In Search of Another "Famous Victory"

Having just resigned from his job at Hoffenheim, Ralf Rangnick must have foreseen that he would have no problems in getting back into action as there was a job to be had in the Northwest of England. Then again, the so-called Professor didn't need to be a genius or a Gypsy tarrot card reader to figure that one out by himself.


Out of Liverpool's ten away league fixtures to date, the club have only won once under the guidance (if one could call it that) of Roy Hodgson. No wonder he referred to the club's win at the Reebok as a "famous victory". Maybe even Hodgson himself knew then that away wins would be hard to come by as long as he was in charge.


So, what else could we expect out of tonight's visit to Ewood Park?


At this stage, if the man was even half the gent that his media friends portray him to be, it was about time he took a piece of paper, find the nearest fax machine, punch in the number for Boston and emulate Rangnick by tendering his own resignation.

Rafalution in the Head

It was meant to be the holiday season. The busiest time for EPL clubs as about half a dozen games are squeezed  in between the few days before Christmas and the New Year. A time that can make or break clubs. And, managers.


Over in Melwood, Roy Hodgson must've breathed a sigh of relief when two games in this period were called-off due to the adverse weather. Seemingly, difficult games by current standards. One, a match that pitted Hodgson against his former employers with a Mark Hughes who is eager to convince the Fulham faithful that he is the man to replace Hodgson. The other, against formidable opponents, Blackpool. Yes, things have changed  a lot at Liverpool this season.

Unfortunately, the feeling of relief must have been abruptly cut short on hearing that Liverpool's former manager, was sacked from his job in Milan and subsequently decides to spend the holiday season in his Wirral home, just down the road from Melwood. No pressure there, eh?


Cue a flurry of activity on the many online Liverpool forums, Facebook and Twitter on the possible return of Rafa Benitez to the hot seat in Anfield. Immediately polls popped-up asking Liverpool supporters on whether they would take Benitez back. Not surprisingly, most if not all of the sites had at least, two thirds of people in support of Benitez's return.


What would be interesting to know is whether the two third majority reflects a genuine support for Benitez or is just some sort of no confidence vote for the current manager. I'd go with the former but then again, I've always been a fan of Benitez's work. But, to be fair, when all the underlying issues that exist at Anfield (player power, new footballing structure, media bias, etc.) are set aside, Benitez is still the only truly world class manager that is available and more importantly, passionately willing to take the Liverpool job.


The question now is, will it actually happen? And if so, will it be anytime soon?

Heart Break Lane

It's strange being a Liverpool supporter these days. Win, and I smile for days with that warm, fuzzy feeling engulfing me, at least until the next match. Lose, and instead of being as depressed as a smoke addict who has been without a cigarette for a whole day, I actually don't feel that bad. I hate to admit it but the feeling some days verges on apathy towards Liverpool Football Club especially when the team loses a match. Maybe it's got to do with the fact that my expectations are so low, I'm actually never expecting a good result, no matter who Liverpool play.

Take for instance this afternoon's visit to White Hart Lane.


Anyone that knows a small bit about football would come to the conclusion that there's no point in defending against Spurs this season. With about half a dozen central defenders out injured, the only way to play Spurs is to attack, attack and attack.


So, I was pleased to see Hodgson's team set out to do the obvious with two up front in a standard 4-4-2 formation which, was mirrored in Spurs' own line-up. Unsurprising really considering that the fixture was a meeting of two very old school English managers.


The first 15 minutes looked positive and the team looked to control proceedings with some very neat passing around the pitch. A nice change from the hoofball tactics applied for most of the season. But, as the game progressed, it was becoming evident that Liverpool lacked a good amount of creativity either on the pitch or on the bench (could have done with an Aquilani or Pacheco around, eh?). Spurs on the other hand, were growing in confidence but by mid-way into the first-half, Spurs' slight creative edge in the form of Luka Modric, almost led to a goal which was only avoided because of Jamie Carragher's timely intervention as well as Jermaine Defoe's rustiness.

The game was really open and the two teams went back and forth until Skrtel's goal came along a couple of minutes before the break. It all looked good after that for Liverpool but although chances did come along, the lack of creativity became even more evident when Modric's magic led to Skrtel slotting in an own goal past Reina. The already nervy situation was further compounded when on 86 minutes, Jamie Carragher walked off the pitch with a dislocated shoulder.


With Carragher's absence, Liverpool's back four became quite disorganised and Redknapp pounced on the opportunity. Diagonal long balls began to be pumped from Spurs' left for Aaron Lennon to latch on. Konchesky was no match for Lennon's pace and within a few minutes, Liverpool were two goals down.


