The Roy Hodgson Thread

[Tes]

He wasn't good enough to unlock Northampton though. 

Babel needs a run of games to prove one thing or the other. His first season showed a lot of promise but I think it's going to be tough for anyone coming into the team, especially an attacking player, when we're playing such turgid, disconnected football.

Good old TLW meltdown.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

Thanks dude - I've only ever really posted on TLW but feel a need to explore new pastures (and their server crashed as usual when we lose !).

I think you'll like it here despite the unremitting gloom at the moment. We're a pretty civilised lot.

I think poor old Roy has no room for manouevre - he has no real reservoir of good will and most people wanted Kenny in the first place. Purslow will also struggle to evade responsibility for the horror show that's unfolding.  felt positive towards Roy initially (despite not wanting him) as he seemed a safe pair of hands in terms of dealing with the press - that evaporated fairly quickly unfortunately !

Well at least he's accepted responsibility in the post-match interview. But he needs to look at his earlier games especially in Europe and look at how we played then.

RBS will hopefully do the right thing and assume ownership. That would cause several offers to be made and one will hopefully be suitable. Whilst it wouldn't cause a immediate change in playing staff it might mean we can afford a better quality manager who in January could buy some better quality players.

I don't know about others here but the ownership thing is weighing really heavily on me at the moment. Every day I'm scanning the press looking for news about Hicks and what he's up to. It's dominating my mind and I'm just a supporter. I can't believe it's not having an effect on the players off the pitch but shouldn't affect them once a game starts. Our current loss of form is a combination of low confidence and poor management tactics. One causes the other unfortunately and it requires something significant to break the vicious circle.

[Tes]

Roy Hodgson's CV prior to Fulham:

1976: Starts managerial career with Halmstad in Sweden, winning two championships.

1980: Joins Bristol City as the assistant manager to Bobby Houghton.

1982: Appointed manager at Ashton Gate but dismissed within four months after poor run of results when club are taken over by new owners. Returns to Sweden, where he manages Orebro and then Malmo, who won five consecutive championships and two Swedish Cups under him.

1990: Leaves Sweden for Switzerland, taking over at Neuchâtel Xamax.

1992: Becomes manager of Switzerland, whom he takes to the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Was in charge when they qualified for Euro 96.

1995: Appointed manager of Internazionale.

1997: Agrees to become Blackburn Rovers manager in the summer. While still at Inter, his side lose to German club Schalke in the Uefa Cup final on penalties.

1998: May – Takes Blackburn into European competition for the first time since 1995 but Rovers win only two of their final 11 Premier League matches to fail in chase for title.

November – Sacked by Blackburn with the club bottom of the Premier League, having taken just nine points from 14 games.

1999: Shortlisted for Austria job. Returns to Inter on 27 April as technical director until the end of the season. Joins Grasshoppers.

2000: Appointed coach of Danish side FC Copenhagen. Linked with England job after the resignation of Kevin Keegan.

2001: May – Takes Copenhagen to the Superliga title.

May – Takes over as coach of Serie A club Udinese.

10 December – Udinese and Hodgson part company.

2002: April – Appointed manager of United Arab Emirates.

2004: January – Sacked after leading side to fifth place at the Gulf Cup.

May – Joins Norwegian side Viking FK.

2005: August – Agrees to take over as manager of Finland.

2007: 30 November – Quits after failing to secure qualification for Euro 2008, and is immediately linked with the Republic of Ireland vacancy.


There's rather depressing twin themes running through his CV.

So where's the 'little Englanders' in the press that were lauding Hodgson in the Summer?

[Ed]

Obviously, that's a HUMILIATION, no other word for it.......

But we are still Liverpool Football Club...(just about?)......It may be the case that Roy is in over his head....even with shine-a-light resources and all our problems we still expect to beat Blackpool at home....The Liverpool manager should have other qualities and not be solely reliant on a chequebook....e.g. organisation, motivation, inspiration, tactical know-how, character, triumph over adversity etc....

But I'm not going to jump on the Roy out bandwagon, after all he's a decent football man and deserves an amount of respect.....When the time of reckoning comes over this FIASCO, CHRISTIAN PURSLOW SHOULD GET IT IN THE NECK.......

[Gurdeep]

On vacation and just got access to the t'internet.  Blackpool beating us 2-1 at Anfield!  WTF is that all about???
 

[Tes]

Gurdeep, I wish we knew. Even more so, I wish the manager and players knew.

[Juan]

He didn't but someone now has a decision to make. Whilst it goes against the grain in even thinking about him leaving I've seen nothing all season to suggest he can turn things around. There are enough decent players in the team to play better football than they're current playing.

Is it his tactics? Saying he'll give Babel a chance to prove himself and then not even selecting him in the squad is daft!

And why do we only seen to come to life after going behind? There are so many questions and so far, no answers.

There is definitely decisions that need to be made. What worries me is its like Benitez recently said, the current board have no clue about football.  Purslow hired Hodgson because he expected he would just come in challenge for a Champions League place no questions asked. What he didnt take into account that not only was Rafa tactically far superior but also Roys track record was ordinary as top managers go. Had Purslow bothered to scratch the surface he would have seen a Fulham team that had a couple of wins on their travels in 2 years.

For Purslow how Hodgson dealt with and was perceived by the media was also another key aspect of why he got the job. Well hes quickly learning press conferences dont win you games.

What do we do now? We have 3 options.

1) Leave things as they stand hope Roy can get the team firing. Once a takeover happens (assuming one is imminent) he will most likely be replaced by any incoming investor.

2) Ask Roy to make way for Kenny. We probably dont have the funds to terminate Roys contract. If Roys agrees to step aside Kenny can act as the interim manager until the takeover is finished. Then depending on results in that period he could either stay or make way for a manager approved by the new owners. The positive thing about this situation is that fans need not be worried about Kenny harming his reputation. The team is in such a bad state at the moment he couldnt do much worse.

