In defence of Hodgson and the utter disgrace that we call football....

[Ynwa20]

Total nonsense.

 

Care to explain?

[The Guest]

You're joking right - the high pitched whine about Kuyt, Lucas and Insua became almost unbearable at times.

 

 

 

Poulson makes Lucas look like a Brazillian of the 80's best team ever. Hodgson is making the mistake of playing BOTH Poulson and Lucas together. That's unforgiveable.

 

 

 

You appear to be suggesting that Hodgson is a better manager (football reasons) than Benitez. Really?!?!?!?!

 

 

 

You seem to be suggesting that we've moved forward - Really ?!?!?!?!

 

for Fulham yes - those performances last season for Fulham were good enough for them but not for us. That's why they finished 12th!

 

 

 

Ahhh so it's Benitez fault that Hodgson is shite - OooooooKayyyyyyyy

 

 

 

But it does emphasise the fact that he shouldn't have been replaced until a better manager could be put in place - last season was completely the wrong timing.

 

 

 

What in his 35 years of previous management makes you believe he can do this?

 

It's a "high pitched whine" about Lucas Kuyt and Insua but fair game when it's Poulsen?

 

I didn't suggest anything other than Benitez deserved to be sacked because over the course of last season he was diabolical as a manager. You seem to read what you want to read and not actually what is there.

 

We needed to sack Benitez to move forward. Nothing that has happened this season would have surprised me if it had happened if Benitez was still in charge. We had some pretty shocking defeats 5 years into his reign never mind the ones in his first season.

 

Hodgson got to the final of the UEFA cup with a very inferior side to what Benitez had only last season.

[mypost]

Then you deserve the all pain you're feeling, now.

 

Fair enough, if you can get a top class manager in, but why the fuck would Mourinhio come here? Or any other top class manager for that matter.

 

Many of us knew what was coming. You and the "anyone but Benitez" are getting what you wished for.

 

Many of us, didn't ask for this shit and now have to endure it along with the rest of you.

 

So what did you ask for? The opportunity not to win the league after 7 seasons?

 

He was 6 years here. That's a very long time at a club where nowadays people want you out after 6 fucking games.

 

At a club in the trophy winning business, and where the league title is it's raison d'etre, I can't back a coach who hasn't won a league title in all that time here, be it Rafa, Roy, or anyone else.

 

As for the uproar over yesterday's embarrassment, there were plenty of other "yesterdays" under Rafa. Take your pick from Burnley, Barnsley, Birmingham, Palace, Luton, Hull, Havant, Reading, Stoke, Marseille, and a pile of others. How many more were you willing to tolerate?

[Joe Le Taxi]

Was just responding in kind Lewis, did you not see the post above that I responded to. It would be the classic case of myopia if you didn't.

 

Yes mate, I meant that as well when I said I hate the tags our supporters get labelled with.

 

Then you deserve the all pain you're feeling, now.

 

 

 

Fair enough, if you can get a top class manager in, but why the fuck would Mourinhio come here? Or any other top class manager for that matter.

 

Many of us knew what was coming. You and the "anyone but Benitez" are getting what you wished for.

 

Many of us, didn't ask for this shit and now have to endure it along with the rest of you.

 

Bollocks. You seem to be gaining satisfaction from being able to say to the people who want Rafa out are being proven wrong. Like I said above it causes divisions. We should support the manager no matter what our personal feelings are for him. The club, i.e the board and chairman of the club is completely separate to the team, i.e the manager, coaches and players. I will support the team, not the club.

 

Err... We'll likely finish 7th or around there, despite a horrid start.

 

Is that good enough though? The general idea amongst most of Rafa's critics was that we would finish in the top 4 and after the signing of Joe Cole many people felt we could put together a title challenge. Purslow played a blinder this summer as far as I am concerned.

 

If we go down we'll see a drop in whoppers following us so every cloud eh?

 

And yet still LP will be on here looking for spares...

 

Was there actually any truth in any of our big players wanting Rafa out such as Torres, Gerrard and Carra?.

 

There was several occasions towards the end of the season when some implied that said players had given up playing for the manager. If so you would have expected an increased performance from the said players.

