I Bet Roy Hodgson Drives 60 In The Left Lane
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I don’t know what it is about me but I tend it take a soft spot for fans who cheer for suffering teams and Liverpool fans fit that bill at the moment. Once they turn things around I no longer hold a soft spot for the club and move on to my calling in life being a Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho fan boy. See this goal on the weekend for example…..Grande Jogador.
Back to Roy Hodgson now. It’s like the earth axis has tipped over. You have Liverpool fans wanting their coach gone and Newcastle fans being mad over their coach getting the sack. Roy Hodgson however hasn’t done himself any favours by trying to deflect blame onto former coach Rafa Benitez and twisting his words around when it comes to club legend Kenny Dalglish.
To keep it simple Roy Hodgson seems like the type of person who if given a Ferrari would never put it in top gear. Now, I know many non Liverpool fans right now wouldn’t suggest Liverpool is too football what Ferrari is too cars but it’s sure is a step up from the likes of Fulham and coaching Finland.
I remember Hodgson last game in charge of Finland in a Euro 2008 do or die qualifier against Portugal. Finland had to beat Portugal to make it to Euro 2008. Granted, I know the odds were long that day (9 to 1 in fact, I put $125 on Finland thinking if Portugal wasn’t going to make it to Euro 2008 I might as well get a grand to make me feel better.) but how in the world do you play to a 0-0 tie when only a win would do? Scolari on his last legs as Portugal coach wisely knew Hodgson was one dimensional. As Portugal didn’t make a mistake at the back by not trying to grab a lead caused Finland to never have the chance to score. I remember writing breifly about this game in an article defending Scolari as every Portuguese person was forgetting what he accomplished previously in his time with the National team. Then he goes on to take the Chelsea job in the middle of Euro 2008 and Portugal flatlines but anyway this is what I wrote at the time.
Scolari has had to deal with criticism over Portugal’s lack luster Euro 2008 qualifying campaign that saw them finish second behind Poland and only barely able to clinch their spot on the last day in a 0-0 tie against Finland
While it made for a nervous 90 minutes the end result would have been the same be it a 5-0 win or 0-0 draw. Scolari crafted a smart game plan utilizing his remaining roster to maximum effect. With first choice defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Jorge Andrade injured, Scolari gave Pepe his first start for the national team pairing him up with former Porto team mate Bruno Alves to go along with another Porto defender in Jose Bosingwa. Having three players in the back four that are used to playing together was key in holding a Finland team in check. The fact that it was not an epic performance hasn’t pleased many in the press who still dream of the days where Portugal would win with style, but never after the opening round.
The Second Guessing Of Scolari April 2008
Roy Hodgson can make a bad team decent by basically trying to play 10 men behind the ball but my problem with Hodgson is every gameplan is the same from week to week. It cautious football and when that’s your only trick up your sleeve it isn’t going to take you to the top four no matter who you have in your lineup.
Paul Konchesky is another problem as in no way should Roy Hodgson have the last say in transfer dealings with the likes of Konchesky and Christian Poulsen being bought in and Alberto Aquilani told to leave. Raul Meireles is a winner but that is only one out of three.
My last problem is the fact there is no youth in this Liverpool lineup. When was the last time Liverpool produced a home grown player? Now I know little of that is Hodgson fault but If I’m a Liverpool I want to see Daniel Pacheco, Danny Wilson, and/or Jonjo Shelvey. All three of them would be seeing playing time at any non top four club. Hodgson does have control over their playing time. But Hodgson either by his lack of trust in young players or by his lack of trust in his position with Liverpool refuses to give any of the three an extended look at this point.
In the end tis the season to fire coaches (ask big sam today) and if Liverpool really want to attract top players you need to ask is Roy Hodgson the type of coach that top players will flock too? If the answer is no than he has to go.
December 13th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
nail on head man. Meireles was lined up before Roy by a fair few accounts as a guy to get when the Masch money came through and that’s why the transfer happened so fast…so you can’t even credit Roy for that! But that’s not proven fact to be fair.
I don’t know where to start on Roy, it’d take me 2000 words. One thing I’d say is also horrifying is virtually every press conference.
LFC fans don’t expect to win every game, especially now, but have a standard of how to act and how to be (I know that can sound silly to non-supporters…). Roy fails spectacularly in these places, not to mention tactically…and the thing is, there’s no evolution or anything to Hodgson’s play.
Purslow really screwed up with that appointment, it’s the last blemish to get rid of from that era, once Roy’s gone I’m excited to see what’s to come.