Pack your bags Roy

[Lecter]

Deal or no deal? It’s make your mind up time for JW Henry

Nov 19 2010 by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo

COMPARE and contrast. Almost a month ago to the day, Roy Hodgson declared: “Of course the January transfer window is something that interests us. We’ll have to do our scouting work for future transfers like any other club.”

Three weeks ago he added: “I’m wary of the January transfer window. I think it can be dangerous as clubs try to correct mistakes, but, having said that, we are going to be very interested in trying to improve our squad in January. There is no question about that. I am sure we will sign players.”

A week later, despite the warm afterglow of walloping the champions, he reconfirmed: “Our squad needs to be a lot stronger than it is today and that can only be done through the transfer window to come.”

So far, so clear.

Until this week, when new owner JW Henry declared: “We have work to do and must invest in this club to improve it on the field. Can that be successfully done in January? A number of people I’ve talked with doubt it. Most people seem to think it will be the summer before we can really begin to improve.”

The January sales were suddenly cancelled – just when Liverpool needed the kind of boost a marquee signing can bring.

So has JW Henry suddenly pulled the rug from under his manager?

Have they both belatedly decided that January is too volatile a transfer market to go shopping in?

Or do the new owners want to see further evidence of improvement before allowing Roy Hodgson to spend their hard earned cash?

It wouldn’t be the first time a decision has been taken without the manager’s prior knowledge.

It’s barely a fortnight since JW Henry admitted Hodgson had been unaware of the arrival of Damien Comolli – to help guide and shape his “football strategy.”

There are clearly interesting times ahead at Anfield.

Roy Hodgson has been in football far too long to be taken for a mug.

While Liverpool’s long suffering fans have already shown that any American owners who take liberties with their affections do so at their peril.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...


http://www.liverpool.../#ixzz15isssBZ4

[Roboklopp]

Deal or no deal? It’s make your mind up time for JW Henry

Nov 19 2010 by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo

COMPARE and contrast. Almost a month ago to the day, Roy Hodgson declared: “Of course the January transfer window is something that interests us. We’ll have to do our scouting work for future transfers like any other club.”

Three weeks ago he added: “I’m wary of the January transfer window. I think it can be dangerous as clubs try to correct mistakes, but, having said that, we are going to be very interested in trying to improve our squad in January. There is no question about that. I am sure we will sign players.”

A week later, despite the warm afterglow of walloping the champions, he reconfirmed: “Our squad needs to be a lot stronger than it is today and that can only be done through the transfer window to come.”

So far, so clear.

Until this week, when new owner JW Henry declared: “We have work to do and must invest in this club to improve it on the field. Can that be successfully done in January? A number of people I’ve talked with doubt it. Most people seem to think it will be the summer before we can really begin to improve.”

The January sales were suddenly cancelled – just when Liverpool needed the kind of boost a marquee signing can bring.

So has JW Henry suddenly pulled the rug from under his manager?

Have they both belatedly decided that January is too volatile a transfer market to go shopping in?

Or do the new owners want to see further evidence of improvement before allowing Roy Hodgson to spend their hard earned cash?

It wouldn’t be the first time a decision has been taken without the manager’s prior knowledge.

It’s barely a fortnight since JW Henry admitted Hodgson had been unaware of the arrival of Damien Comolli – to help guide and shape his “football strategy.”

There are clearly interesting times ahead at Anfield.

Roy Hodgson has been in football far too long to be taken for a mug.

While Liverpool’s long suffering fans have already shown that any American owners who take liberties with their affections do so at their peril.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...


http://www.liverpool.../#ixzz15isssBZ4

Yeah, right.

[Fredo]

Just saw that as well.

[Lecter]

Liverpool FC great Jan Molby says continental management set-up may work for Reds
Nov 19 2010 by Dominic King, Liverpool Echo

Comments (2)Recommend 123next
TIMES are changing at Anfield. As Liverpool gear up for a key date with West Ham, the man in the director’s box will be the focus of just as much scrutiny as the man in the dugout

For Roy Hodgson, the pressing concern tomorrow will be securing three much-needed points against the Premier League’s bottom club and finding a way of coping for the next four weeks without his inspirational captain.

