Liverpool FC Forum

by **Octsky** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:05 pm

Reg wrote:Maybe the manager has taken a step back and said 'lets how you lads want to do it'.

I mean that was traditional Liverpool football yeasterday as under Rafa or Ged, Roy didnt 'create' it from some cunning plan.

or maybe donald duck flew in from the window and push the team on to this huge victory.

my point is, we can never know, but all i can say is the players are more settled now that the ownership crisis is over.

the team can now concentrate on real football, and Roy dont have to fight fire on both ends anymore.

winning our next 3 games over the "lesser sides" will be great and win some time/ faith for Roy.

by **Thommo's perm** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:09 pm

Reg wrote:Maybe the manager has taken a step back and said 'lets how you lads want to do it'.

I mean that was traditional Liverpool football yeasterday as under Rafa or Ged, Roy didnt 'create' it from some cunning plan.

Reg are you drunk?

by **Reg** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:17 pm

After losing to Northampton and Blackpool, maybe Donald Duck did have something to do with yesterday's performance ! :laugh:

That said you make a good point, at some stage after the ownership crisis, the players were going to calm down and refind their touch. I think thats an important point to make because I always believed the players felt the pressure of both the ownership and Rafa sagas.

Anyway, if we can get 3 more consecutive victories now then you have to believe with the way other clubs are dropping points then top 4 might be miraculously achievable!

by **Reg** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:18 pm

Thommo's perm wrote:
Reg wrote:Maybe the manager has taken a step back and said 'lets how you lads want to do it'.

I mean that was traditional Liverpool football yeasterday as under Rafa or Ged, Roy didnt 'create' it from some cunning plan.

Reg are you drunk?

Go back to your playpen Thommo, this is adults talk.

by **Ciggy** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:34 pm

Reg wrote:Maybe the manager has taken a step back and said 'lets how you lads want to do it'.

According to someone off the rattle a third party has stepped in and sorted out the dressing room problems and the players have told Roy how they would like to play. Lets hope it continues.

by **bigmick** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:54 pm

I'm not that sure that there's been any real "seeing of the light" as far as Roy is concerned, nor am I sure that he did his job yesterday fantastically better than he has previously. Like in all football matches, many many factors come into play and whereas at the moment things are going for us (Essien and Drogba being out, kuyt being fit etc etc), in the past they weren't.

For much of the season we've carried Torres, but for whatever reason he exploded back to his fantastically brilliant best yesterday. I'd love to be able to say it was down to Roy, but the truth is how the feck do any of us know why he suddently clicked? I'm not even sure I buy into the idea that we are pressing much higher up to be toitally honest. If you watch yesterdays game, we sit oiff and let them have it from the kick off. They keep the ball in their half for over a minute and we stand and watch them. Not saying I think we were wrong, but it was hardly gung ho balls out up and at em stuff.

No, the way I see it is quite simply this. With the strength of the team and squad we have, we really ought to finish up somewhere between 3rd and 8th, inclusive. My guess is that that is exactly where we will finish under Roy, just like we did under Rafa last season. Roy isn't uprooting trees, but he is doing a reasonably decent job. He never was the buffoon that many made him out to be, he was always a decent manager and he is doing a decent job. No more, no less.

Like his predecessor though, if Torres and/or Gerrard don't do the business for him he won't win many football matches. Whether that's down to him to sort out, Damien Commolli, this mysterious "third party"

or whoever else, it must be sorted. We need more good players, top quality players, it's a s simple as that really.

by **andy_g** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:01 pm

so if the win yesterday had nothing to do with hodgson's influence and the players have just been told to 'get on with it', why do we need a manager at all? if the result had nothing at all to do with his work finally paying off and the team beginning to gel under him then we don't need him, or anybody else. is that right?

by **kazza** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:03 pm

I think too many people are putting too much emphasis on Roy's influence on the teams performance (no doubt due to the corner they have painted themselves in). Last year when people were saying get rid of Rafa some of us were saying it had less to do with Rafa as it did that the owners were raping the club, selling our good players and not spending the money replacing them. Some of us said that no matter who the manager was it would not change the performance (how wrong we were as we did get worse).

