Pack your bags Roy

[elrichio86]

Why Roy Hodgson needs a crash course from Fergie in how to play the media game at a truly big club
By Darren Lewis
Published 07:58 27/10/10


Five months ago I wrote this: Why Roy Hodgson should stay well away from the Liverpool job.

For those of you too busy to read it, it was a piece arguing the case for why the former Fulham manager should not have touched the Liverpool position with a barge pole.

Hodgson is a good man, an excellent tactician and a very honest man. But with every day that passes the reputation that he reinvigorated at Craven Cottage is taking a huge kicking.

You can understand why he did go to Anfield. At 62 (63 now) he found it far too difficult to resist the lure of one of the giants of English - world - football.


But if he is to stay on Merseyside he will need a massive PR makeover.

If he starts getting questions about the job being too big for him, he needs to politely swerve them. Not show how hurt he is and start justifying himself by trotting out his cv.

It may sound strange this coming from a journalist, but he may even need a crash course in how to sound as though he is giving the fans what they want from the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Because you would never in a million years get Manchester United's finest admitting it would be hard to hold on to one of his strikers if a so-called bigger club came along.

And yet that is exactly what Hodgson did last week when he conceded he would struggle to keep Fernando Torres in the face of interest from United.

If you are resting players for a game ahead of one that is more important at the weekend, the fans don't want to hear you talking about how they have to put up with stiffs who are not quite good enough.

Talk them up! Big up the players who are deputising for the likes of the big guns, just like Arsene Wenger did yesterday with Jay Emmanuel Thomas.

To be perfectly honest, Hodgson cannot afford to be losing ANY games at the moment. Liverpool need momentum and that comes with a consistency of tactics and team selection.

Weighing heavily in his favour is the fact that Liverpool have never sacked a manager mid-season in their 117-year history.

If Hodgson is to continue that trend then he will have to review his way he deals with the media instead of biting on everything and showing he can be wound up.

Because the patience he would have had at Fulham is running worryingly thin at Anfield.

And while he could get away with playing down expectations in London the fans are most definitely not having it on Merseyside.

Read more: http://www.mirrorfoo...l#ixzz13euKxV1C

He lost me at that point....

[Lecter]

Rafa Benitez not to blame for Liverpool FC's awful start
Oct 28 2010 By Ben Thornley, Head of Sport

NOT since William Shakespeare transformed Richard III into a deformed hunchback has a figure endured as much revisionism at the hands of English writers as Rafa Benitez.

As Liverpool manager, Benitez once quipped that he was “blamed for everything, for global warming to high petrol prices”.
It is only since he left Anfield, however, that the real finger-pointing began. Even Benitez’s most ardent supporter – which this observer certainly was not – would concede that the Inter Milan boss made a series of mistakes in his final years on Merseyside, that contributed to Liverpool missing out on the title in 2009 (albeit with a club record Premier League points haul) and the top four last season. His greatest blunder, though, appears to have been failing to play the game of the English Press, who have assigned culpability for Roy Hodgson’s abysmal start to Benitez.

Tellingly, the Spaniard endured harsher Fleet Street criticism when guiding Liverpool to the summit of the Premier League in 2008 than his successor did after leaving the club second from bottom following a humiliating 2-0 Merseyside derby defeat. Apparently, it’s not the Londoner’s fault that Liverpool have made their poorest start to a top-flight campaign since they were relegated in the 1950s. Forget the regressive tactics, the defeatist press conferences, spending close to £10m on Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen or playing his marquee signing, Raul Meireles, out of position. No, if you believe everything you read in the national papers, Liverpool are sat in the bottom three because of Benitez’s record in the transfer market and the quality of the squad he left behind.

This despite the former Valencia coach leaving behind 13 players who featured for their countries during this summer’s World Cup and three signings in Pepe Reina, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano considered to be among the finest in their position in the game. And as pointed out in this column last week, nine players who featured in the 4-1 victory over United at Old Trafford are still in Liverpool’s ranks.

Admittedly, Benitez was a deeply frustrating figure who made a handful of questionable decisions in the transfer market.
Forcing the exit of Xabi Alonso, who was key to his favoured 4-2-3-1 system favoured, ranks among his worst – as does his choice for the Basque’s replacement, Alberto Aquilani. But Aquilani – currently impressing at Juventus – was only a poor buy because he was unavailable until late in the season after undergoing ankle surgery in the May. And it wasn’t Benitez who sent him back to Italy on loan for a season after the Anfield medical team had nursed him back to full fitness, while spending what little money was available on a player who occupies the same position.

