Why? Why? Why? Fernando?....

This picture would look wrong with four blue shirts, the thought is devastating to Liverpool supporters.

Why? How could he? That's what everyone wants to know, that's what everyone has asked.

His timing is awful, he has no commitment, Judas, they've said.

Now for starters, this is just the situation the way i see it, I'm not in the know, at all, i have no connections, just opinions, I'm not trying to play devil's advocate even if at times it seems so, just wanted to put down my thoughts on the situation.

This wont be a heartfelt, teary eyed, open letter, reminiscing about the good times and pleading with the player to stay. Other people have done that - quite well too - but that's just not me.

So, he wants to leave, isn't that something which many of us have suggested at over the last 12 months, PARTICULARLY the last 6?? He has asked to leave, but i feel that this request was discussed between Torres and his agent earlier in the month, and if rumours are to be believed, then the request was submitted before Suarez deal was announced, or after depending on which rumour you believe. Thing is, it's just rumour.

The silence is not deafening, after all how could it be, it's silence. It does speak volumes, it confirms that Liverpool have departed from the media circus and taken to doing business behind closed doors, as it should be. No news is, in this case at least, and in my own opinion, good news.

But why? Why would he want to leave? Well that story starts back in 2007. The hardest decision of his career, allot harder than the decision to stay or leave Liverpool. He decided to leave Atletico Madrid, his boyhood club, the club he captained, the supporters who loved him, his home. For all Liverpool is to Fernando Torres, it could only ever be a second home, after all, where any of us to be professional footballers could any other club really replace LFC in our hearts?? Of course not.

He left Atletico to become a champion, to win trophies and with Atletico he could not do that at the time, and in stepped Liverpool. A team that had won the European Cup, the FA Cup and appeared in a second European Cup final, all in the space of 3 years. We had new owners promising the world, new stadium, money for world class players, the promise of being champions once again. And most of all, Liverpool had the supporters, the famous Kop, the anthem whose title adorned his captains armband at Atletico. It was a move that would surely guarantee him the medals, the glory and the unconditional support of the worlds best supporters - a match made in heaven.

That was 2007, it is 2011 now and things have hardly gone as planned. Now we all know the Hicks and Gillet story, their promises of greatness undoubtedly played a part in Torres decision to come to Liverpool. They are gone now, but the problems they constructed, the lies and mistrust are still lingering and still causing trouble for the club. And during his time at Liverpool, his old club Atletico have actually won the Europa League and the European Super Cup, albeit in the last 12 months, but its more than what has been achieved by Liverpool. Surely Nando must look at that and wonder what would have been had he chose to stay at Atletico, nothing to say he would have stayed so long, but surely the thought must have crossed his mind.

He has also lost the manager for whom he had unquestioned respect, the player himself has continually expressed his gratitude and respect for Rafa Benitez and i suspect that Nando would have preferred Rafa to stay.

Rafa was the manager who got the best out of Torres, who helped to develop his game. It is not Rafa's fault that for the last 12 months of his Anfield reign he could not get the best out of Torres due to a succession of injuries, many picked up on international duty. Simply bad luck. Nor was it Rafa's fault that he did not have the money to bring in a worthy partner for Torres, a signing like Suarez would not have happened had Hicks and Gillet still been here.

In the summer, Christian Purslow made promises to Torres, promises about where the club was going, about how we would be competitive etc etc. Well Christian Purslow is a snake, a snake that masquerades as Liverpool supporter. He could not guarantee anything to Torres, no one could, a sale was never guaranteed any time soon, more false, empty promises should not have been made, even if the result was to keep a star at the club, eventually the lies would come back an bite us in the arse - and now it has.

Purslow got rid of Rafa, which was a very bad mistake, regardless of your opinions on Rafa, we where never going to get an equal or better manager to come in and take charge of the club in the situation we where in at the time. And for those who cry Dalglish, at the time the club did not want him, Purslow told him no, so yeah, never going to get a better or equal manager to replace Rafa at the time. We would have been better sticking with Rafa, only one truly bad season after all, with the latter half of his reign suffering with off the field goings on and fan protests, poor ownership and towards the end a lack of funds.

In comes Hodgson, bad move, one half  decent season with a usually poor side followed by a decent cup run the next season which came at the expense of league form does not make you a top class manager worthy of the Liverpool job. Torres clearly was not in favour of this move, he looked dejected, uninterested and probably uninspired especially as he would ideally want to play alongside a top class striker, and Roy wanted Carlton Cole - says it all.

Hodgson is now gone and Torres is seemingly back to his best. He has looked like a totally different player under Kenny Dalglish.

He was also quite quick to commit to the reds following the appointment of Dalglish.

And that brings us to the point of it all. WHY does he want to leave.

To win things of course, he isn't winning anything here.

Maybe he saw the club seemingly walking away from the Suarez deal as the final straw, but such is the Liverpool way that i suspect that not even the players knew the deal was on the verge of being done, Torres is perhaps guilty of a little impatience in this respect.

He has respect for the fans of that i am sure. MANY will disagree, but his decision to want to leave is not an easy one for him to make.

Ultimately he is doing what he feels is best for his career. He wants to win trophies. It is nothing against the Liverpool supporters. The offer from Chelsea has come in, but i suspect that the discussion between him and his agent was to consider any offers that came in, the fact that Chelsea came in was just by chance, had it been City or Barca the situation i think would have been the same. Where it to be ManUtd who came in i think the request would not have been submitted.

And the actions of aspects of the Liverpool support have been outrageous. We are all annoyed, confused, upset and let down, but we still do not actually know what is fully going on.

Rewind to 2005, Steven Gerrard had all but signed for Chelsea, the writing was on the wall or so it seemed. He also wanted to win things, he did not want to retire with his only honours being the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup, he wanted to win the biggest, he wanted the Premier League, he wanted the European Cup, but above all he wanted to do all this with Liverpool - just as Torres does now, for me, that is unquestionable. Then what happened? ISTANBUL. That was enough to convince Gerrard that Liverpool where capable of winning anything, after all how can a team crowned European champions not be capable of winning the Premier League, especially with new owners on the horizon and a manager with the ability to transform the fortunes of a largely substandard squad.

Gerrard stayed on the back of the clubs biggest success in 20 years, he then won the FA Cup again, featured in another European Cup final and finally started the assault on the Premier League summit. Torres came along and was welcomed with open arms, taken to the hearts of Liverpool supporters world wide, the assault continued. Culminating in the club coming closer than ever in recent history to actually winning the the League in 2009. Since then we've gone backwards.

There is no Istanbul like miracle to convince Torres to stay, he has a manager who is getting the best out of him, but the club is still no closer to winning the league, the Europa League is a target and would be a welcome success but is it enough?

I have no doubt that Torres will stay till the summer at least, just my opinion. But can anyone really blame him for wanting to further his career?

Chelsea are going backwards, their squad is ageing, they are no AC Milan, they can not work wonders with pensioners. There are echoes with Liverpool fall down the table 18months ago, the owner looks bored.

Look at it like this, Chelsea are not guaranteed a Champions League place next season, in fact, potentially if results should be favourable next week, we, LIVERPOOL, will be 3 points behind Chelsea in the table, and all this after our worst start in decades, and that is a result of a tight league and Chelsea's own short comings.

They are not the right club for Torres to join. They are a step down.

He will not receive the support he has here, if anything he will be just another face, the plastic flags and free scarves will not replace the Kop, and the cockneys will almost certainly turn on him as soon as his form dips, after all, they boo Drogba a fair few times a season, like him or love him, he's a top class striker and should not be booed, probably past his peak, he wont be there for much longer.

IT IS NOT ABOUT MONEY.

