On 5Live’s Sportsweek programme on Sunday, Liverpool Managing Director Christian Purslow offered up three explanations as to why Liverpool have made such a poor start to the season:
“I must say there has been some important mitigating factors. It’s been a very unusual start to the season. We had a large number of our players back very late. We’ve had three international breaks already and it’s barely October. And of course we changed our manager and have some new players. So those three together mean that Roy just really hasn’t had much time with the players to do the week-in, week-out stuff that is his trademark. And so he’ll start to have that now.”
Certainly all three do have some basis in fact. Along with the added difficulty of coming into a club with mounting off field problems, Roy inherited a team that had just finished seventh in the Premier League. The new Reds manager really had no time to assess the squad as he was flung in the deep end straight away, having to play competitive matches with a skeleton squad just a few weeks after taking over the job. The late return of many players from the World Cup certainly didn’t help matters either as he started the season with many players not fully fit, and others whose futures were still to be sorted out before the end of the transfer window.
Hodgson effectively only really had a couple of weeks before the transfer window closed to assess his squad and bring in players which he felt were needed, on a budget which was wholly reliant on player sales. So even by September it wasn’t clear to most people, even probably to Roy himself, what his best team and formation was. As Purslow says, Roy’s “trademark” is the week-in, week-out stuff on the training field where it takes time to really get the players to do what is being asked of them. With international breaks, combined with new players and outside pressures from the ownership, Roy has found it extremely hard so far to find the time and space to implement his regimented tactics.
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NO! Simple as that, he’s just not good enough for a big club like our LFC and all the experience that everyone keeps talking about, that he has, should really point out the fact that the man has never ‘successfully’ managed a big club (in 30 odd years).
Absolutely NOT. If Benitez was kicked out for finishing seventh without being allowed to use the owners excuse and having injuries then I think Roy should definately be not excused for us languishing in the relegation zone. 7th-9th place I can handle but not 18th. The worst of it is that his demenour speaks volumes. Being happy with draws tells you alot about the man and his lack of ambition.
it doesn’t two months to realise that the team isn’t working. That he hasn’t made even the slightest attempt to change anything (change formation, encourage pressing high up the pitch, allowing movement ahead of the ball, dropping certain under-performing players etc), suggests that he is either completely unaware of where the team is going wrong (i.e. he is flipping dumb!) or he really is too weak-willed to implement the necessary changes to carry the team forwards.
Either way, we have to cut our losses and move on asap
No its not an excuse re Jack about Benitez.
It is not just the position or even the lack of time these are maybe understandable but what makes Woy such a no no for our club is his ambitions.
In press conferences he has said we hoped to hang on for a point at OT when we had momentum but then lost and said they are Man Utd – but we are Liverpool not Fulham.
Then he says we had a good point against Sunderland at home – but we are Liverpool not Fulham.
After Blackpool defeat he says we are in a relegation battle – but we are Liverpool not Fulham.
The guys comfort zone is mid-table and he is trying to drag us down to his level rather than raise his game to our ambition.
He should be booted out of the club for his comments!!!!