As bad as that result was, it doesn't look like it'll get better anytime soon. Carragher's injury looks like a long-term one whereas Daniel Agger is still recovering from his own injury. Besides Skrtel and Kyrgiakos (Daniel Ayala is out on loan and Kelly could do a job), that leaves the club with only young Danny Wilson as cover at the centre of defence.


We're definitely in for a rough ride for the next few...

Everybody Loves Roy (Except for Liverpool Fans?)

Monday morning at the office was definitely a strange one for me. Normally, after such a good result, the Liverpool fans at the office would be all-smiles and then during the coffee/tea/smoke breaks, bunch together and discuss the various aspects of the victory. But, these are definitely strange times to be a Liverpool fan and on the Monday morning just past, it got even stranger.

The Liverpool fans (yours truly included) were relatively subdued in their joy. More relieved than delighted with the way things went on the weekend. I even found myself half hiding in my cubicle at work as if Liverpool had been thrashed 4-0 by Chelsea that Sunday, wanting to avoid any human contact and discuss anything remotely connected to football.

So, what do you think about Hodgson now? Eh?

I pulled my head away from my laptop and looked to where the question was coming from. There was Tony the Manchester United fan (not his real name, of course) standing behind me with a beaming smile, looking ready to burst out with a rendition of You’re Not Singing Anymore at any stage. Thankfully we were in the office and so, Tony limited himself to his annoying question and a smile.

Well, he’s bought himself some time.

Not in a mood to have a conversation on the topic, I answered Tony’s question and quickly turned back to my laptop, pretending to be ultra-busy. Unfortunately, having worked with Tony for almost a decade, the man realised that I was just avoiding him and that it was all an act. So, not content with the reply he received, he continued to hover around my cubicle for a proper answer.

Has he not done enough already?

What? You mean getting us out of the relegation zone? Yeah, great job.

You Liverpool fans are never realistic. I suppose you’d even be complaining if Hodgson gets you to fourth place.

Personally, I think Liverpool fans are the most realistic ones around. We’re realistic but at the same time, we do expect our managers to exceed normal expectations. A bit of an oxymoron of a statement but that is the reality of the whole thing...

There was a brief silence. Could have been just a tad bit too much for Tony to process so early in the morning but he finally came out with a reply.

So, Hodgson’s just beaten the defending champions and current league leaders and you’re still not happy?

Nope. Not really. To me, he’s just come from well below the bar to barely clinging on to it. Barely.

Tony looked appalled at how easily I appeared to brush off such a well-regarded, senior member of the League Managers Association in a few short sentences.

Look, let me put it into perspective for you: Why are you so keen on Hodgson anyway?

Well, to start off with, he’d just brought a fairly poor Fulham side to the UEFA Cup Final and got Fulham to 13th spot in the League...

I agreed with Tony. It was fairly impressive but I decided to cut him short right there.

Only a few years ago, Steve McLaren took a so-so Middlesbrough side to the UEFA Cup Final and finished 14th in the League. Would you have wanted McLaren to get anywhere close to managing United?

No.

So, why should Liverpool settle for anything less?

I left it at that and headed for the gents (no, this wasn’t an act) wondering whether Tony fully understood where I was coming from but more importantly, I was still wondering why in the world non-Liverpool fans (Tony just being one of many that I’ve met) seem convinced that Roy Hodgson is the right man for Liverpool. Answers on a postcard, please...


Image of Roy Hodgson by nicksarebi

The Not-So Perfect Storm

Weather warning in effect. Gale warning in effect. Small craft warning in effect.

The above lines from Met Éireann reflected what the organisation had forecasted the weather was going to be in Dublin (and most of Ireland) over the weekend. In short, it was meant to be horrible. Absolutely horrible. 

Across the Irish Sea and the same prediction could have easily applied as defending champions and current league leaders, Chelsea were thundering over to Anfield looking to blow Roy Hodgson's red men out of their way. Thankfully, the Liverpool manager has had 35 years of experience clamping down his teams to weather the storm and once in a while take a stab back at the obvious favourites.


The team sheet didn't actually fill the ground with confidence. It seemed bold and even a bit naive by modern standards, especially against the likes of Chelsea. A couple of minutes into the game and the formation itself looked even more worrying. It was as if Hodgson had selected his best XI from the squad and threw them into an old 4-4-2 formation (with Meireles installed on the right and Kuyt, returning from injury to partner Torres up front).


