Would you sack Hodgson?

[red g]

Rafa was the only link left to the ethos I value. Hodgson may well restore them, we'll see. He'll get my backing when he's earned the right, in my view. There are too many grey areas at the moment for me to blindly give him my support. To me he's just a small time manager seeing his name in the limelight, he's got his all to do.

pig headed and stubborn?

[kris90210]

ok we're not far off so i'll try again ;-)

no im not saying we couldnt have found a striker on installments, but i am saying that the players we bought offered more in terms of attacking threat to the team as a whole than the players they replaced. so the players we bought enabled us, as a team, to attack by playing further up the field centrally and overlapping down the right. aqua is more offensive than alonso, johnson than arbeloa. fook even soto scored as many as sami...

but name me a suitable replacement for torres that would definitely be better than kuyt/babel/ngog and available for installments. in fact dont as you can't possibly answer accurately and it doesnt really matter. the point is, rafa chose to give himself more attacking options with the ones he bought and not pin his hopes on one striker, vulnerable to injury as any other single player. You're basically saying he should have done the latter which, when we have other tactical options to back torres up, is poor risk management.

a key difference is also that rafa knows exactly which players were viable purchases and which werent. so we'll never know if he blundered will we. villa may have been available on installments we could afford or he may not. he may not have wanted to leave with the WC so close. who knows. there's too much involved in individual deals than fee + wages a la champ manager so we'll never know really will we.

either way, saying rafa 'spent 40 mill and chose not to buy a striker and therefore wasnt fit to keep his job' is oversimplistic at best

I never said, 'Rafa spent 40 mill and chose not to buy a striker and therefore wasnt fit to keep his job.' I wanted him to stay. But I do believe that not signing a striker as backup to Torres was a huge mistake, and was the biggest (on the pitch) factor in us finishing 7th last season.

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. I dont think our viewpoints are miles apart. But any more and I think we'll just be going round in circles

[MrsB]

We should appoint a puppy.

Yes, yes we should!

[red g]

I believe lucas and masher are good enough with 4 of gerrard, torres, kuyt, aqua, babel, riera, benni, ngog in front of them and a solid defence + johnson flying down the right.

Equally, I believe ngog is good enough with 5 of those behind him and a solid defence + johnson flying down the right.

and i still believe that.

carragher, gerrard, torres, riera & benni all contributed less than any rational person would have planned for. You saying rafa should have expected his key players to be under par?

the nett result is more goals conceeded and less scored isnt it. whether that affects confidence or not, it means wins to draws and draws to losses. this is the reason we didnt finish 4th. not the simple choice to sign 1 backup striker.

well i completely disagree and dont believe neither lucas or ngog can be in a first 11 that has top 4 aspirations. our views differ obviously.


and yes i will give you that all our key players underperformed, riera didnt help either but then quite honestly its a managers job to motivate and get the best out of what he has at his disposal......he failed miserably at that last year, just as much as he excelled with that in 2005 (getting troare a CL medal will always go down as one of the greatest managerial achievements of all time)

so thats why he had to go in my opinion he stopped getting the best out of his squad and thats why Roy has got an opportunity becuase he has excelled at that with Fulham and if he can turn Bobby Zamora into the player he has become anything is possible !!

[barnes10]

well i completely disagree and dont believe neither lucas or ngog can be in a first 11 that has top 4 aspirations. our views differ obviously.


and yes i will give you that all our key players underperformed, riera didnt help either but then quite honestly its a managers job to motivate and get the best out of what he has at his disposal......he failed miserably at that last year, just as much as he excelled with that in 2005 (getting troare a CL medal will always go down as one of the greatest managerial achievements of all time)

so thats why he had to go in my opinion he stopped getting the best out of his squad and thats why Roy has got an opportunity becuase he has excelled at that with Fulham and if he can turn Bobby Zamora into the player he has become anything is possible !!

jeez. two handshakes to yourself and kris above. Agree about motivation and also with kris about not doing a fredo/craig and go round in circles for a year or two.

to nitpick/clarify what im saying to you red_g tho, I'm thinking Lucas and Ngog are good enough to be in a top 4 squad as opposed to 1st team.

ideally the 1st team would be below and these two could come in place of masher/aqua or torres as cover. not to play a full season each. so with one or even both in the team, the quality over the rest of the side should mean we're enough to beat most in the prem and therefore challenge for a title.

the fact is, injuries meant they played too much and form meant there wasnt enough quality elsewhere to support them. they became our main players and with insua, regular starters. thats too much to ask of them imho.

Riena

Johnson Carra Agger Insua/Aurelio

Kuyt Masher Aqua Riera

Gerrard

Torres

Riera aside, im not sure if anyone was de-motivated beyond gerrard. but we all know he's a sulky b@st@rd at the best of times isnt he.

anyway, rafa is gone, long live roy...

[Shaggy]

Aurelio's gone.

[Shanks]

He will start getting respect from me once we see who he buys and most importantly who he sells.

and not about how many games he actually wins with those players?

What a load of bollox that is..

[Bender]

Not at all I just can't see myself supporting a club which is being owned by a pair of ****wits and a bunch of two faced servants serving their interests. There are moral grounds and principles that I would never trade for anything. It's my prerogative who I want to support or not and it shows that I care deeply for my club. Glory isn't the 'be all and end all' - this club is much more than that.

Your new username has been approved
PetebestlonelyboyRafabenitezIntermilanfan101

[malg]

and not about how many games he actually wins with those players?

What a load of bollox that is..

Well that's your opinion which is irrelevant to me.

[SB]

I'm quite sure Roy will do just fine with or without your support.

[malg]

I'm quite sure Roy will do just fine with or without your support.

I would support any manager we have, Confidence in a manager is different. Yes I know he hasn't actually bought anyone or played a game so I guess I should just shut the **** up til then so thats what I will do. Good luck Hodgson hope my fears don't come true.

[DannyMan2006]

Whatever, the club will live on whether PeteBest jumps ship or not. Moral of the matter is that I'm not futile and I stick to my guns. I'll give Hodgson credit in due time if he deserves it, I'm big enough to hold my hands up if there is a need to.

I hope you do jump ship. I support LFC, not the chairman, or the manager, or the players. I support the club and want the club to do well above everything else. If a manager leaves, so be it. If a player leaves, so be it. They only get my support when they are a part of this club.

If Rafa got Inter relegated i couldn't care less.

[Guest]

If Rafa got Inter the best team in the world i couldn't care less.

[SB]

I would support any manager we have, Confidence in a manager is different. Yes I know he hasn't actually bought anyone or played a game so I guess I should just shut the **** up til then so thats what I will do. Good luck Hodgson hope my fears don't come true.

[red g]

better than liverpool, mate your blind support of Rafa holds no bounds.