The suggestion that it is annoys me to no end. Even when Torres has talked about his Liverpool future it has always been about trophies. He has tasted success at international level, he has won the European Championship and the World Cup, he longs for success of that magnitude at club level. Pictured with the World Cup he had a Liverpool scarf around his neck. It is not as if the Spanish kit man gave him the scarf, he had it because he took it, because he loves this club and despite recent developments, he loves the supporters. He wants to win, and i do not doubt for one second that he wants to win things with Liverpool - but it just does not look like happening, and he is getting OLDER not YOUNGER.
Many supporters have over reacted slightly, what does burning shirts achieve?? Shirts that bare the Liverpool crest, the Liver Bird, that famous line 'You'll Never Walk Alone', the flames for those we lost, what does burning the shirt achieve?? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Torres at the moment is walking alone.

There is a very good chance, well more than a good chance really that he will stay. What then?? Do we back him? Do we boo him and make him wish he had left?? The reception he gets on Wednesday will truly be a 'mixed reception' and rightly so, he does have allot to answer for, apologies to be made, trust and respect to be re-earned. And do not say it is not possible, Steven Gerrard is the evidence, when it looked certain he would leave for Chelsea, many voiced their displeasure, many simply got behind him and showed him the kind of support that we are famous for, we made our voices heard, we made him feel wanted. Look at Xabi Alonso, when the club tried to sell him, the supporters got right behind him, they made it known that he was ours, we wanted him to stay, when it became clear that Xabi would leave in the summer that support intensified, and to this day Xabi still speaks with the utmost respect and love for the Liverpool supporters.

Liverpool Football Club has a much better chance of success this season with an in form Fernando Torres lining up for us. The Europa League is an achievable goal, should results go our way then by next Sunday evening a top 4 finish is no longer a wild fantasy, it is a realistic achievement, and if it is to be achieved it will be achieved most likely at the expense of Chelsea.

Michael Owen left Liverpool because he didn't feel the club could achieve anything and he wanted to play for a 'bigger' club, 10 months later we won the European Cup for the 5th time and now he is chin deep in manure, i bet if given the choice he would have stayed at Liverpool. How much of a mistake would it be if Torres were to join Chelsea and end up playing in the Europa League whilst Liverpool returned to the Champions League.

Torres owes the club till summer.

Also i suspect that the fans burning shirts and spouting all sorts of none sense without knowing the full story were the same people that were slagging the owners off for not signing Suarez simply because the media said the deal looked off because Liveprool were only prepared to pay £12.5m. The reality of course was far different. Ajax wanted £30m they were quite vocal in that respect, vastly inflated by the Dzeko transfer, even Ajax would acknowledge that, we played hardball an negotiated them down to a more reasonable £22.8m - good business - but people jumped the gun.

Torres does not necessarily want to leave Liverpool, leaving Liverpool is what he feels he  must do to achieve his career goal of actually winning silverware at club level.

It is unfortunate that it should come to this but we have to ask ourselves one thing;

Do we want to keep Fernando Torres?

The answer to that question in my mind is yes.

And i come to that answer simply on the basis that he is a world class striker, who on his day is probably the single biggest threat to the oppositions goal. And i make the decision by completely ignoring the last few days. It comes down to the ability of the player and the needs of the club, he has the ability and we need it.

Suarez was not a replacement, he was signed to compliment Torres.

Suarez is an excellent finisher and a real goal threat, but we do not know if he will hit the ground running in England or if he will take time to settle, this highlights how much Torres is important to the club. If Suarez needs time, we have Torres to rely on, if Suarez arrives with a bang then Torres will benefit immensely. After all, how many clubs in England can boast two world class, fast paced, strong, and skillful attackers?? They would be a nightmare to play against. Who do you mark? If you concentrate on one then the other flourishes in the space that he is given.

Maybe 4 months alongside Suarez and a fantastic end to the season will see Torres live to regret the last few days which I'm sure he already does, and make him want to be here, make him commit - only this time mean it without reservation.

If Torres did not know exactly what he meant to the fans then he certainly does now, but all the crap about not supporting him if he stays is ridiculous.

As supporters we have suffered allot over the last few years because of the lies and deceit of a few hated men.

Fernando Torres has also been duped by these same men, he wants to win things, and that is what they promised him, to him it must seem that they only said that to make him stay, they only said what they said to trick him, he must feel that they showed him a lack of respect as a professional.

Lets not jump the gun reds. I suspect we will here more on Monday from the club on this matter and when the club speaks we will listen and we know exactly were we stand.

Ignore the media circus, the endless pursuit of column inches and Sky News headlines that became much sought after under Hicks and Gillet are gone, we have returned to the Liverpool Way of speaking when we need to and doing business in house.

Long post this, but there is allot to say and I'm sure i haven't covered it all but that's how i look at the situation.

The timing is bad, very bad, allot of grovelling needs to be done, but he can start with that next Sunday against Chelsea, a goal and a kiss of the badge to really wind the Chelsea supporters up.

They say we're deluded, that we're not famous anymore, but where it not for a Russian and his millions Chelsea would be just another London club, and looking at the table, we're moving up, and at this rate we could well pass Chelsea on their way down.

We wont all agree, but Wednesday night vs Stoke i will be there on the Kop, and our #9 will have my support and i suspect i wont be the only one.

It's all rumour at the moment - let us wait for the facts.

I hope he stays.

Just my views folks more HERE

Fulham, Stoke and Transfers

Ok, so it wasn't the greatest performance that we are likely to see from the reds, but lets face it, in our current situation we'll take the three points how ever they come. Also, too many times in the past we have seen Liverpool cave in to pressure in the final 10mins of games and drop points as a result, Wednesday is a step in the right direction, it may have been a laboured performance, it may have been sloppy at times, and we may have invited pressure on too much, but, we still left with three points. Now I'm sure the players are in agreement with the supporters that we would all love to avoid situations like what we found ourselves in for the final 10mins against Fulham in future games, but it is reassuring to know that we are actually capable of holding out.

Fulham never really came to do any real damage, looking at the way they set up, and the way they went about the game, their plan was all about frustration. They closed down and tried to restrict the passing movement that Liverpool had expertly displayed against Wolves, they had plenty behind the ball, and played quite deep at times always looking to play on the break, which, when you consider that Liverpool had a 5 man midfield, was something of a strange way to play. And for the first 10mins at least, it looked like we where going to run riot, we started brightly, we retained the ball well, passing was excellent, the goal was coming.

And where is Sian Massey when you need her?? Fernando Torres incorrectly ruled offside, in pretty much the same position between the defenders as Meireles was at Wolves. The finish was calm and composed and just what we needed. Had the goal stood, the game would have taken a different turn, Fulham would have to have played with more purpose, open up a bit more, and with energy levels running high more goals would have come. Instead the first half seemed to pass without incident. The second more of the same.

The own goal was brilliant, a chip and then a complete miss kick, nice to see a bit of luck go our way for a change. The game then dragged on to the point where we found ourselves under increasing pressure for no reason at all, too much haste in the play, sitting back too deep, inviting Fulham forwards, but Fulham never really looked like making the push on their own, even after the goal, their game never changed, we where contributing to our own downfall yet again and the final whistle couldn't come soon enough.

The reason i suspect is down to tiredness, early on the players looked bright and energetic, but from the hour mark onwards, many players looked like they where running on empty. And there was definitely a big Lucas sized hole in midfield, say what you will, but for the last 18months he has been a very dependable and often unsung performer in the middle, and he was missed. Poulsen again, as he did against Wolves, played well, he looks a different player than the one we saw before New Year, doesn't quite have it there for a full game, but he was physical, passing was good, link up was good, still not world class, but he did a good job.

I have to say though, Steven Gerrard had no effect on the game whatsoever, too often was he playing too deep, dropping back to collect the ball to take it up, and more often than not the ball played went backwards or sideways, others did this at times, but for a player who was chomping at the bit to get going, he didn't even get started. Match fitness doesn't come into it either, he has trained everyday with the team and a comeback game against a Fulham side with little ambition to do anything other than get a point was just what he needed. Hopefully he will rediscover his form in the coming weeks like so many of his team mates have.

