WBA Build up

[banditos]

Jesus titty-****ing Christ the media love the Bodge. Apparently 3 draws and a single win constitute a successful spell of management.

[Exiled_red]

Jesus titty-****ing Christ the media love the Bodge. Apparently 3 draws and a single win constitute a successful spell of management.

For the Bodge it is, he hasn't lost an away game yet

[dww]

Jesus titty-****ing Christ the media love the Bodge. Apparently 3 draws and a single win constitute a successful spell of management.

For a club who had lost the last 10 or something and had some fairly difficult fixtures I think it is pretty good.

[Lecter]

Roy Hodgson is wary of revitalised Liverpool

Apr 1 2011 by James Pearce, Liverpool Echo

WEST BROM boss Roy Hodgson isn’t looking forward to tomorrow’s clash at the Hawthorns – because he knows Liverpool are improving fast under Kenny Dalglish.

The former Anfield manager, (inset) whose dismal six-month reign ended in January, admits the Reds are a different proposition on their travels now than they were during his tenure.

“I can’t say I’m looking forward to it because they are a good team,” he said. “We need to win and get points and the stronger the team you play against the less chance there is of getting those points.

“I have such a lot of respect for the team we’re meeting and I know how good those players can be when they’re on their game.
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“Recently they have had a couple of good results away and the fear that we suffered through having gone a long period without an away win has been broken. That hoodoo has been broken so I know we face a very dangerous opponent.”

Hodgson, who lasted just 31 games at Liverpool, insists his only motivation will be helping West Brom move a step closer to safety.

“It means a lot because we only have eight games left,” he said. “I don’t have any feelings of revenge or proving anything. I don’t think I need to prove points.

“If there are people out there who think I need to prove a point then I suggest they look at what I’ve done in the last 36 years because I’m more concerned with having that behind me than having debates about six months at a club.

“For me it’s six months in a 36-year career.”

Steven Gerrard recently defended Hodgson and said the players were responsible for him losing his job.

That meant a lot to the 63-year-old who believes he was the victim of circumstances at Anfield.

“I never had any fears or doubts that the people with whom I was working had no respect for the work I was doing,” he said. “But it’s nice to hear them say it publicly.

“What happened at Liverpool is in the past.

“The people that are there know the work I did and the satisfaction I get if any is that the people that were there are fully respectful of the job I did there and realise that it was circumstances more than any lack of competence which prompted the owners to change the manager.

“Kenny and I have never been particularly close friends. I don’t know him that well but I have no animosity towards him. I’m perfectly happy to see him in the job and I’m happy to be in the job I’m in.”

[Mostar]

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2011/04/01/steven-gerrard-poised-for-liverpool-fc-return-as-luis-suarez-declares-himself-fit-100252-28440218/

Luis Suarez declared fit for Liverpool FC return at West Brom

LUIS SUAREZ has been declared fit to spearhead Liverpool’s attack at West Brom tomorrow as boss Kenny Dalglish ponders whether to recall skipper Steven Gerrard.

The Uruguay striker has recovered from the groin injury he suffered at Sunderland a fortnight ago which forced him to remain at Melwood for treatment during the international break.

Gerrard is also back in full training three weeks after undergoing groin surgery but Dalglish will take no chances with the midfielder who is ahead of schedule.

Jay Spearing’s impressive display at the Stadium of Light means the manager could opt to start Gerrard on the bench and ease him back gently.

“Luis is fine. He trained yesterday morning and is ready,” Dalglish said.

“Steven has recovered really well from the surgery he had so we’ll see how he is before we decide whether he’s in or out.

“He’s certainly done a lot of training this week. Not all the training the other lads have done but a lot of it.

“But at Sunderland wee Jay played really well. There is no need for us to be in a rush to bring Steven back.”

Martin Kelly was in contention to return to action at the Hawthorns five weeks after tearing his hamstring at West Ham.

However, the young right-back is now back on the treatment table after pulling up in training and Dalglish doesn’t know if Kelly will play again this season.


