First my thoughts on Mascherano and Meireles. I was obviously sad to see Mascher sold but I had long since accepted it was inevitable. In fact, I was surprised to see him still at the club and in the team for our opening game against Arsenal. A few supporters have turned on him after reports leaked from the club suggested he basically went on strike ahead of the City game. However, I have since heard counter claims that he did no such thing and would have been willing to play if selected. Given my distrust of every official at our club at the moment, I am prepared to give the player the benefit of the doubt. Ultimately, I have sympathy over his situation. His wife couldn’t settle here on Merseyside and he didn't want to be away from his wife and family. Fair enough. Given the choice, I would rather live and work in Barcelona than on Merseyside with the rotten weather we have had here for the last four years or so. Plus Barca are currently one of the biggest clubs in the world, if not the biggest, and we are clearly a club in decline.
He has been a great player for us since joining from West Ham in 2007. He will be missed. However, there were weaknesses to his game that we now have the opportunity to improve upon. There is no one better in world football at breaking up opponents’ attacks than the terrier-like Argentinean but his distribution is limited and his goal record is pretty abysmal. Meireles will bring far more creativity and will score more goals.
Ideally, Meireles would have been the replacement for Alonso last year (or even Lucas this year in the first team) and would be lining up alongside Mascherano. Now it looks like a straight battle between Lucas and Poulsen to partner Meireles. Poulsen has looked decent in the second halves against Trabzonspor at home and away but I was extremely disappointed with him in our lousy 1-0 win over West Brom on Sunday. Lucas is a worker and would appear to be the natural successor to Mascherano but lacks that bit of quality in his passing.
I’m pleased with the signing of Meireles. At 27, he is unlikely to improve or enhance his value but we are getting a player in his peak years. I think he will improve our first team and bring a bit of control and quality to our midfield.
The one transfer certain to be completed today is that of Paul Konchesky from Fulham. I have to be honest and say this one leaves me with a sinking feeling in my stomach. I just don’t believe Konchesky will improve us. My feeling is that he is average at best and that Insua and Aurelio are as good if not better. With Insua qualifying as a home-grown player, it makes no sense to me to freeze out a young prospect and spend between £3-5m on an average 29-year old. Having said that, I concede that I have not watched Konchesky week-in, week-out and so I am not qualified to make a fair assessment on his ability. In fairness, I never thought the last full-back we signed from Fulham, Steve Finnan, would be anything other than steady yet he enjoyed two truly excellent seasons in 2005-06 and 2006-07 in which I would have said he was the best around. In fact in 2006-07 I voted him Player of the Season. I don’t expect to be giving Konchesky similar accolades in the next couple of years but if he can do a steady job then at least it would temporarily put an end to left-back being a problem position and allow Agger to return to central defence.
What I cannot accept is the decision to sell Lauri Dalla Valle to Fulham as part of the deal. This young lad is considered a hot prospect. We’ve already sold Kristian Nemeth to Olympiakos. These two were touted as potentially great strikers of the future. Certainly in Nemeth’s case, Hodgson can’t possibly have had a good enough look to make any balanced decision about the player’s future. Dalla Valle is only 18 and still has a long time to blossom. To me, this just smacks of Hodgson’s short-sightedness. As I’ve said before, he is not a club builder – mainly because he is never at a club long enough to benefit from the foundations he might lay. His sole focus is on the season ahead. He won’t be Liverpool’s manager by the time Nemeth and Dalla Valle would have been ready to challenge for first-team places so to him, a short-term signing like Konchesky is more useful. Twat.
It still baffles me why Insua has been so ruthlessly frozen out by Hodgson and my theory remains that the new boss is simply trying to distance himself from his predecessor by ditching a player whom many fans and pundits criticised Rafa for selecting last season. Given Insua will certainly be excluded from the 25-man squad announced after today, he will surely be sold if any bids come in for him and if not, probably loaned out for the season.
The writing appears to be on the wall for Nabil El Zhar and Damien Plessis. Both are over 21 and neither qualify as home-grown players. Neither, in honesty, are good enough to warrant a place in Liverpool’s squad so I expect both to move on today one way or another.
It is also very well known that we need a striker. We’ve been strongly linked with West Ham’s Carlton Cole. I think Cole is a cracking player but given Torres’ injury problems, to me it would make no sense to sign a player with an even worse fitness record. Having said that, I can’t see another striker in the Premiership whom I would rather sign. With Hodgson seemingly being obsessed with only signing English players, he fits that bill. I think I’d rather go for a less-well known foreigner with the potential to be a star of the future. We have also been linked with PSV’s Ola Toivonen. I’ve never seen the Swedish international play but I have to say his goal to game ratio looks pretty unimpressive given he plays in Holland. 24 goals in 50 games works out as a goal every 2 games. By comparison, Dirk Kuyt scored a goal every 1.4 games for Feyenoord and he has hardly been prolific in the Premiership. Ultimately, the most important thing is that we do sign a striker.
I also think we need a winger or two although I don’t expect to sign one today. There have been no strong links with any wingers. Personally, I would like to see us combine the striker and winger problem and sign Villa’s Ashley Young. Villa are in crisis and have no permanent manager. Their recent transfer business suggests they are no longer able or willing to be a spending club after a significant lay out in recent seasons failed to get them into the Champions League. I think a bid of £15m or so might be enough. Ultimately, that is just Fantasy Football though and it is something I would be shocked to see actually happen.
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Friday, 27 August 2010
Reaction to the Europa League draw
The draw has given us Steaua Bucharest, Napoli and Utrecht.
In terms of who we could have been drawn against, it's a tough group but in real terms it should be piss-easy. Let's be honest, if we'd been given this group in the Champions League we would have been wondering if UEFA had confused us with Man Ure when rigging the draw (incidentally Man Ure have been given Valencia, Rangers and Bursaspor - pathetic!).
We played Steaua back in 2003-04 and drew 1-1 away with a goal from... Djimi Traore (in the right end too!) before winning the home leg 1-0 with a goal from Harry Kewell. All I really remember from the games was the crap pitch in Bucharest.
I don't know much about Napoli except they have a crap left-back who goes by the name of Andrea Dossena.
Utrecht could be tricky but realistically, we would expect to beat Ajax, PSV or Twente so we shouldn't be losing sleep about playing an inferior Dutch team.
Basically, if we want to take this competition seriously, we should sail through that group with a very healthy goal difference.
In terms of who we could have been drawn against, it's a tough group but in real terms it should be piss-easy. Let's be honest, if we'd been given this group in the Champions League we would have been wondering if UEFA had confused us with Man Ure when rigging the draw (incidentally Man Ure have been given Valencia, Rangers and Bursaspor - pathetic!).
