Official Premier League 2010/11 thread

[therockbox]

The only thing that 'carried' Inter in the Champions League last season was an insanely well organised defence, and it'll take some doing to convince me that Mourinho's biggest masterstroke last year was basically convincing Eto'o to be happy as a wingback.

edit: Fans at Anfield (sit-in against the owners) are currently chanting Kenny's name...

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

BLAHDY HELL. ALEX!

If anyone didn't see that watch MOTD2 tonight.

[Kaney]

Fuck me that was some free kick. Arsenal should have finished some of their chances better, and they had plenty of them, but Chelsea looked miles better throughout.

[Crybaby Bunting]

I really don't get the idea of a sit in... they've still bought the fucking ticket to the game.

I guess if Liverpool smashed Blackpool 7-0 they'd have gone home with a smile on their face

[Hobo]

Let me guess they'd like Kenny Daglish to take over? What would they do when Daglish fails? Look to the reanimated corpse of Shankley to manage the team?

[therockbox]

Dalglish would have to try very, very hard to do worse than Hodgson.

At the very least though he'd be someone everyone even remotely affiliated with the club could rally around, as opposed to Hodgson - who wasn't really wanted by the majority of fans from the off and whose appointment was clearly dictated by the press.

[badotori]

Alex's amazing free kick (now with 100% more South American commentary )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKXZ020JF3U

[Hobo]

True but it smacks of Keegan at Newcastle and he hasn't managed a club for over a decade. I'd hate to see him tarnish his legacy just because the clubs up shit creek.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Whoever the Chelsea player was running out of the wall - that was sooo well worked and Alex hit it perfectly.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

True but it smacks of Keegan at Newcastle and he hasn't managed a club for over a decade. I'd hate to see him tarnish his legacy just because the clubs up shit creek.

I agree. Dalglish ain't the answer, no way. To me it seems that the Liverpool squad he's got is probably a mid table team - 3 or 4 top players surrounded by a shallow, weaker squad...Who are also a bit lacking in confidence right now.

However it also shows us that Benitez made them perform ABOVE their ability and currently Hodgson has them performing BELOW their ability.

Dalglish could get them to midtable maybe, but I doubt much further.

I'd imagine Liverpool actually need much more of a sorting over at pretty much every level.

I do find myself agreeing with what the Talksport lot are saying tonight - if they're way off Champions League spots at Christmas then they need to make sure Torres is fit and flog him for as much as they can get...He'll leave in the summer if Liverpool don't get Champs League right? Sell Torres, get in a few really good players for the money.

...The problem with this plan is that the American owners will take the money to pay off their debts.

[stokeriño]

Alex doing what he does best - at both ends of the pitch. 'Tis why half the stadium always chants his name when we get awarded a free kick around 30 - 40 yards out.

The player who ducked out of the wall was Malouda. Normally the guy in the wall is a little more deft and just creates a foot of space my nudging the player next to him...but hey, whatever works.

[Liam]

Whilst I'm always coming across the Hodgson apologist, who actually expected Liverpool to do well this season? Seriously? I was calling for them doing 'well' to get into the Europa League the way they had played last season, the squad that they have, and the rise of sides like Spurs, Man City and Aston Villa. Hell, I was expecting more from Everton also, but they've not been too great.

Hodgson isn't doing a great job, but I think that anyone who expected someone to come in and keep Liverpool anywhere near where they had been over a season ago was missing the shambles of a side that was put out all of last season whenever Gerrard or Torres was out.

[YI]

Fuck it...I'm gonna be one of those Newcastle fans.

BULLLLLLLSHIIIIIIIIIIT!!!

Edited October 3, 2010 by YI

[DJ Ice]

CITY!!

BLACKPOOL!!!

CHELSEA

Another great weekend for football

[Grounded Wingman]

True but it smacks of Keegan at Newcastle and he hasn't managed a club for over a decade. I'd hate to see him tarnish his legacy just because the clubs up shit creek.

I agree. Dalglish ain't the answer, no way. To me it seems that the Liverpool squad he's got is probably a mid table team - 3 or 4 top players surrounded by a shallow, weaker squad...Who are also a bit lacking in confidence right now.

However it also shows us that Benitez made them perform ABOVE their ability and currently Hodgson has them performing BELOW their ability.

Dalglish could get them to midtable maybe, but I doubt much further.

I'd imagine Liverpool actually need much more of a sorting over at pretty much every level.

I do find myself agreeing with what the Talksport lot are saying tonight - if they're way off Champions League spots at Christmas then they need to make sure Torres is fit and flog him for as much as they can get...He'll leave in the summer if Liverpool don't get Champs League right? Sell Torres, get in a few really good players for the money.

...The problem with this plan is that the American owners will take the money to pay off their debts.

Not if they're gone. It's 2 weeks until the deadline to repay/refinance their loans, so Liverpool could belong to RBS by the time they play again.

[Pesci]

I really don't think you can blame it on the squad. We should comfortably be beating Blackpool with the players we have. And now people are admitting that Rafa overperformed? About fucking time.

[Grounded Wingman]

I really don't think you can blame it on the squad. We should comfortably be beating Blackpool with the players we have. And now people are admitting that Rafa overperformed? About fucking time.

It's still mainly Rafa's squad. He didn't overperform, Hodgson is underperforming.

[Pesci]

Both are true. Rafa overperformed by winning the Champions League, taking us to another final, getting the highest ever 3rd points tally and finishing 2nd. Hodgson is underperforming now.

Edited October 3, 2010 by Pesci

[therockbox]

I agree. Dalglish ain't the answer, no way. To me it seems that the Liverpool squad he's got is probably a mid table team - 3 or 4 top players surrounded by a shallow, weaker squad...Who are also a bit lacking in confidence right now.

