Fernando Torres has been criticised quite a bit of late. In the aftermath of the Wolves defeat, I've read comments ranging from calling him "shit" and "lazy" to suggesting that he should be sold ASAP because he "lacks heart", that he looked "disinterested", etc. while Jamie Redknapp was quick to lay the blame on our star striker’s performance on SKY Sports.
I’ve checked the stats and they make interesting reading. In his seasons at the club, Torres has scored the following percentages of the entire team’s League goals:
2007-08...36%
2008-09...18%
2009-10...30%
2010-11...24% (to date)
If we were to beat Bolton 2-0 with Torres scoring both, he would have 30% of our goals this season –identical to his ratio from last season. So in spite of his apparent lack of form, after 17 games Torres has every chance of achieving a similar percentage as last season.
What’s even more interesting is the split between goals at home and away. Last season, Torres scored 28% of the team’s League goals at Anfield. This season he has 27%. This would appear to support the view that Torres’ comparatively smaller goal tally is proportionate to a reduction in goals scored by the entire team. In other words, the team is scoring fewer goals but Torres is contributing a similar proportion of the goals that are scored.
Away from home, Torres netted 33% of last season’s goals but has only 17% this campaign. That appears to be a significant drop but the fact we have scored so few goals away from home means that if Torres were to score the team’s next away goal, that percentage would shoot up to 29%.
I understand the frustrations over his seemingly stroppy body language, his inability to hold the ball up, his sloppy passing and overall lack of an obvious contribution. However, I think it is unreasonable to expect him to be scoring more goals when the team is attacking less effectively and collectively scoring fewer goals. It’s not as though he is missing huge numbers of chances. He’s just not getting any.
Friday, 31 December 2010
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Liverpool 0 Wolves 1
I'm not going to focus on Hodgson's shameful attack on Liverpool supporters during his ill-fated reign at the club. Nor am I going to focus on the latest incomprehensibly poor performance by Liverpool in deservedly losing at home to the team that prior to the match sat bottom of the League having taken a single point from 8 away games and lost their last 7. I'm not even going to focus on the dreadful tactics which included inviting the opposition to attack, launching aimless punts upfield from the back and upsetting the entire midfield to pander to Steven Gerrard.
The thing I want to focus on was Hodgson’s comments during his post-match interview on SKY when asked if he would empathise with supporters feeling it is unacceptable to be losing at home to the League’s bottom team.
“Well I think that’s very dangerous. You know, I think that if fans are going to do that they’re going to be in for a lot of disappointments in a lot of clubs over the years.
“I don’t think one should be so disrespectful of other clubs to say it’s unacceptable to lose to a team that’s in the same League as you. I really don’t accept that for one minute. I think you have a duty to your fans to give good performances and do the very best you can but I can only hope that the fans like myself have to accept that the performances don’t match up to your hopes and expectations.”
If any further evidence were needed that Hodgson does not belong at Liverpool FC, this statement shows he simply does not comprehend the requirements of his job.
Let me be absolutely clear: It is never ‘acceptable’ for Liverpool Football Club to lose at home to the team that is bottom of the Premiership table. It is even less acceptable when the defeat is completely deserved based on the home team’s performance. It is even more unacceptable when it is not an isolated incident following home defeats to Blackpool and Northampton Town, a fortuitous draw at home to Sunderland, and utterly spineless away defeats to Man City, Everton, Stoke and Newcastle amongst others.
The fans determine what results are acceptable and what are not; not some trumped up journeyman who thinks his 35 years in management mean he knows more than supporters of a great institution that has existed for over 110 years.
Arsenal fans would call home defeats to Hull City and West Brom “unacceptable”. Chelsea fans would call a home defeat to Sunderland “unacceptable”. I would agree that Arsenal and Chelsea should be reasonably expected to beat those teams at home, just as Liverpool should be reasonably expected not to lose at home to Blackpool and Wolves. Any results which fall below fans’ reasonable expectations are ‘unacceptable’. Sometimes (e.g. Newcastle United) fans' expectations can be unrealistic but those of Liverpool supporters are based on the levels of performance we have experienced in recent years - albeit slightly watered down after a disappointing last season - and as such are completely reasonable.
A single unacceptable result doesn’t necessarily mean the season is bad or that the manager needs to be sacked. However, in the context of this season, Hodgson has delivered a series of unacceptable results and performances and the overall performance of the team under his management is unacceptable.
I felt Hodgson should have been sacked after the Merseyside derby and could even have gone earlier. Having been granted a stay of execution, I felt he could and should have been dismissed after the horror show at Stoke and certainly after the defeat at Newcastle. Now there is absolutely no excuses for not removing him from a position where he is causing significant damage to the team, damage to the club and offence to the supporters.
