Welcome to LFC Roy Hodgson (Officially Confirmed)

[DannyMan2006]

Getting people to look at things in depth is so much harder than it should be.

Okay Matt, would it make you feel better if I said we were unlucky in some games and that our season was effected by injuries to key players at key stages of the season?

The above is all true, but any other club in the premiership could claim exactly the same. Where a club finishes in the league is where it deserves too. And 7th is not acceptable for Liverpool FC.

[Mattshark]

Okay Matt, would it make you feel better if I said we were unlucky in some games and that our season was effected by injuries to key players at key stages of the season?

The above is all true, but any other club in the premiership could claim exactly the same. Where a club finishes in the league is where it deserves too. And 7th is not acceptable for Liverpool FC.

But it also in keeping with the general trend of who spends the most finishes highest. We were highly outspent by all the teams above us, all of them actually having a positive nett spend (especially City and Spurs). This meant that we had no depth to our team and we had no really way to alleviate that issue. All the teams around us did.

[DannyMan2006]

But it also in keeping with the general trend of who spends the most finishes highest. We were highly outspent by all the teams above us, all of them actually having a positive nett spend (especially City and Spurs). This meant that we had no depth to our team and we had no really way to alleviate that issue. All the teams around us did.

I agree that the team who spends the most down the years tends to do the best.

But look at Man Utd. They won the league and then sold one of the best players in the world. They didn't spend a great deal either and were a much weaker team. But they still competed on all fronts.

We sold Alonso and fell apart. Rafa had the option of spending the cash from Alonso on whoever he wanted. He spent it on an injury prone midfielder who was also injured at the time. It was a gamble and it failed.

We live in a day and age where a manger lives and dies by his signings. Aquilani may go on to be a great player for LFC, but that will be too late for Rafa.

[Mattshark]

I agree that the team who spends the most down the years tends to do the best.

But look at Man Utd. They won the league and then sold one of the best players in the world. They didn't spend a great deal either and were a much weaker team. But they still competed on all fronts.

We sold Alonso and fell apart. Rafa had the option of spending the cash from Alonso on whoever he wanted. He spent it on an injury prone midfielder who was also injured at the time. It was a gamble and it failed.

We live in a day and age where a manger lives and dies by his signings. Aquilani may go on to be a great player for LFC, but that will be too late for Rafa.

Man United had a stronger squad to start with, they also had Rooney have an outstanding season while Gerrard never even got started for us.

I think you are oversimplifying the Aquilani situation, we never spent all the Alonso money on him and we were limited in choice, which would be explained by the payment structure.

Yes, we all want instant gratification and have no patience, it isn't a good think and we don't have to do it.

[DannyMan2006]

I'm only getting across Matt that whilst we had problems, any other number of clubs could claim the same. Where you come in the league is where you deserve to. Luck can be looked at when discussing cup competitions and one off games, not a 38 league game season.

[Fernandinho]

matt everything seems too simple for you.. you must lead an amazing life

[Mattshark]

matt everything seems too simple for you.. you must lead an amazing life

I do

[red g]

Man United had a stronger squad to start with, they also had Rooney have an outstanding season while Gerrard never even got started for us.

I think you are oversimplifying the Aquilani situation, we never spent all the Alonso money on him and we were limited in choice, which would be explained by the payment structure.

Yes, we all want instant gratification and have no patience, it isn't a good think and we don't have to do it.

19 losses Matt, 19!!! from a team that lost probably 6 times in 2 seasons that tells me we have serious problems.

As the manager he should have put Gerrard in the centre and not played lucas/masher in midfield or tried some other combo.......without oversimplifying the matter lucas and masher are ****e in midfield together and Rafa should have seen it and not persisted with it

[Fernandinho]

19 losses Matt, 19!!! from a team that lost probably 6 times in 2 seasons that tells me we have serious problems.

As the manager he should have put Gerrard in the centre and not played lucas/masher in midfield or tried some other combo.......without oversimplifying the matter lucas and masher are ****e in midfield together and Rafa should have seen it and not persisted with it

always gonna happen with mr detail matt

[dww]

19 losses Matt, 19!!! from a team that lost probably 6 times in 2 seasons that tells me we have serious problems.

As the manager he should have put Gerrard in the centre and not played lucas/masher in midfield or tried some other combo.......without oversimplifying the matter lucas and masher are ****e in midfield together and Rafa should have seen it and not persisted with it

Gerrard played there in some of our best and worst performances last season. I really think that it was a very singular perfect storm of circumstances that led to last seasons poor performances.

While the manager is to some degree the one who has to carry the can I think any manager would have struggled.

I'm not convinced that Mascherano - Lucas of itself was the problem (I think the poor performance of all our attacking midfielders, particularly Gerrard, and the absence of an experienced front man for a lot of the season made them unsuitable that's different to being inherently useless).

[Mattshark]

19 losses Matt, 19!!! from a team that lost probably 6 times in 2 seasons that tells me we have serious problems.

As the manager he should have put Gerrard in the centre and not played lucas/masher in midfield or tried some other combo.......without oversimplifying the matter lucas and masher are ****e in midfield together and Rafa should have seen it and not persisted with it

I don't think they are ****e together though, they have played together before and done well and it is not like we were brimming with other options is it.
Gerrard however was poor and we lacked balance in the midfield with out Riera or player to cover that position for him and on top of that the obvious lack of cover for Torres.
Not to mention our defence going completely out the window early in the season and the lack of confidence that instilled in the team.

[Mattshark]

always gonna happen with mr detail matt

Details are important though, easy to look superficially at something, but the fact is you are never going to learn from doing that.

[Taxi]

I'm coming around to the idea of Hodgson now. I'm looking forward to a new style of football hopefully with more width and more attacking intent.

I wonder if Roy will persist with Insua, Lucas and will we see a better Babel? Will we ever play both Lucas and Mascher again?

[DannyMan2006]

I don't think they are ****e together though, they have played together before and done well and it is not like we were brimming with other options is it.
Gerrard however was poor and we lacked balance in the midfield with out Riera or player to cover that position for him and on top of that the obvious lack of cover for Torres.
Not to mention our defence going completely out the window early in the season and the lack of confidence that instilled in the team.

I think the lack of ability in certain players is exposed when the stellar names under perform. Lucas and Masch are good defensive midfielders. When the attacking players in front of them were not at their best, the failings and lack of creativity in Masch and Alonso was exposed.

I think Lucas will be better in a 442 system. He used to be a box to box player. We could be pleasantly suprised.

[Mattshark]

I think the lack of ability in certain players is exposed when the stellar names under perform. Lucas and Masch are good defensive midfielders. When the attacking players in front of them were not at their best, the failings and lack of creativity in Masch and Alonso was exposed.

I think Lucas will be better in a 442 system. He used to be a box to box player. We could be pleasantly suprised.

Meh, I think we'll just be overrun in midfield with 442, not just due to the fact that we only have one out and out striker.