We played Steaua back in 2003-04 and drew 1-1 away with a goal from... Djimi Traore (in the right end too!) before winning the home leg 1-0 with a goal from Harry Kewell. All I really remember from the games was the crap pitch in Bucharest.
I don't know much about Napoli except they have a crap left-back who goes by the name of Andrea Dossena.
Utrecht could be tricky but realistically, we would expect to beat Ajax, PSV or Twente so we shouldn't be losing sleep about playing an inferior Dutch team.
Basically, if we want to take this competition seriously, we should sail through that group with a very healthy goal difference.
Trabzonspor 1 Liverpool 2
I’ve been a bit critical of Roy over the last week so to be fair, credit to him for steering us into the group stages of the Europa League. I didn’t fancy our chances before the game and once we went a goal down in the fourth minute I was certain our European season was over before September. In truth, it should have been and would have been but for wasteful finishing by the Turkish side but having reached half time level on aggregate, all credit to Roy for masterminding a second half comeback.
While it’s not true to say we were as good in the second half as we were bad in the first half (we would have had to be pretty fucking good for that to be true!) we certainly showed massive improvement and were the better team. The hostile home crowd became more and more hushed and the confident home team saw the wind in their sails rapidly decreasing. It had something to do with the away side retaining the white round thing for longer than it takes to say ‘Trabzonspor’.
Quite how the same set of players who reacted the football like it was a bomb in the first half were suddenly transformed into an outfit resembling a professional football team in the second half is anyone’s guess but that was the reality.
In particular I noticed that for the second game running (of those he has started), Poulsen looked a different player after half time. Kuyt meanwhile, having looked sluggish in the first half and been majorly at fault for the Turks’ opener, was the star man after the interval showing purpose and the sort of limited energy we have come to expect from him in his previous four (trophyless) years at Anfield. Johnson was certainly more involved after the break but for the most part was hugely frustrating gifting the opposition possession of the football at virtually every opportunity. How ironic that the one time something he tried did come off resulted in our equalising goal as his cross was put into his own net by Kacar. N’gog was another who was good and bad in equal measure. He really should have scored – particularly from his free header early in the second half – but he also was unlucky not to score from a couple of efforts he created for himself with some clever movement and trickery. The jury is out as to whether he will ever be top class but with no other cover for Fernando Torres, the young Frenchman is certainly worth his place in the side.
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, the true test of Hodgson’s capability to fill this most demanding of roles will begin in earnest with the games against West Brom and Birmingham. Against the Baggies, a win is mandatory but it must also come with goals, the lion’s share of possession and a creative and energetic display. I would normally take a point at Birmingham but with Man Ure away next up, there is a real possibility we could leave Old Trafford sitting in the relegation zone. Therefore, I would hope for a win but would take a point IF the performance is better than those we have seen in the first halves against Arsenal, City and Trabzonspor.
I have yet to be convinced, and given that Hodgson will probably have to do more to convince me than any of his predecessors, I may never be convinced. However, I will give Hodgson some kudos for a win in a difficult fixture with an under-strength team after the worst possible start.
Well done, Roy. Keep proving me wrong!
While it’s not true to say we were as good in the second half as we were bad in the first half (we would have had to be pretty fucking good for that to be true!) we certainly showed massive improvement and were the better team. The hostile home crowd became more and more hushed and the confident home team saw the wind in their sails rapidly decreasing. It had something to do with the away side retaining the white round thing for longer than it takes to say ‘Trabzonspor’.
Quite how the same set of players who reacted the football like it was a bomb in the first half were suddenly transformed into an outfit resembling a professional football team in the second half is anyone’s guess but that was the reality.
In particular I noticed that for the second game running (of those he has started), Poulsen looked a different player after half time. Kuyt meanwhile, having looked sluggish in the first half and been majorly at fault for the Turks’ opener, was the star man after the interval showing purpose and the sort of limited energy we have come to expect from him in his previous four (trophyless) years at Anfield. Johnson was certainly more involved after the break but for the most part was hugely frustrating gifting the opposition possession of the football at virtually every opportunity. How ironic that the one time something he tried did come off resulted in our equalising goal as his cross was put into his own net by Kacar. N’gog was another who was good and bad in equal measure. He really should have scored – particularly from his free header early in the second half – but he also was unlucky not to score from a couple of efforts he created for himself with some clever movement and trickery. The jury is out as to whether he will ever be top class but with no other cover for Fernando Torres, the young Frenchman is certainly worth his place in the side.
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, the true test of Hodgson’s capability to fill this most demanding of roles will begin in earnest with the games against West Brom and Birmingham. Against the Baggies, a win is mandatory but it must also come with goals, the lion’s share of possession and a creative and energetic display. I would normally take a point at Birmingham but with Man Ure away next up, there is a real possibility we could leave Old Trafford sitting in the relegation zone. Therefore, I would hope for a win but would take a point IF the performance is better than those we have seen in the first halves against Arsenal, City and Trabzonspor.
I have yet to be convinced, and given that Hodgson will probably have to do more to convince me than any of his predecessors, I may never be convinced. However, I will give Hodgson some kudos for a win in a difficult fixture with an under-strength team after the worst possible start.
Well done, Roy. Keep proving me wrong!
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Trabzonspor v Liverpool: Preview
I see we are without Torres and Gerrard for this game. On paper they are our two best players but on form they are not so it's debatable whether their absence truly weakens us. However, I think psychologically it might weaken our players and boost the opposition.
In any case, Turkey is a hard place to play as the away side - as proven by our 2-1 defeat in Besiktas in 2007 before we beat them 8-0 at Anfield. With just a 1-0 advantage, I'm not confident. If we can score over there, I'd back us not to concede 3 but my gut feeling is we will be out of Europe on Friday morning.
In any case, Turkey is a hard place to play as the away side - as proven by our 2-1 defeat in Besiktas in 2007 before we beat them 8-0 at Anfield. With just a 1-0 advantage, I'm not confident. If we can score over there, I'd back us not to concede 3 but my gut feeling is we will be out of Europe on Friday morning.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Man City 3 Liverpool 0
I was so dismayed by our game against City. That we lost 3-0 is not my major concern but to for City to win convincingly without needing to play well themselves was simply inexcusable. What we saw of the team in Red was complete and total ineptitude. The inability to retain the ball for more than three passes or to show any evidence of being able to play as a cohesive unit is inexcusable.
You can certainly criticise the players for their failings but overall this defeat stemmed from the manager’s team selection and tactics.
