Liverpool vs Sunderland post match

[red g]

I was fed up of looking at Rafa on the touchline, in press conferences and in general. What part don't you understand?

I'm not asking anyone else in the entire world to share this view. Its mine and I'm keeping it.

Bob i am with you pal, I wanted Rafa out and thought he had taken the team as far as it had gone. But just as there was those out there that would believe Rafa could do no wrong ......sure ely you are in danger of doing that with Roy?

I really want Roy to succeed but just like when Ramos went to SPurs and Allardyce to Newcastle It just doesnt fit right and I wanted it to work and i really felt that Liverpool was a club he deserved after a long serving apprecnticeship of jobs.

MAybe he will do ok, but all the signs are, and you must see these to bob, he is a way, way out of his depth

[Shaggy]

Bob i am with you pal, I wanted Rafa out and thought he had taken the team as far as it had gone. But just as there was those out there that would believe Rafa could do no wrong ......sure ely you are in danger of doing that with Roy?

I really want Roy to succeed but just like when Ramos went to SPurs and Allardyce to Newcastle It just doesnt fit right and I wanted it to work and i really felt that Liverpool was a club he deserved after a long serving apprecnticeship of jobs.

MAybe he will do ok, but all the signs are, and you must see these to bob, he is a way, way out of his depth

Absolutely bang on mate. There's **** all wrong with changing your mind or whatever. It's not a point-scoring exercise is it. I've just been asked if I'm feeling smug for being against appointing Hodgson since the very first link - am I **** (besides the fact there's time yet for me and everyone else to be proven completely wrong). I feel sick.

[Neil Young]

Maybe but then they wouldn't play as a team for Rafa last season which is why we finished in 7th, so that means that Rafa was **** and not good enough for us?

Well, that assumes we're no worse now than we were last season which almost everyone would disagree with. Our points per game average (although it's too small a sample to judge really) and League Cup defeat also indicate we're in deeper sh*t than we were even last season.

That aside, I think it's important to remember Benitez was manager with almost the same group of players the previous season and we finished second. To me that suggests he and his team underperformed last season. I'm not sure Hodgson is capable of more.

He certainly hasn't had the effect some people said he would. There has been no new manager "bounce".

Anyway, f*ck it - who knows what might have happened. The real question is "we're sh*t - what is he going to do about it?"

[Daniel 7]

I wish we had appointed a manager with fresh ideas, ambitious tactics and a winning mentality. We've appointed an old duffer happy with draws at home to crap teams.

Read the sign Roy

THIS IS ANFIELD

Not ****ing Craven Cottage or Ewood Park.

I'm angry with football. Its getting destroyed.

[SRR]

I wish we had appointed a manager with fresh ideas, ambitious tactics and a winning mentality. We've appointed an old duffer happy with draws at home to crap teams.

Read the sign Roy

THIS IS ANFIELD

Not ****ing Craven Cottage or Ewood Park.

I'm angry with football. Its getting destroyed.

That's the thing that really annoys me, the negative defeatist comments. He may have been able to get away with **** like that at Fulham, but we're not Fulham and we don't expect to be dominated at home.

[SimonNo7]

Well, that assumes we're no worse now than we were last season which almost everyone would disagree with. Our points per game average (although it's too small a sample to judge really) and League Cup defeat also indicate we're in deeper sh*t than we were even last season.

That aside, I think it's important to remember Benitez was manager with almost the same group of players the previous season and we finished second. To me that suggests he and his team underperformed last season. I'm not sure Hodgson is capable of more.

He certainly hasn't had the effect some people said he would. There has been no new manager "bounce".

Anyway, f*ck it - who knows what might have happened. The real question is "we're sh*t - what is he going to do about it?"

No he hasn't and I am one of those that thought he would but now I am wondering/worrying apart from what is obviously rotten about our club are there a number in the playing staff that are too and that no manager would be able to get them to perform as a team.

As for what is he going to do about it? Who knows but I do know is that we have to give him time and at this moment I think that time should be up until Christmas.

[calvoboy]

Finally made it home, so thought I'd post my assessment and see how it tallies up with others on here (haven't read thread yet apart from page 1 on phone after the game).

I thought there were quite a few positives. For the first 25 minutes we played really well, and were comfortably on top. Then they got a penalty out of nothing to equalise, and our heads dropped and they were the better side for the rest of the half. It was just like those games early last year when our confidence was low, and the slightest thing going against us in a game could throw our whole performance.

Second half they caught us early, but once we made the tactical change and put Meireles in the middle we played well again, and could easily have won it with any one of those late chances that were cleared off the line and scrambled away. Credit has to go to Roy for that, though he should also take the blame for starting with Poulsen and wasting Merieles out wide.

All in all, disappointed with the result, but there are encouraging signs that things are starting to click. Why do we always struggle against Steve Bruce though? Right back to Huddersfield Town in the cup 11 years ago, we always seem to find his teams hard to beat...

Positives - 1. First time I've seen Merieles play live and he looked like a class act to me. Wasted out wide in the first half (though he didn't put a foot wrong there) but him and Gerrard could form a great partnership if Hodgson drops the obsession with an out and out holding midfielder. 2. Gerrard had a cracking game, good to see him motivated and playing like this. 3. Cole had the best game I've seen him have for us, but he still tries too many flicks and gives the ball away too often. Improving. 4. For the first 25 and the last 30 mins, we played some really good football.