Fortunately, whatever worries I had about Hodgson's apparently simplistic approach was quickly dispelled. Although half the team seemed to be under instructions to sit back and comfortably positioned themselves behind the ball, the other half were all too eager to press and harry the opposing players. The team had a good balance about it. 


Although the obvious absence was Didier Drogba (later introduced in the second half), it soon became clear that Chelsea was sorely missing the services of Frank Lampard and Michael Essien in midfield. The patched-up Chelsea midfield gave some breathing space to the Liverpool midfield especially Lucas who grew in confidence as the match progressed. Yes, all the plaudits would probably go to Fernando Torres in this morning's press but some credit has to be given to all of Lucas' defensive work in midfield. And, if there are any criticisms out there of his attacking abilities, Lucas looked like he was definitely out to prove his doubters wrong with a few deft touches, back flicks and a nutmeg or two. Looks like Liverpool's young Brazilian might yet turn out to be errr...Brazilian after all.


By the end of the day, the Met's prediction on the weather looked like it was finally coming true but, the same didn't look like it applied on Merseyside. Chelsea tried to fight back but it was too late for them by the time Liverpool's own force of nature, El Nino struck, not once but twice.

Give Roy a Chance?

Let me get this straight, right at the start. I have not changed my views of Roy Hodgson as Liverpool manager. The only thing that’s changed is Hodgson’s approach and tactics which have in turn, changed my views. Rather than sit back and wait for the opposition to attack us, the previous two fixtures showed that the team was under instruction to press and harry the opponent right from the start. All of a sudden, Liverpool looked more like a team rather than 11 men roaming the pitch like the walking dead.

That solved the club’s problem from a defensive aspect but to win games, we’d need to score goals. Cue Steven Gerrard’s switch from central midfield pretender to his more effective position, just behind Torres. Fortunately, the changes didn’t stop there. Meireles was restored to his best position in the centre of midfield while Lucas was preferred to Poulsen as his partner. A genius masterstroke by the manager?


Not really. As much as Hodgson would like to think that the recent successes were as a result of his previously employed methods, I'd beg to differ. Everyone that’s properly followed Liverpool’s games (as opposed to merely watching highlights on MoTD and reading headlines) since Hodgson took over would’ve been able to recommend those changes with or without said methods. Still, in fairness to Hodgson, at least he either listened or realised those areas of weakness and made the necessary changes before it’s too late.


Anyway, with all due respect to Blackburn and Bolton, the real test for Hodgson and Liverpool will come this weekend, against Chelsea. We can forget the mid-week date with Napoli as it's becoming clear now that the Europa League is only fit for Liverpool's so-called B Team, whatever that is...

Derby Day Blues

I put up my last post on Friday when about an hour after that, it was announced that NESV had officially acquired Liverpool. Good. At the very least, the club wasn't owned by the pair of cowboys any longer although, if reports are to be believed, we'll hear from them yet. As for the new owners, I have to say, I like their under-promise, over-deliver prudent style.

But, today is not supposed to be about all this ownership malarky. Today is derby day and with the ownership issues temporarily settled, it should be just about the football. Thankfully, it was just that but oddly, looking at the performance of Liverpool today, I was quietly hoping for some form of distraction from the pitch. Unfortunately for me, no distractions came along. None whatsoever.

As for the match itself, compared to the last couple of matches, the players did look like they pulled up their socks this time (minus one or two) but there's only so much the players can do when the club's manager appears as clueless as Cher Horowitz, only less pleasing on the eyes. A lot less pleasing. And, can anyone out there explain to me what's the story with Hodgson's broad smile at the end of the match? One for the cameras eh, Roy? 

Seriously, even if given time and Hodgson's tactics are actually properly implemented by the squad as intended, at the very best, Liverpool would just end up as a very, very mediocre footballing bunch. Wonder how that fits in with NESV's plans for Liverpool's world domination? Hmmm....

Relegation Fodder?

...as opposed to you lot. Relegation fodder!

That was the way the United fan who I happen to share a work space with, ended his sentence. Ah, nothing beats a bit of morning football banter to brighten up one’s day. The odd thing was, I could actually smile and brushed away his comments as if it were some Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

Well, not today though.

To put things into perspective, the comment was made a couple of weeks ago, after matches against Arsenal, Manchester City, WBA and Birmingham left Liverpool languishing in the bottom half of the league. Not actually relegation candidates at that stage. After all, a couple wins at home in the next few weeks and Liverpool would easily shoot up the league table (hindsight is a great thing isn’t it?). Surely...