The managing director trying to safe guard hodgson and his reputation to the livpool fans coz he was the one who sacked our lovely manager RAFA BEST and brought in deadly man hodgson
Hodgson’s tactics,line-up and formation are all wrong. We are no threat offensively from set-pieces. We need to send as physically big team as possible out for every game. Jamie Carragher is too small to play as a centre-back, he has always struggled to deal with crosses and corners and e very opposing manager is targeting this weakness. In the treble winning season under Gerard Houllier liverpool had Garry Macallister providin g beautiful set piece deliveries into the opponents box that resulted in near post flickons by emille heskey on to sami hyppia and markus babbel who would then head the ball into the opposition net. Man Utd and Chelsea both scored a significant amount of goals from set-pieces in their title wins in the last six seasons so this snobbery about not utilizing set-pieces should stop. I would advocate the following line-up until further notice based on the fact that konschesky is not tall enough and lacks pace, and Dan Agger is not a real defender, he has superb footwork and a thunderbolt shot and needs to be used in midfield getting him into goalscoring and goalcreating areas in the opposition half like when he set up dirk kuyt’s equalizer against wigan in a 3-2 home win 2 seasons ago cutting the ball back from the end line after leaving Lee Cattermole kicking fresh air after agger waltzed past him into Wigan’s penalty area. In that same game Agger’s defensive defiecencies were glaringly highlighted when he was dispossessed outside liverpool’s penalty area by Wigans centre-forward who shot past Reina. Agger is useless in the air defensively but is a threat in the air offensively. Neither Poulsen or Lucas are up to the job so until January Gerrard needs to be the holding midfield player like Greame Souness was and this would suit Gerrard because his legs are gone. I would put Shelvey beside Gerrard to be a second passing option out to Johnson as the right-winger and Agger as the left-winger. So my line-up would be Reina, RB-Kelly, CBS-Skyrtel,Kygriakos, LB-Mavinga, RW-Johnson,CMF-Gerrard,Shelvey, LW-Agger, AM-Cole, CF-Ngog, Subs:Carragher,Wilson,Kuyt,Meireles,Pacheco,Babel. PS: Torres is never going to be the force he was in his first season, his pace is gone and once a pacey forward starts getting these injuries he is never the same. The same thing happened to Michael Owen and to a certain extent Thierry Henry. Dirk Kuyt should be used as an impact sub as he did so in the 3-2 away win at Portsmouth 2 seasons ago.
There are no mitigating factors for Roy’s failures. He is responsible for implementing the new tactics. It is his ideas the team take out onto the pitch.
The best coaches around the world use a high intensity forward pushing game to put pressure on the opposition, which then puts you in the best position to attack. Now Rafa always kept a rigid compact formation when we didn’t have the ball, but we pushed anyway to force the opposition. It enabled us to attack quickly before the opposition had chance to reorganise. Teams are now so well coached that even the so called lesser teams are able at times to put most of the top teams under some pressure during a game, but when they lose the ball the formation Rafa generally used 4-2-3-1 was the best to take advantage to attack quickly. I think you will find it’s the quickest for players to get back into a defensive position when the attack breaks down as well. I think Hodgsons tactics are antiquated because it forces the team to play to deep inviting teams onto us with no pressure on the ball, and it’s slower to regain defensive positions if an attack breaks down, as is clear because Gerrard has been caught out of position many times this season already.
The media are giving Roy a free ride and quite clearly overlooking his tactical errors and team selections. Could it be because he’s British/English? This was something they never let Rafa get away with. They performed a scientific analysis of every aspect of Rafa from the press conference to the game and tactics he deployed whether it was zonal marking, player rotation or formation, and they were negative about everything Rafa. Could that be because he is Spanish or because he wasn’t a patsy?
Now, Roy picks the formation, the tactics and the team, so you cannot turn around and blame Rafa for what is happening now. Roy has the complete support of the board and owners, so he was not under any pressure from above. The players, according to Gerrard at the start of the season are going into training with a smile on their faces (the Mirror). If that’s the case, why are they performing like they are? It also doesn’t wash that the player are not good enough, because they are better than the position they are in now.
Rafa was under intense pressure from the moment the yanks bought the club, and even more pressure when that midget (Purslow) joined LFC. Roy has been found out and the people who employed him have to support him now otherwise they will be seen as incompetent, which is what they are.
This is Roys fault full stop.
Kennetholeary
Oh please
What a complete load of rubbish, your no better than Roy.
Sure there are many factors beyond his control. So let’s just judge him on those that he does have 100% control over:
1) Lack of ambition
2) Refusal to change a system when it’s not working
3) Bad squad selection
4) Passive tactics when a win is needed
5) Lack of ambition
Is that not enough of an indictment? Based on these, even if everything else on and off the field were perfect, he’d still be a bad manager!