The gulf between City and Liverpool is now gargantuan as illustrated by the fact the combined cost of the players on their substitutes bench (£93m) cost more than our entire squad combined (£91m). You simply can’t hope to beat them on their own ground without a very clever tactical approach.
What did Hodgson do? He went with an archaic 4-4-2 formation. He did so with two ‘forwards’ playing as wingers; a central defender (our best one) playing out of position at left-back, and two strikers who are accustomed to playing as lone front men thrown into an unrehearsed strike partnership. The tactics appeared to be to launch the ball quickly from the back into the channels for Torres and Ngog to chase down. It was as crude and ugly to watch as it was ineffective. It was clear we were a distant second best yet Hodgson seemed incapable of affecting the game from the bench. His first substitute was made in the 78th minute by which time we were 3-0 down. His only tactical change in the game, assuming this was down to him, was getting Kuyt and Jovanovic to swap wings and that had zero impact.
I’ve heard some mitigating arguments that Mascherano’s impromptu strike and Cole’s suspension forced Roy into using the unfamiliar formation but that I don’t believe it for one second. Had Mascherano been available for selection, surely he would have replaced Lucas in the line up. Are we to believe that the Argentinean would have lined up alongside Lucas with Gerrard deployed in the hole and Ngog dropping to the bench? Certainly that is how Benitez would have lined up but Hodgson? I doubt it. The evidence was there in the game against Arsenal. Hodgson saw his strongest midfield pairing as Gerrard and Masch. We would have gone 4-4-2 with or without Mascherano. Had Cole been available it would have been 4-4-1-1 with Cole in the hole behind presumably Torres and with Ngog on the bench.
Even in the absence of Cole, Hodgson had better options than to go with 4-4-2. He could have used Maxi Rodriguez on the right enabling him to put Kuyt in the hole, on the left with Jovanovic playing behind Torres, or in central midfield (where he played for Argentina in the World Cup) releasing Gerrard to play in the hole. Alternatively, he could have used Pacheco in behind a striker. Had he not given our £17m ‘hole’ specialist Aquilani away for the season for nothing, perhaps the creative Italian could have been used there. I’ve no sympathy for Hodgson there.
The one factor for which I do have some sympathy for Hodgson is the fact that his squad is just not of a good enough standard to go to places like City and win – even though people seem to expect us to because of the respective statures of the two clubs. City have spent over £100m on proven world class players in successive summers. We have made profit in successive summers as our first team and squad have been progressively weakened. Jovanovic (free transfer) is not of the calibre of David Silva (£26m). Poulsen (£4.55m) is not of the calibre of Yaya Toure (£24m). Cole (free transfer) is not of the calibre of James Milner (£26m). You simply can’t expect a team with nothing to spend to outperform a team spending vast sums of money (£292m net since the Sheikh bought them). Not that people seem capable of adjusting their expectations. People still think we should be sweeping these teams aside with free-flowing attacking football rather than utilising our limited strengths as best we can – hence why Rafa attracted so much criticism last season.
Before the game, Andy Gray was purring with delight over Hodgson’s team selection, praising him for going with an ‘attacking’ 4-4-2 using Gerrard in his ‘best position’ of central midfield. Gray even got his little digs in at Rafa claiming our former boss would never have used this formation and would definitely have played an extra midfielder with Gerrard in the hole (even though Hodgson would have played Cole there had he been available). Gray was right about Rafa but the point is Rafa wouldn’t have lost this game 3-0. He was unbeaten at Eastlands in the previous 5 seasons. Isn’t it better to take what some perceive as a ‘negative’ approach and draw 0-0 than to adopt a so-called ‘positive’ approach and get annihilated?
Gray also claimed before the game that Hodgson’s decision to man-mark when defending corners would improve Liverpool’s defending of set pieces. Clearly Micah Richards would beg to differ after planting a free header past Reina who was distracted by the unmarked Tevez (who would have been offside had zonal marking been used without players on the post) to get a touch on the ball. In all of our games so far, including those against part-timers Rabotnicki, we have looked vulnerable from set-pieces. Bring back zonal marking!
We’ve known Gray talks shit for years but finally we have a manager willing to prove that is the case by doing all the things that Gray said Rafa should have done and our team is shite because of it. Will Gray continue to praise Hodgson if we are in the relegation zone in a few weeks time? How can he without proving himself to be the world’s biggest hypocrite?
Wipe the egg from your face, Mr Gray, and the shit from your breath.
Man City – First XI v Liverpool
Joe Hart £0m
Micah Richards £0m
Kolo Toure £16m
Vincent Kompany £6m
Joleon Lescott £22m
Nigel De Jong £17m
Yaya Toure £24m
Gareth Barry £12m
James Milner £26m
Adam Johnson £7m
Carlos Tevez £25.5m
Cost of first XI = £155.5m
Average cost per player = £14.1m
Shay Given £8m
Zabaletta £6.5m
Vieria £0m
David Silva £26m
Wright-Phillips £8.5m
Adebayor £25m
Jo £19m
Cost of bench = £93.0m
Average cost per player = £15.5m
Total cost of squad = £248.5m
Average cost per player = £13.8m
Liverpool – First XI vs City
Pepe Reina £6m
Glen Johnson £17m
Jamie Carragher £0m
Martin Skrtel £6.5m
Daniel Agger £5.8m
Dirk Kuyt £9m
Steven Gerrard £0m
Lucas Leiva £5m
Milan Jovanovic £0m
David Ngog £1.5m
Fernando Torres £20.2m
Cost of first XI = £71.0m
Average cost per player = £6.5m
Brad Jones £2.3m
Sotirios Kyrgiakos £1.5m
Fabio Aurelio £0m
Christian Poulsen £4.6m
Maxi Rodriguez £0m
Dani Pacheco £0m
Ryan Babel £11.5m
Cost of bench = £19.9m
Average cost per player = £3.3m
Total Cost of squad = £90.85m
Average cost per player = £5.0m
You can certainly criticise the players for their failings but overall this defeat stemmed from the manager’s team selection and tactics.
The gulf between City and Liverpool is now gargantuan as illustrated by the fact the combined cost of the players on their substitutes bench (£93m) cost more than our entire squad combined (£91m). You simply can’t hope to beat them on their own ground without a very clever tactical approach.