Johnson for once did quite well at left back, the main problem with him in this position though is that nine times out of ten he has to turn back onto his right to get the cross in, this makes it too easy for defenders to force him to use the left, which isn't going to be of much use most of the time. Have to say though, Dani Pacheco must be wondering what he has to do to get a game, great summer with Spain at the under 19 championships, golden boot winner, a real hot prospect, if he's lucky he gets to sit on the bench - give him a go!

We may have been fortunate to come away with a victory but at least it saved us from bemoaning another poor decision from the officials, both linesman had a poor game as did the referee to be fair.

Stoke up next, and lets face it, not an easy team to play against. Interestingly, they lost their last game to Fulham and play Wolves at the weekend, so by the time the game comes around they could have lost back to back games against the teams that we recorded back to back victories against. So it is promising, and with the reds playing better football, confidence up i think we are very good for the three points. Stokes only real threat is those silly throw-ins that take about 90seconds to complete, stop them, stop the threat, maybe throw the Greek in to rough it up a bit. Next Wednesday is a perfect opportunity for us to start February off as we mean to go on, and make up for the disappointing 2-0 defeat from earlier in the season. These are the games LFC should be winning - no doubts.

Transfer time! Bid rejected for Charlie Adam?? Get in, made up, over the moon, decent player he may be, in good form, yes he is, but, he is not what Liverpool need. We have plenty of depth in midfield, Poulsen, Lucas, Gerrard, Meireles, Shelvey and if needed Pacheco can play through the middle albeit slightly advanced. Adam is worth at the very most, very very most, £6m. £4m is a fair price for player who cost Blackpool just £500k, and he is not a priority for Liverpool at this time, and he is by no means worth upwards of £10m, the thought is ridiculous. Buying him would be a waste of money, currently we already play with 3 central midfielders, can't see how signing another would help, especially not with other potential signings having the ability to alter the formation.....

And that brings us to Luis Suarez, the biter, the cat between the posts, an he scores some decent goals too. His arrival is not nailed on certain, but quite likely, and in the event that it does go through, you would have to say that the formation is also likely to change, with him off Torres, a midfielder will have to make way, presumably one of the middle 3, and that's a hard pick to make, on performances alone though, i have to say Lucas and Meireles deserve their places. Reports suggest 20m euros offer rejected, Ajax want 25m euros apparently, middle ground then, 22.5m euros should close the deal on that one, if the reports are true, the player himself certainly wants to come, especially to play alongside Torres....

Speaking of the #9, Chelsea bid £35m, but then again don't they do this every window?? has it ever worked? We always have something that they want, sadly for them though, they'll never have Torres, or Gerrard, or 5 European Cups, or 18 League Titles, or Anfield and its atmosphere, Mr Abramovich probably wakes up hot an sweaty in the middle of the night wondering why he bothered with Chelsea in the first place when he could so easily have bought the club he so wishes to emulate. As for reports that Torres has held talks with Kenny Dalglish about his future, that is I'm afraid, old news, that was weeks ago, remember, it was after those talks that he came out and expressed his desire to stay with Liverpool and honour his contract, how long ago was that? errrrr little over 3 weeks.

The fact that the media are reporting it now as if its new is just a poor attempt to elevate the story further, to sell more papers, get more web hits, as far as i see it, Chelsea made an offer of £35m, when asked, Liverpool responded by saying NO even posting on LFC.tv that the player was not for sale. That's it, there is nothing else, direct quotes there, Chelsea acknowledge bid, Liverpool acknowledge turning it down further adding that he isn't for sale. The media then add that he has had talks about his future, yep, covered that, weeks ago, and that he is begging Liverpool to negotiate with Chelsea, begging?? of course he is, that's why the stories use direct quotes from the player and his representatives and LFC, oh wait a second, they DON'T. Don't believe everything that you read in the comics, or the pro Manure/Chelski media.

Nando has more respect for the club and it's supporters than people give him credit for, would not surprise in the slightest if stories to the contrary are being spoon fed to the media by Chelsea, really wouldn't surprise me.

Right thats me done now, as always feedback is much appreciated - it really is, you can follow me on Twitter HERE please feel free to retweet this post, followbacks for those who do!

Oh an if the woman with the Vuvuzela, KOP 305 Wednesday v Fulham, do me a favour love....leave it at home next time.

Auf Wiedersehen Ryan

Ryan Babel has left Liverpool, a sentence many people have been wanting to hear for some time now. The reason?? He quite simply did not deliver on any of his potential. Why?? Only the player himself will know the real reason why.

Ryan wasn't or rather isn't a bad player, he came to Liverpool a young and exciting prospect, and at the start of his time with the club,  was used mainly as a substitute, and it has to be said, he did quite well in this role, scoring a few goals in the process. He was making the right impression, doing the right things, but it all seemed to go downhill from there.

On the rare occasion that he did get a starting position, his game was poor. He had already shown people what he is capable of, but he just didn't perform in the way that he had done in the final 15-20mins of games. And i think that was all down to attitude, he's a young player, he's moved to the Premier League for what was a big fee for a 20yr old with no experience of the English game, an most importantly he's moved to a Liverpool team that had just appeared in its second European Cup final in 3years, he'd made the right impression for a few weeks, it can only be assumed that in his mind, he'd 'made it', and all the glory was just meant to comer.

Wrong attitude, wrong idea, the hard work should never stop and success needs to be earned. Quite often he would deliver 'lazy' or half hearted performances, but then, frustratingly, he would do something, something brilliant, like his goal against Chelsea in the Champions League. More often than not thought, it would be a great run, and a decent piece of skill that would leave the collective asking "why can't he do that all the time????".

Sadly it all comes down to attitude, and Ryan's was not the best during his time at Liverpool, and maybe a fresh start is just what he needs in his career, but if the attitude doesn't change, he could end up leaving his new German masters for half the fee they paid for him too. Or maybe the Germans can find a solution to the Enigma that is Ryan Babel and get the best out of him, only time will tell.

Pretty much a peripheral figure and regarded by most as surplus to requirements i don't think he will be missed too much by the Liverpool collective and i don't believe that he is any great loss to the team and they will cope fine without him, and to be honest I don't think his absence will affect the team in any way. But Ryan did leave us with something to remember him by, and you have to give him credit for it, it is sad that years down the line when people talk about Babel, most people will only recall two things:

• That he was a bright young talent that failed to deliver time and time again
• And this....

Absolute quality, Webb himself was probably wondering how that got out of his private collection and i wouldn't be too surprised to see this image somewhere amongst the Liverpool supporters next time good old Howard comes for a visit.

Good Luck Ryan! YNWA

Dancing Past Wolves

The transformation of Liverpool Football Club under Kenny Dalglish has been nothing short of amazing.
Barely a month ago, Liverpool succumbed to a rather lifeless and embarrassing defeat to Wolves at Anfield, and lets not make any suggestions of it being 'just an off night', i was present, Wolves did little more than they did on Saturday, and yet where able to walk away with 3 points. That pretty much sums up how poor Liverpool were on that cold December night.

But one month on, and watching Liverpool play is a joy to behold.

Pass and move he said, pass - and - move, its the Liverpool way. Yet many in the media, the so called experts where quick to voice concerns over Kenny Dalglish's ability to instill this into the team and remarked that things had changed since the King's playing and managerial days at Anfield, with the underlying message seeming to be that his old philosophy would not work. Hope they where watching Sunday! Pass and move is, as has been said many times before, the 'fabric' of the game, why should this notion be any different to Liverpool FC. Ok so we have been used to slow build up from the back, passing backwards and sideways then back again just to move forwards over recent years, but in barely a month that has all changed for the good.

The Liverpool performance against Wolves was not perfect, at times there was a tendency to just sit back a bit, play a few hurried passes/clearances, BUT, it was a very accomplished and complete performance from the reds who where well worth the 3 points and who where by no means flattered by the scoreline. And the third goal sums up how far the team has come this month, 30 passes, yes 30! I'll say 30 because i don't think the ball to Torres could be described as a pass, but whether you say 30 or 31 its still more than the 2 or 3 that club has struggled to put together for some time.