 

Also it seems most would take 7th now a strange turn of events indeed.

 

Doubt it.

[The Guest]

Ahahahahaha?

 

Had anyone ever watched Fulham? They were never positive, at all, ever.

 

Playing good football? Like winning four away games in two seasons?

 

 

Oh wow he got Fulham to a Europa League final. Pray remind me how many actual games did Alt. Madrid win in Europe to get to said final?

He also managed to drop them five places in the league that season.. masterful, wonderful and positive football.... oh wait.

 

So Fulham were never positive at all ever? Seems like a pretty ridiculous view to me. I wonder if you have ever watched them. Duff is quite a good winger and they have quite a few other offensive midfielders as well. He generally played two up front which whether you like it or not is more of attacking formation than we played in any game last season.

 

What the fuck has how many games Atletico won got to do with with the sort of football Hodgson plays?

[PaulMcC]

So Fulham were never positive at all ever? Seems like a pretty ridiculous view to me. I wonder if you have ever watched them. Duff is quite a good winger and they have quite a few other offensive midfielders as well. He generally played two up front which whether you like it or not is more of attacking formation than we played in any game last season.

 

What the fuck has how many games Atletico won got to do with with the sort of football Hodgson plays?

 

Not necessarily.

 

If you play 2 forwards but have the whole team really, really deep, no way is that more attacking than having 1 forward with a player in behind.

[stringvest]

Not necessarily.

 

If you play 2 forwards but have the whole team really, really deep, no way is that more attacking than having 1 forward with a player in behind.

 

As someone who saw Fulham on more than one occasion last year (including the game where they beat us convincingly at Craven Cottage) I have to say that they played better football than we did last year. Plenty of tippy tappy pass and move. With what most people would regard as inferior players. I just wish he could get us playing like it.

[Moschops II]

Carra has let himself down big time with some of the stuff said there.

 

Carragher hasn't genuinely merited a place in the starting 11 since the start of last season, and if we're talking about Benitez's mistakes, then making him effectively undroppable was one of them.

[PaulMcC]

As someone who saw Fulham on more than one occasion last year (including the game where they beat us convincingly at Craven Cottage) I have to say that they played better football than we did last year. Plenty of tippy tappy pass and move. With what most people would regard as inferior players. I just wish he could get us playing like it.

 

It's easy to pick out certain games to support the view that that they played better football.

 

Someone else who thinks we played better football could pick out games too.

 

I just think that playing 2 strikers isn't necessarily more attacking than 1.

[Code]

As someone who saw Fulham on more than one occasion last year (including the game where they beat us convincingly at Craven Cottage) I have to say that they played better football than we did last year. Plenty of tippy tappy pass and move. With what most people would regard as inferior players. I just wish he could get us playing like it.

 

Well you should be glad you did not watch much of them away then, because in his two full seasons there this nice football helped them score the massively 23 goals in 38 away matches securing them 4 wins in those same matches.

 

The more I think about it the more bewildred I am to why he got appointed in the first place.

 

Our home form have always been pretty good its away we have struggled, but still some mastermind thought Hodgson was the answer.

 

I wonder when we will get our first away win in the league under Hodgson, the derby would be a good place to start but I dont hold my breath.

[stringvest]

Carragher hasn't genuinely merited a place in the starting 11 since the start of last season, and if we're talking about Benitez's mistakes, then making him effectively undroppable was one of them.

 

I agree with you that Carragher has been disappointing over the last 18 months or so, but the question is - who do you replace him with? I don't believe Skrtel or Agger are (or will be) as good as Carragher was - they're both liable to let you down in big matches, either by losing concentration, rank bad defending, or by getting injured and making themselves unavailable for selection. Kyrgiakos is more 'reliable' in the sense that he will put in a consistent level of performance, but he is slow and not comfortable on the ball. We don't have enough quality. Carragher is still the best we have, and that's not ideal.

[stringvest]

Well you should be glad you did not watch much of them away then, because in his two full seasons there this nice football helped them score the massively 23 goals in 38 away matches securing them 4 wins in those same matches.

 

The more I think about it the more bewildred I am to why he got appointed in the first place.