Hodgson should be sacked immediately. Failure to do so will constitute negligence by the Liverpool board and they must be held to account for that. From this point on, if Hodgson is not removed, the fault for each bad result will no longer rest on Hodgson's shoulders but on those of the men who continue to employ a man whose incompetence is proven.
Over to you, Tom Werner and John Henry...
The thing I want to focus on was Hodgson’s comments during his post-match interview on SKY when asked if he would empathise with supporters feeling it is unacceptable to be losing at home to the League’s bottom team.
“Well I think that’s very dangerous. You know, I think that if fans are going to do that they’re going to be in for a lot of disappointments in a lot of clubs over the years.
“I don’t think one should be so disrespectful of other clubs to say it’s unacceptable to lose to a team that’s in the same League as you. I really don’t accept that for one minute. I think you have a duty to your fans to give good performances and do the very best you can but I can only hope that the fans like myself have to accept that the performances don’t match up to your hopes and expectations.”
If any further evidence were needed that Hodgson does not belong at Liverpool FC, this statement shows he simply does not comprehend the requirements of his job.
Let me be absolutely clear: It is never ‘acceptable’ for Liverpool Football Club to lose at home to the team that is bottom of the Premiership table. It is even less acceptable when the defeat is completely deserved based on the home team’s performance. It is even more unacceptable when it is not an isolated incident following home defeats to Blackpool and Northampton Town, a fortuitous draw at home to Sunderland, and utterly spineless away defeats to Man City, Everton, Stoke and Newcastle amongst others.
The fans determine what results are acceptable and what are not; not some trumped up journeyman who thinks his 35 years in management mean he knows more than supporters of a great institution that has existed for over 110 years.
Arsenal fans would call home defeats to Hull City and West Brom “unacceptable”. Chelsea fans would call a home defeat to Sunderland “unacceptable”. I would agree that Arsenal and Chelsea should be reasonably expected to beat those teams at home, just as Liverpool should be reasonably expected not to lose at home to Blackpool and Wolves. Any results which fall below fans’ reasonable expectations are ‘unacceptable’. Sometimes (e.g. Newcastle United) fans' expectations can be unrealistic but those of Liverpool supporters are based on the levels of performance we have experienced in recent years - albeit slightly watered down after a disappointing last season - and as such are completely reasonable.
A single unacceptable result doesn’t necessarily mean the season is bad or that the manager needs to be sacked. However, in the context of this season, Hodgson has delivered a series of unacceptable results and performances and the overall performance of the team under his management is unacceptable.
I felt Hodgson should have been sacked after the Merseyside derby and could even have gone earlier. Having been granted a stay of execution, I felt he could and should have been dismissed after the horror show at Stoke and certainly after the defeat at Newcastle. Now there is absolutely no excuses for not removing him from a position where he is causing significant damage to the team, damage to the club and offence to the supporters.
Hodgson should be sacked immediately. Failure to do so will constitute negligence by the Liverpool board and they must be held to account for that. From this point on, if Hodgson is not removed, the fault for each bad result will no longer rest on Hodgson's shoulders but on those of the men who continue to employ a man whose incompetence is proven.
Over to you, Tom Werner and John Henry...
Tuesday, 28 December 2010
Return of Rafa? Not for me
Rafa’s dismissal from Inter Milan and his immediate return to his Wirral home has instigated a mass of speculation and calls for him to be reinstated as Liverpool manager.
My views on Rafa as Liverpool manager are well documented here. I loved the guy and fully supported him. I believed and still do that he is a truly talented football coach and his record as our manager stands up to scrutiny despite a disappointing last season – which by the way looks like being far better than the current season.
Rafa’s dismissal was a farce and a truly great mistake by the dickheads then running our football club.
That said, I’m not an advocate for going back.
To me, the advantages of reappointing Rafa are:
1) He knows the club, the fans and our expectations.
2) He knows most of the players and has a proven track record of getting the best out of them whilst playing a style of football that is, for the most part, enjoyable to watch.
3) We have seen him in the post so have a good idea of what to expect from him. Having seen his best seasons and his worst, we can reasonably expect to see seasons that fit somewhere between the two and possibly towards the top end if he is supported by the board.
4) He’s not Roy Hodgson.
However there are a number of reasons why I would be wary of his return.
Firstly, few managers return to a club and achieve success the second time round. Since the start of the Premiership we’ve seen Howard Kendall and Kevin Keegan attempt to recapture former glories at Everton and Newcastle respectively. Kendall narrowly escaped relegation on the final day of the season with the Toffees while Keegan quit (shock!) at the start of a season that saw the Toon slide out of the top flight. Arguably, you could say Harry Redknapp achieved success when returning to Portsmouth, first by keeping them up and then by winning the FA Cup. However, where are Pompey now? That’s right, Redknapp’s reckless spending left the club financially crippled to the extent that after he had jumped ship to Spurs, the South-coast club became the first in Premiership history to enter administration and dropped like a stone.
