barely premier league standard. You do realise that my only goal is to avoid relegation, although this will be very difficult and I'm not confident we can achieve this.

I guess someone else can probably do this much better than I can, but of the lot, I reckon I'm least pleased with Roy's attitude there (although Houllier's is pretty frustrating as well)

[Jagdip]

I don't think he was sacked, I think it's by mutual agreement that he left.

Yes, when he was on holiday, enjoying time away with his family after a terrible year, he decided to call Purslow and say, 'I'd like to leave, would you like me to leave?'.

I can't stress how important it is to understand the team you follow and be aware of the facts before you base opinions and post on a forum, you leave yourself looking like a tool.

[skidz73]

Spends a bit too much time giving the opposition respect.
Comes off a bit creepy if I'm honest.

[Dr. Venkman]

This isn't a dig at Rafa, but why are people being so harsh on Roy?

Rafa lost at the toilet 5 times out of six, he didn't manage to beat Birmingham home or away the whole time he was here, we LOST to Arsenal last year, drew the year before, lost at Man City before they became the new Chelsea when Stuart Pearce was in charge. In his first season we were shite. We finished behind Everton!

Roy has had a difficult start to the season. His two main signings Cole and Meireles have have played one and a half league games each, he made a profit in the transfer window, had dickheads like Mascherano to deal with not to mention a disrupted pre season due to the world cup, give the man a chance

Still miss Rafa alot though, but people are even having a dig at Roy's press interviews now for not being 'Liverpool' enough, the lack of perspective on here i think stems from frustration regarding the ownership situation

After we play Chelsea we have the following run of games
Wigan   A
Stoke   A
West Ham   H
Tottenham   A
Aston Villa   H
Newcastle United   A
Fulham   H
Blackpool   A   
Wolves   H
Bolton   H
Blackburn   A
Everton   H
Wolves   A
Stoke   H

With the exception of Spurs away we will be favourites for all of them. Lets see how he does with these

[Les Willis]

I'd love to know who the anti Roy fans would have preferred as manager. I presume Rafa would be the fave, but as that option's out, who else?
Bear in mind how much dosherooni, they'd be asking for too...

[skidz73]

After we play Chelsea we have the following run of games
Wigan   A
Stoke   A
West Ham   H
Tottenham   A
Aston Villa   H
Newcastle United   A
Fulham   H
Blackpool   A   
Wolves   H
Bolton   H
Blackburn   A
Everton   H
Wolves   A
Stoke   H

With the exception of Spurs away we will be favourites for all of them. Lets see how he does with these

Whatever happened to one game at a time? I can't even believe you think we're favourites for them all. Look at what happened against West Brom and Birmingham. There's no adjustment of expectations based on form, which in my opininion is bordering on the dellusional.

[rossipersempre]

I said it when he started and I'll be saying it when he leaves (hopefully sooner rather than later)...

He's a negative, defeatist, seat-warming, arse-kissing journeyman mediocrity and patsy whose very existence in the Anfield manager's office just graphically illustrates just how steep a decline the club is in.

[Strummer77]

I guess someone else can probably do this much better than I can, but of the lot, I reckon I'm least pleased with Roy's attitude there (although Houllier's is pretty frustrating as well)

You say that as if those are actual quotes?

The manager isn't the issue at the moment anyway. We'll be relegated whoever's in charge if we don't get new owners.

[Met]

Said it better than I ever would.

[rossipersempre]

I'd love to know who the anti Roy fans would have preferred as manager. I presume Rafa would be the fave, but as that option's out, who else?
Bear in mind how much dosherooni, they'd be asking for too...

Manuel "I'd have loved the Liverpool job but they wanted an English manager" Pellegrini.

Who incidentally wouldn't have required us to pay a further £2m-plus in compensation to some dodgy Egyptian bloke.

[baffled]

I think we can all safely say that this wouldn't matter a fuck if his team was producing anything approaching a decent performance on the pitch, instead of playing like cowards.

[LFCfan4Life]

its not the result is it? its the performances we are seeing

lack of possession
lack of tackles going in
lack of closing down
2 banks of 4
no creativity
everyone looking more fucking depressed than last season

we let a romanian team pass us off the park in the first half at anfield

[Kopite7]

I'd love to know who the anti Roy fans would have preferred as manager. I presume Rafa would be the fave, but as that option's out, who else?
Bear in mind how much dosherooni, they'd be asking for too...

The King..then O'Neil.

[Raoul Duke]

Whatever happened to one game at a time? I can't even believe you think we're favourites for them all. Look at what happened against West Brom and Birmingham. There's no adjustment of expectations based on form, which in my opininion is bordering on the dellusional.

We took four points from West Brom and Birmingham?

That's hardly abysmal.