Unfortunately, things don’t seem to be going as planned and it’s looking even worse. By mid-October, the club could be rooted to the bottom of the Premiership with negative three points (one of the gifts of administration) and the possibility of being further anchored there after a visit across Stanley Park a few days later. I’m not being pessimistic but if Liverpool lost against Blackpool at Anfield, we just don’t stand a chance against Everton do we?

Anyway, if there is some light at the end of the tunnel, I don’t seem to be blinded by its glare just yet. The fact that the manager conceded that the club are in a relegation battle don’t help either. Yes, it might be the case of stating the blindingly obvious but it still didn’t sound good coming from the man in charge.

The only logical explanation (read: conspiracy theory) that comes to mind is that this is some sort of elaborate master plan by the wily old Hodgson to drive Liverpool’s selling price even further down with the aim of making Liverpool Football Club even more attractive to potential buyers and rid ourselves of the current American owners for good.

But in reality, that's just not the case, is it?

The reality of it can be summed up in Hodgson's own words:

How many clubs have I had in 35 years? What do you mean, do my methods translate? They translated from Halmstads to Malmo to Orebro to Neuchâtel Xamax to the Swiss national team.

With all due respect to the clubs and one country mentioned, does anyone see any household names in that list?

The Right Man for the Job?

I came across this article by Dion Fanning and couldn't agree more with his words, especially these ones...

The destruction of England's most successful club is not Hodgson's fault. But he is not the man to create the illusion on the field that it's not happening.


Benitez's achievement in keeping Liverpool competitive while Hicks and Gillett destroyed the club for all but his final season is now looking even more remarkable as things enter a vital endgame.

A classic case of You Don't Know What You're Missing Until It's Gone, isn't it? The timing of the article was also quite appropriate when in the same week, the blame for Liverpool's current woes were placed solely on the head of Benitez.


On the other hand, it was strange to hear from a host of British managers like Alex Ferguson, Sam Allardyce and Steve Bruce who all insisted that Hodgson is the right man for the job. Maybe they should clarify a bit more what they all meant by right man. At this stage, their right man definition appears to be of Liverpool manager that doesn't bruise their collective egos. Great for them of course, but where does that leave Liverpool?


Admittedly, its a little unfair to criticise Hodgson at such an early stage of the season but Liverpool's worst start since the 1950's isn't actually reassuring for a manager who was supposed to steady the ship. Ah, maybe the said ship has a lot more leaks than initially expected, eh?

Well, here's one way you can help plug two of the bigger holes in that ship. I'm off to do my part and send my own email.

Owen to re-join Liverpool as Club Announces League Squad

The Premier League tranfser window closed a few days ago and with that, Premiership clubs began to confirm their squads for the season at least until the January window comes along. Here's Liverpool's official squad:

Home-Grown Players

Brad Jones

Jamie Carragher

Glen Johnson

Paul Konchesky

Stephen Darby

Jay Spearing

Steven Gerrard

Joe Cole

Non Home-Grown Players

Pepe Reina

Daniel Agger

Sotirios Kyrgiakos

Martin Skrtel

Fabio Aurelio

Lucas Leiva

Raul Meireles

Christian Poulsen

Ryan Babel

Milan Jovanovic

Dirk Kuyt

Maxi Rodriguez

Fernando Torres

Of course, on seeing the list you're bound to get the knee-jerk-type fans out there, who demand Roy Hodgson's head on a plate because he's excluded shining talents like Dani Pacheco, Martin Kelly and even David N'Gog. To those of you out there that suffer from this predicament, I have only one word of advice: Relax. Oh, and while you're at that, you should probably stop screaming your collective heads off for Arda "he's-not-coming-to-Liverpool-any-time-soon" Turan. Please.

Hodgson might not have completely won over most Liverpool fans (yours truly included) but he's certainly no idiot. The players mentioned above are all 21 or under (yes, even N'Gog) and according to the new rules,
Premiership clubs can supplement their named squads with an unlimited number of under 21 players. So, there you go.

The more eagle-eyed of you out there might also be wondering how in the world Brad Jones, who holds a passport from a country 10,000 miles away from England and Wales, is considered home-grown. The simple answer to that is that Jones, although from Down Under is actually home-grown. He joined Middlesbrough way back in 1999 so there's no doubt about his home-grown credentials which conveniently makes him slightly more attractive (in a squad sense) than his predecessor, Diego Cavalieri.

And, if conventional wisdom tells you that a Premiership squad should have three goalkeepers, don't worry. The third keeper is young Hungarian, Peter Gulacsi who is not on the list because again, he's under 21.