I’m not suggesting Rafa’s return would lead to consequences as dire as that but clearly the evidence suggests reinstating former managers is not a recipe for success.
Secondly, Rafa’s final season was accompanied by a firestorm of negativity. The media were gunning for him. The LMA, or Fergie and his mates, hated him. Ex-Liverpool players were slagging him off left, right and centre. The owners and board all wanted him out. A number of players, including Gerrard and Carragher wanted to see the back of him. Torres was also reported to be disillusioned with him. Whatever the percentages, the fans were split and a significant number were truly glad when he was shown the door.
This negativity wouldn’t simply dissipate if Rafa was to walk back into the club. Those who underappreciated him before would question the sanity of the decision. Gerrard and Carragher would have major issues with the reappointment. Torres may be off whatever but this could be problematic for him. The media, the LMA and the ex-players would have plenty to say about it. The fans who wanted him gone won’t suddenly do a U-turn. All that negativity would return and at the first bad result the cat calls would begin again.
Despite Hodgson doing a far worse job than Rafa ever did, we simply haven’t had that negativity emanating from external sources this season.
Obviously given the choice, I would take Rafa and all the sniping at him over Hodgson and Andy Gray telling us what a fantastic job he is or is going to do at Anfield despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. However, I believe there is a third option: appoint a different coach or the required quality who doesn’t bring with him all that baggage.
My third issue is as a returning manager, would Rafa face reasonable expectation in his first campaign? Inheriting a total mess of a club in 2004, he was afforded time and patience by the majority of supporters to put his own stamp on the club. Returning now, he would inherit a pretty big mess. I suspect that people would expect him to immediately resume where he left off as a minimum and not tolerate any deterioration from that level. But Rafa would be returning to find two of his players, Aquilani and Insua, out on loan, some of his youth prospects sold, Mascherano gone and a playing staff that includes Christian Poulsen, Paul Fucking Konchesky and a misfiring Joe Cole. He would also inherit a team that now defends set pieces with man-marking and a goalkeeper and back four who have been trained to hoof the ball up-field at every given opportunity. Rafa would need time to sort out that mess but would he be afforded it? Would people blame his predecessor’s mistakes for every bad result as they did for Hodgson? I doubt it.
My fourth issue is this: Rafa didn’t get sacked from the San Siro for footballing reasons. Indeed, he had just won the World Club Cup with them. He was sacked for what he said in the press conference after winning that trophy. To the world’s media, he criticised the club’s owner. That everything he said was valid is irrelevant. You cannot slag off your employer in such a public fashion and expect to retain your job. Moratti has ridden the crest of a wave in recent years, profiting from the punishments meted out to Inter’s main rivals for match fixing by being handed a number of unchallenged Serie A titles and last season winning the treble with Mourinho at the helm. His stock among Inter fans has never been higher so to suddenly have his name dragged through the mud by an employee was simply unacceptable. In the middle of an injury crisis-induced slump, Rafa’s position was far from secure and it was either a foolish miscalculation or a deliberate attempt to be dismissed by the Spaniard.
Ultimately, my concern is that Rafa’s track record shows he publically fell out with and criticised his employers at Valencia, Liverpool and Inter Milan. Whatever the justifications in each case, it paints a picture of a man who is not ultimately a team player. If the aims of the club are not aligned to him own or if he feels he is being criticised for things outside of his control, he is quick to set the record straight publically. Why on earth would our new owners consider appointing a man like that?
As a football coach, I think Rafa is a genius. As a man, he has some serious flaws that ultimately compromise what he is able to achieve as a football coach.
Liverpool FC needs a coach who will work in harmony with the people now running the club. That doesn’t mean being a ‘yes’ man but it does mean engaging in rational debate and negotiation behind closed doors and not engaging in public bouts of insubordination. Liverpool FC needs a coach who will unite the club’s supporters and ex-players in the media. We need a coach we can all believe in and who has the right forward-thinking approach and tactical expertise to validate that belief.
Who? I’ve heard the usual names banded about (Hiddink, Mourinho, Rijkard, etc.) as well as some up and coming names like Porto’s Villa Boas. I don’t need to put names forward. No one is going to consult me during the recruitment process. In many ways, I’d prefer someone up and coming whom I haven’t necessarily heard of. After all, I’d never heard of Arsene Wenger before he turfed up at Arsenal, or Rafael Benitez before his Valencia team wiped the floor with us in 2002, or Jose Mourinho before he did that ridiculous touch line celebration when his Porto team knocked Man Ure out of the Champions League.
Perhaps Villa Boas fits the profile best or perhaps someone whose name I have yet to hear.