When a player left Liverpool under the Madrid-born coach it was often at a profit, something which is usually ignored by when assessing his transfer record. Like the concept of net spend. His critics use the high turnover of players during his tenure as a stick to beat him with, while arguing the irrelevance of transfer funds received.

To borrow a line from the excellent Liverpool FC writer Paul Tomkins, when you tell someone how much your house cost you don’t tell them the sum of every property you have ever bought. And Benitez traded at a significant profit during his final 18 months in charge, as the Amercians' debts began to bite.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett's destabilising effect on the club is seemingly a legitimate excuse for Hodgson's failure but not Benitez's.

The 50-year-old should be remembered as a Liverpool legend after delivering the Champions League in 2005 and assembling the best Reds side for 20 years, yet there are individuals seemingly intent on destroying his legacy. At the root of this revisionism is the usual mix of xenophobia and patriotism, a resentment of foreign coaches taking the top Premier League jobs – regardless of their pedigree – and a desire to see English bosses get their chance. Again, regardless of their pedigree – see Hodgson.
Remember the fuss when Roberto Mancini replaced Mark Hughes at big spending Manchester City after 18 months of underachievement?

There’s also a less noble motivation behind these journalists wanting British bosses in charge of the elite clubs – they tend to be more open to the Press. In his entire six-year Anfield stay, Benitez granted just one exclusive interview with a national, The Times.
It’s not that the Spaniard treated the media poorly. Regardless of however intense the interrogation became, Benitez would almost always respond politely and with a smile, no matter how rude his inquisitor. Something which can’t be said of the tetchy Hodgson. Every question, no matter how simple, is met with “what do you mean by that, what are you trying to say?”.

An element of his ill temper can be explained away by his inability to cope with the pressure of the Anfield hotseat. But Scandinavian and Italian journalists report similar experiences, even during the good times, and have expressed bemusement at his portrayal as an English gentleman on these shores. Indeed, his derisory comments about the abilities of La Liga and Champions League-winning coach Frank Rijkaard, after the Dutchman was linked to the Liverpool job, were pitiful.

Hodgson would swap all of his trophies won in the backwaters of Europe for just one of the former Barcelona coach’s.
Liverpool fans would happily trade Hodgson for Rijkaard.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/sport-news/liverpool-fc/2010/10/28/comment-rafa-benitez-not-to-blame-for-liverpool-fc-s-awful-start-55578-27563144/

[Rich]

Interesting that it's from the Daily Post.

I'm still confident that the change will happen sooner rather than later...

[Frenchie]

who dat?

[The Birdman]

Interesting that it's from the Daily Post.

I'm still confident that the change will happen sooner rather than later...

I ****ing hope so
Obviously we desperately need a new manager but it might also stop some of the idiots on here agreeing the the crap peddled in the media about how Rafa is to blame

[Reece]

Rafa Benitez not to blame for Liverpool FC's awful start
Oct 28 2010 By Ben Thornley, Head of Sport

Nice

[Craig_H]

Interesting that it's from the Daily Post.

I'm still confident that the change will happen sooner rather than later...

I wish i shared this confidence, but i'm seeing and hearing nothing from the NESV camp to make me feel like a change is imminent.

[Rich]

I wish i shared this confidence, but i'm seeing and hearing nothing from the NESV camp to make me feel like a change is imminent.

Just gotta believe!

[Fernandinho]

Positive thoughts Craig. Don't forget how the ownership deal came out of nothing too!

[SB]

It's all gone quiet with Rijkaard hasn't it

[Muddled]

It's all gone quiet with Rijkaard hasn't it

I think that was more his agent trying to line Rijkaard's next job after it became apparent that he was getting the boot from Galatasaray.

[Craig_H]

Believing and positive thoughts are all good obviously, but i need to base it on something - and NESV doing/saying anything that i can base it on.

[Muddled]

I wish i shared this confidence, but i'm seeing and hearing nothing from the NESV camp to make me feel like a change is imminent.

I'm with Craig on this, it feels like any momentum that was being gained has slowly grinded to a halt.

[Fernandinho]

Believing and positive thoughts are all good obviously, but i need to base it on something - and NESV doing/saying anything that i can base it on.

https://www.bull****.com

It is believed that NESV, the new owners of Liverpool are looking to replace current old ******* manager Roy Hodgson from his semi-retirement job.

[Rich]

The pressure will rocket after Bolton unless Roy changes the habit of a lifetime.