What did Hodgson do? He went with an archaic 4-4-2 formation. He did so with two ‘forwards’ playing as wingers; a central defender (our best one) playing out of position at left-back, and two strikers who are accustomed to playing as lone front men thrown into an unrehearsed strike partnership. The tactics appeared to be to launch the ball quickly from the back into the channels for Torres and Ngog to chase down. It was as crude and ugly to watch as it was ineffective. It was clear we were a distant second best yet Hodgson seemed incapable of affecting the game from the bench. His first substitute was made in the 78th minute by which time we were 3-0 down. His only tactical change in the game, assuming this was down to him, was getting Kuyt and Jovanovic to swap wings and that had zero impact.
I’ve heard some mitigating arguments that Mascherano’s impromptu strike and Cole’s suspension forced Roy into using the unfamiliar formation but that I don’t believe it for one second. Had Mascherano been available for selection, surely he would have replaced Lucas in the line up. Are we to believe that the Argentinean would have lined up alongside Lucas with Gerrard deployed in the hole and Ngog dropping to the bench? Certainly that is how Benitez would have lined up but Hodgson? I doubt it. The evidence was there in the game against Arsenal. Hodgson saw his strongest midfield pairing as Gerrard and Masch. We would have gone 4-4-2 with or without Mascherano. Had Cole been available it would have been 4-4-1-1 with Cole in the hole behind presumably Torres and with Ngog on the bench.
Even in the absence of Cole, Hodgson had better options than to go with 4-4-2. He could have used Maxi Rodriguez on the right enabling him to put Kuyt in the hole, on the left with Jovanovic playing behind Torres, or in central midfield (where he played for Argentina in the World Cup) releasing Gerrard to play in the hole. Alternatively, he could have used Pacheco in behind a striker. Had he not given our £17m ‘hole’ specialist Aquilani away for the season for nothing, perhaps the creative Italian could have been used there. I’ve no sympathy for Hodgson there.
The one factor for which I do have some sympathy for Hodgson is the fact that his squad is just not of a good enough standard to go to places like City and win – even though people seem to expect us to because of the respective statures of the two clubs. City have spent over £100m on proven world class players in successive summers. We have made profit in successive summers as our first team and squad have been progressively weakened. Jovanovic (free transfer) is not of the calibre of David Silva (£26m). Poulsen (£4.55m) is not of the calibre of Yaya Toure (£24m). Cole (free transfer) is not of the calibre of James Milner (£26m). You simply can’t expect a team with nothing to spend to outperform a team spending vast sums of money (£292m net since the Sheikh bought them). Not that people seem capable of adjusting their expectations. People still think we should be sweeping these teams aside with free-flowing attacking football rather than utilising our limited strengths as best we can – hence why Rafa attracted so much criticism last season.
Before the game, Andy Gray was purring with delight over Hodgson’s team selection, praising him for going with an ‘attacking’ 4-4-2 using Gerrard in his ‘best position’ of central midfield. Gray even got his little digs in at Rafa claiming our former boss would never have used this formation and would definitely have played an extra midfielder with Gerrard in the hole (even though Hodgson would have played Cole there had he been available). Gray was right about Rafa but the point is Rafa wouldn’t have lost this game 3-0. He was unbeaten at Eastlands in the previous 5 seasons. Isn’t it better to take what some perceive as a ‘negative’ approach and draw 0-0 than to adopt a so-called ‘positive’ approach and get annihilated?
Gray also claimed before the game that Hodgson’s decision to man-mark when defending corners would improve Liverpool’s defending of set pieces. Clearly Micah Richards would beg to differ after planting a free header past Reina who was distracted by the unmarked Tevez (who would have been offside had zonal marking been used without players on the post) to get a touch on the ball. In all of our games so far, including those against part-timers Rabotnicki, we have looked vulnerable from set-pieces. Bring back zonal marking!
We’ve known Gray talks shit for years but finally we have a manager willing to prove that is the case by doing all the things that Gray said Rafa should have done and our team is shite because of it. Will Gray continue to praise Hodgson if we are in the relegation zone in a few weeks time? How can he without proving himself to be the world’s biggest hypocrite?
Wipe the egg from your face, Mr Gray, and the shit from your breath.
Man City – First XI v Liverpool
Joe Hart £0m
Micah Richards £0m
Kolo Toure £16m
Vincent Kompany £6m
Joleon Lescott £22m
Nigel De Jong £17m
Yaya Toure £24m
Gareth Barry £12m
James Milner £26m
Adam Johnson £7m
Carlos Tevez £25.5m
Cost of first XI = £155.5m
Average cost per player = £14.1m
Shay Given £8m
Zabaletta £6.5m
Vieria £0m
David Silva £26m
Wright-Phillips £8.5m
Adebayor £25m
Jo £19m
Cost of bench = £93.0m
Average cost per player = £15.5m
Total cost of squad = £248.5m
Average cost per player = £13.8m
Liverpool – First XI vs City
Pepe Reina £6m
Glen Johnson £17m
Jamie Carragher £0m
Martin Skrtel £6.5m
Daniel Agger £5.8m
Dirk Kuyt £9m
Steven Gerrard £0m
Lucas Leiva £5m
Milan Jovanovic £0m
David Ngog £1.5m
Fernando Torres £20.2m
Cost of first XI = £71.0m
Average cost per player = £6.5m
Brad Jones £2.3m
Sotirios Kyrgiakos £1.5m
Fabio Aurelio £0m
Christian Poulsen £4.6m
Maxi Rodriguez £0m
Dani Pacheco £0m
Ryan Babel £11.5m
Cost of bench = £19.9m
Average cost per player = £3.3m
Total Cost of squad = £90.85m
Average cost per player = £5.0m
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Hodgson - early impressions
So here we are four games into Hodgson’s tenure and with a big game lying ahead on Monday. How has he done so far?
I made no secret of the fact that I didn’t want him as our manager. The reasons for that were:
1. I don’t believe he is a remarkable manager. I believe he is the sort of manager who can get a big club punching its weight but never punching above it.
2. I fear he is a ‘yes’ man who will duck difficult decisions if doing so preserves his popularity with the players, the supporters, the media and the members of the boardroom.
3. He has a track record of making short term decisions – presumably because he is never at the same football club long enough to reap any benefits from long-term planning – such as buying older players instead of investing in youth.
