Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson apologised to Reds fans after the abject display against Northampton Town last night:
“I don’t think we came anywhere near what I hoped to see apart from in the last 15 minutes of extra-time when we made a superb effort after going 2-1 down. All I can do is congratulate Northampton and apologise to everyone; the fans came expecting to see us win and I expected us to win but it wasn’t to be. These players have to accept responsibility. I accept responsibility for changing a lot of players in the team, I did it because I honestly thought the players I put on the field were good enough to win the game and they weren’t.”
Although there are many things that Roy Hodgson could be blamed for in the last night’s display, his team selection should not be one of them. The starting eleven that played against the Cobblers should have been more than enough to see off the League Two side easily; something that Roy was very clear to say after the match. It would be hypocritical of me too to criticise the selection, after all I, like many other fans, have talked about the inclusion of youngsters in more first team matches. The inclusion from the start of Dani Pacheco, Jay Spearing, Martin Kelly and Danny Wilson as well as Jonjo Shelvey, Tom Ince and Nathan Eccleston, coming off the bench in extra time, shows that Roy was showing faith in youth. That the ploy backfired won’t get criticism from me, but more of a concern, is the lack of performance from four of Liverpool’s most experienced players. It was a concern Roy also had when speaking after the game:
“The obvious conclusion to that was I shouldn’t have changed that many players but we should have been strong enough to get a result. We must all take our responsibility. I am just bitterly disappointed that the team I had so much faith in did not repay that faith this evening with the exception of one or two performances. . . They (the players) will have to do a lot of work to get themselves back into favour, but it’s early doors for some of them. Some of the players who played tonight are still quite young. But it’s enough for me to say I am very disappointed and you can see that on my face. . .I will learn an awful lot from this defeat tonight about an awful lot of people. It’s not just myself who will be disappointed and upset that things didn’t go our way – there are lots of players who played tonight who will be disappointed as well.”
So who was he talking about specifically? It is probably unlikely that he was speaking about Milan Jovanovic or David Ngog who scored the two goals on the night. The most likely candidates are:
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Hodgson will be gone before the January window so what he th these players won’t matter much.
who’s fault was it that liverpool football club had to rely on an untried yougster to rescue the game ? that gave everyone a lift and belief diddnt it.
Roy Hodgson TO GO AS WELL THE YANKS
bring back KING KENNY
i think we should give hodgson time.
having said that it was idiotic to play danny wilson at left back on his debut! in his wrong position. at least play agger a more experienced player out of position.
All worthy enough to earn their wages…
I want the job the Rafa had!!! ( although, I am prepared to be King Kenny’s 2nd… )
I hate this site! theres too many people like Simon,red jonjo and keshav who spout rubbish!!!
Apart from Babel (£11.5m), Lucas (£5m) and Agger (£4.2m) the team last night was full off youths and cheap misfits!
Roys problem last night was he should have played the reserve side! Lucas, Babel and the Greek are Rafa’s flops/poor buys!
Weve had a lot of unrest, a World Cup to contend with, International breaks and opening fixtures in the Premier League that would test even Chelsea. Weve just had 3 of the hardest away games well face all year!
Lets wait till the end of the season before making judgement on this team!
Roy needs time. SAF won nothing in his first six years of mid-table mediocrity for MUFC but look at what’s happened since.
We already let Rafa go, a mistake in my book, and we need care in calling for Roy’s head. TBH, our squad was good enough to dispatch Northampton but we somehow didn’t. Nothing much to be done there. It also makes minor positional differences like Danny’s insignificant.
Roy didn’t work instant magic at Fulham either, but given time the club roared in Europe. Hodgson, like Rafa hasn’t become bad overnight.
Truth is we’re in transition and things will get worse before improving.
[Historical note] LFC and MUFC have never been top at the same time. I’ve observed Man U gradually weakening in the last three or so years, including last Sunday’s game. With a sale of our club I believe the omens are there for a much brighter future. Time is one of the chief things we need at Anfield.
Lost all respect for Hodgson last night for the team he picked and the sooner he is OUT of Anfield the better. King Kenny or Martin O’Neill please.
When liverpool appoint roy hodgson, im already said that roy hodgson not the manager for “Top Class Team”
“He Is Not The Manager For op Team”
Let me to be a liverpool manager…I can do what the liverpool’s fans need…and what they waiting for 20years….
Roy, I really hope you are the right man for the job. The players seem to like your managerial style. I mean that’s good news but we are Liverpool. We need to keep winning. We cannot gamble on small teams. Every game is as important as playing against MU, Chelsea and Arsenal. Roy, I hope you realize this isn’t Fulham you’re managing but LIVERPOOL. Please do your best to put the team back in shape. In Roy we trust. YNWA
I’d like to add a few names we can get in the January transfer window, considering Christian Purslow has already found a buyer.
I’d like to see the likes of :
David de Gea for 6M – Young and could be Reina’s understudy like Jones. Then, we can be rid of Itandje. Looking at his performances, I can see him as the next Pepe maybe better.
Fabio Coentrao for 8M – He is a superb left-back, full of pace and is capable of running pass defenders. He is a left-footed Glen Johnson who loves going forward with the ball and getting shots on goal as well as supplying good balls into the box. We can get Mereiles to persuade him to sign for Liverpool.
Javi Martinez for 15M – Young, has a great eye, really fast, good in the air(excellent for set-pieces), could be the next Xabi Alonso(a void that couldn’t be filled since Xabi left) and at 21 he is a heck load better than Lucas.
