Hodgson and the Skopje press conference.

[Antynwa]

Shut your fucking noise up lad. You've got far too much to say for yourself, and most of it is snide, glib, mealy mouthed, sniping, idiotic and divisive shit, all done with a purpose. You need a clip round the earhole.

Only you could have seen the title of this thread and managed to use it as an opportunity for Rafa shit stirring.

 

Haha, you see your problem isn't with what I say, it's with me. You've got issues, I've never even had a go at you before, but oh well.

 

What are people looking for in Hodgsons comments, because I can't see it.

[danperkins]

Yup these comments have been blown epically out of proportion and some serious knee jerking by some fans, i think certain people are looking for things in his comments that just aren't there. Trust In Roy and give the man a chance to get out of the starting blocks.

[Glen C]

I'm not Roy's biggest fan but he had every right to get annoyed with the english press in that press conference. It was in Macedonia and all the top macedonian press were there wanting to speak about the match & the extremely rude british travelling media thought they were the only ones who were important & kept asking about stupid irrelevant shit like transfer targets & issues with the english league. I say fair play to him, I'm sure it endeared him to the foreign journalists who actually wanted to write about the game itself.

 

Let's face it everyone is just waiting for the first little sign that Roy can't handle it and is crumbling under pressure, but I don't think this is anything else than someone trying to do the right thing.

[usernameunknown]

His handling of the Mascherano situation has been top notch

 

Lets wait and see what actually happens there first. He said a sentence in a press conference, hardly "top notch".

[danperkins]

I'm not Roy's biggest fan but he had every right to get annoyed with the english press in that press conference. It was in Macedonia and all the top macedonian press were there wanting to speak about the match & the extremely rude british travelling media thought they were the only ones who were important & kept asking about stupid irrelevant shit like transfer targets & issues with the english league. I say fair play to him, I'm sure it endeared him to the foreign journalists who actually wanted to write about the game itself.

 

Let's face it everyone is just waiting for the first little sign that Roy can't handle it and is crumbling under pressure, but I don't think this is anything else than someone trying to do the right thing.

Spot on great post.

[Major Tom]

You can bet that if he'd given the same responses whilst manager of Fulham, very little would have been made of it. Of course being manager of Liverpool means having to deal with a hundred-fold increase in speculation, but the twats in the media do like to try and stir up shit when it comes to this club.

 

Don't take it personally, the media like to stir up shit with every club.

 

Besides, Hodgson didn't exactly do himself any favours with his responses to fairly innocuous questions.

[RedBrian84]

Hodgson is a human being and has off days. I think this was one of them.

 

Journalists, by and large, are cunts. And writing articles that omit large pieces of information to get their own points across is fucking childish and fine examples of how they are cunts.

[Anny Road]

Roy Hodgson is 'far from confident' ahead of Liverpool debut | Football | The Guardian

Roy Hodgson is 'far from confident' ahead of Liverpool debut

 

• Manager without Gerrard and Torres for Europa League game

• 'I couldn't have envisaged a more difficult situation'

 

* Reddit

* Buzz up

* Share on facebook (6)

* Tweet this (15)

 

* Louise Taylor in Skopje

* The Guardian, Thursday 29 July 2010

* Article history

 

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson said he did not consider playing Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher in the Europa League qualifying game because 'they've only been training four days'. Photograph: Georgi Licovski/EPA

 

The handful of Liverpool fans congregating at Skopje's Alexander the Great airport yesterday wore increasingly puzzled expressions as a series of red-tracksuited figures ambled through arrivals and out into the afternoon sunshine.

 

With Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Glen Johnson and Joe Cole left behind in England at a time when Fernando Torres, José Reina and Dirk Kuyt have still to return to pre-season training, there are few familiar faces on Europa League qualifying duty here in Macedonia.

 

Roy Hodgson seems hardly to have put a foot wrong during his first month at Anfield but Liverpool's new manager appeared slightly terse last night, his refusal to answer questions about anything other than the game against FW Rabotnicki perhaps betraying a certain tension. Deep down he must wonder whether a scratch XI comprising reserves and academy players can avoid dissipating the considerable feelgood factor engendered by Cole's signing and the decisions of Gerrard and Torres to remain on Merseyside.

 

Defeating a battle-hardened Macedonian team sprinkled with gifted Brazilians in this gateway to the Europa League proper is unlikely to be straightforward. "We are obliged to put our fate in the hands of many inexperienced players," Hodgson said.