[Wesley Pipes]

Hodgson needs to pull his head out his ass and start playing Babel on the right, we need to put pressure on them in our attacking third and Babel is best served to do that with his attributes.

Maxi is too slow, come on. fastest league in the world and he is quite simply out of his depth. Tactics or not, at the moment he is.

Couldn't believe Jovanovic came on before Babel, thought the game was ripe and ready for Babel time!

[baffled]

Manuel "I'd have loved the Liverpool job but they wanted an English manager" Pellegrini.

Who incidentally wouldn't have required us to pay a further £2m-plus in compensation to some dodgy Egyptian bloke.

Having watched how we've played so far, this does itch quite a bit more. Though to be honest, the fucking state our squad and club is, I'm not sure exactly well a coach like Pellegrini would have settled in. If it was anything like Rafa's first league campaign, would we seriosuly be willing to give him our patience?

Pellegrini's achievements incidentally aren't that different to Hodgson's - good European cup run with underdog team, few exotic league titles. He failed to win in Spain with the most expensive squad ever assembled. I'm not saying he's not a  really talented manager who's brand of football would no doubt have been a breath of fresh our to us suffering through season after season of pragmatic football... but lets not pretend he was a panacea to all this clubs ills... not by a long shot.

He would at least have given us some kind of exotic, ill-founded hope, which the very soily concrete realistic nature of Hodgson's history does not. We aren't going to play our way back to confidence using the tactics we are at the moment. And its not - oh he needs to pick such and such, or so and so.... its not that yet. Its th e fact that the style and attitude of the team is not conducive to winning football matches. No one is making any movement. No one is making forward runs, no one is daring to get into the box (except the players he hasn't coached it ouf yet, Meireles), no one is pressing the ball until it gets into our own half, the back line plays in its own box, none of them come to win headers.

Look what happened yesterday when David Ngog came on and naively did something resembling a strikers instinctive run - Utd. shat themselves and let in two goals. Next long ball that comes up the pitch, Carragher, blood pumping barrels through their striker having come about 15 yards our of his line to win a header from a kick-out - first time this season. But of course within 5 minutes we were back to cowardice. The style of play must change, never mind about the style of interview.

[skidz73]

We took four points from West Brom and Birmingham?

That's hardly abysmal.

We struggled against both. I'm not convinced we'll see that many points from the run of games coming up.

[Dr. Venkman]

Whatever happened to one game at a time? I can't even believe you think we're favourites for them all. Look at what happened against West Brom and Birmingham. There's no adjustment of expectations based on form, which in my opininion is bordering on the dellusional.

I didn't say we would win them all, i just said we would be favourites, plus every single one of those teams is dropping points (you know, form) in easier fictures than we are

So if we are going on one game at a time, if we win the next game, is he good enough then. I said judge him after these games, not after we win these games

[Dr. Venkman]

Hodgson needs to pull his head out his ass and start playing Babel on the right, we need to put pressure on them in our attacking third and Babel is best served to do that with his attributes.

Maxi is too slow, come on. fastest league in the world and he is quite simply out of his depth. Tactics or not, at the moment he is.

Couldn't believe Jovanovic came on before Babel, thought the game was ripe and ready for Babel time!

Babel does fuck all nearly every time he plays

[The Gulleysucker]

I said it when he started and I'll be saying it when he leaves (hopefully sooner rather than later)...

He's a negative, defeatist, seat-warming, arse-kissing journeyman mediocrity and patsy whose very existence in the Anfield manager's office just graphically illustrates just how steep a decline the club is in.

It's unfortunate and an uncomfortable comparison for those who can remember him, but Hodgson reminds me a little too much of a 'nicer' John Bond.

[GBF]

I've added last season's results...

Wigan   A  = lost 1-0
Stoke   A = draw 1-1
West Ham   H = won 3-0
Tottenham   A = lost 2-1
Aston Villa   H = lost 3-1
Newcastle United   A = N/A
Fulham   H = draw 0-0
Blackpool   A = N/A
Wolves   H = 2-0
Bolton   H = won 2-0
Blackburn   A = draw 0-0
Everton   H= won 1-0
Wolves   A = 0-0
Stoke   H = won 4-0

With the exception of Spurs away we will be favourites for all of them. Lets see how he does with these

Lets see if we better last year's performance (18 out of a possible 36 - ignoring Newcastle and Blackpool)

[macmanaman]

I would prefer MON over Roy at the moment, this just show how crazy thing has become. At least MON got some balls to stand up for the club and he would play with 2 strikers at home against West Brom, or at least have to team play attacking football.
I have watched all of our games this season and I saw nothing from Roy's tactics, he use the same formation 4-2-3-1 and choose the wrong players tp play it. I thought last season Fulham play with 2 strikers, what the fuck Roy, grow some balls.

