The following article was written by Tom Costello for Football Fancast. Make sure to check out the latest news, blogs and podcasts at FFC – ed.
John W. Henry and Tom Werner have a prodigious decision to make at Anfield this January. Invest in Roy Hodgson and his squad or fire the Englishman and invest in a new manager’s talents. It is a dilemma that for most Liverpool fans needs little thought – fire Roy Hodgson. However, the fact that the new owners have kept Roy Hodgson in place, indicates that he will be given to the end of the season, at the very least, to try and make it work at Anfield. This would be catastrophic for Liverpool F.C. This January offers Liverpool a chance to put this season right after so many wrongs. Players need to be sold, players need to be signed and most important of all, Hodgson needs to go.
The new transfer structure in place at Anfield shows that John W. Henry and Tom Werner understand where football was in 2010 and where Liverpool need to go in 2011. They have not lied to fans about stadiums or huge transfer investments, simply they have gone about their business in a considered way. The move for Damien Comolli is another indication that Liverpool are looking long term.
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However, Liverpool at the turn of 2011 are in a mess, and NESV need to look at making investment a little earlier than they may have wanted too. As some Liverpool players showed against Wolves – some have lost belief that Liverpool can achieve anything this season, players are playing for their cash and not the club and there is real lack of quality in the dressing room. Granted the lack of quality is not 100% Roy Hodgson’s fault but he has added to it by signing Christian Poulsen and Paul Konchesky. NESV need to look at clearing this dead wood out, emphasising to Hodgson that they want only passionate players who will fight for the club, purchased this January. If Hodgson, working alongside Damien Comolli, is given a bit more direction in the transfer market, there is no reason why this season has to be a complete write off for Liverpool. This month is inordinately important. NESV can’t waste any time in making changes at Liverpool.
Ultimately the biggest change the American owners could make would be to sack Roy Hodgson. There have been managers fired this season who have been in much stronger position’s than Roy Hodgson’s, but NESV look like they are planning with Hodgson not without him. That will no please Liverpool fans, but he could turn it round as long as they work with him in the transfer market. If they feel he is not the right man for the job, thus hold transfer funds back from him, but wait until the summer to fire him that will only damage the club further. Invest in Hodgson and Liverpool fans may see what he can do with his own squad, and how he plans to change Liverpool’s fortunes. Hodgson has long moaned about his lack of funds in the summer, now it could be time for another excuse to be taken away from him.
Liverpool are in a mess this season but NESV have continued to make smart rational decisions in the interests of the club. So far they have been very good owners, they have said the right things but they must now deliver with a bit of cash. It may be earlier that the owners may have wanted but it is necessary to put Liverpool in as strong a position for next year as possible. Roy Hodgson must now up his game and show that he deserves to be invested in. He would go a long way to showing the owners and fans that he is up to the job if he takes responsibility for his mistakes. Hodgson must clear out the dead wood at the club and work with Comolli in identifying quality young talent. If they get it right, there is no reason why Liverpool can’t look to a brighter future. In a perfect world, there will be investment, but without Roy Hodgson.
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sack hodgson, i’m about to kick this stall away from beneath my feet.
One major problem I see in your article aat a first glance is the one of clearing out deadwood. I am inclined to believe that Hodgson would clear out what he considers to be “other people’s” deadwood and maintain the disasters he brought in himself! he is not a man to admit he is wrong or mistaken, He is not a man to admit that things might improve using other methods. He is intransigent in his attitude that he will conquer the world football scene with his ideas – Ideas tyhat have failed for 30+ years!
SIMPLE;
1, lets all stop putting up barriers in life and just get on with it.
2, the deadwood has to go, a resource of liverpool’s is being well used up and beyound, by crap players(rafa’s or roys’ it doesnt matter then need to be long gong!)
3, poulsen babel konchesky need to be sold in this window, they are 3 players that offer very little of not nothing, if you can not sell them just let them go, they are just useless.
4, jovanovic has to go to, taking up space, might be ok somewhere else but not in the red of liverpool.
5, people at the club and the owners are having a bad case of mentality problem, life is at times simple, just get on with it.