 

"We can only hope they come through against a side well versed in European football. I couldn't have envisaged a more difficult situation at the start of my Liverpool career than the one I find myself in: playing a European qualifier against a good opponent without 10 senior players. I'm hoping we'll be able to win but I'm far from confident that will be the case.

 

"It's especially hard to play qualifiers on 29 July in World Cup years. Everyone, most of all Uefa, knows you can't bring people off the beach, give them three days' training and throw them into a top-class match. I'm relatively confident tomorrow's team won't let Liverpool down but we'll have to be very good to survive."

 

If there was an ominous sense of a honeymoon about to come to an abrupt end, at least Hodgson had not entirely lost his sense of humour.

 

Reminded that three years ago Rabotnicki drew 1-1 here in a Uefa Cup tie against a Bolton Wanderers team then managed by Liverpool's current assistant manager, Sammy Lee, he said: "Sammy hasn't been able to tell me much; I think he's erased Bolton from his mind but he does remember they got through with some difficulty."

 

Liverpool's manager had earlier said he would discuss with his board the Europa League's position in the club's pecking order of priorities but, asked whether that chat had happened, he merely replied: "All we ever seem to do is have discussions so I'm pretty sure they'll have taken place. But this is a very important game."

 

Whatever this season's European policy, this game at a ground in the process of being rebuilt – both ends of the Phillip II Stadium are largely rubble and, of the two functioning stands, one was surrounded by cranes yesterday as final building blocks were lowered into place – could be the opportunity Alberto Aquilani needs finally to begin demonstrating why Rafael Benítez paid £17m for him.

 

Just as Skopje is a mishmash of communist-period architectural atrocities and Ottoman era gems, Hodgson's teamsheet promises to be a mix of delicate talent – Aquilani, Daniel Agger and Milan Jovanovic, a newly arrived Serbia winger once coveted by Real Madrid – and raw youth such as David Amoo. "Most people will not have heard of the players here, they won't recognise them," acknowledged Hodgson who is privately well aware that Anfield's youth production line declined on Benítez's watch. "But if you're going to be a top player at Liverpool you need to be able to handle a game like this. We'll find out if they can. It's an opportunity to swim."

 

He did not contemplate throwing seniors in at the deep end here. "Gerrard and the others never came close to playing, they've only been training four days. It would have been complete folly to play them in difficult conditions," said Hodgson it was also too late to parachute any new buys into a club boasting only five of the eight homegrown players aged over 21 now mandatory in all Premier League squads. Asked whether he was poised to sign Luke Young from Aston Villa, Hodgson typically straight-batted: "Well he's not playing tomorrow."

 

He must trust Liverpool's ersatz defence proves similarly unforthcoming this evening.

 

FW Rabotnicki (4-3-3, prossible): Bogatinov; Dimovski, Fernando, Belica, Sevlovski; Tunevski, Grigorov, Todorovski; Ze Carlos, Vandair, Fabio

 

Liverpool (4-5-1, possible): Cavalieri; Kelly, Skrtel, Krygiakos, Agger; Amoo, Spearing, Lucas, Aquilani, Jovanovic; Ngog

[Antynwa]

Roy Hodgson is 'far from confident' ahead of Liverpool debut | Football | The Guardian

Roy Hodgson is 'far from confident' ahead of Liverpool debut

 

• Manager without Gerrard and Torres for Europa League game

• 'I couldn't have envisaged a more difficult situation'

 

* Reddit

* Buzz up

* Share on facebook (6)

* Tweet this (15)

 

* Louise Taylor in Skopje

* The Guardian, Thursday 29 July 2010

* Article history

 

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson said he did not consider playing Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher in the Europa League qualifying game because 'they've only been training four days'. Photograph: Georgi Licovski/EPA

 

The handful of Liverpool fans congregating at Skopje's Alexander the Great airport yesterday wore increasingly puzzled expressions as a series of red-tracksuited figures ambled through arrivals and out into the afternoon sunshine.

 

With Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Glen Johnson and Joe Cole left behind in England at a time when Fernando Torres, José Reina and Dirk Kuyt have still to return to pre-season training, there are few familiar faces on Europa League qualifying duty here in Macedonia.