Juan Mata for 14M – He’d be the solution to the lack of depth on the left-wing(something that has been missing for quite sometime now). He has the pace, the ability and a great mind . He is one talented young man. Plus he will cope well with Torres. It’d be fantastic to see
him in play for Liverpool.
Patrick Helmes for 17M – Forget Carlton Cole, N’gog is almost as good as him. If we want a quality striker, I would say Helmes is what we’re looking for. Torres and Helmes would be unstoppable. No defence can destruct the partnership of this two huge talents(considering he can adapt to the PL and that they can work together).
Get rid of : *(…)= replacement
– Charles Itandje for 0.5M (David de Gea)
– Sotirios Kyrgiakos for 2M (Danny Wilson)
– Fabio Aurelio for 2M (Fabio Coentrao)
– Lucas Leiva for 8-10M (Javi Martinez)
– Maxi Rodriguez for 4M (Juan Mata)
Please Roy, make it happen…
Rogue – dreams mate – don’t think we’ve got the money. Helmes costs nearly as much as the one’s you think we should sell
I think everybody should get behind Roy instead of calling for him to be sacked. He isn’t a miracle worker things were never goin to change over nite. Give the man a chance to get rid of the rot that rafa has left behind! Judge him at the end of the season rather than just over a month in to the season!
what is wrong with you lot ,last night was an experiment that went badly wrong ,roy needs to keep his best players for the league and thats why none of them like torres or stevie were on the bench and thats why he played the crap like babel,lucas,sotos and jova,they were rafas players and rafas kids ,roy let the kids play for experience which will help them even though it was a defeat ,but you cant excuse the others who apart from agger (who wasnt at his best)should be shipped out asap,babel had the chance last night to prove how good he is and if he cant do it against a team nearly at the bottom of league 2 he just aint gonna do it, as for the others we always knew they werent up to it and its time for them to go ,roy needs time for himself to put a mark on the team and the club ,so those who say he isnt good enough ,wait and see ,hes got the know how it always takes time to put it into practise ,you may say we havent got time but your wrong cos we all know we aint gonna win the league but we have only played 5 games and three were against at least 2 of the teams that will finish top 4,when the club is sold you will see a great weight lifted from not only the club but the players as well who will then click and perform to the standard we all know they can,
KEEP THE FAITH GUYS COS WE CANT LET THEM WALK ALONE
roy still plats like rafa but remember rafa is inter manager in C.L.were not roy is the worst manager since souness 1 good season at fulham and he gets the top job this year in prem bring kenny in now not when its too far down the line and by the way you hodgson fans remember souness took blackburn back up to prem and done a better job at Blackburn than roy turkey neck at fulham before souness left Blackburn for newcastle and flopped just as mike walker at norwich then flopped at everton, mark hughes at Blackburn then flopped at man city geting the point ! TAXI FOR HODGSON
Woy don’t blame the players. You picked a poor side of players who were not used to playing as a team, you are to blame, you should have played the first team, they are the ones who need match practice, you have also changed the defence from a zonal marking side to a man marking side something none are used to. You are a prat and should resign while we have time to get a real manager.
except for Agger,i am also starting to lose faith for the other 3.lucas is our worst midfielder right now.we have gerrard,meireles and poulsen.these three should be the ones to play for us.i am starting to lose my patience with babel,even though i’ve been a HUGE fan of his abilities,but i think after what rafa did to him,his talent has been badly affected.and kyrgiakos never was a starter or something like that and as a 4th place in the center backs,i think is good.if babel doesnt get better till january,sell him.we need a striker and a winger.babel and maxi have to get better till january.if not,sell them and buy better ones.i think liverpool right now needs more a winger than a striker.i am starting to realise that ngog has developed rapidly since last season,and he is only 20 years old.we need a winger with pace and skills.Ashley Young my favorite by far.
What do you idiots want? The squad which is still rafa’s is severely limited in quality. If any one from gerrard, Torres, cole played last night and broke down for the season, it would be all roys fault again for picking the best players for a less significant trophy. The man is in a lose lose situation!! We need these players to remain fit and fresh for the league to somehow try to climb this table and avoid the humiliation of last year. He is juggling an embarrassingly assembled squad to ensure we remain on target for a CL place. WE CAN NOT AFFORD TO SUSTAIN A CHALLENGE IN EVERY COMPETITION WITH THE THREADBARE SQUAD! We are not that all conquering team anymore so stop your pathetic moaning you bell ends and use a bit of common sense
well said mike as i said in my earlier post it was a team we had to use cos we need the best for the prem ,the dicks that are saying get rid of roy are plastic fans who want instant success which aint gonna happen , TIME IS WHAT WE NEED NOT RASH DECISIONS
YNWA
@ Bill at list speak to Roy with some respect he’s not ur calibal ok. Cos i still believe he is our saviour
when roy went head to head with kenny for the job lose/lose situation he was in he was warned by polls ov 90% wanted kenny back and funny enough are form is lose/lose northampton town come on even the youth at liverpool cost more than rejects and jornerymen the have roy is shite he as a neck like a turkey and turkeys dont last after xmas and worst ov all he licks fergies arse torres taking the piss roy never stood up for nando but nani who makes c.ronaldo look like tommy smith roy says sweet fa rafa would av TAXI FOR TURKEY NECK HODGSON