How can I be optimistic after that?

[WaltonRed]

he needs to fucking realise that he's Liverpool manager and not fucking Fulham

[Elite]

Birmingham away is a tough fixture and they are unbeaten at home for nearly a year. However, we were very lucky to get a point today and things need to improve.

[stringvest]

I'm not so sure. I would have backed Rafa to better the 7th place and Europa League semi though.... By the way, I'm not calling for Roy's head or anything, and I definitely don't want us to lose any games, I just don't see that things are going to get much better, neither results- or stylewise. As someone said, we've appointed an inferior copy of Rafa, that can't bode well...

 

Rafa's relationship with the key players would have meant more of them leaving, and things would have deteriorated further than they have on and off the pitch.

 

Roy's priority is to get us within competing distance with the top clubs until the cavalry (new owners and finance) get here.

 

These idiots slagging him off and calling him all the names under the sun are just making a show of themselves. Do they really think that in our present situation we could sack him and bring in another manager? If they do, they are certifiable. If they don't, but they just want to pour scorn and hatred on him anyway, they should be (and are by the majority of reasonably sane supporters) considered mindless little turds.

[Il Fenomeno]

The results are nothing to worry about for the first 5-10 games of his job, because he's changing the team's style.

 

What's worrying me is instead of pressing like our front 3 used to do they drop into make two flat banks of 4 in our half when we lose possession and invite pressure from opponents.

 

Also Carragher/Skrtel's distribution is shocking, they are also shocking at dealing with crosses, we seriously need a new Sami.

 

Torres didn't look interested either, bit like he was in the last season under Rafa when he had lost faith in him, pretty worrying that.

[King Emlyn]

What happened to ''not having anything against him'' mate?

I haven't John honestly, in fairness he seems like a decent fella so i will retract the word clown with apologies. Just sick of being served up shite if i'm honest, sick to the back teeth.

[Irishlad]

All three players wanted to leave, so I'm not sure why that's an excuse for Roy but not for Rafa?

 

Who spent £38m of that replacing two of them? Roy's signings aren't even been giving time to bed in.

 

I honestly don't give a fuck about Rafa anymore and wish people would stop bringing him into everything.

[TheResonator]

It isn't the results.

 

'Positives' - if you want to call them that - Pepe was good, Konchesky had a solid debut. Agree with both of those things.

 

A point at Brum isn't bad.

 

But our football in every game we've played so far (bar, maybe, moments against Rabotnicki when our ressies were playing) has been diabolical. We are relying entirely on wing-backs for width; our attacking midfield options are all running through the centre. We are trying to beat teams down the middle and it isn't working, and when it doesn't work, we aren't changing it. We're delivering utterly turgid shite without any apparent motive to change.

 

This isn't about whether Rafa would have done better or worse: just because you liked Rafa doesn't mean you ought to dislike Roy, or vice versa. But so far we have scraped lucky wins against West Brom and Trabzbonspor (away), a lucky draw today due to Birmingham's profligacy in front of goal, played a decent second half against Arsenal after getting mullered in the first, and been absolutely taken to pieces by a Man City side that has made a very average start. Last season we played shit under Rafa, this season we are probably playing worse under Roy - at least in my opinion.

 

I don't think it's time to start sharpening the knives, but the signs aren't good. We've taken on a man who is nearing the end of his managerial career without ever having achieved success (i.e won trophies) at a top club. He looks and sounds horribly out of his depth. For now I am behind him, but I am not pleased with what I'm seeing.

 

Nothing wrong with supporting the man and thinking he deserves a fair crack at it before people form their judgements, but some of the blind positivity here is bordering on the delusional. Hodgson has been handed a tough job and we should frame our expectations appropriately, but at the moment we're playing like a bottom half of the table side.

[dennis tooth]

I've seen every Liverpool performance over the last 10 years, so that's not it. Problem is people like you were so tired of Rafa that you looked only for negatives. I don't disagree that there were plenty of bad performances from Rafa during his tenure here, but I can't really remember us producing that little bar 1 or 2 games.

