Would you sack Hodgson?

[DannyMan2006]

No, he was offered a 5 year contract the season before, which to me indicated that his position was at its highest (well the owners did agree to extend his contract). He paid the price for last season alone, not with what happened before.

As I said, realistically speaking we were already punching above our weight and it was done with being competitive in the CL as well, which is no mean feat - we could compete in the two major competitions.

All it needed was significant investment last season, which never happened. That has been the downfall and it all comes down to the owners and their army of highly paid executive ****wits.

He came 2nd in the league and his stock was high. As usual Rafa pedalled stories about Real Madrid being after him and as such he got a new contract. But last year was a one off and that was proved when we dropped to 7th.

Had last season not been a complete disaster he'd still be here. But that's the way it goes. I wished the owners had backed him, but we were skint. Had they backed him I would have expected a title challenge, not 4th place.

[Mattshark]

He came 2nd in the league and his stock was high. As usual Rafa pedalled stories about Real Madrid being after him and as such he got a new contract. But last year was a one off and that was proved when we dropped to 7th.

That isn't proof, that isn't even evidence.

Had last season not been a complete disaster he'd still be here. But that's the way it goes. I wished the owners had backed him, but we were skint. Had they backed him I would have expected a title challenge, not 4th place.

Even though we have been massively outspent by all the teams around us?

[red g]

That isn't proof, that isn't even evidence.



Even though we have been massively outspent by all the teams around us?

Done to death Matt but you dont go from challenging for the premiership to losing 19games in one season without serious issues.

we were still better than all bar scum and chelsea in my eyes last season.

[Mattshark]

Done to death Matt but you dont go from challenging for the premiership to losing 19games in one season without serious issues.

we were still better than all bar scum and chelsea in my eyes last season.

I don't think anyone is denying we have serious issues, those issues remain in my opinion.

I think we have a better first team, our squad depth is awful.

[Tee]

Assuming we keep our key players, any team with players like Torres, Gerrard, Pepe, Mascherano, Carra and Kuyt should finish Top 4 IMO.

If we fail to finish top 4 I hope we are not as pathetic in our attempts as we were last season.

[red g]

I don't think anyone is denying we have serious issues, those issues remain in my opinion.

I think we have a better first team, our squad depth is awful.

i agree, but then Rafa has been manager 5yrs....and spent lots of money admittedly plenty of wheeling and dealing has been done and the squad is miles better than under houiller but then with the amount he has spent the squad should be better.

But i dont blame Benitez fully, i also blame Parry

[badpiggy]

Christ, this argument never seems to go away but - and maybe I'm only saying this now that Rafa is gone - maybe it is fair to say that even though his net spend was very low in comparison to our perceived rivals and also even though our entire team/squad/reserves etc needed revamping after GH, Rafa still spent close to £250m on his choices (not always first choices I know) and still only ever won anything with a supposedly inferior inherited squad.

If Roy gets us back in the top 4 this season it has to be seen as a total triumph. The amount we fell away last season and the manner in which we fell away from competitiveness in all competitions means from a purely football point of view, success in his first season has to be gibven context. And that's even before we've bought or sold anyone significant.

[Mattshark]

i agree, but then Rafa has been manager 5yrs....and spent lots of money admittedly plenty of wheeling and dealing has been done and the squad is miles better than under houiller but then with the amount he has spent the squad should be better.

But i dont blame Benitez fully, i also blame Parry

I think it would have been hard to so, we have had to lose our depth to improve the first team, that would not have been such an issue but for the fact that last season we were prevented from increasing our depth by our dramatic budget removal.

[Exiled_red]

I don't think anyone is denying we have serious issues, those issues remain in my opinion.

I think we have a better first team, our squad depth is awful.

Assuming we keep our key players, any team with players like Torres, Gerrard, Pepe, Mascherano, Carra and Kuyt should finish Top 4 IMO.

If we fail to finish top 4 I hope we are not as pathetic in our attempts as we were last season.

We also need to keep them fit and playing well. To be honest I think that last season was as bad as we could have done with what we had. But if Torres misses half of the season again and Gerrard repeats his form of last year regardless of who is here we'll struggle again.

[red g]

I think it would have been hard to so, we have had to lose our depth to improve the first team, that would not have been such an issue but for the fact that last season we were prevented from increasing our depth by our dramatic budget removal.

I also think he had an unfeasibly large turnover of players over his tenure!!

[Mattshark]

I also think he had an unfeasibly large turnover of players over his tenure!!

But there is good reason for that, we had to sell to buy better players, improving our first team at the expense of our squad, something pretty much constantly called for by about half this board.

[red g]

[QUOTE=Mattshark;1643356]But there is good reason for that, we had to sell to buy better players, improving our first team at the expense of our squad, something pretty much constantly called for by about half this board.[/QUOTE]

hardly a ringing endorsement

[Mattshark]

hardly a ringing endorsement

The thing is, those calling for that idea were the first to turn on Rafa when we had a bad time.

[kris90210]

I think it would have been hard to so, we have had to lose our depth to improve the first team, that would not have been such an issue but for the fact that last season we were prevented from increasing our depth by our dramatic budget removal.

Our squad depth isn't all that bad if you look at it. We have 2 players for pretty much every position - which is generally what you want (isn't it?). The problem is that the quality of the attacking players who are squad players is very poor. When Torres was injured there was no one who could do a job for us. The exact same problem that we faced the season before last. Benitez should have addressed this issue as a priority 2 years ago.

Rafa was not backed properly by the owners, but he still spent nearly 40 million last summer and didn't fix the biggest weakness in the team - over reliance on Torres.

[DannyMan2006]

I think it would have been hard to so, we have had to lose our depth to improve the first team, that would not have been such an issue but for the fact that last season we were prevented from increasing our depth by our dramatic budget removal.

I know he was done over last year by the owners, but he had decent size sums to spend in the marked prior to then. Not Chelsea size, but not bad.

I think the squad should have been a lot stronger than it is. But had his choices in the market come off, I think we'd be looking at a better team right about now. Dossena and Keane were expensive gambles and neither came off. It just so happens that those particluar two players are the type of player we are missing in our squad. A top class LB and top class cover for Gerrard and Torres. The fact Dossena and Keane failed and proved not good enough is just the way it goes.