Pack your bags Roy

[DannyMan2006]

I said a while a go that the only chance we have of getting Hodgson out was if the Kop called for it. That finally happened v Wolves and that is why the death sentence is being wrote up.

But if the Kop go silent again I fully expect Hodgson to get a stay of execution, regardless of results. It seems you have to do an awful lot wrong under NESV to get the sack.

[Shaggy]

As with Hodgson's last "apology", at no point does he say sorry or retract the remarks. He says he 'regrets' it "if anyone has taken offence". Not good enough Hodgson, like everything else you do.

[Lecter]

Major article in Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet today, featuring Tor-Kristian Karlsen, Lars Tjærnås (yes, the former assistant manager for Wimbledon F. C, but he really is one of the best pundits around), and supporter union chairman Pål Christian Møller. Headline: ”- The decision to let Hodgson manage this kind of players is appaling”.

http://www.dagbladet...dgson/14891741/

Dagbladet: Why do Hodgson not succeed in Liverpool?

Lars Tjærnås:
- Specifically, I believe the problem is due to an attacking game that can be described in two words: Too static. You almost never see that movement precedes a pass, often the opposite, and it’s a bad sign. Moreover, it is very rarely more than one movement at a time.

- Defensively, it has been characterized by a lack of speed, and now the lack of a boss when Carragher is gone. But most serious is perhaps the body language. For example, Torres looks like he thinks football is not very fun these days. That’s what scares me the most. It illuminates hopelessness, and then you have thrown the weapons, and the next phase is to wave the white flag. It doesn’t suit Liverpool.

Tor-Kristian Karlsen:
- I, and others, was skeptical of the employment, and has emphasized that Hodgson’s methodology follows the same prescription as in the 70s in Sweden. It was revolutionary then, but football has progressed a bit since then. Yet he is still on the same premises for 30 years.

- It may work in a group of players consisting of outsiders and underdogs, as in Fulham: Small clubs, where players do not have many more chances, and thus no other choice than to listen to what’s being said. All drilling and relations and attention at the expense of creative expression, and is difficult to introduce into a big club where everyone has individual needs and wishes to develop their career. He has never had any success in working with young players. People point out that Hodgson trained Inter, but Inter anno 1996 was not what they are today. They were a typical Uefacup Club, where the biggest star was Paul Ince. Hodgson’s success has primarily been to organize the chaotic teams. He had his time in the 80s – and 90s. He is a very good football man, who unfortunately does not fit in a big club.

- I’m also beginning to see the signs of the Hodgson we saw when he was in Norway: Unnecessary condescending. Can not handle the media. You need skills to talk to people to get them on your side and be diplomatic when the going gets tough.

Dagbladet: How long can Hodgson blame the legacy of Benitez, Hicks and Gillett and others?

Lars Tjærnås:
- Hodgson can not talk about the legacy of Benitez any longer, for two reasons: His team performs far worse than it objectively is permitted to expect, which makes both the board and fans deaf to such arguments. It would be easier to sell that message if they had ten points more.

- The second reason is that the purchases he has been responsible for have been worse. I said this in the summer, but Liverpool is not a club that should buy Poulsen or Konchesky, and I stand by that, even though I know that economically, it has been limited freedom for a while.

Tor-Kristian Karlsen:
- At Hodgson’s defense, he came into a turbulent time when the club has been through a change of ownership. He was nevertheless not a popular appointment. The starting point was, in other words, not easy for him.

- If one is to blame anyone here, it must be the board that gave him a three-year contract. Putting him to lead this kind of players, is completely outrageous. But he must also acknowledge criticism for the way he communicates. He has made many strange statements, especially when he has been under pressure. He is sometimes very defensive, and does not emit particular signals that propagate positivity on behalf of Liverpool. But so is he, and it was also known in advance.

Dagbladet: How good is the squad and Liverpool’s first XI, really?

Lars Tjærnås:
- I rate it as a good enough squad to challenge for top 6, but Liverpool are too dependent on or 4 of these players to stay fit.

Tor-Kristian Karlsen:
- It has been argued throughout the autumn that the squad is too bad, and that Benitez left a mess. I did some math, that showed that until after the defeat to Blackpool the players in the starting XI had 55.18 caps [games for their national teams] on average. All players in the lineup was in the World Cup in South Africa. 10 field players, who all got playing time, and a man many call the world’s best goalkeeper, Pepe Reina, who was the other goalkeeper for Spain. In addition, there are people sitting on the bench like Babel, Agger, Konchesky and Jovanovic who all have caps.