 

The Mascherano comment was only a bit of a joke, I really don't think what Gerrard, Carra or Torres say should have anything to do with who's appointed manager, as they have time and time again shown that their heads will drop no matter who they play for (Carra to a lesser extent...). Now Pepe on the other hand...

 

Yeah for all the bad games, as every manager has, you have to take the high points out to make Roy look good, he will never get to that level.

[Aldonose]

Roy: "My expectations were not that high anyway. It would have been disappointing to lose but I'm not that disappointed to draw.''

That's a fucking shocking thing to say considering we were playing Birmingham! God help us if that's his attitude, you're not the fucking manager of Fulham any more.

[myrlas]

Fuck this:

 

"It was a good performance from Birmingham and I’m not too disappointed with our performance either. We kept to our task well. It’s early days for me and there’s a lot of new players coming into the team trying to come to terms with what is being asked of them."

 

Fuck this even more:

“My expectations were not that high anyway. It would have been disappointing to lose but I’m not that disappointed to draw.”

 

Well that's a shocker, that the worst away manager in PL history is happy with a 0-0 draw away from home.

 

That match is high up on my list of uninspirational games the last 25 years.

 

And the worst part, you could see it coming

[Sandman]

Fuck this:

 

"It was a good performance from Birmingham and I’m not too disappointed with our performance either. We kept to our task well. It’s early days for me and there’s a lot of new players coming into the team trying to come to terms with what is being asked of them."

 

 

“My expectations were not that high anyway. It would have been disappointing to lose but I’m not that disappointed to draw.”

 

It seemed to me like we were slow and labored without the ball, and unimaginative with it. So if Roy feels we stuck to our task well he's either 1) being disingenuous in public to protect the players or 2) he sent them out to keep things tight and not get beaten.

 

I'd hope that it's the first option but the quote that follows makes me feel it's more likely to be the second. I guess that's fine, as St.Andrews is a tough away, but I'm not quite sure I like how that statement sounds.

[Code]

he needs to fucking realise that he's Liverpool manager and not fucking Fulham

 

This was one of the things I saw as a worry when we appointed Hodgson, would he be able to make this transition regarding the difference in expectations between the clubs and the difference in goals the clubs have?

 

To reach Liverpool`s goals you will need to take chances to transform draws into wins and what would be decent/great results for Fulham might be seen as points dropped for us.

 

Nothing I have seen so far have eased my worries when it comes to this, but with Cole coming back from suspension and Meireles hopefully cementing his place as one of the untouchables in our team I still have hope.

 

But we need a change in attitude and we need to be brave if not we will achieve fuck all and this goes both for the players and the manager.

[Lunatic]

Worrying statements there, what the fuck will next weeks expectations be and what will Roy consider an acceptable result?

[gmac]

What will Roy consider an acceptable result?

 

Not being blanked by Ferguson and a glass of cava afterwards.

[paddyberger15]

This was one of the things I saw as a worry when we appointed Hodgson, would he be able to make this transition regarding the difference in expectations between the clubs and the difference in goals the clubs have?

 

To reach Liverpool`s goals you will need to take chances to transform draws into wins and what would be decent/great results for Fulham might be seen as points dropped for us.

 

Nothing I have seen so far have eased my worries when it comes to this, but with Cole coming back from suspension and Meireles hopefully cementing his place as one of the untouchables in our team I still have hope.

 

But we need a change in attitude and we need to be brave if not we will achieve fuck all and this goes both for the players and the manager.

 

Just as you thought things couldn't get any worse, you find yourself agreeing with a post by Code.

[Aldonose]

Worrying statements there, what the fuck will next weeks expectations be and what will Roy consider an acceptable result?

 

Exactly. It's fucking cringeworthy. The quicker we rid ourselves of the cancer eating away at our club, the quicker the club, from top to bottom, can start having a more optimistic outlook. In two years we've gone from the latter stages of the european cup, to not expecting to beat teams like Birmingham. It's not even funny.

[stringvest]

Worrying statements there, what the fuck will next weeks expectations be and what will Roy consider an acceptable result?

 

| seem to remember Roy at Fulham lowering expectations before playing United at home last year (to much chagrin on here) before his team went out and beat them 3-0.