 

Our home form have always been pretty good its away we have struggled, but still some mastermind thought Hodgson was the answer.

 

I wonder when we will get our first away win in the league under Hodgson, the derby would be a good place to start but I dont hold my breath.

 

If it helps, neither do I.

[rebel23]

Carra and Skrtel have been truly abysmal since Spurs away last year

 

Still can't believe we have them in defence conceding loads of goals

 

We should not be happy with the way Agger has been treated

 

I do think there is an element of truth in that the lunatics are running the asylum.

 

Maybe Gerrard can display a permanent look of puzzlement on the pitch when he realises we're in the bottom 3

[Code]

If it helps, neither do I.

 

If Hicks holds his breath long enough it might help though.

[dirk grout]

So what did you ask for? The opportunity not to win the league after 7 seasons?

 

He was 6 years here. That's a very long time at a club where nowadays people want you out after 6 fucking games.

 

At a club in the trophy winning business, and where the league title is it's raison d'etre, I can't back a coach who hasn't won a league title in all that time here, be it Rafa, Roy, or anyone else.

 

As for the uproar over yesterday's embarrassment, there were plenty of other "yesterdays" under Rafa. Take your pick from Burnley, Barnsley, Birmingham, Palace, Luton, Hull, Havant, Reading, Stoke, Marseille, and a pile of others. How many more were you willing to tolerate?

 

Its taken some effort on my part to stop myself from responding to your shite, but I can't take it anymore. I take it you think wenger should be sacked, as he actually won less in the time benitez was here, rafa getting to 2 europan cup finals, winning 1, a feat not achieved by wenger. I suppose that if you were an arsenal fan you couldn't back wenger as he hasn't won a league title in the last 6 years. You then reel of a list of games that were as bad as blackpool, yet we actually won some of those games you fucking codpiece! You find ruin every thread you appear in spouting the same mindless drivel. The fact of the matter is we now have a worse manager than villa and idiots like you seem to think that this is a good thing.

[Moschops II]

I agree with you that Carragher has been disappointing over the last 18 months or so, but the question is - who do you replace him with? I don't believe Skrtel or Agger are (or will be) as good as Carragher was - they're both liable to let you down in big matches, either by losing concentration, rank bad defending, or by getting injured and making themselves unavailable for selection. Kyrgiakos is more 'reliable' in the sense that he will put in a consistent level of performance, but he is slow and not comfortable on the ball. We don't have enough quality. Carragher is still the best we have, and that's not ideal.

 

There's no ideal solution, but personally I think we might have done better in the second half of last season with Kyrgiakos and Agger as the first choice pair at the back, and fitness allowing they're the two I'd have in there now.

 

Of course in a less depressing world we'd have had the money to buy Shawcross last January.

 

I'd also like to see us using Danny Wilson, but it doesn't appear Hodgson is very interested.

[goatboy59]

Daniel Agger? "Fitness allowing"?

 

Why sir, what are you trying to insinuate?

[King Emlyn]

The thing is, and plenty of us were saying this, that it was completely the wrong time to get rid of Benitez - regardless of if you think he should or shouldn't have gone the timing was just about as bad as it ever could get.

 

The ONLY thing Benitez departure could have led to was a massive step down in the ability of the incumbent manager. Now anyone with a modicum of common sense should have been able to see that was the case and that there was no other realistic candidate for the post. For the few (that appear to have incredibly short memories) who are now suggesting that we "give him a chance, he's only been here for 7 league games" - I'd just like to ask, what, in his last 35 years of management can you point to that gives you the confidence that he will be able to turn this around and get us into the Champs League?

Benitez had to go, the problem was replacing him with this buffoon.

[hamstrung]

There's nothing really been in the news, it's just ever since Benitez tried to replace Carragher, Bascombe started getting the inside track on how the changing room had been lost and that it was Gerrard leaving or Benitez to leave.

 

Also Danny Murphy started getting louder in the media about how Rafa should leave, he also came out with this little gem when talking to the NOTW "I will always be a fan. I keep in touch with a lot of people close to the club and many think the time has come for a new manager. I agree providing that process doesn't cripple the club financially in terms of pay-offs."