- When Benitez went, there was a strong spine there. Apart from Xabi Alonso and JavierMascherano it is the same crew that competed for league championship two seasons ago. Chelsea, in comparison, have 17 first team players, the rest are youngsters, but also Manchester United are vulnerable in certain places. On the basis of the squad, Liverpool should do far, far better.

Pål Christian Møller:
- Liverpool’s squad has gradually deteriorated over the past few years, after players like Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, even back to John Arne Riise, has disappeared without being replaced. The club have spent less money on purchases than they have received on sales .

- All agree that Liverpool do not have good enough squad to challenge the teams at the top, but it is definitely good enough to beat Wolverhampton, to say the least.

Should Liverpool change their manager?

Lars Tjærnås:
- There is a problem for Roy Hodgson when the sum of what the team is performing is less than the individual players’ characteristics suggests. Although I believe there are clear gaps in the Liverpool team, they are performing weaker than it is allowed to expect. There is also a problem for the manager if the distance between expectations and performance is enormous, as they are in Liverpool now.

- The club should have a clear strategy on what kind of football they want to play and what kind of management philosophy they want with their manager. If this is taken care of by Hodgson, and he still has not lost the dressing room, they should not change the manager. Otherwise, they should search the market to match the profile they are looking for, and to provide what every manager eventually live or die by – results.

Tor-Kristian Karlsen:
- I think Hodgson sits out the season. The situation is just too complex and difficult to do anything now. Also, Liverpool is such a good team that it must turn at some point in time. I’m sure they’re going to grab enough points at home that it eventually becomes a good season. It’s bound to be some good experiences at Anfield with so many good players.

- Away from home I think it’s going to continue to falter a bit, and that there will be the same symptoms as it has been until now. In all, it is enough to see him sit out the season and get an OK farewell before they go different ways.

Pål Christian Moeller:
- Patience is over already, it’s not acceptable what they show now, and there is no good explanation for it. The Liverpool manager has never faced so much opposition so early. The critical voices are stronger and stronger. The fans can accept a lot, but such losses as yesterday is completely unacceptable. Both the manager and the player must take responsibility, and Hodgson has made some statements that people perceive like he does not take responsibility themselves, but owes it to a lot of others.

- We need a leader who can have a unifying effect, and get the lads to roll up their sleeves. I will not go out and say that I want to change the manager, but I will not be surprised if it will be the case. The new owners must also show some vigor over time. If nothing happens, then it can become more negative after a time of optimism.

[Spanishfly]

So latest odds, 7/4 Hodge next to go... (Ladbrooks)
2/1 Rikaard to takeover, 4-1 O neil...

[Lecter]

Excellent piece from Brian Kettle on TIA

Roy Hodgson is an intelligent man. He went to grammar school, speaks several languages, has a rich vocabulary and commanding turn of phrase and – as he often reminds us – 35 years of experience in football management.

So why is this intelligent man behaving the way he is, and has been throughout his tormented reign as Liverpool manager – failing to acknowledge his deficiencies, blaming the club’s problems on anyone he can find, stubbornly insisting that he’s doing his best and acting with incredulity when others suggest it's not good enough?

The answer is entitlement. He thinks he’s owed it. He believes that the Liverpool job is the crowning glory of a storied career and that not only can his fabled methods not be questioned, but they should be allowed limitless time to flourish.

And the problem – of course – is that the fabled career he’s thinking of is one that’s been faithfully and fancifully reported by his friends in the press, fuelled by his own imagination and hubris, and yet not borne out by his actual record and certainly not by his time at Anfield.

We’ve already heard him retell his palm-fronded arrival at the club last summer:

someone who had been brought in with the pomp and circumstance, and the money it took them to release me from my previous contract, and being feted as one of England's best managers

Except of course he was grudgingly welcomed at best, by a group of supporters willing to give him a chance but knowing he was no Benitez, Mourinho or Wenger.