Idiotic Comments….. Roy is not good enough thats all……. Woy u say our team lack depth and strength u loan Aqua th prince 2 italy before even trying him out. Buying al sorts of idiots whch we never needed poulsen (4mil) if we had tht money + masch cash we wld hve brought in some of th world class striker’s. Konchiesky if we had not loaned insua out we wld hd a better left back in th future + 2 talented player in our reserves . Merieles (11mil) we wld hve bought Ever Benega fr 8mil and used remaining for a left bck. U dont knw hw 2 spend money . Rafa had facts fr wht he did u hve nothing u r dreaming stil dreaming wake up woy its Liverpool nt Foolam…. Nw u gona get big bucks in th nxt transfer god knws wht u gona do…?
In answer to dj’s reply to me at 8.52pm, the same rafa that you idolize is the same rafa that annoyed Xabi Alonso so much that Xabi left for Real Madrid. If what I said is so much rubbish what line-up and formation would you suggest with the current squad Liverpool have? Do not forget also how many goals Liverpool conceded from zonal marking in Rafa’s 6 seasons.
dome of you have said that hodgson has not managed a top team, but the teams have been big in their own countries just because we know little of them doesnt mean they dont qualify.
they guy need time half the battle is the players are ACTUALLY playing like retards! cant pass cant defend cant string a one 2 together, besides if he was sacked no decent manager would want the job,who in their right mind would! its as horrible as having the england job!! show him some respect for taking on a team that has no money and in crisis and thats all managers want these days is money for transfers
Reference dj-I am still waiting to read your superior insight.
KENNY DALGLISH did we keep the receipt for turkey neck hodgson
@Kennetholeary – if you check your stats you will see that we conceded less from corners by using zonal marking than Chelsea and Man u. Actually far less (not taking into last season as we were quite bad in many areas). To prove this Andy ‘lying’ Gray ( the biggest loud mouth when it came to mocking Rafa’s Zonal marking) was put the question that Hodgson was leaking more goals from Man marking. He said something to the effect of ” oh well it happens”. Get your facts right before making assumptions. The man was far ahead of his time thats why minnow clubs like Real Madrid, Juventus and Inter Milan were clamouring for his signature.
Kennetholeary
Lol, why are you so emotionally disturbed by my put down of your article? In my opinion it was rubbish, and reading it again I can confirm it’s a load of tripe.
I have written many posts on liveforLiverpool on similar topics. The posts are there for all to read on various topics, even my support for Rafa if you care to look for them.
The post I’ve written above will give you a good insight into how I think we should play and why I think Roy is failing.
If you don’t agree I won’t mind, because, frankly I don’t care.
Dj your system gives no thought as to the width we lack going forward and which would also protect us defensively from all these crosses going in that idiot jamie carragher cant seem to head clear after eleven years of practice.
Jack – Champions League quarter-final first leg against Chelsea in 2008, Branislav Ivanovic was gifted 2 free headers by Rafa’s zonal marking system which led to a 3-1 home defeat. Rafa moved to Inter Milan because Inter’s squad was already in place. Juventus offered him a big tansfer budget to resurrect an ailing club but surprise surprise he took the safe job at Inter and if Inter value him so much why did they give him only a two year contract? Could it be they want to replace him in 2014 with Capello when his contract runs out with England? If Real value Benitez so much why was Mourinho always a certainty for the job even before Inter defeated Bayern in the Champions League final? Do you think Rafa should be absolved of the 19 defeats in all competitions last season?
no,pliz dont give us excuses becoz he is english.fire the loser.hez too small for liverpool.fella doesnt even know where to field raul mereles,joe cole.why did he buy them then?why buy nonsense like poulsen and konchesky.liverpool is not fulham my hodgson,just go away, failure
Christian Purslow,do shut up!
You talking that way is insulting to the Liverpool FC Fans