In my last post after the Derby i addressed the negativity and criticism of Raul Meireles, and i said it was all rubbish, even the best make mistakes and i said then that his mistakes where down to being a little more confident than his team mates, many of whom have endured a long and hard 18months at the club, and i said that with everyone up for the fight and singing from the same song sheet, his effectiveness and creativity would gain him universal praise, rather than criticism. Told you so! He was immense in midfield, a real general leading by example and i think it will continue for some time, arguably our best buy for a considerable amount of time.

Fernando Torres looks like the fresh faced menace that terrorised the Premier League from 2007-2009 and that is down to the belief and confidence that Kenny Dalglish has given him, 3 goals in 4 games under the King and long may it continue. But it is the whole team, the much criticised Poulsen gave a good performance, Reina as always was superb and Martin Kelly looks in no danger of losing his starting place any time soon. This post would be a mile long if i had to praise each player for their contribution individually, so i'll have to just have to leave it there with some selected highlights! But it was a team performance and the team was superb.

So much has changed in the team this month and as its transfer window time it wouldn't be fair to ignore the possibilities. Charlie Adam is a decent midfielder, and £4m is fair price for his services considering Blackpool played £500k for his services, but LFC have alot of midfielders and this area of the team is not a priority, and with Keisuke Honda also being linked with a move to LFC for around £10m it comes down to a choice really and also money i suppose, but out of the two i would rather have Honda than Adam, and any suggestion from Holloway that it would take a two figure sum to land Adam is delusional, i cant see any team willing to pay more than £6m and the hard line stance of the manager will probably mean that Adam will go nowhere.

Luis Suarez, please please please! The way Liverpool are playing under Dalglish will suit Suarez down to the ground and i think he would really compliment the reds newly discovered style of play. It is a long time since a potential signing captured the imagination of the LFC fan base and i really hope that the deal goes through, it would be a crime to miss out on him.

The way LFC and NESV have operated in this transfer is refreshing, we are no longer being bullied over price and if the reports are true it is LFC that are doing all the bullying, i think it will be a long time before we are bullied into paying over the odds for a player. Consider Adam, i don't think the club will pay the two figure sum that Blackpool want, but in times gone by the club might have folded and just paid whatever the other club wanted. I also think contract terms and wages etc will now be more strict under the new ownership which will only help the club in moving forwards, we'll get real value for the money we pay.

I hope the last stretch of the window goes favourably for the reds and i look forwards with excitement to the future ahead.

The team are playing well, they were superb against Wolves and the future looks good, a first win under the King, Fulham to come, hopefully another 3 points too, but a performance like Saturday will go a long way to making those 3 points a reality!

As always feedback is appreciated and you can follow me on Twitter Follow ME. Shout outs for retweets!

Take care folks!

Reds On Track

Just over a week since Kenny Dalglish returned to Liverpool Football club, a week?? seems a lot longer than that to me.

And the main reason for that is probably the rapid transformation of the club in such a short space of time. The game against Blackburn, a game that saw an awful performance from the reds in every area, a game which ultimately proved to be the final nail in Roy Hodgsons coffin, is (at the time of writing) not even 2 weeks old and already much has changed.

The supporters have been well and truely lifted, the affect that Kenny Dalglish has had could not have been achieved by any other living person. There is optimism, belief, unity, and that's just the supporters. The players do not look in any way shape or form like the players who capitulated at Ewood Park, and for so long this season have been below par.

There is a real attacking intent, the players believe that they can do it, the manager knows they can do it and the supporters are right behind them. And it is all down to the King.

Look at Torres, suffered with injuries last season and in the summer, this season he has been fit for a considerable amount of time, more so than he had been at this stage last season, but he looked completely dejected, he had lost his way, showing only flashes of what he's capable of, and those flashes few and far between. Hodgson's line on Nando was that he was lacking confidence, not fully fit, or he simply couldn't explain the reason for his lack of form. Perhaps the reason was the managers lack of ambition, his methods, his team talks, the way he carried himself, the transfer targets that he set himself?? I wouldn't want to play up front with Carlton Cole down the local park never mind at Englands greatest club. In comes Dalglish and Torres immediately moves to dismiss any suggestion of him leaving, he looks sharper against Utd, scored a goal against Blackpool that had been beyond him all season, and ran rings around the Everton defence. He looks sharper, he's running at defenders, he's tracking back and chasing down, he's pressing players when he's off the ball, and this is all in ONE week, only thing that had changed was the manager.

And the same can be said for the whole team, Martin Kelly has been superb and he is well worth his place, the only time i want to see Johnson back at right back is if Kelly is injured or suspended, like i've said before i don't see Johnson as a defender, he should be out on the wing helping with the attacking, his defending lets him down, but he has improved. Heard alot of talk about Meireles not being good enough, makes too many mistakes etc etc. All players make mistakes, he's a very creative player, he is trying to be creative all the time, his confidence is up and he is becoming a real threat to the opposition. Once the entire team is singing from the same song sheet and their understanding of each other in the new style of play we have adopted improves, the mistakes will be fewer and far between. His goal against the bitters was well taken and fully deserved and i know for fact that had we won the game there would have been very little talk of any mistakes he might have made, and any talk that did occur would simply have been washed away in the glory of victory over that lot.

Dalglish has made it quite clear that he intends to give some of the younger players a chance to prove their worth in the first team, with Kelly a success. So in the absence of Steven Gerrard, Jay Spearing was handed a starting place, on the merit that he had a good game for the reserves in midweek. Now i know this will rock the boat a bit with some but i have to say that i'm not a big fan of his. Alot of supporters blindly give him praise purely and simply because he 'a local lad'. Locality has nothing to do with a footballers ability, but the really good players who get into their local sides are pretty much hero worshipped. At the age of 22 he has made a mere 5 first team League appearances, by age 22 i would expect a really good player to have made a few more than that. He's small, not very fast, his passing is on the whole below par, he seems to lack strength yet gives off the impression that he is quite a strong player and his creativity is barely there, what he does have is determination but thats not enough. I've heard many talk of him as the 'Next Gerrard' but the gulf in class between the two is huge, and im comparing a 22yr old Gerrard to a 22yr old Spearing. Gerrard had made over 100 League appearances by the age of 22 and was only a year away from the Liverpool Captaincy and had already played in over 10 internationals and scored 2 goals for his country. There is no comparison, and at times against Everton he didn't look up to the job, he had an OK game but i dont think he has the ability to displace Lucas, Meireles or Gerrard in the middle, there is talk of Van Bommel coming in, and the younger Jonjo Shelvey looks to be a much better midfielder and has already made more League appearances, and has the potential to claim a first team place before he turns 22 in just over 3 years time. Even in the reserve game, Spearing was only OK, Pacheco had a much better game and is probably wondering what he has to do to get a decent shot at the first team, can be used as a striker but looks the part in a central attacking role. And thats the only negativity from me this week.

Against the bitters we where unfortunate, first goal for them should never have happened as it was quite clearly a goal kick, if Dowd wasn't sure all he had to do was ask himself why Kuyt was escorting the ball off the pitch quite casually rather than trying to prevent the corner. Second goal again unlucky, Anichebe leads with the elbow and he like a vast number in the Everton team is, politely, overweight, or just fat. Whilst he doesn't seem to catch Kelly with that elbow the collision was a rough one and the landing even harder. Now maybe i'm wrong with this but im pretty sure that the referee has to stop play for head injuries, now, Kelly takes a knock to the head and then lands awkwardly with his head hitting the floor with some force, Phil Dowd is no doctor and head injuries can be quite severe and need to be dealt with immediately, that is why referee's are instructed to play 'immediately' good thing Kelly was OK. If Dowd does this then no second goal, just bad luck, if he'd have gotten the first one right then this one is slightly forgivable but he still made a mistake.