And since then he’s upgraded himself from Emperor to Deity:

having defied people they have started to crucify me


Perhaps most famously, he took great umbrage at his management style being questioned, betraying both his ego and the journeyman nature of his career in his response:

What do you mean do my methods translate? They have translated from Halmstad to Malmo to Orebo to Neuchatel Xamax to the Swiss national team. So I find the question insulting. To suggest that, because I have moved from one club to another, that the methods which have stood me in good stead for 35 years and made me one of the most respected coaches in Europe don’t suddenly work, is very hard to believe.


Little wonder, then, that while he still maintains that he will not change the methods that worked so “well” at Fulham and that he “can’t work better” than he is, he still quite regally brushes off the complaints of people who think that 12th place, Route One football and a team and support close to revolt is unacceptable. This despite taking charge of a squad that got his predecessor sacked for coming seventh and spending half the money he was given to improve it on Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen. People without those 35 years experience just don’t understand:

Fans are waiting for a man with a magic wand that can turn all of the ills that everyone has seen into something different. Those of us who work in the game and have been working in the game a long time know that magic wand doesn't exist.


But this isn’t new in Hodgson. This isn’t just the Liverpool job swelling his head and clouding his thinking. Here he is, interviewed by the Independent back in 2002:

Of course, my track record, if people bothered to study it, would put me in the same category as [Sir Alex] Ferguson enjoys today, but people don't talk about what I've done outside England. Here, they just talk about Blackburn Rovers, but that's just a very small part of a 26-year career. To most English journalists it's the only part. I've got an excellent track record in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and in Denmark, where FC Copenhagen was my last job before I went to Udinese. We won the league there by seven points.


Sound familiar? There’s more that he’s recycled since:

You can be touted for future glories, then maybe a manager's fortunes change and the whole attitude towards him changes. Of course, it's wrong. If you've got the ability to be a good manager one minute, then unless people's judgements are totally wrong, that ability doesn't just disappear a few months later.


But here’s the killer – the real clue to the entitlement that festered and festered, that was brought to the peak by a Manager of the Year award that to the rest of us was clearly an Underdog award or for Lifetime Achievement, but for Hodgson was pomp, circumstance and deification. Here he is discussing the England job, given to Sven-Goran Eriksson:

I was sure he'd do a good job, as has been proven the case. But if you've been a candidate for the job, and you'd be happy to take it and somebody else gets it, then obviously any feelings you have for them are going to be mitigated by the fact that you wish it had been you. It [not being selected] didn't bother me. I didn't put myself up as a candidate. I was just pleased to hear that I was being considered. That was an honour in itself. It would have been an even greater honour if they'd said, 'You're the man'. But I understood that I was in competition with some other very strong candidates, names like Sven, [Terry] Venables, [Arsène] Wenger, all the top people in the game and you can't always expect to come out on top. I'm pleased they went for a good man and that it's working out because I would have been disappointed if they'd passed me over and given it to someone who wasn't very good and the team had done badly.


Manager of Liverpool is a late substitute for the career-capping job so far cruelly denied him. He should have had it then, and before, and since.

For it was always predicted that he would. Back in the pre-Sky era, when “continental football” got little press coverage, no TV coverage and YouTube was unimagined, Hodgson was always portrayed by his journalist friends as the dark horse for the England job. The well-kept secret of a brilliant English manager succeeding overseas.

No matter that his success was with small nations and small clubs in poor leagues, and that his one attempt at a big job (with Internazionale) was short-lived and ignominious – it was a great story, and one that fed on itself. He was brilliant – grammar school, five languages, league titles in Sweden – and he would one day land the biggest job of all for an English manager.

So when he lucked into one of the biggest jobs in club football – hired by men who don’t understand the game, just looking for someone who wouldn’t agitate and generate bad press like the last one – he took his house-of-cards history and bulletproof ego with him.

He can’t be wrong. It’s the players’ fault, Benitez’s fault, the owners’ fault, the fans’ fault.

The hoof-ball style of play, lack of width, unwillingness to press, disenchanted team, disenfranchised fans, woeful league position, future deteriorating every day he stays in the job – no one should mind him disclaiming responsibility and demanding patience.

He’s entitled.

[Spanishfly]

the bookies are loving Lfc atm
Look how many 'specials' against us..

http://www.paddypower.com/football/football-specials

This one about Carra seems quite funny lol

http://www.paddypower.com/football/football-specials/new-years-specials?ev_oc_grp_ids=398197

[Lecter]

As with Hodgson's last "apology", at no point does he say sorry or retract the remarks. He says he 'regrets' it "if anyone has taken offence". Not good enough Hodgson, like everything else you do.

