"My expectations were not that high anyway. It would have been disappointing to lose but I'm not that disappointed to draw.'' - Roy Hodgson.. WTF?

pessimistic time, out of the 4 games, which is the one game that we deserved to win? IMO, none, so is RH an upgrade from RB?

guys, didn't u have one or two legit penalty calls in the first half? that tackle on torres was one of them right..?

I would think that its a widely and commonly acknowledged fact that RH is more of a "ship steadier" than an upgrade to RB.

screams of calling for Roy's head is absolute bollox if you ask me. to be fair to Roy, he has the most difficult start compared to any other Liverpool's previous season, Arsenal, City and Birmingham whom have never lost in what 18 months at home? furthermore we've been in the mire since last season remember Portsmouth away and Hull City away and Birmingham at home?

I guess the jury is still out on RH to be honest, give him some games and see where it leads to. New manager's need time to implant their idealogy on their team and the fan's really need to wake up and smell the roses, We arent gonna challenge for the title this season in all fairness and 4th place is our best hope and that too seems to be a long shot with Spurs and City strengthening their staffs.Our performance couldnt get any worse than this can it? and provided if there are no changes against the Man Utd I do see us tragically getting trounced.

yes. We have two penalties that is not given. Stupid referee. Birmingham play damn rough, tackle like theres no tomorrow. Their tactics? I wonder if we could get a better results with kuyt playing?

Here we go again with all the talk about money and players. Did Birmingham have a large transfer kitty? How many internationals do you see in their squad? We almost got held by West Brom at home, a side with an even smaller kitty.

Funny you should say that Birmingham had a tight defense given that they had the best chances of the night. They did defend in swarms but only because we le them get back. It's frustrating to see long balls punted up for Torres to hold on to when he has no support. By the time they arrive, the Birmingham defenders had got back. Do note that we weren't exactly up against your Maldinis or Nestas.

Birmingham may not be the worst side at home but we made them look better than they are last night.

If we are counting of winning by PK every time we are no better than the mid table teams(or maybe lower than that). Seriously from what I saw in the last 3 games, I m counting on the ref to award us the PK... this just show how awful is our creativity of our team.

Poulsen - looks far the worst signing so far. Tried to do everything but does not have the quality to do it. Is this the guy that we bought as a replacement for Mascherano? He cant even make a simple tackle and the worst thing is losing the ball in our own half.

Maxi - looks like a headless chicken on the right. I thought he is good at dribbling, passing players with his skills?

I cant find any positive side on how our team played except for Reina heroic saves and Gerrard playing even though he right ear is bleeding(his determination to play)although he sux on that night.

This post has been edited by melt: Sep 13 2010, 11:56 AM

One month into the PL and people are writing RH off already? I'm not a big fan of his, but have some faith people, it's not even close to January yet.

Truth to be told on yesterday's match, we still look clueless and nervous whenever pressed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is Poulsen who has yet to get used to the PL's pace and will soon get over it.

Also, I don't recall us winning much headers lately. How we gift opponents free headers seems to be norm now. Yesterday, Reina saved us the blushes but eventually we will be punished.

Konchesky had a decent debut, showed how much we miss a proper leftback, shame about the injury though. Meireles looked promising when he came on, hopefully he would be the player Aquilani should have been. Jova, I still can't figure out what Rafa sees in him, has a lot to prove imho.

Honestly it is indeed tough but the most difficult start? Having a Torres, Gerrard combo in a lineup is definitely a much easier task than to rebuild the whole team. Remember Cisse? Biscan? Smicer? We had Gerrard and Alonso but nobody in front clinical enough to finish with a goal.

I did say that the start this season wasn't all bad as we had to play against Arsenal and Man City, and we got 3 points from the following game. Which comes to 4 points out of a maximum 9 with 2 title contenders, not bad as well, even though we did not play well at all.

I understand that we aren't exactly challenging for the title this season but are we good enough? Last season was a wake up call and plus injury problems to our key players made it tough for us to even challenge for the final Champions League position, but don't forget we did play better last season even though we did not convert those games into wins. I have not seen Liverpool in a worse spell, 4 league games, 2 against lesser opponents and I can't even say that we deserved a win in any one of those games, not even the Arsenal's game.

Undefeated at home in 18 months, so is that exactly an excuse? What more how much is their squad worth? And yet they played like they just lack a decent finisher, with a group of world class defenders.

I agree its not fair to call for RH's head for now...

but the last few games is not doing RH any favour. People talk about his better man management qualities as compared to RB...fine....but i dont see this being translated directly into the field...

and the tactics..?? just too similiar to Fulham...

