What else was Hodgson to do? Left with one left back who wanted out so he loaned him to Galatasary, hardly any money to spend on a new one and he'd inherited a squad with three home grown players in it, going into a season where rules had changed? He clearly wasn't right for Liverpool but I don't think it stops him being a good manager because he is, Liverpool spend the previous 12 months on a massive downwards slope and Hodgson has not been able to change that direction. I'm not a fan but I've always thought Liverpool were boring, especially in comparison to the other big teams, so I don't really feel that there's a massive difference watching them this season.

 

In a way it reminds me of Sam Allardyce's stint at Newcastle, they employed a manager who's style of football was very different to what the players were used to, as a result it's hardly surprising that it takes time for them to adapt and once again the manager has gone before he's had a proper chance. I'm not sayint it's the wrong decision, I just think a lot of Liverpool fans seem to be too harsh on Hodgson, just like I've always thought they're far too far up Rafa Benitez arse. It's almost as if they never even gave him the chance, it's all been "He's the wrong man for the club" since the day he was appointed.

 

 

Insua never wanted out. He was forced out, presumebly by Christian Purslow because he thought he was $h!t. He was 21, a very good young player, 2nd most assists for Liverpool last season, and will no doubt go on to become a Argentinian international. Of course we weren't ready for the rules to come in, but Paul f***ing Konchesky and Christian Poulsen, we spent £8m on them and they're both diabolical regardless of whether we needed them. He could have bought better.

 

Liverpool fans are harsh on Hodgson because he really is terrible. I'm sorry, but our squad is nowhere near as bad as it is made out to be, it is top 6 material yet we were being OUTCLASSED by the likes of Wigan, Wolves and Blackpool AT HOME. That should not be happening. Torres and Gerrard have been avaliable for much greater periods this season compared to last. Yet the whole squad is just drawn out of confidence because of Roy Hodgson's pathetic tactics. He had no tactical awareness whatsoever and dropped our best player to accomodate Gerrard, when others were far deserving of being dropped.

 

Roy Hodgson is an average manager. Never a top manager. Liverpool, Blackburn (when they were good) and Inter Milan were all 'big' teams who he has managed. Yet he's never brought success to any of them? Fulham is his limit. He did a sterling job keeping Fulham up the season before last, but this Europa League run they ahd masks a Premier League campaign that was ok at best. Regardless of Fulham's home form, I think they won ONCE away from home all season, and I think Liverpool have won away once this season.

 

If Roy Hodgson would have been given his time to 'stamp' his team on Liverpool we would have turned into Fulham. Why he has barely ever played Pacheco I will never know. I do feel sorry for him as he seems like a nice chap, but he was out of his depth completely, and for anyone who wants him as England manager, lol, if England ever progress under him I will be completely and utterly amazed just because he is so easy out classed tactically by other managers and has no plan B whatsoever.

Hodgson's chances of managing England must surely have disappeared now. He has a good record with teams who start a lot of games as underdogs but that's not the way we want England to play.

 

Much has been made of Hodgson's away record. But Liverpool won just two away league games in the whole of 2010, one under Benitez and one under Hodgson. So Hodgson failed to improve on a terrible record.

Hodgson's chances of managing England must surely have disappeared now. He has a good record with teams who start a lot of games as underdogs but that's not the way we want England to play.

 

Much has been made of Hodgson's away record. But Liverpool won just two away league games in the whole of 2010, one under Benitez and one under Hodgson. So Hodgson failed to improve on a terrible record.

 

Like I said before, his record with smaller teams is very good. He is good with average teams, but he's failed with top teams. Three times now, so it is not just a one off. The man has no ability to learn or read the game, any tactical awareness or any sort of football philosphy. He plays strictly 4-4-2 which is an outdated tactic. No top team has won anything under 4-4-2 for years. God knows what he'd do to England...

Like I said before, his record with smaller teams is very good. He is good with average teams, but he's failed with top teams. Three times now, so it is not just a one off. The man has no ability to learn or read the game, any tactical awareness or any sort of football philosphy. He plays strictly 4-4-2 which is an outdated tactic. No top team has won anything under 4-4-2 for years. God knows what he'd do to England...

 

United play a rough 4-4-2 when fully fit, with Rooney and Berbatov generally starting up front, Nani and Valencia out wide and the Scholes / Carrick / Andersons etc in central midfield. Also, didn't Chelsea play 4-4-2 before Ancelotti arrived? 4-3-3 has only really been in vogue in recent years because of Barca.

 

And Hodgson has done pretty well at international level with Switzerland (No. 3 in the world!?), so it would be foolish to dismiss him on one bad experience.

I am pretty sure no top club uses a 4-4-2 strictly, they may use it for a short period of time, but 4-5-1 when you're defending and 4-3-3 when you're attacking is what is used a lot now at clubs.

 

Just because he got Switzerland high in the rankings, it doesn't mean to say he is a great manager...what did he win with Switzerland? He will easily get another job, but Fulham is his level and he will never be a top manager purely because he does not have any sort of football ideology.