Luck will come our way, like i said it  might seem like Dalglish has been back aaaages, but its only just over a week and already the signs are positive. Much improvement from the reds, and now its time to push on and at the rate the team is improving i can see us having a fair number of wins to celebrate in the coming weeks.

Talk of LFC getting in 5/6 players in January is a bit wild in my opinion, i would expect money to be spent, but only on 2/3 players. Suarez looks more an more like a done deal by the hour, and reports of loan signings rather than actual money changing hands implies to me that NESV are prepared to stave off the main rebuilding job until the summer, by which point they will or should have, their CEO in place, and have a much more rounded understanding of the game and how thing's work, oh and know who the manager will be next season!

Fans were great at the Derby, as always!!

As always, feedback is appreciated, i've also noticed you can tweet this post by clicking the little 't' on the bar below, shout outs for everyone who does that! And of course you can also follow me on Twtter Follow ME!

Take care Folks,

ash

Post Blackpool Thoughts

Lets be honest, there was never going to be any quick fix to the predicament that we find ourselves in currently. The results still aren't going our way but the signs of improvement are there to be seen. Two games on from the return of the King and the  team has shown more spirit and a general improvement in play than we saw from them in the previous 2 months. If not for some dodgy refereeing from Coward Webb perhaps the outcome of both games may have been different......

Firstly, the FA Cup game, it wont live long in the memory for the quality of football on show, lets face it, neither side played good football at any point really. Berbatrips fall in the box with the game barely half a minute old proved to be the difference between the two sides. Flashback to earlier in the season, Berbatrips hat trick was the difference, in a much different game. To sum it up, Utd had a dive, a header off the post and a frantic 10-15seconds around the goal with Reina showing why hes the best at what he does, and that's it for the whole 90mins. Liverpool's only real chance that sticks in the memory was Aurelio's free kick. But its nothing to be disheartened about.

The arrival of Kenny Dalglish was never going to be the catalyst for immediate change, the problems are not superficial, they run much deeper than that, the team was not prepared by him, did not train under him, and had spent very little time with him prior to the game. But it was there for all to see, the players without ever setting the the world alight somehow looked different, there was clearly the influence of an Anfield Legend about them and there was belief. The one change that stands out was the inclusion of Martin Kelly at right back, easily one of the best on the pitch, a young player with a bright future, a player capable of challenging for that right back position outright. Lucas as he always seems to do in this fixture produced a fine performance, Torres looked more interested than he had been in a while, and even in defeat it seemed like a statement of intent had been made, albeit with out the reds ever looking close to dismantling their opponents a la 2009. To quote a great man, the penalty was 'a joke', the red card in my opinion unwarranted for a 50/50, both players go to ground and if Carrick catches Gerrard i don't think red would have been the colour, BUT you do see them given, and we did. An hour with 10 men and there was no hopeless capitulation which we might have endured before Christmas, and an unjust 1-0 defeat was never going to dampen the spirits on what was a big day for the club.

Just to say though, the referee has assistants for a reason, they are there to assist. How Coward Webb can give a penalty from all of 25yrds away with the absolute wrong view to judge the offence when his assistant no more than 10yrds away with the best view in the house does not give a penalty is absolutely beyond me. Assistant has a better view, sees no foul, waves no flag, referee wastes no time in awarding penalty. Webb had a shocking WC Final, said he wanted to give the game and the players a chance, he appreciated that it was the WC Final, biggest game of those players careers bar none. Liverpool v ManUtd is THE big game in England, but the impression he gave was that he was not going to give this game a chance, his judgement was poor. A referee should only overrule his assistant if he is absolutely 100% CERTAIN it is the right call, from his position he cannot be sure more than 50/50 in which case the assistants view is crucial. Interesting that Gerrard should suffer a straight red under pressure from Utd players but De Jong did not suffer the same fate even under protest from Spanish players for a kick on Alonso that Bruce Lee would have been proud of - Webbs idea of what is and is not a red is quite baffling to be honest. Guess Babel summed it up on Twitter though. OK rant over.

Blackpool, overall a much better performance from the reds, still the scoreline isn't what we want to see, but it was certainly more entertaining to watch than the reverse fixture earlier in the season, or more recent fixtures against Wolves and Blackburn to name a few. Again the signs of improvement were there to see. Torres looked a little more like the Torres of old for most of the game, and to see him run onto that through ball and smash one past the keeper from that position was stunning, Dalglish said himself, he will help him get the belief back and on that evidence hes well on his way. Kelly once again gave a good account of himself and doesn't look too bad going forwards either. Poulsen, much hatred flying round for him, in my opinion he has alot of experience, his only flaw i think, he just is not suited to the Premier League, not every player is and at his age i don't think he'll benefit too much from a fast paced physical game, he's much more suited to the Italian football he left behind, he also played a decent game, not the worst on the pitch.

It was a case of baby steps for the reds though, much more attacking, more belief, more urgency but the same problem that has dogged us all season resurfaced again, we were very poor in the final third. Loose balls, bad passing, lack of real creativity at times but i suspect that will change in the coming weeks, can't improve everything at once. Read alot about Jovanovic, i think he's strong, he makes some determined runs, isn't too eager to be knocked off the ball, and i think he is a real victim of Rafa's departure. Rafa identified him, Rafa draughted him in, Rafa obviously had an idea of how he would fit into the team and that idea left with him. He represented a low risk, free transfer and was pretty much overlooked by Roy Hodgson probably because he never wanted him and nothing to do with ability. He is a player who racked up 52 goals in 116 appearances for Liege contributing double figures every season - fairly decent, and against Blackpool, for me, he just looked like he was trying too hard to make an impression. Chances have been limited for him during his time at Liverpool, he didn't look match sharp and its hardly surprising given his lack of game time and i suspect more opportunities may come his way from now til May.

What i will say, and it is something i have been saying for over a year now, Glen Johnson is a poor defender. You may point to the fact that against Blackpool he was a right back playing out of position at left back but the fact is he was playing out of position due to the fact that he was in the back line full stop. Personally he should have at the very least put pressure on Campbell who was given a free header from close range, they way the players lined up it was clear that he was Johnson's man. Too many times have we been caught short or players given too much space and free headers/shots on goal courtesy of Glen Johnson, its criminal. That said, i do think he is a good player but whoever identified him as a right back during his youth days at West Ham made a poor decision. His attacking qualities far outweigh his defensive ones, he has pace, quick feet, a decent shot and a fair bit of skill, those skills are completely under-utilised at right back, he looks uncomfortable. Rumours before the game suggested that he would play at right mid, but i think those rumours may have been started by someone who shares a similar view to myself, and i know there are a few out there. Give him a shot at it, Kelly is more than competent at right back, as is Aurelio at left back, bring Insua back for cover if only til the summer, free Johnson of his defensive shackles and i think we will reap the benefits. Like i said, poor defender but a good player, or rather a good right winger.

Like i said, and many others aswel, we were never going to improve overnight, we are not going to win the league now that Hodgson is gone, top six is not beyond us, in my opinion, top 4 is. Europa League football next season is not a shameful thing for a team that is locked in transition and it provides a good avenue to hand experience to younger players, and bringing in younger players in NESV's ethos. Sunday against the bitters, the day the King really does return, and what an atmosphere there will be, i cant wait, that said i cant stand to watch us in this fixture but i also can't stand not to watch, regularly the most uncomfortable 90mins of my life. Form goes out the window, previous results mean nothing, roared on by the supporters, filled with the belief and determination instilled in them by the King, this could truely be the game that signals the start of a different Liverpool. Not saying we will 'turn the corner' or any other such phrase you may want to use, but i expect that we will at least reach the 'corner' at the conclusion of this game.