“It’s disappointing for everybody,” Dalglish said.

“Martin was so close to getting back to where he was. He would have been available for this weekend.

“I honestly don’t know about the rest of the season as we don’t know the full extent of the injury yet.”

Suarez is set to line up alongside Andy Carroll, who scored his first England goal against Ghana on Tuesday night.

Gerrard believes the duo represent the “most feared strikeforce” in the top flight and Dalglish has high hopes for their blossoming partnership.

However, the boss admits with 6ft 3ins frontman Carroll up front the Reds must get the balance right and not slip into the trap of playing too direct.

“I don’t think Steven is a bad judge if he thinks Andy and Luis are a very strong strikeforce,” he said.

“We know what Andy Carroll is about and we know what his assets are. Sometimes when you’re struggling a bit it’s a great asset to have but we’ve got to pick and choose our moments.

“It’s up to us to get to know Andy, and Andy to get to know us. I don’t think we’ve done too badly in the game and a bit he’s played for us (in the league).

“We were better the second time than we were the first. We’ve got intelligent footballers here and Andy is not unintelligent himself so I’m sure they’ll work out when is right and when is wrong.

“I’m sure they won’t get it right every time but they’ll get it right most of the time.”

[Mostar]

Interesting article by Tomkins.

http://tomkinstimes.com/2011/04/hodgson-was-not-the-worst-modern-lfc-manager/

Hodgson Was Not the Worst Modern LFC Manager

That’s right: Roy Hodgson was not the worst modern LFC manager. (No, this is not an April fools’ joke.)

To my mind, that unenviable honour still belongs to Graeme Souness. But just as Hodgson’s acolytes stress that he wasn’t given time to get things right, to my mind the Londoner arguably only sits above Souness because he wasn’t given the time to get more wrong.



Even Souness betters Hodgson in some regards: he won a trophy (but of course, had more time to do so), and his poor league win percentage of 41% eclipses Hodgson’s woeful 35%. And Souness at least won a few away games, even if one season the total was as low as three (still better, pro rata, than Roy’s from his 10 on the road).

But the Scot had almost three years to make all his mistakes. It’s actually quite impressive that Hodgson got so much wrong in such a short space of time – but he still didn’t do the damage the former captain brought to bear on the club.

As with almost every failed manager, there are always extenuating circumstances that contributed to things going wrong. Souness inherited a side aging in the aftermath of Hillsborough, while Hodgson took charge of a club being crippled by debt.

But Souness took also took charge of the reigning champions, who were still top of the league, and who, in his first full season, oversaw a fall to 6th, and then 8th. Hodgson took charge of a team on the decline, but rather than arrest it from a point that was already seen as unacceptable, he hastened the fall, from 7th the previous year, to 12th by the time he left.

Hodgson might choose to blame the quality of the collection that he inherited, but he was responsible for purchasing a quarter of the squad he took into battle: a fairly hefty amount for one transfer window.

While he had no say in the exits of Yossi Benayoun and Javier Mascherano – two important players – he did play a role in ousting Emiliano Insua and Alberto Aquilani, and was looking for buyers for Lucas Leiva (last summer, at least) and the ostracised Daniel Agger (in the winter). Hodgson admitted listening to Christian Purslow’s advice on the football side of things, and that in itself was a mistake.

All managers make gaffes in the transfer market; my guesstimate is that getting 50% spot-in is pretty good going. And of course, perceptions of success and failures change with time. But on the evidence so far, Hodgson didn’t even get 20% right.

Of his six signings, only Raul Meireles has hit the right notes. Joe Cole and Fabio Aurelio were free transfers, and while gifted individuals, they came with proven injury records; wages were paid often in order to sit games out. Christian Poulsen has proved fairly disastrous, although at times he looked okay in the slower Europa League games. And both Paul Konchesky and Brad Jones have been loaned to the Championship, as 20-year-olds already at the club when the manager pitched up (Martin Kelly and Péter Gulácsi) usurped them in the match-day squad.