Saying we've got a mid-table squad is being incredibly disingenuous. Bar two players, when Roy took over he had the same squad that amassed the highest number of points for a second placed team in Premier League history. I'm not saying Dalglish is the 'answer' (I'm not sure there is an answer with these owners), but there are definitely better options. It was clear that when Benitez left the next man would be a caretaker at best, who would only really be steadying the ship until new owners arrived and a high profile manager could be appointed. This was all but confirmed at Roy's initial press conference, when the phrase' ship steadying' was used in almost every answer. The problem is Roy hasn't steadied the ship at all - he's taken an axe to foundations that weren't broken and tried to build his own, using outdated methods and ill-suited materials. Dalglish, I think, wouldn't have done that - he'd have tried to keep the system as much the same as possible, but 'put his arm aroung' (I hate using that phrase) the players to get them fired up again. Not only has Roy changed tactics, he's absolutely failed in improving the attitude of the players.

Dalglish could get them to midtable maybe, but I doubt much further.

I'd take mid-table right now.

I'd imagine Liverpool actually need much more of a sorting over at pretty much every level.

This is true, and it's the reasons for the increase in protest activity since the beginning of the season.

---

Whilst I'm always coming across the Hodgson apologist, who actually expected Liverpool to do well this season? Seriously?

It depends what you mean by well. When he arrived Hodgson had the squad to challenge for a top four squad - despite the mass of problems (injury, attitude, managerial, ownership - all of them) we were only seven points off 4th place. I wasn't expecting a top four finish (or even challenge, despite the squad he inherited), bu it wasn't out of the question. Expectations only started being really lowered when it became apparent that the problems with the club went deeper than the amount of holding players the previous manager used to field.

Hodgson isn't doing a great job, but I think that anyone who expected someone to come in and keep Liverpool anywhere near where they had been over a season ago was missing the shambles of a side that was put out all of last season whenever Gerrard or Torres was out.

Come on, it wasn't a shambles of a side at all (and Gerrard made 33 league appearances last season, he was just shocking - not just by his standards either, I mean by any Premier League player's standards). As I said, we were only 7 points off fourth in a season where Torres, Johnson, Aurelio, Riera and Agger were all missing for large parts through injury, Skrtel was forced to play for the first two months with a broken jaw because of Carragher's headbutt and no replacements (Agger's injury, no funds to sign anyone until the board generously coughed up £1.5m for Kyrgiakos), Kuyt spend the first 6 weeks or so playing through an ankle injury (again, injuries meant we couldn't 'rotate'), and Benayoun was back and forth to Europe to have horse placenta rubbed into his body.

--

It's still mainly Rafa's squad. He didn't overperform, Hodgson is underperforming.

It was a squad built on compromise though. In his first few seasons Rafa had the option of either; spending 'big' on a few players and hoping guff like Diao, Biscan, Le Tallec & Co would suddenly step up to the mark, or spend the money he had on an assortment of mid-range players that would fill out the squad (although he still got a few gems, notably Alonso & Garcia) but leave obvious gaps in terms of top end quality (in his first season he also had to make do with Owen leaving for nothing because of Parry & Moores' incompetence, and was lumbered with a £14m Cisse). Then when the Americans first arrived it seemed like he had his squad settled, and could start adding quality (Torres, Mascherano) to add to the bulk of the squad. Then things turned, and he was faced with the same sort of choice as he was initially - sell the big players and keep a decent if relatively limited squad, or sell off squad players and hope that the injuries wouldn't stack up too much. By the end (his last four I think, it was definitely at least three) he was making a profit in each transfer window, and yet the demands remained the same - romp the league, get to the latter stages in Europe, and for God's sake be more friendly with the cunts in the press!

I know it must seem like I hate Hodgson or something, but to be honest I feel sorry for him. I didn't want him in the first place (my first choice was Pellegrini, my second was Dalglish - both have since said they wanted the job), and I don't want him here now, but I was willing to give him a chance. I hoped that he'd adapt to the set of players he had at his disposal, instead he's trying to recreate what he did at Fulham, and at Malmo and everywhere else before that, with a set of players that are completely at odds with that philosophy. In fact I'd even give him the benefit of the doubt - maybe he was willing to change, but when he took over he realised just what he'd walked into - and has almost retreated into his 'comfort blanket' if you like, and is now completely lost in the sea of shit that is Liverpool under Hicks and Gillett. I don't blame him for taking the job - despite our situation it was still fairly sought after; Pellegrini wanted it, and Benitez wanted to stay despite having the chance to walk into the jobs at Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan in recent times (and he only left when his position was made untenable by stories leaked to the press).

I wouldn't mind the results/league position/Carling Cup humiliation quite so much if we were building towards something. Instead we're playing a style of football that would have looked outdated under Houllier, trying to push players out of the club for no reason whatsoever (Insua, Aquilani, Lucas and Agger mainly), indulging some of the more... local players, and basically letting everyone who players us - even shitting Blackpool - that if you want to come and attack us, not only will we not trying and stop you, we'll completely crack under the pressure.

[DavidMarrio]

I'd agree with the we over-performed under Rafa at the start and were massively underperforming now. The squad we have shouldn't be in the situation we are in atm, I still keep thinking it's only 7 games into the season a win and were pretty much midtable and we played Man.City and Man.Utd away, Arsenal at home with 10 men.

But we were crap against West Brom and fortuante to win, Birmingham we were poor, Sunderland we were poor and today losing to Blackpool at home is a terrible result. We started to actually attack in the 2nd half and showed signs that we can be one of the best attacking teams but the problem is why only start to play like that when your 2-0 down at home? Why don't we play like that more often I mean it worked in the past.

The situation off the pitch isn't helping at all, we really need to get Hicks and Gillett and find some new owners and hopefully get out of this dark period the club is experiencing.