 

Roy Hodgson seems hardly to have put a foot wrong during his first month at Anfield but Liverpool's new manager appeared slightly terse last night, his refusal to answer questions about anything other than the game against FW Rabotnicki perhaps betraying a certain tension. Deep down he must wonder whether a scratch XI comprising reserves and academy players can avoid dissipating the considerable feelgood factor engendered by Cole's signing and the decisions of Gerrard and Torres to remain on Merseyside.

 

Defeating a battle-hardened Macedonian team sprinkled with gifted Brazilians in this gateway to the Europa League proper is unlikely to be straightforward. "We are obliged to put our fate in the hands of many inexperienced players," Hodgson said.

 

"We can only hope they come through against a side well versed in European football. I couldn't have envisaged a more difficult situation at the start of my Liverpool career than the one I find myself in: playing a European qualifier against a good opponent without 10 senior players. I'm hoping we'll be able to win but I'm far from confident that will be the case.

 

"It's especially hard to play qualifiers on 29 July in World Cup years. Everyone, most of all Uefa, knows you can't bring people off the beach, give them three days' training and throw them into a top-class match. I'm relatively confident tomorrow's team won't let Liverpool down but we'll have to be very good to survive."

 

If there was an ominous sense of a honeymoon about to come to an abrupt end, at least Hodgson had not entirely lost his sense of humour.

 

Reminded that three years ago Rabotnicki drew 1-1 here in a Uefa Cup tie against a Bolton Wanderers team then managed by Liverpool's current assistant manager, Sammy Lee, he said: "Sammy hasn't been able to tell me much; I think he's erased Bolton from his mind but he does remember they got through with some difficulty."

 

Liverpool's manager had earlier said he would discuss with his board the Europa League's position in the club's pecking order of priorities but, asked whether that chat had happened, he merely replied: "All we ever seem to do is have discussions so I'm pretty sure they'll have taken place. But this is a very important game."

 

Whatever this season's European policy, this game at a ground in the process of being rebuilt – both ends of the Phillip II Stadium are largely rubble and, of the two functioning stands, one was surrounded by cranes yesterday as final building blocks were lowered into place – could be the opportunity Alberto Aquilani needs finally to begin demonstrating why Rafael Benítez paid £17m for him.

 

Just as Skopje is a mishmash of communist-period architectural atrocities and Ottoman era gems, Hodgson's teamsheet promises to be a mix of delicate talent – Aquilani, Daniel Agger and Milan Jovanovic, a newly arrived Serbia winger once coveted by Real Madrid – and raw youth such as David Amoo. "Most people will not have heard of the players here, they won't recognise them," acknowledged Hodgson who is privately well aware that Anfield's youth production line declined on Benítez's watch. "But if you're going to be a top player at Liverpool you need to be able to handle a game like this. We'll find out if they can. It's an opportunity to swim."

 

He did not contemplate throwing seniors in at the deep end here. "Gerrard and the others never came close to playing, they've only been training four days. It would have been complete folly to play them in difficult conditions," said Hodgson it was also too late to parachute any new buys into a club boasting only five of the eight homegrown players aged over 21 now mandatory in all Premier League squads. Asked whether he was poised to sign Luke Young from Aston Villa, Hodgson typically straight-batted: "Well he's not playing tomorrow."

 

He must trust Liverpool's ersatz defence proves similarly unforthcoming this evening.

 

FW Rabotnicki (4-3-3, prossible): Bogatinov; Dimovski, Fernando, Belica, Sevlovski; Tunevski, Grigorov, Todorovski; Ze Carlos, Vandair, Fabio

 

Liverpool (4-5-1, possible): Cavalieri; Kelly, Skrtel, Krygiakos, Agger; Amoo, Spearing, Lucas, Aquilani, Jovanovic; Ngog

 

 

Haha Quality.

 

Clearly the sign of a man depressed, angry.

[Walton Park]

Maybe he is a little frustrated not being able to offload some of the fringe players because our previous manager put these fringe players on extemely over the top contracts and they can no longer agree deals with their new clubs because of their wage demands?

[lucozade]

well they say a picture is worth a 1000 words and so I bring you a pictorial depiction of the Hodfathers press conference...

 

 

 

 

 

 

well played on that sneaky last pic Roy.

[John101]

Maybe he is a little frustrated not being able to offload some of the fringe players because our previous manager put these fringe players on extemely over the top contracts and they can no longer agree deals with their new clubs because of their wage demands?