Steven Gerrard, by common consensus, has been the Reds’ player of the season so far but the hamstring injury he sustained playing for England on Wednesday evening means those who have found themselves on the periphery need to step forward.

In some ways, it will provide a glimpse into the future. There will be a time, after all, when Liverpool can no longer call upon the player who has been responsible for providing a catalogue of magic moments during his career.

The problem is, however, that Liverpool’s well of talent does not run as deep as many would like it to, which is why the club’s form has fluctuated so dramatically during a campaign that has been littered with many more troughs than peaks.

But that is where Damien Comolli comes in.

Liverpool’s new director of football strategy will have just as big a role as Hodgson in shaping Anfield’s destiny but his appointment has triggered just as many questions as answers.

Comolli, for example, went on record earlier this week to say Hodgson will have the final word on all those players who end up being brought in but will that be the case? Across Europe, men in Comolli’s position are all powerful in the transfer market.

Is this the right way forward for Liverpool? Can ruling by consensus really pay dividends? One man who knows better than most the intricacies of how it works on the continent and the British model is Reds legend Jan Molby.

He will be at Anfield tomorrow in his role as a pundit for Danish television – hoping beyond hope that Liverpool can regain the winning thread after last weekend’s calamity at Stoke – but there was a time not so long ago when Molby was a Director of Football himself.

That position came at Kidderminster and Molby smiles at the memory; his first dealing with a director of football, however, came in 1982 when he was whisked from Kolding to Ajax by a man called Arjen van Eijden who had spent months scouting him.

“I sometimes feel the continental style is impossible to work in the British game as people are so set in their ways,” said Molby, who won two League Championships and two FA Cups during his 11 years at Liverpool. “The manager is very powerful. In Europe it works so well.

“The head coach looks after nothing other than affairs at the training ground and all matters on the pitch. When I joined Ajax, the first time I met the head coach (Aad de Mos) was in my first training session. In a similar way, after I had signed, I never saw Arjen again.

“That’s what happens. The players are purchased and the coach just gets on with it. I’m sure Roy is well equipped to work with the system. He will have experienced it at Inter Milan and I’m sure he will have experienced it at FC Copenhagen, too.”

Molby – a player whose class and guile would be richly received in Liverpool’s current squad – was taken aback when hearing of Comolli’s appointment but if this is the first step on a road back to the top under the club’s new owners, he will not complain.

“I was very surprised by the news. I was away working on Champions League duty and thought it was very unlike Liverpool,” he said.

“But, at the same time, Damien Comolli has got a good track record and he has found some good players down the years.

“This, though, is such a big rethink from the way the club has done things in the past.

“It is going to take time and he will have his own thoughts. There are a few clubs around the world who have ‘typical’ players. You hear it said that someone is a typical Barcelona player.

“Liverpool fall into that category. But he (Comolli) might not see things that way. Maybe he will have his own ideas and vision. If you are going to run with the director of football strategy, it is going to take time.

“Some managers are very strong characters and want to be in charge of their own destiny but this model definitely works. Look at Bayern Munich’s blueprint – they are one of the most successful clubs in Europe.”

But will there be conflict? Stories of technical directors falling out with one another are commonplace - and plenty of British clubs have abandoned the idea after initially feeling it the best way to go.

Look at Celtic. Liverpool heroes John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish operated as head coach and director of football at Parkhead 11 years ago but, as Barnes explained, it was a completely different set up than the one now in place at Anfield.

He, like Molby, has an open mind as to how the Hodgson-Comolli axis will work out. But all Barnes wants to see is Liverpool flourishing once more; if it is achieved with an approach far removed from the club’s illustrious past, there will be no complaints.

“Comolli’s title is open to all kinds of interpretation,” said Barnes.

“Usually technical directors are people who know how the club works and all about its philosophy, which is why when the manager leaves, the buying ethos never changes.

“Real Madrid are a prime example of that with (Jorge) Valdano and (Emilio) Butragueno. It’s not something English managers will be used to but if this can help Liverpool towards the long term goal of being successful again, so much the better.

“People ask what it was like when Kenny was director of football at Celtic and I was manager but he had nothing to do with the first team; his role was more on the long-term development of the club and looking at Academy age players.