If Rafa returned, he would have my full support but I don’t believe it is a possibility and nor do I think it would be wise.
My views on Rafa as Liverpool manager are well documented here. I loved the guy and fully supported him. I believed and still do that he is a truly talented football coach and his record as our manager stands up to scrutiny despite a disappointing last season – which by the way looks like being far better than the current season.
Rafa’s dismissal was a farce and a truly great mistake by the dickheads then running our football club.
That said, I’m not an advocate for going back.
To me, the advantages of reappointing Rafa are:
1) He knows the club, the fans and our expectations.
2) He knows most of the players and has a proven track record of getting the best out of them whilst playing a style of football that is, for the most part, enjoyable to watch.
3) We have seen him in the post so have a good idea of what to expect from him. Having seen his best seasons and his worst, we can reasonably expect to see seasons that fit somewhere between the two and possibly towards the top end if he is supported by the board.
4) He’s not Roy Hodgson.
However there are a number of reasons why I would be wary of his return.
Firstly, few managers return to a club and achieve success the second time round. Since the start of the Premiership we’ve seen Howard Kendall and Kevin Keegan attempt to recapture former glories at Everton and Newcastle respectively. Kendall narrowly escaped relegation on the final day of the season with the Toffees while Keegan quit (shock!) at the start of a season that saw the Toon slide out of the top flight. Arguably, you could say Harry Redknapp achieved success when returning to Portsmouth, first by keeping them up and then by winning the FA Cup. However, where are Pompey now? That’s right, Redknapp’s reckless spending left the club financially crippled to the extent that after he had jumped ship to Spurs, the South-coast club became the first in Premiership history to enter administration and dropped like a stone.
I’m not suggesting Rafa’s return would lead to consequences as dire as that but clearly the evidence suggests reinstating former managers is not a recipe for success.
Secondly, Rafa’s final season was accompanied by a firestorm of negativity. The media were gunning for him. The LMA, or Fergie and his mates, hated him. Ex-Liverpool players were slagging him off left, right and centre. The owners and board all wanted him out. A number of players, including Gerrard and Carragher wanted to see the back of him. Torres was also reported to be disillusioned with him. Whatever the percentages, the fans were split and a significant number were truly glad when he was shown the door.
This negativity wouldn’t simply dissipate if Rafa was to walk back into the club. Those who underappreciated him before would question the sanity of the decision. Gerrard and Carragher would have major issues with the reappointment. Torres may be off whatever but this could be problematic for him. The media, the LMA and the ex-players would have plenty to say about it. The fans who wanted him gone won’t suddenly do a U-turn. All that negativity would return and at the first bad result the cat calls would begin again.
Despite Hodgson doing a far worse job than Rafa ever did, we simply haven’t had that negativity emanating from external sources this season.
Obviously given the choice, I would take Rafa and all the sniping at him over Hodgson and Andy Gray telling us what a fantastic job he is or is going to do at Anfield despite the mounting evidence to the contrary. However, I believe there is a third option: appoint a different coach or the required quality who doesn’t bring with him all that baggage.
My third issue is as a returning manager, would Rafa face reasonable expectation in his first campaign? Inheriting a total mess of a club in 2004, he was afforded time and patience by the majority of supporters to put his own stamp on the club. Returning now, he would inherit a pretty big mess. I suspect that people would expect him to immediately resume where he left off as a minimum and not tolerate any deterioration from that level. But Rafa would be returning to find two of his players, Aquilani and Insua, out on loan, some of his youth prospects sold, Mascherano gone and a playing staff that includes Christian Poulsen, Paul Fucking Konchesky and a misfiring Joe Cole. He would also inherit a team that now defends set pieces with man-marking and a goalkeeper and back four who have been trained to hoof the ball up-field at every given opportunity. Rafa would need time to sort out that mess but would he be afforded it? Would people blame his predecessor’s mistakes for every bad result as they did for Hodgson? I doubt it.
My fourth issue is this: Rafa didn’t get sacked from the San Siro for footballing reasons. Indeed, he had just won the World Club Cup with them. He was sacked for what he said in the press conference after winning that trophy. To the world’s media, he criticised the club’s owner. That everything he said was valid is irrelevant. You cannot slag off your employer in such a public fashion and expect to retain your job. Moratti has ridden the crest of a wave in recent years, profiting from the punishments meted out to Inter’s main rivals for match fixing by being handed a number of unchallenged Serie A titles and last season winning the treble with Mourinho at the helm. His stock among Inter fans has never been higher so to suddenly have his name dragged through the mud by an employee was simply unacceptable. In the middle of an injury crisis-induced slump, Rafa’s position was far from secure and it was either a foolish miscalculation or a deliberate attempt to be dismissed by the Spaniard.