Also, if one bothered to read the new rules (and have ultra-basic mathematics ability), you'd quickly come to the conclusion that Liverpool are 4 men short of the 25 men allowed under the new rules. Nothing to be panicked about. This simply means that Liverpool have a bit of a cushion there should the manager feel that there's a need to strengthen when the January window comes along. That's if, the current owners do give him the chance to re-invest the funds from the sale of Mascherano, Benayoun and Riera.

Anyway, as the title of this post suggests, Michael Owen is set to make a return to Liverpool. Really.

Fortunatelly, it's only for Jamie Carragher's testimonial on Saturday. Should be a good match that one. If anything else, it would certainly be strange to see Owen in a Liverpool shirt again. He'd certainly get some amount of stick from the Kop...

Rome wasn’t built in a day but...

...Pekan Trolak probably was. Have you been to Trolak? It’s a dead end, literally. Traffic can’t actually get through Trolak and one would have to do u-turn to get out of the town, an act that wouldn’t take too long since all there is the local Penghulu’s official residence, a post office that doubles as tyre shop (or something like that) and a barber, if I’m not mistaken. That’s it.

All this then conveniently brings me to Rome. OK, not really, but the official word from Liverpool Football Club is that Rome wasn’t built in a day and so, we should be patient with the current manager, that’s if, it was clear that he was trying to build Rome, not Pekan Trolak.

Eh? Hang on. Wasn’t he brought in to steady the ship and keep the team intact rather turn the club into another work-in-progress?

You see, I’m trying very hard to like Roy Hodgson’s regime at Anfield. Honestly, I am. After all, the Liverpool manager deserves all the support his predecessors received during their respective tenures at the club. The recent signing of Raul Meireles does certainly help as I was beginning to wonder, how in the world the Liverpool manager could think Christian Poulsen was a like-for-like replacement for the all-action Javier Mascherano.

Very much like when Rafa Benitez wanted to shore-up the defence by buying experience in the form of Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Hodgson was keen to do the same with the midfield hence, the acquisition of Poulsen. The two of them would be used in the Europa League, the Carling Cup, the FA Cup and probably against the League’s lesser teams when the manager opts to utilise the kids rather than Melwood’s finest. Makes complete sense.

But then, that’s where the similarity ends when it comes to these two managers’ transfer policies.

If it’s not clear already, I’d like to say that I like Liverpool’s previous manager. He didn’t compromise. Not when it came to his transfer policies. Either he‘d fork out tens of millions for the amazing talent he’s been eyeing for a while or he ends up spending a pittance for some unknown entity like say, David N’Gog, Jonjo Shelvey or Daniel Pacheco, even Lucas Leiva. Yes, at the moment they’re no world-beaters but at the very least, they have the potential to turn into magnificent players, at very reasonable costs.

Hodgson on the other hand, looks like he values experience. His track record certainly speaks for itself. Nothing particularly wrong with that really but when it comes at the expense of the selling Liverpool’s younger talents it starts to become a problem.

At the time of writing, Fulham’s Paul Konchesky looks like his on his way to Liverpool. I’m a fan of Konchesky and believe he is one of the more under-rated leftbacks in England. Unfortunately, it appears that on top of the usual cash amount, it will cost the club one Lauri Dalla Valle to obtain Konchesky’s services.

Who?

Pacheco’s name might be known by many at the moment but Dalla Valle wouldn’t be too far off either. The 19 year old Finnish striker is well-known to be one of Europe’s brightest talents and it looks like he’s on his way south to London while Konchesky at 29, makes his way North.

While there’s no guarantee that Dalla Valle would fully realise his potential over the coming years, I’d rather be patient and wait for Rome to be properly built with some of the world’s more exciting talent rather than look forward to a Trolak filled with a bunch of ageing Poulsens.

For the sake of the club, I’m hoping Roy really knows what he’s doing.


Note: No offense was meant towards the residents of Pekan Trolak. My experience of the place was almost 15 years ago at this stage. I'm sure the place is a bustling metropolis these days...

It's Roy...

Liverpool FC announced Roy Hodgson as the club's new manager this morning. I've never been so unexcited about a Liverpool manager's appointment, ever. Maybe because of all the media build-up to it. Maybe because for the first time, I didn't feel that the outgoing manager deserved the boot. Maybe because it's just Hodgson.

I don't know.

Whatever it is, it's a new beginning with a safe pair of hands.

Yes, safe. So, it'd be interesting to see whether Hodgson will do a complete u-turn and reverse all the good things Rafa Benitez has put in place OR if he was true to previous form, he'd absorb those improvements and build from there.

Here's hoping for better future for Liverpool. I'll reserve judgement on the manager for much later.