“This, clearly, is going to be different.”


Read More http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liver...#ixzz15j6TIXr5

[Lecter]

PHIL THOMPSON: Let’s see everyone worry about Liverpool FC rather than the other way around
Nov 18 2010 Liverpool Echo

Comments (27)Recommend (3) 123next

DRIVING back from London on Saturday night, I spent a large chunk of the journey hoping and praying as I listened to the radio.

All I wanted to hear was a sign that Liverpool were going to build up a head of steam with continuous possession and launch a comeback after going a goal behind to Stoke, so I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Of course, nothing came. Liverpool ended up being well beaten at the Britannia Stadium and, in some ways, we find ourselves back at square one again – it is with great frustration we have not built on the win over Chelsea.

The fact we failed to rally was a cause for great alarm and it’s clear that some players are failing to show the backbone that is required when you represent Liverpool.

It is also alarming that we seem to be more concerned – and this is just my opinion – with worrying about what the opposition will do to us rather than what we might do to them.

Of course, when you play Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and perhaps Manchester City, you have to give them respect but the rest you should really look to get on with it and remember you are Liverpool.


Looking back at Stoke, I found it difficult to understand why the balance was upset by taking Martin Kelly out, shuffling Jamie Carragher to wide and then bringing Sotirios Kyrgiakos in to cope with the home team’s aerial threat.

Why not just swap Kyrgiakos for Skrtel and leave it at that? Why change the balance of a team that had been performing well?

This, of course, means there will be nerves around the stadium on Saturday evening, similar to when Blackpool arrived and everyone will be wondering what Liverpool will turn up.

Surely, though, this is a day when it demands everyone sticks together and get behind the team? If I could urge one thing, it would be for everyone to be patient as vociferous criticism can be totally unhelpful at such time.

West Ham are vulnerable but, then again, they will sense a chance to cash in – we have got to make sure that doesn’t happen by pressing from the very first whistle.


Damien Comolli’s role needs explanation

DAMIEN COMOLLI is likely to be the most interesting addition New England Sports Ventures make to Liverpool’s set up for quite some time.

The first thing I thought about when he was appointed was where Kenny Dalglish fits in, then it was who is going to decide on the players Liverpool buy.

I have heard a couple of his interviews this week and it’s encouraging that he has said he is going to be consulting with Roy Hodgson on any new arrivals because that is not what happened when he occupied a similar role at Tottenham – he bought all the players.

Will Comolli oversee everything at Melwood? Will he handle the players who arrive into the Academy?

What is most important, though, is discovering who will have the final say on what players come into the senior set up – as far as I see it, that has to be down to the manager.

It has been said both men share the same vision and that is good because all every Liverpool fan wants to see is the best players arriving and helping make the team successful again.

Robert Pires signing gives food for thought

THE transfer window is closed for business but that has not stopped Aston Villa pulling off quite a coup this week.

In signing Robert Pires, Gerard Houllier has been very astute and brought in a player of great quality who, once he gets his fitness up to speed, will be a great asset.

Gerard has clearly looked at the squad he has inherited and felt that it was short of experience and you cannot argue that is what Pires has.

He is not someone we ever thought of signing for Liverpool but he could end up having the same effect for Villa as Gary McAllister had for us during two great years.

The big money buys don’t always have the biggest impact and, occasionally, a ‘maverick’ can pay rich rewards – it’s something to think about



Read More http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liver...#ixzz15j6xkxxY

[Buzzo]

Cheers Arn .

Err. I saw that the other day but didn't have the time to read it!

[RichC]

He wrote a season on the brink. He is probably the journalist out there that know most about the contract situation when it comes down to La Liga and Spanish players.

I would think that he knows very little in terms of the actual contracts in place with players at LFC, he will have his thoughts and ideas but to know what was written into them etc..... is doubtful very doubtful!

Remember the key word you used earlier is journalist, it's what he is first and foremost!

[Cormack74]

Deal or no deal? It’s make your mind up time for JW Henry

Nov 19 2010 by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo

While Liverpool’s long suffering fans have already shown that any American owners who take liberties with their affections do so at their peril.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...


http://www.liverpool.../#ixzz15isssBZ4

I don't understand this. The way Prentice constucted his piece it seems that Henry is undermining Hodgson.