In order to improve the results, the mentality and the belief of the players had to improve, that is happening, it looks promising, only once that belief has been restored can we move forwards, the missing link?? the Anfield faithful - i think that this is one homecoming parade that will suffer no upset, not from the bitters and not from Phil Dowd. The supporters will throw their full voice behind the team and the manager, something which is yet to happen on both fronts this season and that i think will be the signal the players need, that will lift them and i think Kenny Dalglish will have them worked up for this game like never before.

The media and general football crowd may cry that Hodgson was unfairly dismissed, and that his successor has been no different but the state the team is in at the moment is down to Hodgson, forget Rafa, I'm sick of hearing that one, the team had no belief, no spirit, they looked disinterested, unmotivated, the starting 11 Hodgson inherited was as good as any on their day, the backup players not all up to standard but years of 'sell to buy' will do that to a club, it is the managers job to lift the players, to inspire them, not just to coach them and pick a team and a formation. Hodgsons tactics were poor, his demeanor as uninspiring as his substitutions, it quite clearly was not working, and he had six months in the job. From now til the end of the season, Kenny Dalglish is only going to get 5months, were we go from there is currently unknown, but already in 5 days he has given the players a lift and the performances if not the results are improving, on the basis of the last 5 days, cant wait to see what he will do in 5 months.

Keep the faith reds, unlucky against Utd, perhaps a draw was the best outcome against Blackpool but they were good for what they got, the best is yet to come and now all attention is firmly on what is happening on the field and thank god for that. I'm sure the players are looking at themselves and I'm sure they know they must improve, but in Kenny Dalglish they have a manager who knows what a privilege it is to represent Liverpool Football Club and he will definitely let them know what the fans deserve and what they are required to do, and he will do it the Liverpool way.

As always feedback is welcomed, and you can follow my ramblings on Twitter: the_real_ash_23 there's a link on the page somewhere too, cheers.

The Return of The King

So it's finally happened, Roy Hodgson and Liverpool have parted ways by mutual consent or so we're told, an lets face it, mutual consent is just the polite way of saying 'sacked'.This is undoubtedly the decision that the supporters have wanted most for some considerable time now, a few things need to be stressed about Roy Hodgson before attention is turned to the return of the king.


Roy seems to be a genuine man and im sure he is a true gentleman, and the behaviour of fans towards him is in no way an attack on him as a person. Personally i never wanted him to be Liverpool manager, but from the moment the decision was made, i, like most supporters got right behind him, unconditional support for the manager of Liverpool Football Club. In an ideal world we would currently sit four points off the top spot rather than four points above the drop spot and Roy Hodgson would be the man who steadied the ship, the leader we needed etc etc etc.


But it seems that we so not live in an ideal world and things have not gone as supporters would have hoped, nor as Roy himself would have hoped. When a manager is not performing well, which lets face it, he wasn't, poor tactics, poor substitutions and media statements that left a lot to be desired (Vs Wolves - dissapointed we couldnt get goal second half and obtain a draw ~ should be playing to win, ALWAYS, this is LFC. Roy was, quite plainly put, out of his depth. He lost the supporters due to his failing managerial abilities and that alone, most supporters, in fact most people in the game will acknowledge him as being a genuinely nice man. So thats that, Roys a nice guy.


Then there is the nonesense that has been spouted by past players, the mass media, supporters of other clubs, managers of other clubs and Roy Hodgson himself, and that nonesense is that he didn't have time to put his stamp on the team and that he didnt have a proper transfer windown in which to do business. Talk like this is utter crap and completely untrue, as i said in my previous post (http://mixedreception.blogspot.com/2011/01/roy-hodgson-saga-continues.html), Roy had more money to spend than Rafa did in his first window, brought in more players than Rafa did, and had a full TWO months in which to do business, and the team he inherrited was far superior to the team that Rafa inherrited. I'll paste in my comments on this matter:


'Now we turn to the issue of the transfer window that Hodgson has not had in order to build his own team. That quite simply is utter dogshit. Hodgson joined Liverpool on 1/07/2010, he had a full 2 months worth of transfer window to work in. He inherited a team that contained both World Cup winners and finalist, European Cup winners, UEFA cup winners and FA cup winners, he inherited a team that contained the likes of Gerrard, Mascherano, Torres, Reina, Kuyt, Agger, Carragher, he inherrited a very experienced team with most of the starting 11 players being pretty much the same starting 11 that enjoyed a fine season in 2008/09, a team which had struggled the season before but a team which undoubtedly contained a talented bunch of players with many that would be welcomed at most if not all of Europes top clubs.

Now im not an expert on transfer fees paid or received and most sources sight different figures, figures that are only marginally different, but for the purposes of getting this post out before Hodgsons out i've taken firgures from LFC site lfchistory.net. Hodgson spent around £23.8m in the summer on 5 players, Wilson, Meireles, Poulsen, Konchesky, Jones, with Cole on a free and Aurelio resigned for free. Now two of those signings have failed to make the grade so far, and one wholly unneccessary when you consider the fact that Aquilani who Hodgson farmed out quite quickly is a far better player and far younger and faster, the unneccessary transfer is of course Poulsen who at around £4.5m has proved thus far to be a bad buy.

Now, flashback to the summer of 2004, the arrival of Rafa, the dawn of the rafalution an all that. The team Rafa inherited had experience but did not contain even half the quality in the starting line up as the starting 11 he left. He inherited a team that contained the likes of Gerrard, Carrgher, Hyppia and Hamann but also a team in which Diao, Traore, Cheyrou and Biscan were regular staters. Rafa made 4 signings that summer, Josemi, Nunez, Alonso, Garcia, spending around £20.2m in doing so. Now two of those players can be considered bad buys but they combined only cost around £3.5m - less than Poulsen. And the other two had a huge impact on the clubs fortunes in the following seasons. Rafa made 3 additional signings in the January market, Pellegrino(free), Morientes(£6.3m) and Carson(£1m). This squad that Rafa assembled was certainly not in his image with a huge overhaul coming in the following seasons, but he took a largely inherrited squad, supplemented with a handful of transfers to European Cup glory. I dont think there is any manager past or present who would say that they would rather have inherrited the team that Houlier left rather than the one left by Rafa. Short line is, Hodgson has spent more in his first transfer window than Rafa did, brought in more players and has performed very poorly so far with no sign of that changing.'

I wonder would Utd fans be so quick to back Hodgson if he was their manager and if they were in a similar situation as far as the league table is concerned, i would go so far as to say that if that were to happen next season many supporters would be quick to call time on Fergies Utd reign. The comments of several past players over recent weeks also as far as im concerned demonstrates how out of touch with supporters they are, performances are unnacceptable, we had a manager who inspires no faith in fans and players alike, a manager who fails to back his players when they come in for any real criticism, a manager who had openly criticised some players and a manager who was on the whole contributing to the problem rather than the solution. He had to go, and if any past players felt that but did not want to go public then they should have remained silent, this club is about its supporters, we make the club, a club is nothing without its supporters, the vast majority of which wanted Hodgson out, the vast majority of which could not have been wrong.

Then there is all the talk of Rafa, its Rafa's fault, Rafa left a poor spuad, Rafa spent millions, Rafa ruined LFC. Rubbish, utter rubbish. Rafa left in the summer, or to be more exact, Rafa was axed in the summer whilst on holiday, axed by a snake called Purslow who masquerades as an LFC supporter. Rafa never wanted to leave, the man signed a lengthy contract which would have seen his tenure at the club stretch beyond the 10year mark, and i for one would have loved to have seen him stay, i never wanted him to leave. He was, well rather still is a divisive figure but hes all the better for it, his only crime trying to play the media game, and with most of the mass media currently residing in Fergies back pocket there was no way he was ever going to succeed.