So on the first of these concerns, it’s very early days. We have won the three games in the Europa League as expected but hardly impressively. 2-0 home and away wins against FK Rabotnicki can be filed under ‘job done’ but certainly won’t live long in the memory. We were minutes away from recording a 1-0 win over Arsenal having played 45 minutes with 10 men (and 9 men for a spell after Agger’s concussion). In the circumstances, that would have been a fairly remarkable result but the performance was ugly and unremarkable – even before we conceded the man advantage. I’ve heard a few comments that Hodgson has reverted to the sort of hoof football we saw under his close friend Gerard Houllier and from the Arsenal and Trabzonspor games, I would have to agree. The 1-0 win over Trabzonspor was pretty disappointing. After a really positive attacking display against Rabotnicki with Cole, Pacheco and Jovanovic providing movement and creativity to a midfield that looked so static at times last season, we had reverted to a style of football that ranks amongst the worst we saw last year. Yes we could and should have taken more than the one goal advantage into the return leg in Turkey - Poulsen’s goal was wrongly disallowed while Cole should have done better than his woeful penalty kick. However, we certainly didn’t deserve a goal-fest based on that performance during which we struggled to string more than 3 passes together.
On the second charge, so far Hodgson has behaved exactly as I feared he would. He’s shown no inclination to challenge Carragher’s ‘untouchable’ status even though the player looks a liability and has so far benefited from some lenient refereeing decisions. He has taken the decisions to deploy Gerrard in central midfield and restore man-marking from set pieces – both of which were loudly demanded of Benitez last season.
He has also seemingly based his squad selections of the conventional wisdom of who should be playing and who should not. We might as well be Ebbsfleet United with every supporter voting on team selections.
Last season, Rafa was derided as being stubborn because he resisted calls from fans, journalists and ex-players in the media to ditch certain players or tactics. I didn’t always agree with his decisions but I respected his right to make them and acknowledged that he knew far more about football management and tactics than I could ever hope to learn and was therefore infinitely more qualified to make these decisions than the knee-jerkers and extremist morons bombarding the moan-ins and internet forums after every bad result.
Hodgson has so far adopted a policy of dodging any of the bullets fired at his predecessor. Zonal marking? Regardless of the fact that Hodgson employed this tactic at Fulham and defended it against criticism as a pundit on TV last season, he has switched back to man-marking – and suddenly we look in danger of conceding from every set piece!
The players for whom Rafa was most criticised last season were Lucas, Ngog, Insua and Aquilani. So far, it hasn’t been difficult to persist with Ngog while the lad keeps scoring but it remains to be seen how Hodgson will deal with the youngster if he encounters another barren run similar to that he experienced last season after a fine start to the campaign.
Insua, meanwhile, hasn’t been given a chance. Hodgson appears to have immediately decided that trying to convince the fans that Insua deserves a future at Anfield was not a battle worth fighting.
As for Lucas, it will be very interesting to see what happens this season. With Gerrard now being used in central midfield and with Mascherano looking likelier to stay on at the club, you would assume they would be the first choice midfield partnership despite the arrival of Christian Poulsen whom you would assume has been bought to play more than just a bit part. Lucas could find himself squeezed out to fourth choice. While this might be appreciated by those supporters that decided Lucas was shit two years ago and are unwilling or simply don’t watch enough games to reassess that opinion (like Tommy Smith), it would be a crying shame to halt the development of a very promising player.
Then there is Alberto Aquilani. Last season, the Rafa-bashers were quick to write him off as a bad signing despite the fact that to this day, no Liverpool supporter honestly knows just how good or bad this player is. We know he was highly rated in Rome but after paying £17-20m to sign him we haven’t seen him play. We’ve seen glimpses of quality and a fair few anonymous performances but for the most part we’ve only seen him sat in the stands. Now Hodgson wasn’t prepared to give him a chance and has sent him out on loan (£17-20m player on loan!!!!) to Juventus for the season. I want to see what the lad can do in our first team before making decisions about his future. It’s so frustrating!
The final concern relates to his policy of signing older players and not giving youth a chance. Well so far his signings include 28-year old Joe Cole and 30-year old Christian Poulsen as well as the resigning of Fabio Aurelio, 30. Meanwhile he has sold highly rated youth prospect Kristian Nemeth, 21, without even taking a look at the player and is keen to ship out Emiliano Insua, 21. Dani Pacheco hasn’t been seen since the home game against Rabotnicki though in fairness Martin Kelly has started 3 of our 4 games so far – although I would suggest this is an easier decision because Kelly is scouse.
I don’t want to be too quick to judge Roy but so far he is doing nothing to convince me my concerns about his appointment are not valid.
Monday’s game against City will be tough and most likely turgid based on recent games between the clubs. Trabzonspor away will be a massive test and one I am not confident we will come through. As long as we don’t get soundly beaten in either game, the games that follow will tell us much more about what we can expect under Roy.
West Brom away needs to be won well. Goals are expected but more importantly I will be looking for us to dominate possession, play with coherence and creativity and be enjoyable to watch. Birmingham away is a tough fixture but we need to go there and impose our qualities on the game and not sit back and try to poach goals on the counter-attack courtesy of long balls from the back. If we have 7 points after our first 4 games and the quality of football has been of the standard that the Rabotnicki game hinted we could be seeing, I will call this a decent start to the season. Anything less and it could be another long and draining season.
I made no secret of the fact that I didn’t want him as our manager. The reasons for that were:
1. I don’t believe he is a remarkable manager. I believe he is the sort of manager who can get a big club punching its weight but never punching above it.
2. I fear he is a ‘yes’ man who will duck difficult decisions if doing so preserves his popularity with the players, the supporters, the media and the members of the boardroom.
3. He has a track record of making short term decisions – presumably because he is never at the same football club long enough to reap any benefits from long-term planning – such as buying older players instead of investing in youth.
So on the first of these concerns, it’s very early days. We have won the three games in the Europa League as expected but hardly impressively. 2-0 home and away wins against FK Rabotnicki can be filed under ‘job done’ but certainly won’t live long in the memory. We were minutes away from recording a 1-0 win over Arsenal having played 45 minutes with 10 men (and 9 men for a spell after Agger’s concussion). In the circumstances, that would have been a fairly remarkable result but the performance was ugly and unremarkable – even before we conceded the man advantage. I’ve heard a few comments that Hodgson has reverted to the sort of hoof football we saw under his close friend Gerard Houllier and from the Arsenal and Trabzonspor games, I would have to agree. The 1-0 win over Trabzonspor was pretty disappointing. After a really positive attacking display against Rabotnicki with Cole, Pacheco and Jovanovic providing movement and creativity to a midfield that looked so static at times last season, we had reverted to a style of football that ranks amongst the worst we saw last year. Yes we could and should have taken more than the one goal advantage into the return leg in Turkey - Poulsen’s goal was wrongly disallowed while Cole should have done better than his woeful penalty kick. However, we certainly didn’t deserve a goal-fest based on that performance during which we struggled to string more than 3 passes together.
