Utd - Liverpool post match

[wiw]

it's possible, but those teams are strong and have a head start on us regarding the quality of their football. don't see us racing past them at any point, but of course i will happily be proved otherwise.

I guess we'll see..the only way is up for us though, imo, espcially given the easier fixtures we have coming up. A tough start is exactly what we didn't want

The reality is he will be given time because we dont have the money to replace him, no-one would want to the job and he will be given time by the media because he's popular.

For example, I havent heard anything yet about it being our worst start in 18 years. He has a bit of space (which means the club does a bit too).

So for the moment, demanding his head isnt going to get anywhere. And I do believe all managers should be given some time.

But right now I am worried. The squad's being downgraded, mainly by the Yanks (although my own view is also by Roy's signing) and we're looking generally outclassed.

I can honestly say I wouldnt be shocked to see us in the Championship in three years time.

True the media do love him, but I have to take issue with the bold bit..this season more like it

Hodgson was brought in to facilitate the downgrading of the playing squad, i.e. systematically asset stripping to pay the interest on the debt put on the club to purchase it.

They can't sell it so what do LBO professionals do? Sell off the more valuable assets and hope that increased revenue streams (new TV deal) will be in place so that net present value (NPV) of the club shows a sufficient profit on their personal liens to the club.

Hodgson is clearly not good enough for LFC under normal circumstances but he is perfect in the yanks eyes because he is doing as he is told..Benitez smelt a rat 2 years ago and unfortunately his last year being poor (haha if you think last year was poor...) got the heave ho for being too difficult for the yanks to orchestrate their plans of hanging on until the new revenue streams are on line demonstrable etc to attain the asking price that ensures a profit.

Thats why I dont like Hodgson the yes man because he is the chummy face of the whole LBO plus he is clueless

[kemm1]

My overall assessment.

Man Utd were the better team and deserved to win. They controlled the game and were able to sort themselves out from being on the backfoot by making a couple of good changes and swung the game back in their favour.

But this is Man Utd at Old Trafford. We seldom win. I think we've lost 5 out the last 6 now. It's hardly a great shock or something to take digs at our players or manager over.

The one thing that worried me was a lack of communication on the flanks, understandable given two of the three central players (Poulsen and Meireles) and the left full back (Konchesky) are new to the team.

I think at times we were a little slow to get numbers wide to prevent 2 on 1 situations. The deep cross by O' Shea for the winner was the type of ball Birmingham were getting in. Against Brum the LB was Konchesky, against Man Utd it was Agger, but this is not a fault of the full back, it's a fault of the team as a whole atm. Just a lack of understanding.

Sunderland at home next, I'm ver interested to see how we perform in that one, that will tell us a lot.

[little dave hedgehog]

also, paul konchesky can not pass.

[calvoboy]

Depressing reading

Yeah, his away record is depressing, but most of that was with a team he took over when they were certainties for relegation. Of course they would lose a lot of away games. It's worrying if our form away from home doesn't pick up, certainly. But much of our poor away run was under Rafa too...

[little dave hedgehog]

Fair points, but on the other hand, I think we're playing our way into form a bit.

Given another month or two, what's to say that after a few easier games, we won't have gained a lot of ground on the other teams?

We've now played City, United, and Brum away. Yes our tally of points from these is frankly ****e but they're out of the way regardless

it's possible, but those teams are strong and have a head start on us regarding the quality of their football. don't see us racing past them at any point, but of course i will happily be proved otherwise.

[kemm1]

So does anyone now agree with me that this team can get relegated without Torres and Gerrard?

no

Listen I don't rate Roy at all and I must admit I sully supported Rafa so maybe i'm biased who knows. Before the season started I thought we would finish around 8th place, with Gerrard or Torres we'd probably finish 12th or so. We are bad but not that f'ing bad.

[Rudo]

So does anyone now agree with me that this team can get relegated without Torres and Gerrard?

It wouldn't get relegated mate, nowhere near.

Mid-table at the very best though.

[JohnDoe]

No

You're essentially saying the difference between 2nd and relegation is Xabi Alonso. Is it ****

i said the team without Torres and Gerrard, playing an entire season.

It's not just Alonso anyway, it's Alonso, Mascherano, Benayoun, a couple of more years on Carragher, Skrtel being chosen over Agger and a serious defensive downgrade on the the two full back positions as well as a significant reduction in squad depth.

[wiw]

A month or two? That's possibly about 10 league games away man, we need points on the board and sharpish - starting with Sunderland at Anfield next weekend.

Yeah I agree, but it's only really after that amount of time that the table really takes shape

[DannyMan2006]

My overall assessment.

Man Utd were the better team and deserved to win. They controlled the game and were able to sort themselves out from being on the backfoot by making a couple of good changes and swung the game back in their favour.

But this is Man Utd at Old Trafford. We seldom win. I think we've lost 5 out the last 6 now. It's hardly a great shock or something to take digs at our players or manager over.

The one thing that worried me was a lack of communication on the flanks, understandable given two of the three central players (Poulsen and Meireles) and the left full back (Konchesky) are new to the team.

I think at times we were a little slow to get numbers wide to prevent 2 on 1 situations. The deep cross by O' Shea for the winner was the type of ball Birmingham were getting in. Against Brum the LB was Konchesky, against Man Utd it was Agger, but this is not a fault of the full back, it's a fault of the team as a whole atm. Just a lack of understanding.

[wiw]

In the previous thread, people were arguing that we were going backwards...

I'm not sure that we are going backwards. Whenever you get a new manager you have a period of uncertainty where players aren't sure of their roles, and the manager isn't sure how to get the best out of the players. When Rafa took over, we conceded some soft goals from zonal marking while the players got used to it (until Pellegrino came and sorted it IIRC), and we're conceding soft ones now from man-marking while the players get used to it.

Similarly, it's clear that the players aren't yet used to the patterns of play that Roy wants. We are playing some good stuff in spells, but at times are looking totally lost. I'm not sure this is going backwards though - to me it looks like just a transitional phase while we adapt to a new manager with new ideas.

The league at the moment is meaningless. If we are still in the bottom half in 6 games time, then I'll start to worry. But at the moment we've played City and United Away, Arsenal at home, and Birmingham are a tough side to beat at St Andrews too. By contrast Chelsea have beaten the might of West Ham, West Brom, Wigan and Stoke before today's formality against Blackpool.

We need to win our next two home games, against Sunderland and Blackpool, and hopefully build from there. It's far too soon to be making some of the ridiculous comments that some have made on here though, regardless of our disappointment at losing to THEM.

I'm worried that Roy seems to think that Skrtel is better than Agger, and I hope he never, ever, plays Poulsen and Lucas together at CM again, but otherwise, I think we should give him the time to develop his side.

[Rudo]

Fair points, but on the other hand, I think we're playing our way into form a bit.

Given another month or two, what's to say that after a few easier games, we won't have gained a lot of ground on the other teams?

We've now played City, United, and Brum away. Yes our tally of points from these is frankly ****e but they're out of the way regardless

A month or two? That's possibly about 10 league games away man, we need points on the board and sharpish - starting with Sunderland at Anfield next weekend.

[Chris]

Roy away from home in the Prem :

played 76, won 12, drawn 27, lost 37

Wow! Words can barely describe how bad that is.

Though listening to his "It's a shame we lacked the composure to hang on" says it all about his mindset, they were rocking bigtime and we should have gone for the throat.

[kemm1]

Roy away from home in the Prem :

played 76, won 12, drawn 27, lost 37