The following article was written by Tom Costello of Football Fancast. Make sure to check out the latest news, blogs and podcasts at FFC – ed.
Roy Hodgson’s time at Liverpool has been a disaster for one reason or another. He looks a manager out of his depth, devoid of tactical knowledge and Liverpool are a club lacking an inspirational leader. Liverpool’s new owners, NESV have accepted that it will take time to rebuild Liverpool, and the vast majority of fans agree that this is a fair assessment. However, will Liverpool continue to take steps backwards, rather than forwards, if they continue with Roy Hodgson at the helm?
The problem with Roy Hodgson is there is one excuse after another. If he isn’t blaming Rafa Benitez for the failings of the club he is blaming players’ fitness or the lack of funds that he was given in the summer. Now, he may be right on all of these points but he has continued to roll off excuse after excuse. If you are managing a team like Liverpool and you have taken 22 points from 17 games, languishing only six points off the drop zone at Christmas, you have to take responsibility for that. Hodgson is seemingly incapable of doing this.
In terms of transfers, Liverpool need to invest this January. They need to add some extra quality to their first team as well as buying younger players for the future. It is looking increasingly likely that they will lose Glen Johnson this January. If last summer is anything to go buy, Liverpool fans can’t get too excited about this transfer window. Last summer Roy Hodgson purchased Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen – for Liverpool? They would be decent signings for Fulham but not acceptable for a club like Liverpool. Does Roy Hodgson really have the foresight in the transfer market to achieve the results that the new owners expect? When you waste nearly £9m, it scares you when Tottenham were able to sign William Gallas for free and Rafael van der Vaart for £8m. Even more worrying for Liverpool fans is Hodgson’s hint that he may not even buy in January.
“Clubs have virtually been destroyed by people making bad decisions. It’s not because the owners haven’t given money or supported the manager. It’s just that they have brought in the wrong people.”
At the biggest clubs in the world, there is expectation. The question is, have Liverpool fans and the press been too harsh on Roy Hodgson? He only arrived in July and to be totally fair he has had very very little money (whatever money he has had, he has wasted) to shape a squad in his vision. He hasn’t had the chance to work with Damien Comolli on transfer targets. This is a fair argument, but to be given time you need to have shown somewhere that you deserve it. Has Hodgson done anything that says he is the man to turn Liverpool around? A very impressive win against Chelsea, and that is it. It is time for John W. Henry and Tom Werner to seriously consider Roy Hodgson’s position. They were incredibly awkward in the recent fans phone-in when asked about Hodgson’s future. They would make themselves very popular with Liverpool fans if they were to fire Roy Hodgson sooner rather than later.
Liverpool are in a transitional phase, but that does not mean they have to be where they are in the table. It is becoming too easy for Roy Hodgson to make excuse after excuse and not take responsibility for his own shortcomings. He sounds like a product of Tom Hicks and George Gillet at the moment. Roy Hodgson is out of his depth at Liverpool in terms of the transfer market and on the pitch. Do Liverpool fans really think that if NESV gave Hodgson a vast amount of money he would be able to attract top names? When a club needs to rebuild, it needs to get rid of deadwood. Sadly, Roy Hodgson is part of this deadwood and he will take Liverpool backwards before any progress is made.
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For people saying rafa is a bad coach, they are nothing but a brainless bull. Sacked in inter after 6 month but won 2 trophies and more so he complained ‘back me or sack me’ to tell u the kind of politics going on underground
Only a F**l will say dat woy is better than benitez.
Aldo I will not want to c rafa comeback to LFC not because he is a bad coach but because we need change. Remember ‘almighty’ Rijkard sacked by barca n was replace by relatively unknown josep guardiola? We need a young enterprisins coach n for me andre villa boas fits.
well it’s a great post,it’s true roy need to get sacked.he doesn’t have the standard to be able to make players like torres gerrard or even meireles play.his signings were poor except for meireles. konshesky is aweful and poulsen,god knows how he could even make the bench for liverpool!and surprisingly he doesn’t play jovanovic,who in my opinion would perfectly fit in wid torres upfront,he can dribble,has good vision and can keep the ball,but looks like he is not good enough for roy.the only good hange since he came manager was putting 2 strikers and nothing more!loss to blackpool and newcastle,YEA THAT STUCKS IN THE THROAT!but rafa is definetly not the solution,he’ll come back and play torres alone and we won’t make any progress!his time had come and he had to leave.my dream would be to see kenny take up the reins or if i had to make a compromise,i’d go for joachim low.the rest are not good enough and didier deschamps is not good enough..