 

Maybe Rafa told all these Journalists to ask questions and wind him up to?

[Hooch]

Feel sorry for him. His head is probably cabbaged.

 

Put yourself in his shoes. Firstly he will be adjusting to the way the club works. He's got to coach the players, get an idea of who is good enough, who isn't good enough. Tactics. Scout this Rabotnicki team, decide what team he's going to play. On the phone to Puslow etc about transfer negotiations, whos coming in? Is Insua going? Is Young coming? Are Torres, Mascherano, Gerrard, Maxi staying? When are they back in training? Do press conferences. The league starts in less than a fucking month.

 

Shit would stress me out. I know it's the nature of the job and he should know this too coming in etc. etc. But still, the odd cranky press conference is completely expected with all that on your plate. He's got a hell of a job on his hands.

[Red Dawn]

"Sammy hasn't been able to tell me much; I think he's erased Bolton from his mind but he does remember they got through with some difficulty."

 

 

Thats hilarious that is. Sammy you Leg!

[sgerrard]

Shut your fucking noise up lad. You've got far too much to say for yourself, and most of it is snide, glib, mealy mouthed, sniping, idiotic and divisive shit, all done with a purpose. You need a clip round the earhole.

Only you could have seen the title of this thread and managed to use it as an opportunity for Rafa shit stirring.

 

lol

 

my god what the hell is wrong with you?

 

"youve got too much to say for yourself"....and then you go and rant at him?!

 

seriously im glad i joined this forum, your getting exposed day by day.and ive only been posting a week or two....

 

so now we have revelaed your the biggest dickhead in here.....

 

its time to weed out the rest.

 

it seems that people with 1000's of posts are the biggest knobs on here.

 

in fact im going to start a thread about this.

 

i have enough evidence now.

 

Haha, you see your problem isn't with what I say, it's with me. You've got issues, I've never even had a go at you before, but oh well.

 

What are people looking for in Hodgsons comments, because I can't see it.

 

dont worry mate, im here now, ill expose them one by one, read my replies to many of these people...ive shut plenty of them up in a very short space of time.

 

they cant even reply with anything funny...

 

this will be fun.

[Guest PurpleNose]

 

 

dont worry mate, im here now, ill expose them one by one, read my replies to many of these people...ive shut plenty of them up in a very short space of time.

 

 

 

If this is satire its very good.

[Kevin D]

It's almost as if, that now Rafa's gone, everything isn't peachy.

[WaltonRed]

He's in a shit hole country, in a shit hole competition playing a team he knows is nowhere near good enough.

 

I'd be pissed off too.

 

Look at the match thread, people saying they'd take a draw, Roy knows what we know, the team he'll put out is far from being even our 2nd best eleven.

[Redder Lurtz]

I'm taking two things from all this.

 

1.

 

"Our true enemy...has yet...to reveal himself"

 

 

and

 

2. "Ersatz" is the new "Imminent"

[Hooch]

 

[Kennys_spell]

Cant see anything wrong with what he said myself to be honest.

 

Why all the crying?

 

Why should Hodgson tell them anything about his preferred formation or how much priority we will give the Europa League?

 

Bunch of girls.

 

Yeah, why should he - afterall our fans completely accepted this sort of answer from our previous manager didn't they.

 

Didn't they?????

 

The fact is, these comments appear to be confirming what a lot of us were saying last year - the Manager has very, very, very little impact on things at Anfield and the problem is STILL there.

[PaulMcC]

Purslow:

 

He added: “The money brought in from player sales in January and which might yet be brought in will not be going to pay off debt.

 

“It cannot and it will not.

 

“Money we generate by selling footballers goes straight into our player account to be used to replace those players in the transfer market.

[John101]

 

Look at the match thread, people saying they'd take a draw, Roy knows what we know, the team he'll put out is far from being even our 2nd best eleven.

 

i think there is a difference between what we say on a message board, and the impression Roy gives to the troops.

 

As i say, i have no problem with him being a cunt in the media, my issue has been with the general defeatist attitude before we have even kicked a ball. Hardly inspiring the youngsters. Hopefully a different mentality behind closed doors.

[Kennys_spell]

Who wants to see how "He's gone, get over it" handled the press and very similar questions at his first Inter press conference?

 

Yeah, go on then - just for old times sake!

[Ted]

No. No one cares about that fat beaut.