[paddyberger15]

| seem to remember Roy at Fulham lowering expectations before playing United at home last year (to much chagrin on here) before his team went out and beat them 3-0.

 

And when Roy's Liverpool team go out and beat United, he will get all the praise due to him.

[Irishlad]

He should have put on warpaint, called all the players a disgrace and screamed this is LFC we demand to win every game!!!

 

Fuck me pink. What he says to sky bloody sports means nowt. I've a feeling people are just reading into it looking for holes to pick.

[Sandman]

| seem to remember Roy at Fulham lowering expectations before playing United at home last year (to much chagrin on here) before his team went out and beat them 3-0.

 

How do you think it'll go next weekend? A draw? A win? A loss? I think if we play like we did today, we'll get tonked.

 

Will Roy rest Gerrard and Torres in the Europa for this one?

[lebron]

He should have put on warpaint, called all the players a disgrace and screamed this is LFC we demand to win every game!!!

 

Fuck me pink. What he says to sky bloody sports means nowt. I've a feeling people are just reading into it looking for holes to pick.[/QUOTE]

 

Yeah, and what a change that would make to this forum from last year...

[WaltonRed]

He'll rest some on thursday defo.

 

I think those comments are a disgrace to be frank.

[danperkins]

Lot of knee jerking going on, IMO the positives are with Konchesky coming in with a solid display hopefully he is ok after injury and Agger replacing the calamity that is Martin Strkel our defence should look bit better, also hoping Lucas will be permanently benched now, all the Lucas Lovers must be in the shadows now the guy is a shocker,Poulsen who has been impressive will stand out more with the likes of Gerrard or Merieles beside him IMO, Lucas/Poulsen in CM completely nullifies our midfield. Cole coming back will be massive and i won't judge Roy until Cole/Torres/Gerrard are all in the same starting line up for 5 or 6 games.

 

I like Roy but he showed a complete lack of urgency, questionable team selection and a negative approach, if we wanted that shit we should have kept Rafa. Roy really needs to get a grip of things.

 

Our problems in the wide areas are absolutely glaring, Jovo looks woeful, a headless chicken and a poor mans Dirk Kuyt. Maxi on the right offers absolutely nothing, what does he actually do,seriously? He is lightweight,cant beat a man,doesn't get down the line,no crosses/shots, zero creativity and zero productivity. We have nothing out wide and the service to Torres form wide areas is nothing short of embarrassing. I can see Cole being used out left, even though i'd prefer him centrally i think he's our only option that can remotely provide a good outlet.

 

Anyways we've had apoxy run of fixtures, the manc game i am dreading but with certain players back and the team looking stronger with new signings we should put in a better performance i pray!

 

P.S.Glen Johnson can't defend to save his life, IMO Kelly should be RB pushing Johnson to RM in certain games.

Edited September 12, 2010 by danperkins

[Irishlad]

He should have put on warpaint, called all the players a disgrace and screamed this is LFC we demand to win every game!!!

 

Fuck me pink. What he says to sky bloody sports means nowt. I've a feeling people are just reading into it looking for holes to pick.[/QUOTE]

 

Yeah, and what a change that would make to this forum from last year...

 

 

Wasn't here last year. Are you saying people are doing that now with Roy cause some did last year?

[dennis tooth]

He should have put on warpaint, called all the players a disgrace and screamed this is LFC we demand to win every game!!!

 

Fuck me pink. What he says to sky bloody sports means nowt. I've a feeling people are just reading into it looking for holes to pick.

 

It does mean something though doesn't it? If he is not aware of that then he shouldnt be our manager really, the role requires it. He's out of his depth and too scared to come out and set any expectations they should go without saying though here. Rafa had to go, I'm fine with that, he didn't win the league, a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 5 years ago was not enough and had worn too thin. Thats cos we are LFC, not Bohemians.

 

My prediction: Dandruff is going to become a massive feature of this season.

 

Why the hell, given every single fan has been screaming for the league for the past 20 years did we appoint someone who is terminally shit in the league because he won a UEFA fucking cup?

 

Anyway I don't know why you are that worried, you seem confident he will be a roaring success and prove us all wrong.