I watched it and said almost the same to my missus

He apologises, says we are the best fans in the world etc.. but keeps talking and when he does this he invariable talks ****e and puts his foot in it again

And all through the interview hes ****ing scratching his head

[cream]

Roy Hodgson regrets comments about Liverpool fans


Hodgson is enduring a difficult first season at Liverpool

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has apologised to fans for any offence caused by his comments after the 1-0 home defeat by Wolves on Wednesday.
The club's eighth league defeat of the season was greeted by a chorus of boos, prompting Hodgson to call for more backing from the terraces.
But at a Friday news conference he sought to clarify his comments.
"I'm disappointed and I certainly regret if I have offended them in any way," Hodgson said.
More to follow.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9330251.stm

[Lecter]

LIVERPOOL BOSS ROY HODGSON LEAVES KOP SUICIDE NOTE



Roy Hodgson has been fighting a losing battle on Merseyside
Friday December 31,2010
By Paul Joyce Have your say(1)
THE boos were still echoing in the streets outside when the final insult came. It was delivered by Roy Hodgson and, amid the depressed post-match gloom of another setback, felt akin to him signing his own suicide note.


“The famous Anfield support has not really been there ever since I came here,” said the Liverpool manager and, with that brutal admission, his sense of isolation had never been greater. The comment had left him appearing very much a dead man walking.

Picking a fight after failing to pick up any points against relegation-haunted Wolves was not the right time to turn the tables on his tormentors. For once, honesty was anything but the best policy.

The reality is that Hodgson has been fighting a losing battle on Merseyside from the moment he usurped Kenny Dalglish in the pecking order to replace Rafa Benitez in the summer.

If two-thirds of Liverpool fans had clung wistfully to the notion that Dalglish could seamlessly step back into management after a decade away from the dugout, then a healthy percentage did not even want Benitez to go in the first place.

For those few remaining fans still willing to give Hodgson a chance following his arrival from Fulham, faith has quickly evaporated given the manager’s failure to get the best out of a group of players who have steadfastly failed to put in a shift to justify what they take out of the club.

At the last count, Liverpool’s annual wage bill was about £120million – and yet they sit just three points above the drop zone.

Before contemplating calling on support from those fans who had emptied Anfield at an alarming rate on Wednesday, Hodgson should have been asking for more backing from within his own dressing room. Instead, he seemed baffled by his charges’ inability to make their quality tell. “All bad results knock everyone’s confidence, but I can look [myself] in the mirror,” he said. “The group of players I put out there was probably the best XI, apart from Daniel Agger who has been injured long-term.


“I don’t think there are many players happy with how they played. I put it down to it being a bad day for us.”

There have been too many of those already. There may still be some empathy for Hodgson among those pulling on a red shirt yet, beneath the surface, it must be doubtful if a groundswell of respect exists.

He publicly challenged Glen Johnson and Joe Cole to justify themselves in a manner that always felt likelier to irk rather than jolt them back into life. And while Hodgson’s reputation in the game may garner plaudits from his contemporaries, that standing means nothing to the Spanish, Argentine, Greek, Dutch or Slovakian personnel in whom he places his trust every match day.

For a club that used to pride itself in its powers of recovery, all conviction has drained away with Liverpool having fallen behind in seven league games this season and lost every time, with Hodgson’s message seemingly not getting across. It is that which will nag at new owner John W Henry and the rest of his Fenway Sports Group.

There is a recognition among the Anfield hierarchy that Hodgson cannot be held accountable for everything that is going wrong, and that this project was damaged, perhaps beyond immediate repair, when he arrived. Yet they are right in demanding more than this team, and their manager, are offering at present and Dalglish’s presence as a club ambassador means he is available to fill in as a stop gap.

Hodgson’s relationship with the fans cannot be successfully restored to health, but a cooling off period could ensue if results improved. Yet it is difficult to see how Liverpool will gather any momentum.

Major funds seem unlikely to be spent in the January transfer window and, even if they could be, would the board be willing to give Hodgson carte blanche to pinpoint those to instigate the revival?