On the second charge, so far Hodgson has behaved exactly as I feared he would. He’s shown no inclination to challenge Carragher’s ‘untouchable’ status even though the player looks a liability and has so far benefited from some lenient refereeing decisions. He has taken the decisions to deploy Gerrard in central midfield and restore man-marking from set pieces – both of which were loudly demanded of Benitez last season.
He has also seemingly based his squad selections of the conventional wisdom of who should be playing and who should not. We might as well be Ebbsfleet United with every supporter voting on team selections.
Last season, Rafa was derided as being stubborn because he resisted calls from fans, journalists and ex-players in the media to ditch certain players or tactics. I didn’t always agree with his decisions but I respected his right to make them and acknowledged that he knew far more about football management and tactics than I could ever hope to learn and was therefore infinitely more qualified to make these decisions than the knee-jerkers and extremist morons bombarding the moan-ins and internet forums after every bad result.
Hodgson has so far adopted a policy of dodging any of the bullets fired at his predecessor. Zonal marking? Regardless of the fact that Hodgson employed this tactic at Fulham and defended it against criticism as a pundit on TV last season, he has switched back to man-marking – and suddenly we look in danger of conceding from every set piece!
The players for whom Rafa was most criticised last season were Lucas, Ngog, Insua and Aquilani. So far, it hasn’t been difficult to persist with Ngog while the lad keeps scoring but it remains to be seen how Hodgson will deal with the youngster if he encounters another barren run similar to that he experienced last season after a fine start to the campaign.
Insua, meanwhile, hasn’t been given a chance. Hodgson appears to have immediately decided that trying to convince the fans that Insua deserves a future at Anfield was not a battle worth fighting.
As for Lucas, it will be very interesting to see what happens this season. With Gerrard now being used in central midfield and with Mascherano looking likelier to stay on at the club, you would assume they would be the first choice midfield partnership despite the arrival of Christian Poulsen whom you would assume has been bought to play more than just a bit part. Lucas could find himself squeezed out to fourth choice. While this might be appreciated by those supporters that decided Lucas was shit two years ago and are unwilling or simply don’t watch enough games to reassess that opinion (like Tommy Smith), it would be a crying shame to halt the development of a very promising player.
Then there is Alberto Aquilani. Last season, the Rafa-bashers were quick to write him off as a bad signing despite the fact that to this day, no Liverpool supporter honestly knows just how good or bad this player is. We know he was highly rated in Rome but after paying £17-20m to sign him we haven’t seen him play. We’ve seen glimpses of quality and a fair few anonymous performances but for the most part we’ve only seen him sat in the stands. Now Hodgson wasn’t prepared to give him a chance and has sent him out on loan (£17-20m player on loan!!!!) to Juventus for the season. I want to see what the lad can do in our first team before making decisions about his future. It’s so frustrating!
The final concern relates to his policy of signing older players and not giving youth a chance. Well so far his signings include 28-year old Joe Cole and 30-year old Christian Poulsen as well as the resigning of Fabio Aurelio, 30. Meanwhile he has sold highly rated youth prospect Kristian Nemeth, 21, without even taking a look at the player and is keen to ship out Emiliano Insua, 21. Dani Pacheco hasn’t been seen since the home game against Rabotnicki though in fairness Martin Kelly has started 3 of our 4 games so far – although I would suggest this is an easier decision because Kelly is scouse.
I don’t want to be too quick to judge Roy but so far he is doing nothing to convince me my concerns about his appointment are not valid.
Monday’s game against City will be tough and most likely turgid based on recent games between the clubs. Trabzonspor away will be a massive test and one I am not confident we will come through. As long as we don’t get soundly beaten in either game, the games that follow will tell us much more about what we can expect under Roy.
West Brom away needs to be won well. Goals are expected but more importantly I will be looking for us to dominate possession, play with coherence and creativity and be enjoyable to watch. Birmingham away is a tough fixture but we need to go there and impose our qualities on the game and not sit back and try to poach goals on the counter-attack courtesy of long balls from the back. If we have 7 points after our first 4 games and the quality of football has been of the standard that the Rabotnicki game hinted we could be seeing, I will call this a decent start to the season. Anything less and it could be another long and draining season.
Friday, 13 August 2010
Liverpool v Arsenal: Preview
I’m not confident going into our opening League game against Arsenal but from what I’ve read on-line, Arsenal fans don’t appear overly confident either. I’m sure fans of both clubs would prefer fixtures at home to newly promoted teams (as Chelsea and Man Ure have).
I was encouraged by our recent win over Rabotnicki. Yes, the opposition was poor but Liverpool played with panache and style despite the inevitable rustiness. Last season, against poor opposition (Debreceni VSC, Unirea Urziceni, Leeds United and Reading, for example) we sunk down to their level rather than revelling in our superiority. This gives me some optimism.
Of course, Arsenal are several classes above Rabotnicki and will present a real challenge but I still believe we are capable of matching them. Despite the final gap of 12 points and four League positions, I didn’t feel there was a big gap between us and Arsenal and in the games we played against them, they never looked superior and profited from big slices of luck (an o.g. in the home game, injury to Carra in the away game and cast-iron penalties not given to us in each game) to take 6 points. Hopefully a combination of the motivational effect of having a new manager and a boisterous home crowd will give us an extra lift.
The stats also seem to favour us. Even though we lost both League games against the Gunners last season, the stats show we have never lost 3 consecutive Premiership games versus Arsenal before.
In 18 previous Premiership seasons, Liverpool have played League games against Arsenal in August on 6 occasions (a third of all seasons!). Of those six, five were at Anfield and while none were played as the teams’ opening fixture, on three occasions it was the first League game at Anfield of that season.
Liverpool’s record is:
Total:
Pld – 6, W – 3, D – 1, L – 2
At Anfield:
Pld – 5, W – 3, D – 1, L – 1
When first League game at Anfield of season:
Pld – 3, W – 2, D – 1, L – 1
Generally, Liverpool’s record on the opening day of the season is as follows:
Home: Pld – 5, W – 4, D – 0, L – 1
Away: Pld – 13, W – 6, D – 5, L – 2
Total: Pld – 18, W – 10, D – 5, L – 3
That’s pretty good considering the shocking bias in the split between home and away fixtures. Incidentally the one home fixture we lost on the opening day of the season was to Chelsea in their first campaign funded by Roman Abramovich! Unbelievably, in six years at the club, Rafa Benitez was not given a single home fixture on the opening weekend!
Hodgson has been given one at the first time of asking but the fact it is against Arsenal means he won’t be grateful for it. However, a win for Hodgson would give his tenure the kick-start it really needs.