Negatives - 1. The result, obviously. 2. Poulsen looks way off the pace. 3. Saw both sides of Torres today - thought he was going to get himself sent off when he refused to take his booking from the ref. 4. The ref was abysmal, how many **** games does he have to have before the FA ends the Atwell experiment? 5. Johnson - we'd be better off with Kelly at full back and playing Johnson wide right, he can't defend. 6. We still had a really, really, bad 30-40 mins at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second.

[calvoboy]

I may be being generous but I thought we were playing alright up until they scored, which was a bloody stupid handball to give away.

I don't recall them seeing much of the ball for the first 24 minutes.

Then they scored and we crumbled. We then showed no fight and no passion for 40 mins. It was utterly horrible, and they passed around us like we weren't there. Many of the team weren't there and were hardly busting a gut and we were second best to pretty much everything.

Then Gerrard equalised and we looked better again.

Am I being too kind?

The 40 mins from them scoring until SG equalising was possibly the most angering and turgid half hearted thing I've seen.

But either side of that we were alright I felt.

I thought Torres was shocking today and barely competed. Ngog made a real difference and put himself about. Poulson is scary from what I saw today. A real "don't pass it to him" sort of player. And Johnson is a shocking right back. Can't we play to his obvious strengths and put him right midfield? Maureles looks a decent player and it's probably no coincidence that we improved when he replaced Poulson at centre mid.

Looks like you were watching the same game as me! I was starting to wonder if anyone else was, working through the thread after posting my assessment...

[Leyton388]

Absolutely bang on mate. There's **** all wrong with changing your mind or whatever. It's not a point-scoring exercise is it. I've just been asked if I'm feeling smug for being against appointing Hodgson since the very first link - am I **** (besides the fact there's time yet for me and everyone else to be proven completely wrong). I feel sick.

Mate i would like nothing more than to Roy to prove everyone including me wrong on a massive scale but the signs are there early on that he won't and like you i am sick to my stomach about it. Any LFC fan that takes joy in being right about Roy is nothing more than a complete tool.

The Club is rotten to the core at this present time and i like everyone else is praying come October that this nightmare will end.

We are so poor at the minute that rival fans dont even bother to take the piss anymore. I work with a bunch of blues and even they dont bother taking the piss anymore.

[Lee]

We are so poor at the minute that rival fans dont even bother to take the piss anymore. I work with a bunch of blues and even they dont bother taking the piss anymore.

Exactly that mate.

Makes it even more depressing really, they don't see us as a threat at all, we're nowhere near the likes of Chelsea anymore. A few years ago the banter was good - miss those days

[alunevans]

Looks like you were watching the same game as me! I was starting to wonder if anyone else was, working through the thread after posting my assessment...

yep i just read your post and agreed with it. then saw your second post agreeing with me. its nice to meet another football genius on the site

[alunevans]

We are so poor at the minute that rival fans dont even bother to take the piss anymore. I work with a bunch of blues and even they dont bother taking the piss anymore.

That might have more to do with the fact that theyre bottom of the league that though.

[Leyton388]

That might have more to do with the fact that theyre bottom of the league that though.

They have always tried to take the piss regardless of their own Position as they are obsessed with us.

Just poor all round

[Craig_H]

The excuses were over and after giving the benefit of the doubt what with a hard start, today was the day i was looking for Roy's Liverpool to allay my fears with a positive home performance. And we had the perfect start, courtesy of the hopeless Atwell and his first clanger of several. Great chance to push on, assert ourselves and build up a cushion. But then Roy's 'masterplan' took effect

I honestly cant recall such a drab, uninspired, uninterested and disgraceful performance by us. Actually, i can - it was the last game. And it spells a disasterous pattern for everyone's favourite uncle.

Initially, i felt that we'd be in for a season where we'd be soundly beaten by the 'big four' but consistently push aside the lesser sides to the extent whereby 4th place would be a realistic aim.

Well, one out of two isnt bad...

Having now seen us routinely and regularly bossed by all and sundry, including 'mighty' Northampton Town (i didnt hear Roy call them that, but i would genuinely be unsurprised if he had), it's painfully and evidently clear that this manager is out of his depth and displays a lack of know-how contrary to what a manager of his huge experience should display.

It's not (just) the results. It's the diabolical manner with which they are achieved. (Is 'achieved' the right word? "Mum, i just achieved an F in my maths exam." Hmmm. "Dad, i just achieved a dismissal at work". Nope, didn't think so).

The negativity filtering down from boardroom level will naturally lead to some poor outcomes and down-trodden performances. That's normal. But not every f*cking game. And that's barely an exaggeration, because barring the odd one or two good halves of football, we've been disgracefully poor at all other times. The expression 'whipping boys' isnt out of place here. Any side struggling for points and in need of confidence needs only to take the 'play Liverpool' tonic, in order for their fortunes to greatly improve.

It's clear Hodgson's small-time, loser's mentality, is not for LFC. Rafa served up some poor shows, but at least we controlled games then. Suddenly, that notion seems heavenly.

Liverpool go to Blackpool on Boxing Day, but next Sunday it's likely to be the Tangerines who could be forgiven for thinking that Christmas has come early.

[Arn]

Just sack him.

Sunderland played us out of the park until they took the lead. It was only after that that Roy gave the orders to attack. Only after he was forced to do it.

That is at home against Sunderland. He is to afraid to even play an attacking game at home against Sunderland before he is forced to do it.

Chicken boy Roy need to go now.