Hoddy

As fit as she is, one of the worst things about it is that horrible Geordie Cole.

A judge who comments on people's live singing who daren't sing live herself. Fuck off.

No honestly it wouldn't. Poulsen has stank the place out for instance and needs to be sold and he has been an appalling signing but I could see why Hodgson bought him at the time considering Mascherano fucked us over and we needed a body in there but 4m it will go down as the equivalent of Rafa's Josemi signing and Houlliers Jean Michel Ferri signing.

 

Hodgson didn't and will never have (because he won't be here) that luxury to spend 18m on a full back. He just had to plug gaps in the squad at a cheap rate as well.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but neither did Benitez. This 18m figure keeps getting banded around, but wasn't it only a valuation that was reached because of money we were still owed from the Crouch deal? He never actually paid 18m on Glen Johnson.

I think looking at who the media likes is, quite possibly, the worst kind of litmus test as to who's 'a nice bloke'. Ferguson, Mourinho,

Harry fucking Redknapp...

I could maybe get on board with the notion of this thread had the same vitriol been poured on Steven Gerrard's performances last year. However, given that an obvious disliking of the manager and his tactics was enough to spare Gerrard abuse then, I'm going reserve the same treatment for Fernando Torres now.

I still can't believe anyone thought he was good enough for us.

 

Just like Roy.

 

How did people think they'd be good enough? What have they ever done to be good enough?

Hodgson: not be Benitez.

Konchesky: be signed by someone who wasn't Benitez.

 

He always was one of the best in the league, his style of play made him very hard to play against but.....It is hard to define word world class. For me it must be a player who is one of the 10 best players in the world in certain position and would walk into any of the top eueropean teams.

 

Based on this approach Jamie was never a world class player in my opinion.

Whether Carragher was a 'natural' world-class talent (in the same way Frank Lampard wasn't born one either) is another argument, but I fail to see how anyone who saw his performances at Anfield vs Chelsea in 05 and Barca in 07 can say that, during that period of time, he wasn't one of the best in his position on the planet.

They weren't world-class performances; they were superhuman-class.

Probably because it was fucking pathetic and childish. He actually said that the club "owns" the player. It was fucking clueless.

 

I like Holloway. But the Rooney thing was embarrassing.

And massively hypocritical. From Mediawatch on Football365:

Everybody Loves Ollie

Everyone loves Ian Holloway, don't they? With his kerraaazzee talk and funny voice. Not Mediawatch, who tired of it some time ago.

We were therefore delighted to read (not watch or listen to - especially after he started shouting for no good reason) his latest round of comments on the issue of player contracts and loyalty.

Holloway said: "I've got big problems with the people who are running football. I know the reasons I think the game is in trouble and you cannot have a Bosman ruling they've got at the moment...

"And if he (Wayne Rooney) sees his contract out he's going to be able to walk out of there for nothing. That's the people at the very top of the game's fault."

And that was just the edited version. We've spared you the rest.

Interesting then, that one Dekel Keinan chose to run down his contract at Maccabi Haifa last summer.

Reported The Jerusalem Post in July: 'The 25-year-old Keinan, who has been an integral part of the Haifa defense since the 2006/07 season, refused to renew his contract at the club last season and is expected to move to Europe on a free transfer in the coming weeks.'

And we're sure you all know who Keinan eventually signed for.

In addition, if Mediawatch were Rooney we wouldn't be keen on any lectures from Mr Holloway. This, after all, is the man who proclaimed his love for all things Plymouth and dismissed talk of him leaving for the brighter lights of Leicester as 'poppycock' and 'pathetic', a whopping two days before leaving for the brighter lights of Leicester in 2007.

I personally think the players need to start standing up and be counted. Imagine what a message it would send if one of them (or more) stated they'd refuse to play for Liverpool while a certain ownership was at the club.

It's not like they couldn't afford it.

Can't really answer the poll as there's not really the option I want.

"I'd like to see him succeed, but realise there's not much chance of that happening with the club in its current state."

Even last year, I was of the opinion Benitez wasn't the only factor in the team's on-pitch demise. A lot of players were at fault for a lot of bad things last year but, as always in football, the easiest solution was to get rid of the manager. I guess the most disappointing aspect of these first few weeks is that we've not really seen the 'upswing' that you see when a new manager first takes the reins. This makes me think it wasn't simply the Benitez issue, just like it's not really a Hodgson issue. I did expect a few of the top players, who we'd been led to believe (and whose performances suggested) that they'd lost faith in Benitez, to have started the season a little better. Maybe they will in the coming weeks - I hope so, but I fear not. The club is in a malaise - from top to bottom. Has been for a while now, but it really started in my opinion during last season's pre-season. I feel sorry for Hodgson; while he may have only got the job due to the club's current circumstances, it's those same circumstances which will hinder him from giving it his best shot.