His record in the market thus far – £21m lavished on Paul Konchesky, Christian Poulsen and Raul Meireles – is less then impressive.

Liverpool’s punishing schedule in January offers no respite either, with each of their looming fixtures a hand grenade in its own right.

The arrival of Owen Coyle and Bolton on New Year’s Day will only expose the inexcusable level of underachievement that has been so prevalent on Merseyside.

It is a sign of Liverpool’s slide towards mediocrity that they have spent just six days above Bolton in the Premier League standings this season and in the energised, attack-minded Coyle the red hordes will witness a manager rather more to their liking.

Thereafter, Hodgson takes his team to Blackburn next Wednesday, saddled with a dismal away record under his stewardship, before a pivotal week which begins with an FA Cup trip to Manchester United, continues with the rearranged league game at Blackpool, who have already beaten Liverpool, and ends with a home derby with Everton.

Unless Hodgson emerges with both his and his team’s dignity restored, the end could come sooner rather than later.



Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...#ixzz19gPw8FuU

[Pablo]

I said a while a go that the only chance we have of getting Hodgson out was if the Kop called for it. That finally happened v Wolves and that is why the death sentence is being wrote up.

But if the Kop go silent again I fully expect Hodgson to get a stay of execution, regardless of results. It seems you have to do an awful lot wrong under NESV to get the sack.

In general this is a very, very good thing though, and some people seem to be missing this point. In a way I'm delighted to see they haven't made any knee-jerk decisions here. I think we should be praising them for that in one sense.

[Neil Young]

Roy Hodgson Asks Liverpool Fans to Set Aside Hostility While Reds Settle Into New Style of Play

Is '****' actually a 'style of play'?

As with Hodgson's last "apology", at no point does he say sorry or retract the remarks. He says he 'regrets' it "if anyone has taken offence". Not good enough Hodgson, like everything else you do.

One of those fake apologies like Blair's.

In general this is a very, very good thing though, and some people seem to be missing this point. In a way I'm delighted to see they haven't made any knee-jerk decisions here. I think we should be praising them for that in one sense.

[BigChief]

In general this is a very, very good thing though, and some people seem to be missing this point. In a way I'm delighted to see they haven't made any knee-jerk decisions here. I think we should be praising them for that in one sense.

Only a lunatic with no knowledge of any sports would think NESV won't act. Its not a case of if any more but when. And when won't be long and it certainly won't be tasteless.

[Roboklopp]

Only a lunatic with no knowledge of any sports would think NESV won't act. Its not a case of if any more but when. And when won't be long and it certainly won't be tasteless.

But I wanted the chance to pelt him with rotten eggs.

[DannyMan2006]

Only a lunatic with no knowledge of any sports would think NESV won't act. Its not a case of if any more but when. And when won't be long and it certainly won't be tasteless.

I think if things continue the decision is taken out if their hands and they have to act. My main problem with them has been that they continue to employ a man whose vision of how football should be played is so off kilter it's unreal.

The owners talk of the Arsenal model and our youth coaches speak of the Barca model. We even employ a director of football strategy. For everything to work you need every team from senior down playing the same way. We basically need a football visionary in the mould of a Rijkaard or a Lowe. Those two play attractive and modern football that gets results.

What we don't want and need is a Roy Hodgson. I don't think ex barca coaches will appreciate or know how to create players able to produce hoof ball standard football.

All information suggests Roy was the short term plan in that he'd see out his contract. We've always needed a long term option to get us up and running. Once a style of play is adopted over a 5 year period by teams at all levels I think we can then employ coaches on the basis of them sticking to our style of play such as Barcelona do. Whatever the manager a concept of stylish possession football is always adopted. It means the players that are produced from the academy can all fit in with no problems.

[el matador]

theyre not footballing people and theyve admitted as such. one thing we all have to accept is that nesv dont understand tha game, they dont understand its nuances, the tactics, the evolution of the game.

it would be like me watching baseball. i dont know enough about the game to know whether the game im watching is being well played or not.

my only indicator is the score and we know that the score isnt always the best evaluation of how a match went. i dont know the strengths and weaknesses of the players. i know what home runs are but thats it. i know nothing about the strategy of batting, fielding or pitching.

in short i have no idea what im looking at. we take the piss out of birds not understanding what the offside rule is but do you think john henry knows what it is ?