Well if you look at Switzerland, to get them to a WC Finals, undefeated in qualification in a group with Italy, is a rather impressive (over)achievement. And then what happened at Euro 96 kind of proved his influence on how well they were doing. Pretty similar to the situation with Fulham, so in a roundabout way I think I agree he's better at managing mediocre players and making them work as a team. Rather than an ego filled dressing room like Liverpool, and England. IF it's true that Trappattoni has had a stroke, then I can't see him being in charge of the Republic much longer. I'd gladly have Hodgson take over then.

Hodgson never even used 4-4-2 for Fulham that much really which makes it odd he's used it for Liverpool, he may have done a bit when Johnson was fit but that didn't seem too often, it was Zamora with either Gera or Dempsey playing off him as an attacking midfielder. I had read that Insua wanted to leave, from what I saw of him he definitely seemed to get poorer as last season went on, and is Konchesky really much worse than Andrea Dossena was? He was terrible. It looks like Insua is about to return to Liverpool anyway, and surely being on loan playing some decent football will actually have done wonders for him compared to what he would've been doing under Hodgson?

 

Poulsen looks like a shocking signing, he's a player I used to rate very highly but I hadn't really seen any of him since he went to Juventus and he's a shadow of the player that they signed.

 

Hodgson will still be class for a lower Premier League side, I'd find it very funny if he took on a team in the bottom half of the Premier League and got them to finish above Liverpool! His achievements with Fulham were very good, saving one of the worst teams I've ever seen against the odds, 7th the following year ahead of City and Spurs, and then a UEFA Cup final last year. I know they didn't do much in the league but it was quite obvious after about February that it wasn't Fulham's priority and they were putting all of their efforts into Europe, they'd probably have been top 10 again if they weren't in Europe,

Is Konchesky worse than Dossena? Yes, completely. Dossena was average at defending, and average to ok at attacking. Konchesky was awful at defending and below average at attacking. He was seriously awful. I'm willing to give him a keen slate since he's with Kenny now, but there's no way he's a top club player as he is average at best.

 

Poulsen used to be good, but now he is awful. He is so slow. The worst thing about him is he is meant to be a defensive midfielder but he never wants the ball and always backs out of tackles.

 

He is an ok manager, but never a top manager. Fulham is his level. He just has no understanding of modern football philosophy and is quite arrogant. It was never 'his' fault, it was always somebody elses. Making an average side better is probably his strength, but he is never a top manager. At every big club he was been to he has failed, and he will continue to if he ever gets the oppotunity again (which he won't).

Does anyone else find it vaguely ironic that Babel is charged by the FA for posting that picture on Twitter, but Theo Walcott has admitted to diving to win the penalty against Leeds but nothing is done?

Does anyone else find it vaguely ironic that Babel is charged by the FA for posting that picture on Twitter, but Theo Walcott has admitted to diving to win the penalty against Leeds but nothing is done?

 

Yes it is moronic. It was wrong of Babel to do it, but it was a personal account. Yet Walcott announced diving on live television. It's just the incompetence of the FA. I've come to expect it over the years and this is no different.

Babel should've been charged, if only for consistancy. If a manger says something about a ref he's always charged, so a player doing it on Twitter shouldn't be treated differently.

 

I do think Walcott should be charged, though diving clearly isn't a priority for the FA and refs at the moment, there was a time not too long ago when players seemed to get booked for diving fairly often, but that doesn't seem to happen now, with refs just waving play on.

Darren Ferguson back at Peterborough? :mellow: Really can't wait to go to the game tonight now, 8-0 to Brentford yay.

Really? Terrible decision. I think he got very lucky with his first two seasons there, he's seemed like a terrible manager since who clearly owes too much to his Dad.

I hope he fails and gets sacked again because he's a massive bellend. Absolute joke that Fergie and Pulis took away their loan players from Preston because he got sacked. If he didn't Preston would have got relegated.

West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham.

 

The quality of football was dire tbh, but well done WHU for coming back with 10 men, even though Obinna's foul was just outrageous. I have no idea why manager's don't stamp out stupidity like this, it really can end up costing sides dearly. Still, horrible match, and really highlighted how desparetely Birmingham need a striker (Keane?). With no disrespect to Ipswich, but if Arsenal don't win this cup based on tonight's match, then I will be shocked.

Well last night was interesting, quite a lot of fans chanting for Fergie, no doubt these same people were saying he was terrible just a week ago :lol: Quite a few boos for Joe Lewis aswell after handing a transfer request in, then as soon as he made a great save, they started singing about how they want him to stay :mellow: Actually hate football fans, so ridiculous!

 

The game was actually alright though, the defence looked more solid than it has pretty much all season, and Boyd and McCann actually looked quite good for once this season. In all honesty I'd have given David Oldfield a few more games to see if he could do the job, but Fergie is back now, woo. Better hope Posh don't get promoted any time soon :lol:

Joe Lewis is better than that level anyway, I'm surprised he's not moved already to be honest. He's got to be better than a lot fo the tosh in the Championship.

Agreed, everyone should be happy he's stuck around as long as he has, he was pretty much player of the season last season and he's right up there again this season. With a good defence in front of him he'd be keeping 25-30 clean sheets a season.

And we've got David Milliband. Yay.