 

How the hell would Danny Murphy know the terms of Rafa's contract?

 

Also the comment by Carragher "We've had situations like Martin O'Neill and Steve Bruce criticising Liverpool and they were right," Carragher said. "We shouldn't be getting involved with stuff like that. Everyone else should look at Liverpool and say they have dignity, class. I mean, like the way people look at Arsenal." I personally think that's a very bitter comment.

 

Houllier mentioned a text when Rafa left aswell, congratulations boss, he hasn't beaten you, from a former player in the dressing room, and there's only two former players of his in the dressing room, so it's got to be one or the other.

 

Some people said when Benitez left, no one is bigger than the club, but it doesn't seem to apply for everyone at the club.

 

I also don't think Rafa was going to give Carragher as long a contract as he wanted, or he didn't want him to be a starter next season, which Carragher didn't like.

 

Apart from forcing the manager out, I find certain players getting a ridiculous amount of say in how things are run at the club.

 

Hodgson said, the lads in the England camp did the good work by convincing Cole to join Liverpool, but considering England were knocked out on June the 27th, and Hodgson wasn't appointed till July the 1st, how did they know the next manager would even want Cole?

 

I meant about Hodgson having lost the dressing room - that's what you were alluding to wasn't it?

[WaltonRed]

Benitez had to go, the problem was replacing him with this buffoon.

 

In one.

[rebel23]

Benitez didn't have to go, this is a stupid maxim repeated until it has become some absolute fact. Slur Alex once finished in a worse position, he didn;t have to go either

 

He went because we're ran by idiots who wouldnt back him and surprise surprise the same idiots were entrusted to appoint the buffoon heeding many calls by fans like King Emlyn and the scumbag media.

 

The people who need to truly go are toiling around in our shambolic defence

[dirk grout]

Benitez didn't have to go, this is a stupid maxim repeated until it has become some absolute fact. Slur Alex once finished in a worse position, he didn;t have to go either

 

He went because we're ran by idiots who wouldnt back him and surprise surprise the same idiots were entrusted to appoint the buffoon heeding many calls by fans like King Emlyn and the scumbag media.

 

The people who need to truly go are toiling around in our shambolic defence

 

I keep being ignored when I mention this. Its amazing that people would sack a european cup winning manager after 1 bad season, considering we nearly won the league the season before. People comparing the situation to houiller are wrong too. He had a shit season so we, quite rightly, game him another season to turn it around. Unfortunately he couldn't do it and therefore he had to go. Rafa was not given that chance.

[Redexile]

There's no ideal solution, but personally I think we might have done better in the second half of last season with Kyrgiakos and Agger as the first choice pair at the back, and fitness allowing they're the two I'd have in there now.

 

Of course in a less depressing world we'd have had the money to buy Shawcross last January.

 

I'd also like to see us using Danny Wilson, but it doesn't appear Hodgson is very interested.

 

I watched Danny against Chelsea reserves and I'm not sure he's ready yet. What is puzzling me is why we didn't use Kelly at left back on Sunday. It puzzles me that we always seem to re-shuffle the pack rather than give the younger lads a chance when we have injury worries something previous managers at our club weree also prone to do.

[hamstrung]

Kelly was injured wasn't he?

[TheResonator]

Benitez didn't have to go, this is a stupid maxim repeated until it has become some absolute fact. Slur Alex once finished in a worse position, he didn;t have to go either

 

He went because we're ran by idiots who wouldnt back him and surprise surprise the same idiots were entrusted to appoint the buffoon heeding many calls by fans like King Emlyn and the scumbag media.

 

The people who need to truly go are toiling around in our shambolic defence

 

I couldn't agree more mate.

 

I actually think it was the worst possible time we could have let him go - when most class managers wouldn't touch us with a barge pole, and anybody who did would have to agree to a transfer budger deficit.

 

People often point to the rumours about Gerrard leaving if Benitez stayed. Personally I don't believe a player - even one as good as Gerrard - should ever have that much influence over a club. Not that I believe it anyway.

 

We should have kept him as long as he'd have stayed ahead of resolving the ownership issue. That would've been the time to get a new man in imo.