So I hardly call that taking liberties with our affections since what most fans want is for Roy to enter a residential home.

If Henry undermining him hastens that process, then great.

[GorbyPeacePrize]

Ignore Prentice; he's just a plagerising Bitter Blue.

[Vermilion]

Torres saying every player is behind the Bodge now i hear.

here it is..

I'm behind you, gaffer! Liverpool striker Fernando Torres backs underfire Roy Hodgson

By John Edwards
Last updated at 12:39 AM on 20th November 2010

Fernando Torres has thrown his weight behind Roy Hodgson’s troubled Anfield reign and insisted the entire Liverpool squad are backing their under-fire manager.

The striker spoke out on the eve of today’s critical home game with West Ham and denied suggestions of a dressing-room split.

Reacting to claims that elements of Liverpool’s foreign contingent had already lost faith in Hodgson, and that they felt Benitez should have been kept on, Torres delivered a ringing endorsement of the former Fulham boss.

‘The squad here trusts in Hodgson and so do I,’ Torres told a Spanish radio station.

‘It is not simple to begin a project with a different coach in a club where it is required to fight for every competition. You have to adapt to new ways to create a winning team and that is never easy.

‘The team are reacting. Not everything has gone as well as we hoped, but if we can put three wins together in a row then the team will be at the right end of the table and we will be more relaxed and play better.

‘I have no problem with Hodgson. He’s a very serious coach who in the summer explained to me very clearly what he wanted from me. He has always trusted in me and that’s very important for any footballer.

‘Although he was here a long time, the (Rafa) Benitez phase at Liverpool is already history. It belongs to the past and now only the present is important to us.

‘For us, football is the only thing we can think about at the moment. We are not as high in the table as we want to be.

'So we need to put space between ourselves and the others. I’m sure we’ll do that and then we can start to look up.’

Read more: [url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1331435/Liverpool-striker-Fernando-Torres-backs-underfire-Roy-Hodgson.html

[Drago]

Why's Gillian Ballbag still talking about us?

[Ben_Itez]

The rest of that daily mail Torres article ^^:

West Ham midfielder Scott Parker is rated a major doubt for the Anfield clash with a chest infection, though his possible absence is more than countered by the start of a month-long lay-off for Steven Gerrard following his hamstring tear in England’s midweek defeat by France.

Though Hodgson admitted being angry at an injury that happened 25 minutes after Gerrard was supposed to have been withdrawn, he revealed how his skipper had defused a potential row between club and country.

Such was the initial fury within Anfield that their head of fitness and conditioning, Darren Burgess, tweeted that Gerrard’s treatment was ‘absolutely disgraceful’.

But Hodgson said: ‘My thoughts on Steven are that I’m frustrated and disappointed to lose such a good player for a long period of time after a friendly.

'Anything other than “I’m disappointed and a bit angry” would be dishonest.

'But when I spoke to Steven this morning he was at pains to say to me, “Don’t prolong this debate. I know how you feel, but please say as little as you can and be as diplomatic as you can”.

‘He feels like me that it’s a sad thing to have happened, and he’s very disappointed about it, but he doesn’t want to give even more reasons for a debate to rage.’

Hodgson said Gerrard would not be rushed back from injury.



I know it's not cool to mock Roy's press conferences anymore but does the highlighted quote seem a bit odd to anyone else?

Seems Gerrard is **** scared of what Hodgson will say to the press and realises he'll probably babble on about it. Does Roy not realise this shows a lack of faith from Gerrard in him handling the situation correctly or am I reading too much into it?

As per usual though Roy has spoken too much and shouldnt be revealing that Gerrard has asked him to be quiet on the situation.

[Drago]

I wouldn't be surprised if Roy is going a bit senile. I don't remember him being such a **** up at Fulham.

[dizzycat]

I can't believe for a second that Torres really wants to play Hodgson's **** brand of football. Perhaps he trusts that Hodgsons going to **** off soon and make us all feel happier.

[GTi]

Anything less than a win today and he should be sacked within the hour after the final whistle. Feels like we are in limbo until this ****wit is gone.