Rafa spent millions, but he also clawed pretty much every penny back, and the only money he didn't get back was money spent on players who are still at the club. Under Hicks and Gillet Liverpools transfer policy was pretty much sell to buy, i dont think that when they took over Rafa anticipated that he would have to sell 2/3 players just to bring one in, but that was the reality. So he made bad buys,  but when you consider that in actual fact he bought only what we could afford, did he really do such a bad job? I'm sure he would have loved to spend £15m+ on players every window, but he could only buy in the less than £10m category for much of his transfer windows. He never wanted to leave the club, he never wanted to leave a mess, in fact i believe he envisaged himself being part of the Liverpool revival under potential new owners. People point to his time at Inter, no manager in the world was ever going to go there and match or even eclipse what Mourinho did, it was a bad job to take, ageing squad that let players go and brought little in, decimated by injuries not just to first team players but players who would have filled in for the injured first team players, even Mourinho himself would have struggled with Inter this season. Rafa is a good manager and he left Liverpool in the summer, he had no hand in Poulsen or Konchesky, he played no part in Joe Coles difficult start to his LFC career, he didn't farm Aquilani out to Juventus only to see him playing the kind of football which prompted Rafa to bring him to Liverpool in the first place, he didn't alienate himself from the supporters and he didn't guide us to our worst league campaign since the 50's. Put simply, its not Rafas fault.

Hodgson was not NESV's appointment, yet they backed him right into December, they stood by him even under intense pressure from supporters, they gave him every chance to turn it around. Ultimately business ruled over the football. Supporters arent happy with the manager or the teams performances, attendances drop, attendances drop which means merchandising sales drop, and money rules all in business. The club is not generating enough revenue to be competitive with the big boys even when we sell out on a regular basis, so what chance does the club have to be financially competitive when there are 10,000 empty seats at anfield. This i feel played a huge part in the decision to get rid of Hodgson. NESV gave Roy enough time.

So now the King has returned, a decision i also feel is motivated by business. A real buzz has been generated, the supporters have got their man and i dont think we will see too many empty seats at Anfield for a while. And Kenny is one man who demands respect from players and supporters alike without asking for it, he has earned it, and the though of his return to the dug out and the impact he will have just makes those hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Kenny is Liverpool, his name associated with success.

I feel his appointment is for the time being only a temporary one, and i would expect that once the search for a new CEO has come to an end NESV will draw up a detailed list of who could possibly take charge in the summer, and i think Kenny himself will be on that list. And with unquestioned fan support and a real desire to do the job i think he is the favourite to get the job full time, but only time will tell and i dont expect NESV to give too much away in the mean time.

Optimism that our season can be salvaged and pride restored is higher now that it was when NESV took over last year, and with Dalglish in charge we finally have a man who we can get behind, someone who would fight to the last for the club, a man who knows what it means to play for Liverpool, a man who knows what the supporters want, a man determined to bring the good times back. Sunday against Utd is now a more interesting game, and Kennys appointment will provide a welcome boost, and i for one can't wait, but more importantly i can't wait to welcome the King home against Everton next sunday, you couldn't ask for 2  bigger games to kick off a rejuevenation and with Blackpool sandwiched inbetween there is a real feeling that this could be a very good week for the reds.

One thing is certain, there can no longer be any excuses, the players must now look at themselves and work for each other. In Kenny they have a manager who can bring the best out of them and a manager who they will all be eager to please. Where this leaves the club in terms of January transfers is open to specualtion, should Kenny be well backed in the January window that could be seen as an indication that the job is his beyond this season.

For now reds, lets get behind Kenny and the team, the last remnant of the old regime is now gone, the NESV era starts tomorrow, lets make 2011 a good year and hopefully this time next year im writing about how we shouldn't get carried away sitting 3 points clear at the top! well heres to hoping anyways. This post went on longer than i expected, and was dominated more by the parting of ways rather than the return of the King, but for me, there is nothing anyone else can say about Kenny that hasnt already been said or indeed anything that needs to be said, his reputation is as unquestionable as his love for the club. For me the real talking point is the absurd suggestions from the media that Hodgson was somehow mistreated and not given a fair crack at the job and the even more absurd suggestions about Rafa being the source of the problem, and supporters actually buy into that crap, im more concerned with the truth and all i've said is just my opinion! YNWA!!

Feedback appreciated,, nice one!

Roy Hodgson: The Saga Continues

Roy Hodgson is still the manager of Liverpool Football Club. A line i fear we may be tortured with for a while longer. Its not what we as supporters want to hear, the media are slowly coming to the conclusion that their managerial champion is out of his depth and continually the supporters of other clubs lambast Liverpool supporters for their 'shameful treatment of a really good manager'. If the shoe was on the other foot they would not be so quick to defend him.


The only person who believes that Roy Hodgson has the ability to turn things around at Liverpool is Roy Hodgson. Past players have in recent days come out in support of Hodgson but this support is unwanted and demonstrates only that such past players are out of touch with the supporters and how they feel. In my opinion the only reason Kenny Dalglish called for supporters to get behind Hodgson and the team is because of the position he is in. Regularly large section of the support both at home and away are calling for Dalglish to take over, hes a club ambassador and made no secret of his desire to take the job in the summer. It would seriously undermine his position at the club and leave him open to widespread criticism from the mass media were he to come out and say 'Hodgson should go, and i'll take over'. Other past players notably Phil Thompson have come out and said that its time the club and Hodgson parted company, a statement which will be unanimously backed by the supporters.


The main defence of Hodgson is that he is a good manager and a real gentleman who has not had time to build a team in his image and who has not had a proper transfer window in which to do business. Only one of those defences holds any merit and that is that Hodgson does seem to be a genuinely nice man, and im sure he is. But, the other two defences are grossly misleading and wholly inaccurate. Despite a stint at Inter Milan in the 1990's the Liverpool job is by far the biggest of his career, a managerial career that began in 1976 in Scandanavia, a part of the world where he did enjoy success most notably amassing 9 major domestic honours with Malmo FF in just shy of 5 years in the mid-late 80's. He has never won anything outside of this region with his last honours coming in 2001 witht the Danish Superliga and Super Cup titles.


He has spent time managing at international level with Switzerland, Finland and the UAE, nations that are regularly contesting for the World Cup crown. He holds the title for the worst away record of any manager in Premier League history. In the whole of last season Liverpool lost 8 away games which was unacceptable and 11 defeats in total for the season as a whole. Only 20 games played this season and already we have suffered 7 yes SEVEN away defeats and 9 in total. So already under Hodgson we have lost almost the same amount of games - both away from home and for the season as whole - as we did in the whole of last season, and there are still 18 games left to play. Quite simply not good enough.


Consider this, manager with a shockingly bad career away record in England comes to Liverpool, a team that had poor away form last year, and pleads for time to build a team in his own image. So far under said manager Liverpool now have what can only be described as catastrophic away form perhaps even relegation form away from home. I would say that he has done a very good job of creating a team in his image.


Now we turn to the issue of the transfer window that Hodgson has not had in order to build his own team. That quite simply is utter dogshit. Hodgson joined Liverpool on 1/07/2010, he had a full 2 months worth of transfer window to work in. He inherited a team that contained both World Cup winners and finalist, European Cup winners, UEFA cup winners and FA cup winners, he inherited a team that contained the likes of Gerrard, Mascherano, Torres, Reina, Kuyt, Agger, Carragher, he inherrited a very experienced team with most of the starting 11 players being pretty much the same starting 11 that enjoyed a fine season in 2008/09, a team which had struggled the season before but a team which undoubtedly contained a talented bunch of players with many that would be welcomed at most if not all of Europes top clubs.


Now im not an expert on transfer fees paid or received and most sources sight different figures, figures that are only marginally different, but for the purposes of getting this post out before Hodgsons out i've taken firgures from LFC site lfchistory.net. Hodgson spent around £23.8m in the summer on 5 players, Wilson, Meireles, Poulsen, Konchesky, Jones, with Cole on a free and Aurelio resigned for free. Now two of those signings have failed to make the grade so far, and one wholly unneccessary when you consider the fact that Aquilani who Hodgson farmed out quite quickly is a far better player and far younger and faster, the unneccessary transfer is of course Poulsen who at around £4.5m has proved thus far to be a bad buy.