3)Sack Roy and bring in a new outside man now. Realistically this is the least favourable firstly because we probably dont have cash to sack Roy and secondly what would be the point in hiring a new man when new owners may want to bring in their own man.

All of the above permutations assume that the RBS will take control of LFC or that a white knight will take us over before then.

[the dude abides]

i can't see why folk want kenny appointed.

appointing kenny would be the final nail in our coffin.

AT BEST, he'd be no better than Roy.  But in reality, he'd be worse IMHO

Kenny has not managed at a top level for a couple of decades.

And when he enjoyed success it was at liverpool and blackburn - i.e. both clubs where he had a big chequebook  to deploy.....and at liverpool, he took over a successful juggernaut.

There are only a handful of top bosses who I'd want.  Sadly I fear none of them would come to Anfield, at least not while we under this dark cloud.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

This is a very good article about Roy. It explains to me why we've been so abject this season except in the early games - before Roy could impose his new plan on the players. http://tomkinstimes.com/2010/10/nice-man-wrong-job/

Having slept on it I still feel the same as yesterday. He should go. When you consistently fail to get any sort of performance out of so many players for so many games his tactics are a disaster. He's effectively 'broken' a reasonable team. I can't see any other reason why we've played so badly.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

This is taken from the Daily Mail site after yesterday's debacle...

Roy Hodgson faced up to Liverpool's worst start to a season for 57 years on Sunday and admitted his team are in a relegation battle.

Now if he really did say that then it's a disgraceful thing to say. Relegation happens at the end of the season. Not after 7 games. The word is completely irrelevant in October. It's like saying Anchelotti or Mancini saying they're championship contenders. Except of course they wouldn't.

So is this a direct quote from Roy or a journalists loaded question? Even if it was the latter surely he's clever enough to see where the journo's going and to give a more sensible anwer.

This team of players is too good to be relegated. Sadly, I'm not sure the same could be said of the manager.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

This from the Daily Telegraph report...

Roy Hodgson last night conceded Liverpool cannot regard themselves as being too big for the relegation battle after their Anfield defeat to Blackpool but insisted the club would finish the season nearer the top than the bottom of the table.

So it seems he has talked about relegation. Sorry Roy, you've done yourself no favours even mentioning it in October. It reminds me of Rafa's guarantee that we will finish 4th last season. 

Play wingers Roy. Use your players in their best position and go into attack mode from the first minute. Oh, and try playing Babel and Pacheco. The team comes before your personal likes and dislikes. Otherwise you end up looking like a fool and I'm sure you're not that. Just bloody stubborn!! Oh, and one last piece of advice. Play Kelly at RB, Johnson on the RW and Agger in CD. Give Skrtel or god forbid, Carragher, a rest.

[Juan]

To be honest ASI I think it would just be burying our heads in the sand  not to mention relegation. Thats where we are right now. I know its a long season ahead but I heard Moyes be brutally honest and mention it a week or so back. I would find it more arrogant and dismissive if Roy were to avoid the mention of it.

Saw an article today that said Roy had until Christmas. The heading made it look like a quote from a Liverpool source. There wasnt a mention of a Christmas deadline from anyone in the article. Sensationalising rubbish. At this moment in time I think whoever is controlling things at the club will hold on to Roy until the takeover is resolved one way or another. After that Roys future will hopefully be in the hands of the new owners.

[PhilLFC]

This is taken from the Daily Mail site after yesterday's debacle...

Roy Hodgson faced up to Liverpool's worst start to a season for 57 years on Sunday and admitted his team are in a relegation battle.

Now if he really did say that then it's a disgraceful thing to say. Relegation happens at the end of the season. Not after 7 games. The word is completely irrelevant in October. It's like saying Anchelotti or Mancini saying they're championship contenders. Except of course they wouldn't.

So is this a direct quote from Roy or a journalists loaded question? Even if it was the latter surely he's clever enough to see where the journo's going and to give a more sensible anwer.

This team of players is too good to be relegated. Sadly, I'm not sure the same could be said of the manager.

Hi there, i think roy said it to make the players sit up and take notice as they read the papers as much as we do..

[Ageing Stick Insect]

To be honest ASI I think it would just be burying our heads in the sand  not to mention relegation. Thats where we are right now. I know its a long season ahead but I heard Moyes be brutally honest and mention it a week or so back. I would find it more arrogant and dismissive if Roy were to avoid the mention of it.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that point Juan. Looking at the Wolves report on the Telegraph site there's no mention of relegation so why should there be for us? We're not in danger of relegation as there is 31 games to go. If we're still there come April then I'm prepared to concede relegation is a danger.

Saw an article today that said Roy had until Christmas. The heading made it look like a quote from a Liverpool source. There wasnt a mention of a Christmas deadline from anyone in the article. Sensationalising rubbish. At this moment in time I think whoever is controlling things at the club will hold on to Roy until the takeover is resolved one way or another. After that Roys future will hopefully be in the hands of the new owners.

Quite frankly, if he doesn't change the tactics then he won't last until then but I think he'll outstay the current owners. We know the players are capable of better. It's only the formation and tactics that have brought us to this low point. I accept some players have not performed in some games but for all 7 Prem games to have produced no good overall team performance (Arsenal excepted with Masch present and 10 men) then there's an underlying problem which needs addressing.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

Hi there, i think roy said it to make the players sit up and take notice as they read the papers as much as we do..

Phil, I'm sure the players are well aware of the fact without Roy having to say as much to the press. I imagine he was scathing of them yesterday in the dressing room, the game before that, and the one before that etc. etc.