6, its clear no matter who makes the moves at the club, for long tern or short, things need changing now before we sink even deeper in the bad stuff.
7, if roy stays now, we will not see even europa footie next year never mind dreaming of a top 6 finish.
8 if roy stays, torres is off for a fact, i know that, reina will see out his contract but he is using that as a plan, he wants gone if there is not investment too!
9, we do have some good 5-6 good players that the team can be built aorund be is there any point, chucking away this season just because the clubs wants to make up excuses anbout ” the owners are new to the game” and ” its not a good time to buy in jan”
RUBBISH, IF WE DO NOT GET OR HAVE A LEADERSHIP GIUD OF SOME SORT SOON, LFC IS REALLY GOING TO BE MORE BEHINED THAN ANY OF YOU THINK…
THIS WINDOW IS MASSIVE FOR LIVERPOOL, IF YOU THINK OTHER WISE THEN YOUR FOOLING EACH OTHER!
INVESTMENT AND I MEAN NO MORE S***E BUYS, IM TALKING;
YOUNG, SUAREZ, CISOKHO AND COENTRAO TYPE PLAYERS ARE WHAT WE NEED RATHER THAN DEAD BEAT PLAYERS THAT ARE NEVER ANY GOOD FORM THE GETGO!!!
INVEST OR WE ARE FINISHED AS A TOP FLIGHT CLUB, ITS THAT CLEAR…
The crap you publish is really quite astounding. The owners have done nothing. The poor quality in the dressing room contains EIGHT players that beat Real Madrid 4-0.
Never write again and save the rest of us a few minutes each.
The Future Is Bright – The Future Is Not Hodgson
There is no point in giving Hodgson any more money, he has already wasted 23.5 million. Meireles is average at best, he has not scored yet and that cannot be overlooked as the club has too many players like Lucas who either never scores or else manages only 2 or 3 a season. With Hodgson in charge, Liverpool can forget about Top 4. NESV need to get a manager in who will start bringing through youth into the Premiership games rather than just rubbish meaningless competitions like the League Cup and Europa League. Agger should be played in central midfield alongside Lucas until the club can get someone better than Lucas. It is ridiculous that the club has two players like Johnson and Agger who are excellent attackers but are restricted in their efforts by being played as defenders. Nzogbia should be signed instead of Elia, he is a proven Premiership player and will get even better.
Hodgson needs to go and go now. There is far too much made of the supposed poor squad, which is a fallacy perpetrated by Hodgson himself and the press have towed the line. Hodgson has blamed everyone except himself for LFC’s poor season. LFC’s squad is nowhere is bad as Hodgson has repeatedly said and insinuated. It contains players other managers would kill for – three world class players and chockfull of current internationals. There are also players in the reserves that would probably walk into many other EPL first teams. The problem is Hodgson’s inability to manage his club – poor tactics, poor team selections, poor man management. The position is simply too big for him, and FSG are doing sweet FA. It remains to be seen whether they are indeed good owners as you say or whether they are just another bunch of money-hungry Americans looking to make a fast buck.
I think it’s simple, there’s WAY too many impatient Liverpool fans. Would you rather sack Hodgson and throw a team together by spending money to contend this year and next? Or carefully build a team piece by piece that can contend for a decade a couple years down the road?
FSG cannot afford to make any rash decisions, especially after Hicks and Gillett. They need to proceed very carefully and it’s what they’re doing. One thing is for sure, with or without Liverpool Henry and Werner have enough money for 50 comfortable lifetimes, it isn’t just about making a quick buck.
CW sometimes you need to see a positive coming out of a team that is not performing but in this case give me one positive Roy Hogson has brought or done for Liverpool. First of all you give away all the players that are good and bring in players who are not anyway near to Liverpool as a football. If the owner think like you CW then we would end up like Newcastle when its too late considering the fact that we’re just a few points off the relegation zone.
Liverpool under the new owners will not be dictated by Hodgson or any new manager. this means that the fate of Liverpool currently rests in the man appointed by them, Damien Comolli.