Ultimately, my concern is that Rafa’s track record shows he publically fell out with and criticised his employers at Valencia, Liverpool and Inter Milan. Whatever the justifications in each case, it paints a picture of a man who is not ultimately a team player. If the aims of the club are not aligned to him own or if he feels he is being criticised for things outside of his control, he is quick to set the record straight publically. Why on earth would our new owners consider appointing a man like that?
As a football coach, I think Rafa is a genius. As a man, he has some serious flaws that ultimately compromise what he is able to achieve as a football coach.
Liverpool FC needs a coach who will work in harmony with the people now running the club. That doesn’t mean being a ‘yes’ man but it does mean engaging in rational debate and negotiation behind closed doors and not engaging in public bouts of insubordination. Liverpool FC needs a coach who will unite the club’s supporters and ex-players in the media. We need a coach we can all believe in and who has the right forward-thinking approach and tactical expertise to validate that belief.
Who? I’ve heard the usual names banded about (Hiddink, Mourinho, Rijkard, etc.) as well as some up and coming names like Porto’s Villa Boas. I don’t need to put names forward. No one is going to consult me during the recruitment process. In many ways, I’d prefer someone up and coming whom I haven’t necessarily heard of. After all, I’d never heard of Arsene Wenger before he turfed up at Arsenal, or Rafael Benitez before his Valencia team wiped the floor with us in 2002, or Jose Mourinho before he did that ridiculous touch line celebration when his Porto team knocked Man Ure out of the Champions League.
Perhaps Villa Boas fits the profile best or perhaps someone whose name I have yet to hear.
If Rafa returned, he would have my full support but I don’t believe it is a possibility and nor do I think it would be wise.
Transfer window approaching...
The January transfer window is fast approaching. Normally I'd be saying we should be targetting this or that player or we need a player for X position but this time my desires are simple: Don't give Roy Hodgson a single penny to spend.
Despite the presence of Daniel Comolli to ensure Hodgson doesn't fritter away another £10m on also-rans and never-have-beens fast approaching retirement, the fact remains that while Hodgson remains manager, there is no point in purchasing players who do not fit in with Hodgson's prehistoric tactics. If we then bought players to fit in with that God-awful style, as soon as the dinosaur is given the boot he so royally deserves and we appoint (please God!) a decent manager, those new signings will look as out of place as a Jehovah Witness at a swingers party.
Keep the money and make it available for the new manager in the summer.
Despite the presence of Daniel Comolli to ensure Hodgson doesn't fritter away another £10m on also-rans and never-have-beens fast approaching retirement, the fact remains that while Hodgson remains manager, there is no point in purchasing players who do not fit in with Hodgson's prehistoric tactics. If we then bought players to fit in with that God-awful style, as soon as the dinosaur is given the boot he so royally deserves and we appoint (please God!) a decent manager, those new signings will look as out of place as a Jehovah Witness at a swingers party.
Keep the money and make it available for the new manager in the summer.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
2010 Review
In all it’s been a truly lousy year on the pitch. The most rewarding games were probably Tottenham (h) on 20 January when we broke our January jinx and won a League game against Champions League rivals despite missing our so-called big players; Everton (h) on 6 February when we battled to a 1-0 win despite having the Greek sent off early on; Benfica (h) on 8 April when we reversed a harsh away defeat by thrashing the cynical cheats with Fernando Torres looking like the player of a couple of seasons ago (before succumbing to injury yet again).
The most disappointing games were Atletico (h) on 29 April when we were denied a third European Final appearance under Rafa by a late away goal in extra time; Wigan (a) on 8 March when we put in one of the most abject performances under Benitez’s tenure with Steven Gerrard proving indisputably that he is a liability in central midfield; Man City (a) on 23 August when Hodgson’s limitations were laid bare and every game since.
The biggest achievement of the year was undeniably the sensational ousting of Gillett and Hicks. This also wins the Most Bizarre Football-Related Experience Award as I could never have envisaged following a court case by text updates online.
The biggest disappointments of the year have to be the sacking of Rafa Benitez closely followed by the appointment of Roy Hodgson and on numerous occasions the absence of reports of Hodgson’s dismissal. Also contenders in this category are the signings and subsequent performances of Christian Poulsen and Paul Konchesky.
The best players were undoubtedly Pepe Reina and then probably Lucas Leiva who – while far from being the most talented, at least put in a shift in every game and has improved throughout the year. After that it has to be cult hero Sotirios Kyrgiakos and then maybe Ngog and Meireles who have shown promise but as yet remain players with potential. Those players aside, everyone else has disappointed in some way or other.
The biggest disappointments were Steven Gerrard who has lived off his reputation for the entire year; Fernando Torres who for a variety of reasons just hasn’t been the player that excited us so much in 2008; Jamie Carragher whose reputation exceeds his capability now that age has robbed him of what little pace he had before; Ryan Babel who is a joke of a footballer, and finally both Yossi Benayoun and Javier Mascherano simply for the fact that they sought pastures new despite being amongst our better performers in the first half of the year – not that I personally blame either.
