I am sure I was not the only one who could have predicted the result against Wolves last night even before kick off. Just by looking at Liverpool’s starting eleven, it was apparent that Roy Hodgson’s tactical nous was completely non-existent. Switching Raul Meireles back to the right hand side of midfield to accommodate the returning Steven Gerrard as well as switching Dirk Kuyt from the right to the left made absolutely no sense at all, and it seems astonishing that neither Roy nor the Sky commentary team could see the absolute idiocy of not just playing no wingers at all but basically four central players in a 4-4-2 formation.
Even Roy must have noticed that Lucas and Raul Meireles had struck up a good partnership in recent weeks and that if he was to break it up, it would lead to less fluidity in midfield. Roy should have known Meireles’ best performances came in the centre of the park, in his best position, while his displays on the right were poor at best. Then we get to sticking Dirk Kuyt on the left. Sure he has played the role for Holland but in a 4-3-3 formation, not in the rigid 4-4-2 system that Roy employed last night. Kuyt had replaced a player in Maxi Rodriguez who Roy had credited only weeks before as one of the Reds best performers of the season. Square pegs in round holes just doesn’t cover it; is Roy just trying to accommodate all his best players or has he completely lost it? Despite all the terrible post match quotes from Roy last night in regards to the lack of support from fans, and his distinction between “fans” and “supporters,” my favourite quote was this:
“When I think about it had I chosen a different team which did not have a midfield of Dirk Kuyt, Lucas Leiva, Steven Gerrard and Raul Meireles, with Fernando Torres and David Ngog up front, I don’t think things would have been different.”
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This week it is Liverpool WAG Alex Curran!
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Forget Rafa, he failed at Liverpool, he failed at Inter Milan. Put Dalglish in charge with Phil Thompson as his No. 2 (to organize the team) for the rest of the season.
I’m not here to fight Rafa’s corner – he doesn’t need anyone to do that for him, but I’m just riled at how someone like you can pour out so much inaccuracy in your statements/post. Is your hatred for Rafael Benitez so much that it’s clouded youe vision and reasoning?
“He won the Champions’ League with a team he inherited and made no changes to” – you said. The guy who scored the equaliser in the final was signed by Rafa’s predecessor, right? The guy who scored vital goals against Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea in the run up to the finals was a member of Houllier’s team, right? Did you stop to count how many players in the “best team in Europe he inherited at Inter” are over 30? Did you count how many of them were stricken by injuries for large parts of the season? I doubt you saw any of their games apart from the one they lost against Spurs in the UCL. His successor will come into the side with most of the injured players back, if he gets results no one will consider the fact that he’s got most of his team available to him to choose from – something Rafa didn’t have.
If you want to dislike/hate Rafa, that’s your cup of tea, but your should at least get your facts straight and do not misinform anyone when trying to make your point.
Hodgson is not taking us anywhere but down, we might not get relegated (we’ll come close though), but is that where we want to be?! I won’t go into his mistakes, they’ve been well identified in the article and lots of comments here. We should let him go now and bring in someone who understands the game as he clearly doesn’t.
You’re absolutely right, mate.
Richard – lol you are funny mate!
That final your talking about in istanbul must of been the first ever final where a team got a bye straight into the final right?
And if that wasn’t enough they gave us another bye straight into the final of the most prestigious cup in world again in Athens?
I bet your one of those who thinks it was houlliers team that won it right? Why did he never win it?
Or better still seeing as Rafa didn’t make any signings at inter that wasn’t his team that was playing beneath it’s strengths was it? It was mourinios team wasn’t it? So Rafa is free from blame using you thought process… Lol
Those who refer to Rafa at inter at how Badly he has done there, I wonder if they have ever watched a serie A game before………
The so called inter team that Rafa had inherited have had most of it’s team injured for the best part of the season and no new sighnings so naturally they would struggle you would think?
Bring some facts when talking about Rafa in future like:
FA cup winners
Champions league winners
Champion league final
League cup final
Super cup winners
World club championship final
Charity shield winners
Zonal marking maybe?
I agree, Richard is a clown, he has no idea what he’s talking bout, just like Hodgson I guess.
People seem to forget it was Rafa who got us our highest ever Premier League ranking and point tally (2nd with 86 points) and won away at places like the San Siro, Bernabeu, Nou Camp, Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge.
Tino – spot on mate!
It is openly reported that Rafa’s training methods caused all the injuries at Inter. Are Rafa’s supporters saying that Liverpool did not concede any goals from freekicks and corners under his zonal marking system? Rafa had his chance at Liverpool, he forced Alonso out the door wanting to replace him with the likes of Gareth Barry. He bought Robbie Keane who was a disaster. Any manager who thinks Glen Johnson and Insua can defend after the 19 defeats last season is mistaken.
Total rubbish!
Newspaper, sky new, newspapers, sky news, newspapers, sky news
Think for yourself man
With Rafa as manager we would crawl back up to 7th place and no higher. Sack Hodgson yes, but do not allow the failure from Inter back in charge. he messed the club up enough. The football club needs Dalglish and Thompson who really care about the club. Rafa’s training methods were different to Mourinho’s and caused all the injuries there, that is the truth, despite Rafa’s fans trying to muddy the waters. Zonal marking goals from setpieces were conceded against the likes of Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton, West Ham, Chelsea, during Benitez’s tenure. He would have preferred to replace Alonso with a technically inferior workhorse like Gareth Barry.