I think everyone should have reservations on Comolli until we see the end of the transfer window, but i suspect paying handsome and lengthy contracts to 28+ year olds will not be happening. meaning that any players Hodgson may like to introduce now will only be players that Comolli also identifies as suiting the long term strategy.
the owners like stats and im sure unlike Roy who has stated today he was unaware that in his 18 games we have only come back twice from a defeat position (only once in the league at home to Bolton). stats like these speak for themselves.
i believe we will be active in this transfer window. but it matters little to the long term future of Roy. he will be gone by the summer at the latest……… surely ?!!!!
Let him go now
I wouldn’t let Hodgson spend his own money!
I would not buy anyone this transfer window. We have enough quality in the squad to get us into the top six if the tactics are right. The likelihood of higher this season is small with no chance at all if Hodgson remains in charge.
The best players will be available in the summer and some of them available on bosmans to. Some of our better players might be on their way regardless of what we do in the January transfer window.
The only thing that needs to be done is to remove Hodgson. Then bring back Rafa or if you haven’t got the stomach for that FSG, put Kenny Dalglish in charge.
Ok I’m struggling to see what the hold up here is. Surely Frank Rijkaard is the obvious choice. He’s young, has charisma, is extremely well know as a world class player, has won major honors as a manager & more importantly is responsible for putting the majority of the current Barcelona team together, a team that is possibly 1 of the best teams in the history of the game. Did everyone forget that this is the man who introduced Messi to the world? Now I know Messi would’ve been introduced by someone else if it hadn’t been Rijkaard but he stil gave him his debut. I could go on & talk all day about other outstanding players he has worked with but 1 in particular stands out & that is a player who is looking for a move out of AC Milan, 1 Ronaldinho! I have no idea what their relationship is like but it would appear his career took a nose dive after Rijkaard left the Camp Nou therefore I think this is the perfect example of a player that Frank could attract & who knows he could get him back playing like he was 3/4 years ago cos lets be honest the ability is there somewhere, you don’t win world player of the year 2 years in a row & become a bad player over night. Imagine the flare & excitement he’d add to our game? I know he makes stupid mistakes but when those skill come off he’s amazing! As for other targets such as Van Wolfswinkel (next Van Basten they’re calling him) & Elia (anyone in the current Dutch set up is quality & he did look it in the world cup when he came on in the WC), I’d be fairly confident in saying that these 2 would’ve looked up to Rijkaard as a player & would love to play under him. Football legends like this 1 attract big players to clubs, who can Woy attract? Konchesky, Poulsen? Imagine Woy on the phone to sign a player like Ronaldinho, he’d have to explain who he is first & then he’d probably tell him he’s not interested. Now someon please tell me what the delay in making this change is because to me it’s a total no brainer! Please Mr. Henry make the change ASAP before we become the next Newcastle or Leeds.
I don’t see why people want Jovanovic to go? I am amazed that he isn’t given more chances to play! HE is physically strong and fast and naturally left footed with a determined attitude that a lot of our team lack. He first few games like the one at arsenal i thought he did well. He haas scored two goals for the club already despite hardly playing. He is a left winger and yet we played Kuyt on the left aginst Wolves. Not sure where the logic in that comes from.
Coentrao would be the ultimate signing I reckon. Dont waste time on three or four £5million ready made flops, spend it all on one quality player. And do the same again in August. That should be our philosphy and just offload a few of the weaker players.
There’s really not much point in giving Hodgson the cash to spend on new players if they’re thinking bout sacking him soon or in the summer. We’ve already seen him wasting 20+ mil on useless crap like Jones, Konchesky and Poulsen. Meireles has put in some good performances but you can get a better midfielder for 11.5 mil who can actually score goals. If NESV feel that the club need players in the current transfer window, then they should get Comolli to deal with the transfers. With Roy, we’ve been linked with Carlton Cole, David Bentley and Wright Philips. We need quality players but Roy isn’t the man to identify these players to improve the squad. NESV do have a big decision to make and it largely depends on whether or not they trust Roy and whether or not they’re considering sacking him in the near future.