It’s been a year in which my passion for football has been severely diluted. Whereas in years gone by, I would watch virtually any game, this year I’ve tended to stick to my own team. It’s hard to stomach others playing well when your own team is continually frustrating. Likewise, I haven’t been able to bear watching the majority of the Champions League games knowing that we no longer belong in Europe’s elite competition.
As a fan, I want to get back to talking in positive terms about team selections, formations, transfers, goals, assists and players’ form without needing to think about the motives or capability of the suits behind the team or about the suitability of the manager. All those so-called fans who slated Rafa for “throwing away” the Premiership title in 2008-09 would do well to remember that we hadn’t had it so good since the Premiership began and may not have it that good for some time to come. They weren’t happy with their lot then and now look at the mess we’re in. For those supporters, this is deserved but for the rest of us it feels like being the victim of theft.
My hopes for 2011 are that Hodgson goes as soon as possible; that we appoint a manager appropriate for Liverpool FC who will unite the fans, restore our belief that the team is progressing towards the level we expect, get us playing watchable football and bring about a significant revival in our fortunes; that the board will back the new man with funds to enable him to improve the standard of playing staff at the club; that Real Madrid pay us an obscene amount of cash for Steven Gerrard that is subsequently reinvested in an adequate long-term replacement; that Reina and Torres stay and rediscover their best form; that Carra rejoins “the best manager [he] has ever worked with”, Gerard Houllier, at Aston Villa just in time to see the Frenchman sacked, and finally, that I see games and results that enable me to fall in love with the sport all over again.
The most disappointing games were Atletico (h) on 29 April when we were denied a third European Final appearance under Rafa by a late away goal in extra time; Wigan (a) on 8 March when we put in one of the most abject performances under Benitez’s tenure with Steven Gerrard proving indisputably that he is a liability in central midfield; Man City (a) on 23 August when Hodgson’s limitations were laid bare and every game since.
The biggest achievement of the year was undeniably the sensational ousting of Gillett and Hicks. This also wins the Most Bizarre Football-Related Experience Award as I could never have envisaged following a court case by text updates online.
The biggest disappointments of the year have to be the sacking of Rafa Benitez closely followed by the appointment of Roy Hodgson and on numerous occasions the absence of reports of Hodgson’s dismissal. Also contenders in this category are the signings and subsequent performances of Christian Poulsen and Paul Konchesky.
The best players were undoubtedly Pepe Reina and then probably Lucas Leiva who – while far from being the most talented, at least put in a shift in every game and has improved throughout the year. After that it has to be cult hero Sotirios Kyrgiakos and then maybe Ngog and Meireles who have shown promise but as yet remain players with potential. Those players aside, everyone else has disappointed in some way or other.
The biggest disappointments were Steven Gerrard who has lived off his reputation for the entire year; Fernando Torres who for a variety of reasons just hasn’t been the player that excited us so much in 2008; Jamie Carragher whose reputation exceeds his capability now that age has robbed him of what little pace he had before; Ryan Babel who is a joke of a footballer, and finally both Yossi Benayoun and Javier Mascherano simply for the fact that they sought pastures new despite being amongst our better performers in the first half of the year – not that I personally blame either.
It’s been a year in which my passion for football has been severely diluted. Whereas in years gone by, I would watch virtually any game, this year I’ve tended to stick to my own team. It’s hard to stomach others playing well when your own team is continually frustrating. Likewise, I haven’t been able to bear watching the majority of the Champions League games knowing that we no longer belong in Europe’s elite competition.
As a fan, I want to get back to talking in positive terms about team selections, formations, transfers, goals, assists and players’ form without needing to think about the motives or capability of the suits behind the team or about the suitability of the manager. All those so-called fans who slated Rafa for “throwing away” the Premiership title in 2008-09 would do well to remember that we hadn’t had it so good since the Premiership began and may not have it that good for some time to come. They weren’t happy with their lot then and now look at the mess we’re in. For those supporters, this is deserved but for the rest of us it feels like being the victim of theft.
My hopes for 2011 are that Hodgson goes as soon as possible; that we appoint a manager appropriate for Liverpool FC who will unite the fans, restore our belief that the team is progressing towards the level we expect, get us playing watchable football and bring about a significant revival in our fortunes; that the board will back the new man with funds to enable him to improve the standard of playing staff at the club; that Real Madrid pay us an obscene amount of cash for Steven Gerrard that is subsequently reinvested in an adequate long-term replacement; that Reina and Torres stay and rediscover their best form; that Carra rejoins “the best manager [he] has ever worked with”, Gerard Houllier, at Aston Villa just in time to see the Frenchman sacked, and finally, that I see games and results that enable me to fall in love with the sport all over again.
