Hodgson - I dont know why I'm here; smint?

[RedReet]

To be fair to the media in this case, he has been really **** for England over the last year. Plus he has been well below standard for us since Christmas-ish.

Its the instant dismissal of him being **** from some England fans. Cant see past club loyalty in that case I think.

Mind you, I think the same can be said for the flack Welbeck gets Even though, as mentioned he doesnt score any goals.

Is that true? Maybe it was just my own perception, but I thought he was recognised as England's best player last year but Gerrard got teh award more as a gesture towards his whole career, a bit like Giggs with POTY.

I'm not English so not sure if I watch all the games, but had he not been brilliant for them for about 18 months, including in teh Euro's?

[dww]

To be fair to the media in this case, he has been really **** for England over the last year. Plus he has been well below standard for us since Christmas-ish.

Its the instant dismissal of him being **** from some England fans. Cant see past club loyalty in that case I think.

Mind you, I think the same can be said for the flack Welbeck gets Even though, as mentioned he doesnt score any goals.

I honestly don't think he has been that bad.

He looks to have been targetted with high balls a bit but I think both for England and us he suffers from the fact that no one seems to do anything to help him in this regard. It is a weakness in his game but despite this being known for England there is never any more by a CB to move more to his flank to help and for us we are just poor at defending aerial balls in general.

I like Welbeck and think he's a useful team player. I think he gets a lot of flak because of a lack of goal scorers elsewhere in the team. Like Heskey before him the team often looks better with him in there but because he doesn't score enough his contribution is always questioned. At the minute no one is scoring enough (which seems as much down to poor players or good players in bad form - such as Rooney) as it is Welbeck.

[Fredo]

I don't think Johnson has been 'poor', as in Dane Perkins' perspective. He's been below par, but poor, no way.

[Shaggy]

IMO he has. Flashes of brilliance, like that reverse pass I mentioned, but overall he's been very sloppy since around February time.

[Pablo]

IMO he has. Flashes of brilliance, like that reverse pass I mentioned, but overall he's been very sloppy since around February time.

He has I did think his form picked up a bit in our last few games though.

[McDermotX]

IMO he has. Flashes of brilliance, like that reverse pass I mentioned, but overall he's been very sloppy since around February time.

Exact word I used to describe him over the last few months.
Disappointing, because he's capable of being much better. He's still our best option when on his game, and England's too, but he really needs to get that holiday mentality out of his head by August.
Too comfortable ???

[baitman]

Wellbeck proves that you don't need goals to be a striker but he is a striker.

he must be made up to have moyes for a manager.
someone who can now fully appreciate the 'strikers dont need to score/winners dont need to win' mentality

[Cormack74]

Hmm . . . .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22758221

Football Association chairman David Bernstein is convinced Roy Hodgson is the right manager to take England to the 2014 World Cup, and has passed that message on to his successor Greg Dyke.

Bernstein, who steps down in July, said: "I still have faith in Roy. Absolutely. Why shouldn't I?

"We thought it when we appointed Roy and it is still the case.

"He brings a lot of attributes - his experience, his breadth of thinking and buying into the whole game."

Bernstein leaves the post having reached 70 - the age limit for his position - to be replaced by former BBC director general Dyke.

England are currently second in their World Cup qualification group, two points behind Montenegro, with four games left to play.

They drew 2-2 in Rio's Maracana Stadium on Sunday in a friendly following last week's 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland.

And Bernstein added: "I think Roy has been a first-class appointment and I am very confident he will bring us back to Brazil."

And asked whether he had relayed his confidence in Hodgson to Dyke, he said: "My successor will make his own mind up. He is clearly an experienced, strong-minded individual and he will make his own mind up.

"He will have picked up the vibes clearly. I have met with him and passed on that view to him so the answer to the question is 'yes'."

Hodgson succeeded Italian Fabio Capello, signing a four-year deal on 1 May 2012, and took charge of England at Euro 2012, where his side were knocked out by Italy on penalties at the quarter-final stage.

Bernstein added: "Roy has only been manager for a year. He took over for the Euros just before the competition and I thought had we won the penalty shoot-out against Italy we would have said we had a very successful competition. As it was I thought we did well there and subsequently our overall record has been OK.

"We have had one or two matches we have drawn which we would have liked to have won but you have to give us a little time. Roy is still learning and we have suffered from a lot of injuries and players dropping out, so as we get towards autumn I expect Roy to have a wider range of players to choose from and I'm confident he will do well."

He accepted, however, the scale of the disappointment that would be felt in England should Hodgson fail to take them back to Brazil.

Bernstein said: "You hardly need to ask the question. English football needs a team at the major tournaments, whether it's the Euros or even more so the World Cup.

"It would clearly be bad news, a huge national disappointment. I would be as disappointed as anybody. What more can I say? We need to be there."


And if England do reach Brazil, Bernstein insists they must make the journey to South America with the ultimate victory as their goal.

"In tournaments you never know," he said. "You have favourites who blast their way through like Spain, who are a fantastic side and have done wonderfully well and then you have a side like Denmark who won the Euros out of the blue in 1992 and didn't even qualify originally.

"You need a whole series of things to work for you and the best sides need a bit of luck, you might need to win a penalty shoot-out at some point. Who knows?

"I believe we qualify and we come back here to win it. How else can an England team approach a major competition other than coming to win it?"

Bernstein admitted England needed more home-grown players in the Premier League - but insists they have world-class players in Hodgson's side.

He said: "I think any player playing for England is world class by definition. You don't get into the England side unless you are a top, top player and a top Premier League player and we know the quality and level of the Premier League."

[Vermilion]

What else is he going say, really ?

"oh i've left you with a right old duffer"

tbh, there's something very similar about the two men, Bernstein and Bodger, can't put my finger on it though.

[Exiled_red]

The FA have an upper age limit for roles I thought they wanted to have dinosaurs running the game.

[Neil Young]

They need to impose a minimum limit for intelligence.

[Exiled_red]

They need to impose a minimum limit for intelligence.

[Phoenix07]

What else is he going say, really ?

"oh i've left you with a right old duffer"

tbh, there's something very similar about the two men, Bernstein and Bodger, can't put my finger on it though.

They've both got the speech impediment (R & W), but to me, they're like lost brothers or something. Bernstein knows about it, but the Hodge doesn't.

It could be a sitcom: 'Bodger & Bernstein'.

[Gibbo]

Hart - Johnson/Walker Jagielka Cahill Cole/Baines - Garrard Wilshere - Walcott Rooney Sterling - Sturridge.

[peekay]

three years ago on this day

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8721942.stm