Prediction: (optimistically) 2-1 to Liverpool
Come on, Red men!!!!!
I was encouraged by our recent win over Rabotnicki. Yes, the opposition was poor but Liverpool played with panache and style despite the inevitable rustiness. Last season, against poor opposition (Debreceni VSC, Unirea Urziceni, Leeds United and Reading, for example) we sunk down to their level rather than revelling in our superiority. This gives me some optimism.
Of course, Arsenal are several classes above Rabotnicki and will present a real challenge but I still believe we are capable of matching them. Despite the final gap of 12 points and four League positions, I didn’t feel there was a big gap between us and Arsenal and in the games we played against them, they never looked superior and profited from big slices of luck (an o.g. in the home game, injury to Carra in the away game and cast-iron penalties not given to us in each game) to take 6 points. Hopefully a combination of the motivational effect of having a new manager and a boisterous home crowd will give us an extra lift.
The stats also seem to favour us. Even though we lost both League games against the Gunners last season, the stats show we have never lost 3 consecutive Premiership games versus Arsenal before.
In 18 previous Premiership seasons, Liverpool have played League games against Arsenal in August on 6 occasions (a third of all seasons!). Of those six, five were at Anfield and while none were played as the teams’ opening fixture, on three occasions it was the first League game at Anfield of that season.
Liverpool’s record is:
Total:
Pld – 6, W – 3, D – 1, L – 2
At Anfield:
Pld – 5, W – 3, D – 1, L – 1
When first League game at Anfield of season:
Pld – 3, W – 2, D – 1, L – 1
Generally, Liverpool’s record on the opening day of the season is as follows:
Home: Pld – 5, W – 4, D – 0, L – 1
Away: Pld – 13, W – 6, D – 5, L – 2
Total: Pld – 18, W – 10, D – 5, L – 3
That’s pretty good considering the shocking bias in the split between home and away fixtures. Incidentally the one home fixture we lost on the opening day of the season was to Chelsea in their first campaign funded by Roman Abramovich! Unbelievably, in six years at the club, Rafa Benitez was not given a single home fixture on the opening weekend!
Hodgson has been given one at the first time of asking but the fact it is against Arsenal means he won’t be grateful for it. However, a win for Hodgson would give his tenure the kick-start it really needs.
Prediction: (optimistically) 2-1 to Liverpool
Come on, Red men!!!!!
3 to go down...
It's that time of year again when my Dad and I pick our three teams to be relegated over the course of the coming season. Last year I actually got three out of three for only the second time in 14 attempts. This year it's a tough call once again.
The teams I am certain will be safe are Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd and Tottenham. Those I expect to be safe are Birmingham, Blackburn, Fulham and Sunderland. That leaves Blackpool, Bolton, Newcastle, Stoke, West Brom, West Ham, Wigan and Wolves.
Of those, Newcastle and West Ham should be safe but they are clubs who seem to consistently achieve less than the sum of their parts.
You would think Bolton stand a better chance of survival under Owen Coyle than last season under Gary Megson.
Wigan baffled me last season beating the likes of us and Chelsea but fighting relegation for much of the campaign. I'd be equally unsurprised if come Christmas they were comfortable in the top half of the table or floundering near the bottom. I'm not confident in the assertion but I think they'll stay up.
Stoke appear to be making an increasingly impressive evolution from an over-achieving kick and rush team to a mid-table Premiership team. I expect that progress to continue this campaign - particularly given their transfer activity - but it only takes a slight regression and the club could descend into free fall. Again, I think they should be safe.
That leaves everybody's relegation favourite Blackpool, perennial yo-yo club West Brom and Wolves. Maybe this stems from personal malice rather than judgement but I think Wolves will go. They were lucky last season that there were a number of crap teams queuing up to go down. This time around, a squad that is never in a million years Premiership standard will surely be found out. Personally I really want them to go down because Mick McCarthy is a first class twat. His decision to field a reserve team at Old Trafford last season should have earned his club a points deduction. At least the 3 points he gifted his mate Ferguson weren't enough for the Scum to win the title. Expect the gift to be repeated again this campaign.
Blackpool, I am certain of. West Brom and Wolves I am confident of. If any of those three escapes, I reckon it would be the Baggies.
The teams I am certain will be safe are Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd and Tottenham. Those I expect to be safe are Birmingham, Blackburn, Fulham and Sunderland. That leaves Blackpool, Bolton, Newcastle, Stoke, West Brom, West Ham, Wigan and Wolves.
Of those, Newcastle and West Ham should be safe but they are clubs who seem to consistently achieve less than the sum of their parts.
You would think Bolton stand a better chance of survival under Owen Coyle than last season under Gary Megson.
Wigan baffled me last season beating the likes of us and Chelsea but fighting relegation for much of the campaign. I'd be equally unsurprised if come Christmas they were comfortable in the top half of the table or floundering near the bottom. I'm not confident in the assertion but I think they'll stay up.
Stoke appear to be making an increasingly impressive evolution from an over-achieving kick and rush team to a mid-table Premiership team. I expect that progress to continue this campaign - particularly given their transfer activity - but it only takes a slight regression and the club could descend into free fall. Again, I think they should be safe.
That leaves everybody's relegation favourite Blackpool, perennial yo-yo club West Brom and Wolves. Maybe this stems from personal malice rather than judgement but I think Wolves will go. They were lucky last season that there were a number of crap teams queuing up to go down. This time around, a squad that is never in a million years Premiership standard will surely be found out. Personally I really want them to go down because Mick McCarthy is a first class twat. His decision to field a reserve team at Old Trafford last season should have earned his club a points deduction. At least the 3 points he gifted his mate Ferguson weren't enough for the Scum to win the title. Expect the gift to be repeated again this campaign.
Blackpool, I am certain of. West Brom and Wolves I am confident of. If any of those three escapes, I reckon it would be the Baggies.
In defence of the defence
It’s funny how a good or bad season changes your valuation of players. I think back to 2001-02 when I thought we had a really strong squad. A year later I was writing off largely the same group of players and believing wholesale changes were needed.
In 2004-05 Liverpool conceded 41 league goals en route to finishing 5th. Their back four regularly featured Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise and Traore. At that time, you would have said we had a weak back four with Carragher being the only defender that wouldn’t need upgrading. A year later and largely the same set of defenders conceded just 25 league goals as the team finished third and a whopping 24 points better off. What made such a difference? It was probably a combination of Reina replacing Dudek and Kirkland; better protection from the players in front of the back four, and those defenders (indeed the whole team) better adjusting to Rafa’s defensive tactics including the controversial zonal marking from set pieces. Going into the 2006-07 season, I felt we had a strong defensive despite minimal changes in personnel over that three year period (and apart from Finnan) the other players had been available for at least five seasons.