World's best soccer

 

Jose Mourinho, the iconic soccer coach, thinks it's high time the sport used instant replay for goal controversies.

 

"I'm one of the people that can cry a little," the new boss of Real Madrid said in a conference call Monday, in advance of his team's game at Candlestick Park. "I lost a Champions League game because of a goal that shouldn't have counted. Please, (let's use) technology."

 

 

He also won a Champions League tie partly due to a goal that should have been counted (Scholes' away in Porto) but never was, so he should shut the fuck up. He won't though.

I'm sure all of those who were outraged the other week will be simarly perplexed.

Not me - I couldn't give a fuck what goes on behind the scenes at INTER MILAN (Liverpool, on the other hand, I do).

But not for nothing, Benitez hates Mourinho for a lot of slights aimed at him, and the club he was managing, which of course was LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB. Slights which nearly every member of this forum agreed with at the time.

The fact that people have seemingly forgotten just what an odious cunt Mourinho was, and why Benitez would hate him, shows just how far things have got on here.

A different spin on the whole 'It just fell into his lap' explanation for the story.

Again, from Football 365:

Correspondence

On Monday morning, this column made a few gentle mentions of The News Of The World's Paul McCarthy Twittering. Or twittering Twittering, even.

Well, the man himself has been in touch.

He writes:

'You're absolutely right, bedraggled and suffering from that hideous pre-sleep hangover best describes my viewing state for Sunday night's match.

'And, yes, 'inappropriate ghetto talk' is hugely embarrassing...but not as embarrassing as it is for my teenage daughter to read knowing all her friends think her dad's a prat.

'But that was a bit harsh on Chris Bascombe. He worked tirelessly to speak to Benayoun and was rewarded by a call back on Friday night.

'In a newspaper world where we're spoon-fed sanitised quotes, to have a top player speaking as honestly as Benayoun and happy not to pull any punches verges on the remarkable. Which is precisely why we ran the Yossi quotes at such length.'

Never liked Drury. He speaks in sound bites. I almost think he pre-plans what he is going to say when someone scores so he has his great saying ready which will be perfect for the highlights.

This is spot on. I think there's a lot of them who do it, Tyldsley included. Drury's just more obvious, cos his are fucking horrendous.

I swear, at the end of the Ghana game yesterday he must have reeled off about five or six in a row. It was embarrassing.

The worst being, as some have pointed out already, the 'Bye Bye Big America Sigh', which just doesn't work on any level.

Except that of a retard's.

It's the local and therefore personal nature of these donations that is so poignant for me. Any multimillionaire could assuage his conscience by throwing money around. What Rafa and Montse have done is donate to causes they have had a personal connection with, in many cases ones without a very high local profile, never mind national one

 

I'll always regret what I saw as Rafa's flaws as a manager - and not just because I felt he had supreme talents in that regard too. No, it's because this stuff shows that, had he been able to avoid our implosion on the pitch, he had the potential as a man to match the esteem in which any of our legends is held.

 

Rafa Benitez: like all of us, a flawed human being but a fundamentally decent one, too.

Nice post mate.

I have repeatedly posted since registering that the club will not be able to move forward until Hicks and Gillett leave the club.

I don't doubt you have, but did you start a new thread imploring people to stop talking about the manager? If not, why are you doing that now? Particularly seeing as though we're now likely to get what will be an inferior manager (don't get me wrong, I've nothing against Hodgson and think he deserves a crack at a bigger club).

If Roy Hodgson is confirmed as the next manager of LFC it will not be a long-term appointment.

 

You may not agree with the appointment of Hodgson, but people need to realise that we will not be able to attract a category A manager or world class players in our current predicament. We may be a global institution with a great history and tradition, but sadly we are not an attractive proposition to outsiders at present.

 

Liverpool FC will not be able to move forward until Hicks and Gillett are away from the club & whilst we spend all summer debating about the merits of Roy Hodgson as manager, and whether Rafa Benitez should still be manager of LFC, the owners and the banks are getting off scot-free.

 

It is time that we all put our differences aside and focus on the main issue which is to get our football club back. Lets up the ante and put pressure on the banks to force Hicks and Gillett to sell the club now.

Can you explain why this post wasn't made at this time last year (or when it became obvious we weren't spending what we were bringing in)?