Suddenly we have a new owner, he starts to make the right noises and the players start responding. The difference is not Roy changed his tactics or learned his lesson, it is that players that have been well below their best started to play like they should have been playing in the first place. This is the first time I have seen the old Torres for a while (even Gerrard to some extent) and just like that we had our best performance for a while.

I think it is beyond doubt that Roy will not be the manager next year (barring maybe winning the PL) and he is on borrowed time. The situation has changed from total doom to a bright future all since we purged the cancer from the club, and now the players are finally on board and perhaps thinking long term again. I am not sure it really has too much to do with Roy.

I feel better about the new owner and our chances for the future. A young, energetic and talented manager may well be on the cards.

by **bigmick** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:05 pm

andy_g wrote:so if the win yesterday had nothing to do with hodgson's influence and the players have just been told to 'get on with it', why do we need a manager at all? if the result had nothing at all to do with his work finally paying off and the team beginning to gel under him then we don't need him, or anybody else. is that right?

I know your post probably isn't aimed at me Andy, but I'm just saying that some fo the criticism Hodgson picked up earlier in the season was borderline ridiculous, and neither is he now the best coach in World football.

When he first came though I was very hopeful that he would be an improvement on his predecessor, and although my confidence in that took an almighty battering a few weeks back, I'm now coming around to the idea once again that he will take us in the right direction.

by **andy_g** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:08 pm

surely if it was only to do with the change of owners and the resulting euphoria then we'd have responded straight away in the derby.

i'm not saying for an instant that our upturn in form and results is purely down to hodgson but it seems remarkable to deny that it is anything to do with him. the majority of the players have been saying for a while that they are enjoying working with him and that they are slowly getting the hang of how he wants them to play. yesterday the manager fielded a team and a system that worked and he deserves credit for that.

by **andy_g** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:10 pm

bigmick wrote:I know your post probably isn't aimed at me Andy, but I'm just saying that some fo the criticism Hodgson picked up earlier in the season was borderline ridiculous, and neither is he now the best coach in World football.

When he first came though I was very hopeful that he would be an improvement on his predecessor, and although my confidence in that took an almighty battering a few weeks back, I'm now coming around to the idea once again that he will take us in the right direction.

i agree with you mick. and no, my post wasn't aimed at you. its aimed at those that believe that the manager has no impact on our results - except for when we're losing, of course.

by **Reg** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:10 pm

Tell me, was that, or was that not, pure Rafa football yesterday?

From that, we can assess how much influence the current manager is having on the team.

For me it was 100% rafa. Mick you can now come in and say it was 0%.

by **Reg** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:12 pm

andy_g wrote:
bigmick wrote:I know your post probably isn't aimed at me Andy, but I'm just saying that some fo the criticism Hodgson picked up earlier in the season was borderline ridiculous, and neither is he now the best coach in World football.

When he first came though I was very hopeful that he would be an improvement on his predecessor, and although my confidence in that took an almighty battering a few weeks back, I'm now coming around to the idea once again that he will take us in the right direction.

i agree with you mick. and no, my post wasn't aimed at you. its aimed at those that believe that the manager has no impact on our results - except for when we're losing, of course.

I'm looking for HARD EVIDENCE of a change of style that differentiates todays style from what we had over the last 5 seasons - thats all. From yesterdays performance, I dont see any yet.

by **bigmick** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:12 pm

andy_g wrote:surely if it was only to do with the change of owners and the resulting euphoria then we'd have responded straight away in the derby.

i'm not saying for an instant that our upturn in form and results is purely down to hodgson but it seems remarkable to deny that it is anything to do with him. the majority of the players have been saying for a while that they are enjoying working with him and that they are slowly getting the hang of how he wants them to play. yesterday the manager fielded a team and a system that worked and he deserves credit for that.

Obviously mate, only a fool would deny that Roy has been very influencial in our set up, our tactics and the like. To say it is down to the new ownership given the fact that by their own admission they know little about football is just about as desperate a straw clutch as you are ever likely to see.

Nowadays we play a completely different style to the one we used for much of last season. Whether or not it proves to be better we will se in time, but that is is different is surely beyond dispute. This isn't down to a change in the ownership, it's down to a change in the manager, pretending otherwise is just being silly.

by **jacdaniel** » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:13 pm

At the end of the day, Roy took the majority of the stick when we were losing and playing sh.it.

Now that we are playing better and winning some games, Roy deserves the credit.

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