At the start of the 2008-09 season, I thought we had a decent defence with Carragher and Skrtel in the middle, Agger returning from injury (again) and Hyypia as back up. I thought Arbeloa and Aurelio were decent squad players but expected/hoped that Degen and Dossena would be replacing the departed Finnan and Riise as first choice full-backs. Instead, the two ‘D’s turned out to be duds while Arbeloa and Aurelio both had fantastic seasons. We conceded just 27 goals and gave our strongest title challenge in the Premiership era. Consequently, going into last season, I had few concerns about our defence. I thought the replacement of Hyypia with Kyrgiakos would weaken us but given that Hyypia was fourth choice centre-back, that didn’t concern me much. Meanwhile I thought Johnson replacing Arbeloa would improve us. I did think we needed a second right-back for cover but otherwise I thought the team’s weaknesses lay elsewhere. Lo and behold, we began the season woefully from a defensive point of view and, despite improvement, never looked as defensively sound as in previous seasons. Now I hear a fair few Reds discussing the new season and suggesting our defence gives them cause for concern.
I understand those concerns. Carra looks incapable of stopping any player with pace (legally, at least) and his decision-making has begun to look suspect. Agger looks world class but question marks hang over his ability to avoid injury. Skrtel suffered a serious loss of form and confidence during last season and, despite improving towards the season’s end, needs to convince us he can put it behind him and regain his best form. Kyrgiakos proved me wrong last season and is certainly a useful player – particularly against the Stokes and Blackburns of the Premiership - but he is far from world class and gets found out by decent footballing teams, especially in Europe. Then at right-back, Johnson is far better going forward than defending and, while Kelly looks a real prospect (Darby doesn’t), he is still unproven and it would be a risk to rely on him if Johnson were to suffer long-term injury or loss of form. At left-back, we have re-signed Aurelio but after missing most of last season through injury, big question marks hang over his ability to be a fixture in the team this season. While Insua’s move to Fiorentina fell through, the expectation is that he will still be sold in which case there is no reserve left-back and the only option would be to play another defender out of position.
The suggestion in the media is that we are still pursuing a new left-back (although links with Luke Young, Paul Konchesky and Wayne Bridge are hardly inspiring) so the options may improve before the transfer window closes.
However, recent history shows that the same unit that underperformed last campaign can radically improve in the following season so I won’t be surprised if we see a much stronger defensive unit this time around.
For me, the key is Jamie Carragher and how Roy Hodgson deals with him. If the player can surprise me and, like Hyypia, enjoy an Indian summer at the end of his career, he could cement that defensive unit and make us extremely difficult to penetrate. However, if, as I believe, he is no longer capable of top level performances, Hodgson needs to be prepared to relegate him to the role of back-up and given Agger and Skrtel the nod. Is Hodgson strong enough to take such a big decision? Let’s hope he doesn’t have to.
In 2004-05 Liverpool conceded 41 league goals en route to finishing 5th. Their back four regularly featured Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise and Traore. At that time, you would have said we had a weak back four with Carragher being the only defender that wouldn’t need upgrading. A year later and largely the same set of defenders conceded just 25 league goals as the team finished third and a whopping 24 points better off. What made such a difference? It was probably a combination of Reina replacing Dudek and Kirkland; better protection from the players in front of the back four, and those defenders (indeed the whole team) better adjusting to Rafa’s defensive tactics including the controversial zonal marking from set pieces. Going into the 2006-07 season, I felt we had a strong defensive despite minimal changes in personnel over that three year period (and apart from Finnan) the other players had been available for at least five seasons.
At the start of the 2008-09 season, I thought we had a decent defence with Carragher and Skrtel in the middle, Agger returning from injury (again) and Hyypia as back up. I thought Arbeloa and Aurelio were decent squad players but expected/hoped that Degen and Dossena would be replacing the departed Finnan and Riise as first choice full-backs. Instead, the two ‘D’s turned out to be duds while Arbeloa and Aurelio both had fantastic seasons. We conceded just 27 goals and gave our strongest title challenge in the Premiership era. Consequently, going into last season, I had few concerns about our defence. I thought the replacement of Hyypia with Kyrgiakos would weaken us but given that Hyypia was fourth choice centre-back, that didn’t concern me much. Meanwhile I thought Johnson replacing Arbeloa would improve us. I did think we needed a second right-back for cover but otherwise I thought the team’s weaknesses lay elsewhere. Lo and behold, we began the season woefully from a defensive point of view and, despite improvement, never looked as defensively sound as in previous seasons. Now I hear a fair few Reds discussing the new season and suggesting our defence gives them cause for concern.
I understand those concerns. Carra looks incapable of stopping any player with pace (legally, at least) and his decision-making has begun to look suspect. Agger looks world class but question marks hang over his ability to avoid injury. Skrtel suffered a serious loss of form and confidence during last season and, despite improving towards the season’s end, needs to convince us he can put it behind him and regain his best form. Kyrgiakos proved me wrong last season and is certainly a useful player – particularly against the Stokes and Blackburns of the Premiership - but he is far from world class and gets found out by decent footballing teams, especially in Europe. Then at right-back, Johnson is far better going forward than defending and, while Kelly looks a real prospect (Darby doesn’t), he is still unproven and it would be a risk to rely on him if Johnson were to suffer long-term injury or loss of form. At left-back, we have re-signed Aurelio but after missing most of last season through injury, big question marks hang over his ability to be a fixture in the team this season. While Insua’s move to Fiorentina fell through, the expectation is that he will still be sold in which case there is no reserve left-back and the only option would be to play another defender out of position.
The suggestion in the media is that we are still pursuing a new left-back (although links with Luke Young, Paul Konchesky and Wayne Bridge are hardly inspiring) so the options may improve before the transfer window closes.
However, recent history shows that the same unit that underperformed last campaign can radically improve in the following season so I won’t be surprised if we see a much stronger defensive unit this time around.
For me, the key is Jamie Carragher and how Roy Hodgson deals with him. If the player can surprise me and, like Hyypia, enjoy an Indian summer at the end of his career, he could cement that defensive unit and make us extremely difficult to penetrate. However, if, as I believe, he is no longer capable of top level performances, Hodgson needs to be prepared to relegate him to the role of back-up and given Agger and Skrtel the nod. Is Hodgson strong enough to take such a big decision? Let’s hope he doesn’t have to.
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