In terms of transfer fees, Hodgson indeed attained his 50% success mark: Meireles takes up roughly half of the total he spent. But the wages of the other five are the real outlay here.

It does show how difficult it is to pick up bargains (Benítez also left a ‘free’ dud in Jovanovic), but just as Souness had in 1991, Hodgson tried to do too much too soon – and got too much wrong. Unlike Maxi Rodriguez, for example, Joe Cole has failed to justify his wages after a Bosman move.

Hodgson felt he was a canny wheeler and dealer – and claimed he would succeed because he didn’t need big funds. He could work with what he inherited. But his dealings weakened the squad. As I noted in the summer, it’s easier to rescue someone like Damien Duff’s career in the low-pressure environment of Fulham, but how many fading stars succeed at big clubs, when they’re actually put under more scrutiny?



And in keeping with the theme of my ‘Steven Gerrard is Melting’ article, too many of the blocks of ice Hodgson purchased (average age of 30) were well on their way to being mere puddles of water.

To compound all this, when he chose his teams, the style of play was dictated by choosing limited footballers in three of the back four positions; contrast this with how Dalglish instantly put Agger into the side ahead of the committed but technically limited Kyrgiakos, and opted for Aurelio ahead of Konchesky. It was a negative approach backed up by a negative goal difference.

By opting for ‘stoppers’ at the back, Liverpool actually barely kept a clean sheet; once Dalglish returned to Benítez’s philosophy of deploying footballing defenders, the clean sheets returned. Coincidence? Liverpool kept the ball better, and therefore the opposition were less of a threat.

In his fortune, Hodgson did have Gerrard and Torres to pair together far more often than his predecessor, but their productivity suffered heavily. So while the manager had some misfortune (losing Mascherano, for instance), he failed to make the most of the good luck that came his way.

So, in his short time, Hodgson got an incredible amount wrong. His press conferences were excruciating, his attitude sounded defeatist (as he lowered expectations to basement levels), results were generally poor, and the brand of football was almost unwatchable. Rather than look like improving, things were quickly deteriorating. And when the chemistry is wrong, and the manager is out of place, more time is not going to solve the problems.

But unlike Souness, Hodgson only got to make one big signing. So while he messed up – and failing to understand the club, its fans and the tradition is not about money; and nor, in many respects, is the style of play – he did so on a fairly limited budget. Souness, meanwhile, crippled the club by spending an absolute fortune on expensive misfits.

Using inflation devised for Pay As You Play, the true horror of Souness’ dealings can be seen. Based on 2010 prices (2011 prices will be available soon), the Scot spent £127m on 13 players. That’s £9.1m per player.

Here’s the sorry list, in 2010 prices:

Stewart P £15,309,274

Ruddock N £14,926,735

Wright M £14,643,654

Thomas M £9,984,309

Clough N £13,583,329

Walters M £8,320,258

Saunders D £19,302,998

Piechnik T £3,328,103

Bjornebye S £3,328,103

James D £6,656,206

Dicks J £11,941,388

Jones L, £1,996,862

Kozma I, £1,996,862

Jones R (I), £1,996,862

Total: £127,314,943

The true crime is that only £33m of that money, in 2010 prices, was recouped.

Rob Jones was an absolute bargain whose career was curtailed by injury; Mark Wright had some good seasons amid the bad; and for a year or two, Stig Bjornebye’s crosses were put with laser precision onto Robbie Fowler’s head (before his gauge was re-set to row 27 of the Kop). Michael Thomas was solid enough, and David James could be brilliant as often as he was bonkers. Some think Neil Ruddock wasn’t too bad, but many others recall the weight issues and drinking games.

But overall, a pretty ropey collection. The shock is that almost £100m of the £127m spent went down the drain – and that’s before considering the wages paid to ghost men like Paul Stewart and Nigel Clough, who went on to spend years on the books without getting a game. At a time when Alex Ferguson and Kenny Dalglish were buying future title-winning players at United and Blackburn, Souness was filling the Liverpool squad with dross, or players who lost their way as soon as they donned the red shirt.

