by Igor Zidane » Thu Jul 29, 2010 12:47 am
Yer see ,THIS is the reason we need to get behind ROY.
Tony Barrett
Updated 1 minute ago
Liverpool manager’s optimism tested as Europa League begins with vital players still on the beach after their World Cup exertions
Four weeks to the day since his reign began with promises of a brave new world, Roy Hodgson heads into his first competitive game as Liverpool manager having declared that the squad he inherited is ill equipped for the immediate task at hand.
That Hodgson had cause for complaint is beyond doubt, with the World Cup hangover costing him the services of several of his senior stars for tonight’s Europa League third qualifying round, first-leg tie against Rabotnicki, of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The hand that has been dealt to him is a poor one and the time and opportunity afforded him to make the most of it has been wholly insufficient.
But there was something about his mood and his sense of foreboding yesterday that flew in the face of his pronouncement 28 days ago that he was embarking on his dream job. Tetchy and at pains to stress the difficulties he is encountering, Hodgson carried the air of a man who has recognised the size of the challenge facing him.
If this was the dose of reality that his appointment was intended to bring, then it was administered with a surprising brutality given his reputation as a gentleman of football.
Gone were the platitudes about how even the shortcomings of Liverpool in their present state did not make the manager’s job any less attractive. Gone also was the optimism that his arrival at Anfield had ushered in.
Instead, Hodgson cut a surprisingly irritable figure, even finding reason to come out with a cryptic comment of which Rafael Benítez, his predecessor, would have been proud. “All we ever seem to do at Liverpool is have discussions,” Hodgson said, having been asked if he had held talks with the club about the importance of the Europa League and where the competition rated on their list of priorities.
From being invigorated, Hodgson suddenly and inexplicably appeared burdened, to such an extent that he even allowed himself to contemplate the possibility of Liverpool being beaten by Rabotnicki, a club of such modest renown that, when pressed on his knowledge of them, the Liverpool manager could offer little. “We know as much as we were able to find out in a week,” he said.
“If the worst happened and we didn’t get through because Rabotnicki prove to be the stronger team, then we were not able to sustain the current situation. In World Cup years it is a tremendous burden on the senior teams from countries like England, Spain, Italy and Germany to have to play third qualifying round matches on July 29 when players haven’t returned from holiday.
“Everybody, most of all Uefa, knows you can’t bring people off the beach, give them three days’ training and throw them into a first-class game. So the team will be different to that that starts the Premier League season.
“I couldn’t have envisaged at the start of my time at Liverpool a more difficult situation, coming to Skopje, playing a good opponent, having very little chance to work with the first team and not having as many as ten first-team players.
“Does it detract from my first game? You could say that. But the team, I am confident, will not let the club down. We will be trying to win but I’m far from confident that will be the case.”
Talking down his team’s chances is all well and good if it lessens the expectation that has had a crippling effect on Liverpool, but if it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy it will be another matter entirely, particularly because one of the biggest challenges facing Hodgson is to convince his detractors that the job he has taken on is not beyond him.
Rabotnicki (possible; 4-3-3): M Bogatinov — G Dimovski, Fernando Lopes, E Belica, V Sekulovski — V Tunevski, N Gligorov, G Todorovski — Zé Carlos, Wandeir, Fabio Silva.
Liverpool (possible; 4-4-1-1): D Cavalieri — M Kelly, M Skrtel, D Wilson, D Agger — D Amoo, Lucas Leiva, J Spearing, M Jovanovic — A Aquilani — D Ngog.
Referee: A Damato (Italy).
UP THE PURPS !!!

https://www.colfc.co.uk/