Shouting into the wind
I haven’t written a blog for a while and there is one simple reason: I’ve nothing original to say. I can continue repeating my assertions that Hodgson is completely unsuited to and making a terrible hash of the role of LFC manager and continue to add to the list of evidence supporting that view (which comes in faster than I can type some days), but I see little point. To me, this case was closed long ago. Quite simply, the man should not be in post at this time.
I understand the arguments for not yet dismissing him – none of which are based on him being retained based on his ability and potential – but I just don’t agree. I agree that we need to avoid having a revolving door to the manager’s office and that it is vital that our owners appoint a manager for the long term who shares their vision, can work their way and crucially who can deliver a significant upturn in our fortunes on the pitch. If they need time to find that man then by all means they should take their time. However, they do not need to retain the services of one Roy Hodgson until that search is concluded. They have a perfectly able interim manager in Kenny Dalglish who would surely achieve more with this set of players than the current incumbent (should that be ‘incompetent’?).
I’ve heard the argument that if Kenny did a good job for half a season before stepping aside, as soon as the new man hits a rocky patch there may be calls for the King to return permanently. To that I say it’s down to the board to appoint a new man that the fans believe in. If that happens, the fans will back him just as they did with Rafa. Roy Evans allegedly didn’t want Kenny back at the club as he feared calls for Kenny to oust him but even during Rafa’s worst season, I was not aware of a single voice calling for Kenny to be reinstated. The majority of true supporters unconditionally backed their manager while the fools laughably called for his replacement with Jose Mourinho(!) – as if the Portuguese would ever take a job where he couldn’t spend millions on top, top players in order to achieve success and then leave before his management strategy is exposed as being extremely short-term.
If the next man is the right man, he won’t have to worry about Kenny. If not, it will be Groundhog Day but that won’t be Kenny’s fault and nor will it be a direct legacy of making our most famous son interim manager this season.
Newcastle United is the prime example of how chopping and changing your manager during a season can have disastrous effects but in their case, they tend to sack managers just a couple of games into the season or when the team is actually achieving at the level it should be – whether the fans accept that level or not. There are plenty of other examples where changing the manager has had a positive impact. The best example was Chelsea a couple of years ago who replaced Scolari – who himself was only appointed in the summer – with Hiddink who revitalised the team and won them the FA Cup laying superb foundations for Ancelotti to build on the following season. While I think that level of success is beyond us, there is no question we are underachieving under Hodgson and worse, the football is so dire and the man himself so despicably useless that I found myself celebrating that our game was snowed off last Saturday as it meant he couldn’t ruin another of my weekends.
He has to go.
I understand the arguments for not yet dismissing him – none of which are based on him being retained based on his ability and potential – but I just don’t agree. I agree that we need to avoid having a revolving door to the manager’s office and that it is vital that our owners appoint a manager for the long term who shares their vision, can work their way and crucially who can deliver a significant upturn in our fortunes on the pitch. If they need time to find that man then by all means they should take their time. However, they do not need to retain the services of one Roy Hodgson until that search is concluded. They have a perfectly able interim manager in Kenny Dalglish who would surely achieve more with this set of players than the current incumbent (should that be ‘incompetent’?).
I’ve heard the argument that if Kenny did a good job for half a season before stepping aside, as soon as the new man hits a rocky patch there may be calls for the King to return permanently. To that I say it’s down to the board to appoint a new man that the fans believe in. If that happens, the fans will back him just as they did with Rafa. Roy Evans allegedly didn’t want Kenny back at the club as he feared calls for Kenny to oust him but even during Rafa’s worst season, I was not aware of a single voice calling for Kenny to be reinstated. The majority of true supporters unconditionally backed their manager while the fools laughably called for his replacement with Jose Mourinho(!) – as if the Portuguese would ever take a job where he couldn’t spend millions on top, top players in order to achieve success and then leave before his management strategy is exposed as being extremely short-term.
If the next man is the right man, he won’t have to worry about Kenny. If not, it will be Groundhog Day but that won’t be Kenny’s fault and nor will it be a direct legacy of making our most famous son interim manager this season.
Newcastle United is the prime example of how chopping and changing your manager during a season can have disastrous effects but in their case, they tend to sack managers just a couple of games into the season or when the team is actually achieving at the level it should be – whether the fans accept that level or not. There are plenty of other examples where changing the manager has had a positive impact. The best example was Chelsea a couple of years ago who replaced Scolari – who himself was only appointed in the summer – with Hiddink who revitalised the team and won them the FA Cup laying superb foundations for Ancelotti to build on the following season. While I think that level of success is beyond us, there is no question we are underachieving under Hodgson and worse, the football is so dire and the man himself so despicably useless that I found myself celebrating that our game was snowed off last Saturday as it meant he couldn’t ruin another of my weekends.