Drury is the worst commentator on TV right now. Listen to him next time (if your ears can take it) - he doesn't even describe the action, he just says players' name. Every goal that goes in is described thus:

"It's Kaka... to Robinho to... ELANO (pitch of voice changed to suggest some sort of inevitability about it all)!"

Then silence as the goal's scored.

Then some dickish, smart-ass comment like:

"It was always going to be."

I hate him.

Haha that old chestnut Stu!

 

So when you ballooned your penalty a few weeks ago did nerves not have anything to do with it at all?!

But that's what's so great about penalties as match-deciders mate: it's about skill AND bottle; nerves and technique. It's the ultimate balancing act, and it explains why England have probably been so poor. Those are the two things this country's players lack the most.

Get a load of this shite from Henry Winter's twatter. The guy's a fucking loon:

# England v Slovenia: John Terry's apology gives Fabio Capello a get-out-of-jail-free card England v Slovenia: John Terry's apology gives Fabio Capello a get-out-of-jail-free card - Telegraph about 10 hours ago via twitterfeed

# Let's hope he doesn't need it tomorrow but #FabioCapello has #ENG England escape route: can say undermined by questioning attitude of Terry & James about 15 hours ago via web

# #JohnTerry has apologised to #FabioCapello and players for his public honesty. But Terry was right. #ENG England need #JoeCole & team must improve about 15 hours ago via web

I don't buy this "they've paid their money, they can do what they want" shite.

Football's not like buying a supermarket product or going to the theatre. In football there are variables and unknowns; i.e. the opposition. Players can go out with all the will in the world (though I'm not saying last night's did), but if the opposition play better than expected, then nothing's going to go to go exactly to plan, is it?

In my opinion, there's no excuse for booing. Going back to the theatre/music gig analogy, who amongst that crowd - even those mongs - would greet a sub-standard performance by booing? You wouldn't. You'd just shake your head and think 'I'm not fucking doing that again'. But booing? It's become a football thing to do. And it's just so small-time.

This is something I've been thinking for a while, but the incident in last night's South Africa game just reminded me.

What does everybody think about this: should goalkeepers be exempt from the 'if you foul the last man you're off' red card rule?

It just seems to me that keepers are walking such a fine line cos, nearly all of the time they come for a tackle, they ARE the last man. It doesn't leave much room at all for mistakes from a keeper (in a position where mistakes are probably punished enough already).

Plus, when defenders make a 'last man' foul - and thus receive their marching orders - the keeper is nearly always on the line anyway. So how can he be deemed the last man when HE fouls too?

Personally, I just think a penalty's enough for a keeper's foul. Everybody else on the pitch gets at least a couple of opportunities to mistime tackles, and I think it's a bit harsh that goalkeepers - due to the nature of their position - only get one. Most of which will result in a penalty anyway.

What do others think?

First person to bring this thread round to Benitez gets AIDS.

Which player was then then because I can think of more than one to be honest.

The specific one I was referring to? Well, Mr Alonso of course.

I was replying to a comment that said something along the lines of: 'He's the chairman; that's what chairmans do. That should be the end of it'.

Which is fair enough, except that when the manager tried to sell a player, we heard anything BUT the end of it.

My point was that double-standards were being applied.

So whats wrong with a Chairman sacking a manager again?

Absolutely nothing, especially if the manager in question has been underperforming. Which he had.

So let's ask another question: what's wrong with a manager wanting to sell an underperforming player?

Cos when our ex-manager did that once, this place went into atomic fucking meltdown.

Now imagine that manager was a self-proclaimed Chelsea fan who liked to attend Chelsea functions while still managing Liverpool football club. I think some people may have had a problem with this.

Its about tactics of course it is but a bit of war mentality can go a long way

Usually as far as the quarter-finals.

One bit of one of the adverts sums up this country's attitude to football. The bit that says, "Do it for Bobby (as in Robson)".

This will be the Bobby the press absolutely hounded through two major tournaments, and was generally treated as a joke until he took England further than anyone since Ramsey - and since anyone after himself, for that matter.

Not a cunt by any means, but Jamie Redknapp's slowly turning into someone I'm really starting to dislike listening to.

The years and years of bleating on about "Stevie's best position".

Then there was the comment last year about Alonso "pulling the strings" the day we won 4-1 from Old Trafford.

Then there was the "£30 million for the new manager to spend" the day Benitez went.

Like I said, none of them in particular make him a 'cunt', but so are none of them the type of comment I expect to hear from someone who professes to take a great interest in our club. It also bugs me how his father continues to take money for a column in that rag. I know it's not Jamie himself, but he always seems to have a decent relationship with his dad; if it was my dad and I'd played for Liverpool, I'd be damn sure having a fucking word.