These days, £127m would represent around half the cost of a top Premier League squad. But, even though we’ve allowed for inflation, back then fewer players were required. So in 1992/93, for instance, the average cost of the top four squads was just £78m. It’s not until 1999/00 that the average cost of a top four squad (in 2010 money) overtakes Souness’ spending between 1991 and 1994.

Whereas Liverpool FC has already managed to recoup almost the entire transfer outlay of Rafa Benítez, due to many of his players leaving for profit (Alonso, Sissoko, Crouch, Carson, Arbeloa, Bellamy, Mascherano, Benayoun, and most recently, Torres; with those remaining at the club worth in excess of £100m), Souness lost roughly two-thirds of the money he spent. Not one single signing made a profit, and only Rob Jones saw his value increase while at the club.

So Roy Hodgson still had a way to go to equal such awful spending; spending that Liverpool never really recovered from, as other clubs grew more wealthy.

Also, Hodgson may have failed to understand Liverpool fans, and what they expect; and indeed, gone so far as to even insult them. But he never did anything as crass and insensitive as selling his story to a certain reviled newspaper on the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. Souness later admitted the stupidity of the act, but even though recovering from open heart surgery in 1992, it’s hard to know what he was thinking.

As for Roy – my hunch is that, as tends to happen in football (aka Sod’s Law), he’ll get what is deemed the last laugh by a victory this weekend.

But if so, let him have it; we got our victory in January, and I’ll gladly have traded that for one defeat later on.

As a club we’ve come a long way since his departure, and already Dalglish has made a lie of the excuses peddled in Hodgson’s honour about a mid-table squad. Hodgson may well do a great job at West Brom – just as he did at Fulham – but he was never suited to a club with the pressures and expectations of Liverpool.

[Shaggy]

“If there are people out there who think I need to prove a point then I suggest they look at what I’ve done in the last 36 years because I’m more concerned with having that behind me than having debates about six months at a club.

“For me it’s six months in a 36-year career.”

He never lets you down

Every single time. Forever suggesting people have a look at his record. FFS if his record was any good he wouldn't need to continually talk it up. What a ****ing loser he is.

[Exiled_red]

He never lets you down

Every single time. Forever suggesting people have a look at his record. FFS if his record was any good he wouldn't need to continually talk it up. What a ****ing loser he is.

I thought the same

[Rudo]

Now that he's had the groin surgery, there can be no excuses for sub-standard performances by Gerrard from now on.

Expecting a lot from him between now and the end of the season.

[Chris]

Now that he's had the groin surgery, there can be no excuses for sub-standard performances by Gerrard from now on.

Expecting a lot from him between now and the end of the season.

You dont like him, he hasnt had a good game for 2 years, we know.

[Rudo]

Performed consistently well i said, of course he's had the odd brilliant performance here and there but on the whole? Not good enough i'm afraid and i stick by that view.

Anyway moving on, i fear Odemwingie, bit of a livewire. Bit hit and miss at times but he's quick and sharp in and around the box.

[Mostar]

Performed consistently well i said, of course he's had the odd brilliant performance here and there but on the whole? Not good enough i'm afraid and i stick by that view.

Anyway moving on, i fear Odemwingie, bit of a livewire. Bit hit and miss at times but he's quick and sharp in and around the box.

Some mentioned Brunt and Morrison as their biggest threats but to me he is the one that we should be concerned about.

Pacey, decent dribbler, nice repertoire of tricks, positionally very strong etc.

[Rudo]

Some mentioned Brunt and Morrison as their biggest threats but to me he is the one that we should be concerned about.

Pacey, decent dribbler, nice repertoire of tricks, positionally very strong etc.

he's a danger alright. Can nick a goal out of nothing, works his socks off too.

Brunt has went off the boil a little in recent months but he can still deliver a killer cross/pass...talented player.

I've always thought Morrison was decent, going back to his Boro days.

That Jerome Thomas is a threat too.

[Rudo]

Will the big man break his:



tomorrow?

[Mostar]

We all hope so