I am trying to be fair and see how the return of Cole, settling of Raul and Konchesky will help the team...if nothing happens by then, then we're in deep trouble...

or course, October 6th and avoiding a spanking by MU are more important perhaps for now...

This post has been edited by nando: Sep 13 2010, 12:15 PM

wait, i distinctively remember many forumers who said RH is better manager (in the sense where fulham style more attacking) than our last manager (boring, tipid, play safe, uses Lucas). it seems contradictory.
not about digging old debates but RH (for now) seem quite clueless on how to manage a bigger team. granted we loss monster march.

well, i can only grab the nearest popcorn & sit it out


This post has been edited by koolspyda: Sep 13 2010, 12:43 PM

The Anfield hotseat isn't as desireable as it once was on Hodgson was all we could afford. It is not fault of his really. I mean, he isn't top of the list when it comes to managers who win away is he? It's a reality check really, when we have to go into games afraid and apprehensive.

yup my comment was served as a reality check too.

we really cant be even fighting for mid table places the rate we are going.

the biggest issues is Liverpool need to relook at themselves starting at the top. I have resigned that we aren't going to make headways as long as the comedy duo are there up there.

i'm just sad that the longer we drag the ownership, we see more exodus or top players. (& replaced with fringe, declining aging players)

our record against birmingham has always been poor, with our last win a long way back to 2004 if im not mistaken. then again every game is different and new, n yday was the same. yes its the usual frustrating game again, when we cant string together a few decent passes, skrtel were a little off at times, unsure clearance here n there, we look shaky whenever facing crosses, if we were up against a better side, we would have lost the game..
reina played well, n saved a point for us imo. somehow i think its not too bad of a result although we are expected to beat them, i can only say a draw is still okay for now

long posts by some, will read thru after..

gerrard should be back to the 2nd striker role. put a solid DM behind him, in this case, poulsen, coz this was wat he suppose to be. then put in meireles, as he supposed to be our new alonso. so whats the problem you ask?

i have no answer. i begin to feel uncomfy with RH all too wiling to play Lucas+Poulsen in the middle. we look so ordinary, bar arsenal game

One difference that I did notice between RB and RH is that while the game is going on RB constantly takes down notes and gives different instructions to the players, whereas RH prefers to rely solely on the players. There was minimal/no shouting, minimal/no instructions, no whatsoever.

Some may say that RB wants to control too much, but we did dominate a few teams and lost last season, can we say the same?

i believe that a good manager can came out with the best 11 player to win a game. Eventhough they lose, but you can see how they play, for example Liv -Ars 4-4, CL - Che-Liverpool cant remember the score...but for me im still satisfied what the team did. I see the flow..determination, ...still fresh in my mind, Alonso get the ball and pass to Kuyt, accurate passing...and Kuyt ready to deliver the ball into penalty box....where Torres was there...haizz...but all was history and im proud that i was there part of the history.

the concept here, pass and move, is it? where is it now? does anyone see how fabregas play? maybe he in form when im saying this, but in 4 game, i cant see the accurate pass from our midfielder....
who in charge to justify the player was good or not? the media-hype? or the scout?

as a Manager, they should know their job is winning the game...in order to win the game, you must identified/know your player, what is his best,strength, weakness,...backup plan if someone not available...

well it easy to say then doing it...if there is 'if' and 'not everybody the same' then we have a long story isnt? do the basic, and flourish it with your strength...

ps : just voice up from my heart, tiada rujukan dimana mana,

nowadays many team know how our tactic works , torres and gerrard up front and we dont have a good midfield and wings to support them .

i voted a yes for Roy on the basis that he was all we can afford and he is the only decent manager that can steady the ship, with all the rumours about Torres and Gerrard leaving...
he did just that and sprang a surprise by bringing Cole in....
Before the season started, was expecting realistically CL spot...and good cup run...

Leaving the results and table position aside, the lack of chances/adventure/creativity is just appalling...


we're still passing and moving...but sideway and backwards...

---

Added on September 13, 2010, 2:51 pmOctober 6th..keep the faith....almost....

This post has been edited by nando: Sep 13 2010, 02:51 PM

I think you guys had some tough luck with the EPL schedule this season. Unlike Chelsea who played lower half and newly promoted teams like WBA, Wigan, SC, WH and this week Blackpool, you guys had to play Arsenal, Man City, Birmingham (who ended last season in the top half of the table) and this week Man Utd.

Cheer up and pray hard that you guys beat Man Utd. I'm supporting Liverpool this week as well!