[cornelius]

but people are even having a dig at Roy's press interviews now for not being 'Liverpool' enough

It's called micro analysis and we do it to the nth degree here on RAWK. Every tiny morsel is debated and scrutinised even though 98% of the time it's something completely irrelevant or insignificant. There are a lot of raging manic depressives on here who would still find something to grumble about even if Kenny Dalglish won a billion pounds on the euromillions, bought the club, built a 100,000 seater stadium, introduced £5 tickets for everyone, brought back Rafa and we won back to back premier league titles and completed a treble, beating United in the Champions League final 3-0 by way of a Lucas hattrick and Everton in the FA cup final by way of a Clive Thomas referreeing decision, all whilst playing like Brazil 1970.

[macmanaman]

We are so narrow in attack, it is unreal.
Where is the fucking width Roy ?

[zero zero]

I said it when he started and I'll be saying it when he leaves (hopefully sooner rather than later)...

He's a negative, defeatist, seat-warming, arse-kissing journeyman mediocrity and patsy whose very existence in the Anfield manager's office just graphically illustrates just how steep a decline the club is in.

So he's a symptom and not the cause? What an utterly pointless piece of bile.

[Neil D]

I've added last season's results...

Lets see if we better last year's performance

Wolves N/A? We won at home and drew away.

[Sat1]

Roy giving up before the game even started numbed the pain I normally feel after losing.

The new manager was meant to be a breathe of fresh air for those pampered over paid tarts who were left bemused by a guy who almost got us the title and led us to victory in Istanbul.

[Neil D]

I said it when he started and I'll be saying it when he leaves (hopefully sooner rather than later)...

He's a negative, defeatist, seat-warming, arse-kissing journeyman mediocrity and patsy whose very existence in the Anfield manager's office just graphically illustrates just how steep a decline the club is in.

Afraid I'm inclined to agree with you...

[GBF]

Wolves N/A? We won at home and drew away.

my bad, I don't know why I thought they just got promoted

[Neil D]

sorry, I don't know why I thought they just got promoted

No worries. Wish I could forget that 0-0 draw too!

[Chivasino]

I'm pissed off with his "Not getting involved" comment regarding Fergie on Torres trying to get Evans sent off.

We are in it as a team, as a club, and the manager takes the lead of the pitch. Not getting involved? He's your fucking star striker! Man up and back him up.

[stjohns]

The thing is Dr Venkman, what state are we going to be in after the Chelsea game given the form they're already showing?

[Greyfox]

Can someone get Phil Thompson on the phone please......

[xerxes1]

I'm pissed off with his "Not getting involved" comment regarding Mr Alex Ferguson on Torres trying to get Evans sent off.

Wise move, let Whiskeynose stew in his own bile.

[Red-juvenated]

Theres a programme on LFC TV - 'Days that shook the Kop'

In a few years time there'll be another one - 'Days that shook LFC'

Dont know what fantasy-click-of-a-button-quick-fix-wizard world some of you live in!

The turmoil at the club has surely brought some worms out of the wood, but the whoppers are out in force.

Major detox in progress, inside and outside - erratic performance expected till Jan 2011

[majestic_11]

was fuming with his utd are a quality team and we must try and contain them comment!

Roy it was only a few seasons ago we went to the camp nou and took the game to one of the best attacking teams on the planet! Utd are not quality, they are a side going into decline with recent history there to suggest if you put them under pressure they will crack! Giggs and Scholes have a combined age of 70, they only had four in midfield, Oshea and evans are fucking rubbish! We should have pressed Scholes and Fletcher earlier like we did last season,but no we look scared and we looked like we were there to get beat!

I am already sick of hearing about Inter fucking milan roy, we are not inter they are a small club in Italy compared to Liverpool, i want to see some bold comments cos i belive the team that had the most quality on show yesterday played in white... your post and pre-match interviews were disgraceful!

[Les Willis]

Having watched how we've played so far, this does itch quite a bit more. Though to be honest, the fucking state our squad and club is, I'm not sure exactly well a coach like Pellegrini would have settled in. If it was anything like Rafa's first league campaign, would we seriosuly be willing to give him our patience?

Pellegrini's achievements incidentally aren't that different to Hodgson's - good European cup run with underdog team, few exotic league titles. He failed to win in Spain with the most expensive squad ever assembled. I'm not saying he's not a  really talented manager who's brand of football would no doubt have been a breath of fresh our to us suffering through season after season of pragmatic football... but lets not pretend he was a panacea to all this clubs ills... not by a long shot.

Ah. But he's foreign, so would have been so much better, it stands to reason... 

Hodgson may not be a first choice (even of mine), but I'll at least give him a run of games before I start getting on his back.