He has to go.
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Hou's the over-achiever?
I’ve been reading Paul Tomkins’ latest book Play as You Pay which, as well as proving the link between transfer outlay and League success, assesses all Premiership managers based on the resources at their disposals. On the whole, it enables fairer assessments of managers away from media or fan bias by allocating League placings to each team in each Premiership season ranked according to overall cost of squad with prices updated to reflect inflation by applying a Current Transfer Purchase Price (CTPP) to each player.
The evidence suggests that Gerard Houllier in fact overachieved in his time at Anfield – a theory directly opposed to my own objective belief.
One factor I am not convinced the book deals with adequately is the free transfer. In theory, based on the cost of Houllier’s average XI over 1998-99, the team should have ranked 10th making 7th look like an over-achievement. However, the squad Houllier inherited from Evans included Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Steve McManaman, Dominic Matteo, Jamie Carragher, David Thompson and Steven Gerrard – all youth players signed for a combined cost of £0.
According to the model, less should be expected of a Man Utd midfield of Beckham, Scholes, Keane and Giggs (combined cost of £20.9m – all of which was spent on Roy Keane) than of a midfield containing McManaman (£0m), Redknapp (£2.1m), Ince (£13m) and Berger (£10m) at a combined cost of £25.1m. Begrudgingly, I would say that Man Ure midfield is the greatest midfield four I have ever witnessed and while it contributed to winning the treble of Premiership, FA Cup and European Cup in Houllier’s first campaign at Liverpool that Liverpool midfield huffed and puffed and flattered to deceive.
If you actually looked at what that United midfield was worth rather than what was paid for it, I would probably have cost at least three times more Liverpool’s and as such expectations of that United midfield were greater than those on the more expensively assembled midfield at Liverpool.
A Liverpool team featuring Steve McManaman (£0m) is stronger on paper than if he was replaced with Vladimir Smicer (£9m) while Michael Owen (£0m) made the team stronger than Milan Baros (£4.7m) or El Hadji Diouf (£17.9m). The Owen Houllier inherited was worth around £50m CTPP while Fowler was sold for £15.1m CTPP a couple of years later so surely to base expectations on the fact that Liverpool fielded two free strikers is misleading.
Houllier inherited a very decent squad of players that needed tweaking rather than the wholesale changes he brought about. He allowed decent home grown players to be sold or given away and replaced them with inferior foreigners with little or no resale values leaving a team with assets of limited value on the pitch and no money to reinvest.
His overachievements were getting the job in the first place and then hanging onto it for as long as he did. Reminds me of the current manager.
The evidence suggests that Gerard Houllier in fact overachieved in his time at Anfield – a theory directly opposed to my own objective belief.
One factor I am not convinced the book deals with adequately is the free transfer. In theory, based on the cost of Houllier’s average XI over 1998-99, the team should have ranked 10th making 7th look like an over-achievement. However, the squad Houllier inherited from Evans included Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Steve McManaman, Dominic Matteo, Jamie Carragher, David Thompson and Steven Gerrard – all youth players signed for a combined cost of £0.
According to the model, less should be expected of a Man Utd midfield of Beckham, Scholes, Keane and Giggs (combined cost of £20.9m – all of which was spent on Roy Keane) than of a midfield containing McManaman (£0m), Redknapp (£2.1m), Ince (£13m) and Berger (£10m) at a combined cost of £25.1m. Begrudgingly, I would say that Man Ure midfield is the greatest midfield four I have ever witnessed and while it contributed to winning the treble of Premiership, FA Cup and European Cup in Houllier’s first campaign at Liverpool that Liverpool midfield huffed and puffed and flattered to deceive.
If you actually looked at what that United midfield was worth rather than what was paid for it, I would probably have cost at least three times more Liverpool’s and as such expectations of that United midfield were greater than those on the more expensively assembled midfield at Liverpool.
A Liverpool team featuring Steve McManaman (£0m) is stronger on paper than if he was replaced with Vladimir Smicer (£9m) while Michael Owen (£0m) made the team stronger than Milan Baros (£4.7m) or El Hadji Diouf (£17.9m). The Owen Houllier inherited was worth around £50m CTPP while Fowler was sold for £15.1m CTPP a couple of years later so surely to base expectations on the fact that Liverpool fielded two free strikers is misleading.
Houllier inherited a very decent squad of players that needed tweaking rather than the wholesale changes he brought about. He allowed decent home grown players to be sold or given away and replaced them with inferior foreigners with little or no resale values leaving a team with assets of limited value on the pitch and no money to reinvest.
His overachievements were getting the job in the first place and then hanging onto it for as long as he did. Reminds me of the current manager.
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