Now, flashback to the summer of 2004, the arrival of Rafa, the dawn of the rafalution an all that. The team Rafa inherited had experience but did not contain even half the quality in the starting line up as the starting 11 he left. He inherited a team that contained the likes of Gerrard, Carrgher, Hyppia and Hamann but also a team in which Diao, Traore, Cheyrou and Biscan were regular staters. Rafa made 4 signings that summer, Josemi, Nunez, Alonso, Garcia, spending around £20.2m in doing so. Now two of those players can be considered bad buys but they combined only cost around £3.5m - less than Poulsen. And the other two had a huge impact on the clubs fortunes in the following seasons. Rafa made 3 additional signings in the January market, Pellegrino(free), Morientes(£6.3m) and Carson(£1m). This squad that Rafa assembled was certainly not in his image with a huge overhaul coming in the following seasons, but he took a largely inherrited squad, supplemented with a handful of transfers to European Cup glory. I dont think there is any manager past or present who would say that they would rather have inherrited the team that Houlier left rather than the one left by Rafa. Short line is, Hodgson has spent more in his first transfer window than Rafa did, brought in more players and has performed very poorly so far with no sign of that changing.


Much has been said of the silence from NESV. My view of it is that they are in a very awkward situation, one which i do not think they envisaged they would be in so soon into their time at the club. They took over at a very awkward moment in the clubs history and let us not forget they have removed the debt saddled onto the club by Hicks and Gillet. They arent new to sports club ownership, but they are new to football and to the way in which the game works. They are Americans unused to the way we do things over here. They are still learning. If this was happening 4/5 years down the line i have no doubt that the manager at the time would have been relieved by now. They are still conducting a search for the right CEO to join the club, they have set out their plan to bring in the best young talent to the club to ensure that the future is a bright and secure one, they have said they are willing to supplement the squad in January with the right players who can make a difference to the current personnel. They have said they are willing to listen to supporters views and thus far they have. The next move is a crucial one and i feel that they do not want to be hasty and rush into things. Both Henry and Werner have expressed disappointment with results prior to the new year, so it can only be assumed that the way things have turned out since those comments has not gone unnoticed and is from their point of view wholly unwelcome.


Hodgson himself is not making it easy for them, he will not walk, he needs more time, he needs money, the press have his back, hes like a dying dog that no one has the heart to put out of its misery. The situation is not an ideal one. Silence on their part is not good news for Hodgson, previously the owners had been quick to voice that they had faith in Hodgson but now there is only silence and that silence must be haunting Hodgson. It would be impossible to say that they have not heard the supporters frustrations, they have heard, and they are very competent, experienced businessmen, and they are dealing with the situation as businessmen and it is my opinion that they already know what will happen over the coming days and i suspect the silence will not last for much longer and i also suspect that should this situation ever arise in the future that following on from this experience they will know exactly what needs to be done and will act alot quicker.


So for now the saga does continue, there has to be, by now, zero fan support for Hodgson. It has been said that supporters calls for Dalglish to take charge, echoes the calls of Newcastle supporters calling for Shearer to save them, but anyone who has watched MOTD over the last few years will know that Shearer whilst being an exceptional striker in his day, has all the personality of a goal post and would never have saved Newcastle from relegation even if he had been playing FIFA on amateur mode. He isnt a manager, he had no managerial experience, it was never going to happen, as the Kop said, he should have stayed on the telly. Dalglish on the other hand has managerial experince, ok so hes been out of the game for a while but he is Liverpool, he is an almost ever present on match days he knows the predicament the club is in and more importantly given his standing at the club, he commands the respect of every player, supporter, official, everyone at the club down to the cleaners, he commands their respect without ever asking for it - he earned it.


Hopefully the situation is resolved soon, its getting more and more painful to watch. Im sure Roy is a nice man but he wasnt hired to be a nice man, he was hired to win games and push on back up the table not drag us down to Fulhams level so he feel comfortable, he might be used to being closer to the tables foot than its summit but we are not. NESV removed the last obstacle saving him from getting both barrels from the supporters, things have not improved, do not look like improving and actually things are getting worse and it is time for a change, time for the last remnant of the old regime to part ways with the club, we need a truely fresh start all round.

2011 The Year of Uncertainty

I think we can all agree that 2010 was definately a year to forget. Way back in the summer of 2009, many believed and myself included that 2010 would be the year that the club made that one final push and ascend to the summit of English football. Que boardroom power struggles, lack of investment, loss of belief and complete mismanagement and the club began a rapid and painful fall from grace which continues to this day.


What a new year will bring is always uncertain, but 2011 is THE year of uncertainty and what the club does this year i think will shape the clubs future for the foreseeable future. Now that the seemingly endless nightmare that was Hicks and Gillet is finally over, the distracting boardroom side show is over and what happens on the pitch has now - thankfully - taken centre stage. And one thing is clear,  now that the off-field antics have vanished the on-field nightmare has been laid bare for all to see, there is no longer any distraction to hide it, nor indeed to use as an excuse to hide behind.


NESV are here, they have been careful not to make bold and outlandish statements a la Hicks and Gillet but have instead walked the line of caution stating quite rightly that there is no quick fix, and that they are here for the long run, to learn more about the sport and the club and to set out a plan to secure the long term future of the club both on and off the field. Where they lie with regards to transfer budgets and on the stadium debate is open to speculation and im sure all will be revealed in time but there is still enough uncertainty to cause concern.


They have, admirably or foolishly stood by a manager who they did not appoint, and in the midst of the clubs worst start to a league season in over 50 years it is a huge talking point. The fans for the most part are unanimously against present manager Roy Hodgson and there is no sign of that changing any time soon, media reports suggest that the owners have grown tired of the situation and the breakdown between manager and supporters, but then they are just reports nothing is confirmed.


What i can confirm is that the clubs current run of form, performances, league standing and over all entertainment value is shockingly bad, the game against Wolves a particular low point with not one player having an overall standout performance and most on the whole looked completely disinterested. Many voices in the media pointed the finger squarly at 'the mess that Rafa left' - despite 8 of the players who featured against Wolves having also featured in the 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid almost TWO years ago, that would suggest that Rafa left a group of players who on their day are capable of beating anyone, what we need is for someone to bring that fighting spirit and belief back into them. Where ever you stand on Rafa, if he did leave a mess it was certainly not a mess that he left or created by choice.


What will happen in 2011 no one can say, a much improved but nowhere near perfect performance on new years day heralded a welcome 3 points and hopefully we can build on that one game at a time and then 10 games from now lets see where we are, lets not declare this the start of our season, the day we got back on track, our 'mini-revival', too many times in 2010 did we hear talk of those things and never did it get us anywhere, all it did was raise expectations and make the fall all the more painful to take as evidenced after the superb result against Chelsea, the hype, the expectation, the painful spell following on from that which made that hard fought victory seem worthless.


As i said, 2011 will be the year that will determine the clubs path for the forseeable future, a combintation of good management on and off the field, some wise and much needed investment in the playing staff and a renewed sense of belief will see us transformed into a team capable of reclaiming a top 4 place and back challenging for top honours on every front, the opposite will see us resigned to fighting for a Europa league place and labelled a 'top 10' team, i think we can all agree on which one we want the most.


The new owners are yet to really make any big and bold decisions regarding the club and this year will be a big year for them, and on what i've seen so far i think they can really change the fortunes of the club and take us to the next level, and hopefully current star players who may have sought an exit had the previous regime continued, will decide to stay and play their part in the revival of this countries greatest sporting family.


Whatever 2011 may bring, lets get behind the team, lets play our part, lets dare to dream a little whilst maintaining a little caution, and maybe, just maybe, we will remember 2011 as the year this club hit back and rose from the flames. The year ahead is uncertain but there is one certainty that binds us, that defines us, that unites us through the good and the bad.........You'll Never Walk Alone.


Have a great 2011 folks!