Official Premier League 2010/11 thread

[Lineker]

It was banners tied up outside what I assume was either Stamford Bridge or their training centre saying "YOU'RE NOT FIT TO WEAR THE SHIRT!" and "ANCELOTTI/ABRAMOVITCH OUT"

[mikevandam]

But most of his success has been in Sweden

He did very well in Copenhagen. He only was there one season (headed to Udinese afterwards IIRC) and yet he won them the double, which took them from being "close but no cigar" team to regular winners of the Danish league

Yes it is Denmark. But heck. Copenhagen are still running in the Champions League aren't they ? (Y)

[stokeriño]

The Chelsea banners: because no club is without its fucking idiots.

(And as for where they were, it was outside the training ground in Cobham)

Fortunately Ancelotti is unlikely to be sacked. Might become worryingly more so if we go out of the FA Cup on Sunday, but in which case we'll just have to see whether the board have any sense or whether they'll finally default to their usual dickish move i.e. short-term thinking and pulling the You're Fired lever. Not particularly optimistic - since the board has been dickish in just about every other 'Human Resources' decision they've made so far this season.

[Cadj]

Roy Hodgson has gone.

Dalglish is in temporary charge of Liverpool now.

[stokeriño]

One day before they play United? Lovely.

[EddieG]

30 odd?

[Dan]

Dalglish, lol.

Liverpool to do a Newcastle from 2 seasons ago?

I'd love it.

[TCO]

That's what I thought when I heard about Dagleish too. Obviously Liverpool have a better team than Newcastle did, but it'd be the funniest thing in the history of sport if Liverpool got relegated.

[therockbox]

Dalglish has won more trophies than Roy has won away games in top flight English football.

Edited January 8, 2011 by therockbox.

[Dan]

How many years ago?

Ali was a great fighter, I could probably knock him out now, Dalglish was finished a long time ago, certainly not in this millenium.

And before you start pulling on facts and figures, I'd willingly place a big bet with you that Dalglish will not lead Liverpool to a top 4 finish, top 8 is highly improbably and I'd laugh my arse off if they went down.

Edited January 8, 2011 by Version Dan

[TCO]

The majority of that success being almost 3 decades ago, in a vastly different league, playing vastly different football in a vastly different enviorment than he currently finds himself in.

Keegan had great success for newcastle in the 1990s, you saw how he faired when he returned after a shorter spell out of the game.

[therockbox]

We'll see. The fact that he saw this coming though would suggest he's slightly more clued up than people think.

Besides, sticking with Roy and letting him drag us into a relegation fight would have been a bigger gamble than appointing Kenny.

edit: Keegan, by his own admission, took a sabbatical from the game and watched no football in his time away. Dalglish has been around the club for the past few years, involved in the academy and was a infinitely more successful manager than Keegan was (playing an incredibly modern style of football during the eighties as well).

Nobody thinks we're guaranteed to go on a winning run of epic proportions under Dalglish, but as I said, it got to the stage where keeping Roy until the end of the season was a bigger gamble than jettisoning him and bringing Kenny in.

Edited January 8, 2011 by therockbox.

[EddieG]

It's only been 15 years since Dalglish won the league with Blackburn, that's not 3 decades ago, and that's one fucking great achievement.

[Pesci]

How many years ago?

Ali was a great fighter, I could probably knock him out now, Dalglish was finished a long time ago, certainly not in this millenium.

And before you start pulling on facts and figures, I'd willingly place a big bet with you that Dalglish will not lead Liverpool to a top 4 finish, top 8 is highly improbably and I'd laugh my arse off if they went down.

Nobody would argue that he'll lead us to a Top 4 finish. Top 8 isn't highly improbable at all - it's actually quite likely if anything. Positions from 6th downwards are always a massive crapshoot, especially this year with Villa and Everton doing so badly as well, and nobody else looking convincing in their absence. I wouldn't be surprised to see both Liverpool and Everton in the Top 8 - Villa probably have a much bigger battle on their hands though.

I have no sympathy for Hodgson in his inability to show any adaptation and his surprisingly poor man management skills, but Houllier by no means deserves the shit he is getting. This may sound contradictory, but a manager always needs time to implement his style on a club. And where as Roy has managed to alienate the entire club by his own will, Houllier has got on with his job without question. Houllier is by no means a bad manager. Neither is Roy. But Houllier put a lot into redeveloping Liverpool (including the famed "Melwood" Academy, if not in function then at least in actual basis), has been involved in successful French national teams and has helped lead Lyon to Ligue 1 championships. That's not winning a bunch of Scandinavian leagues - that's proper success. Houllier is bring a style he knows works (and has proven to work - maybe not to the greatest level of success, but for Villa's level it will work) and only fails because players have shown no desire to adapt.

Both teams are full of players who have given up, but at least Aston Villa's players have the ability to turn it around if they wouldn't be so spoilt and learn to adapt to a new style. Liverpool have much bigger malaise in their squad and whereas Benitez managed to turn water into wine, Roy has managed to turn water into mud and expects the village to still admire him.

Again, it seems contradictory. In fact, it is. There's nothing to say that both managers shouldn't just adapt to their players and forget trying to change a set-up set in it's ways. But Roy isn't doing that - he's isn't actually evolving Liverpool in any sense of the word and doesn't grasp the actual meaning of the club. Houllier, however, is attempting to evolve Villa. And he deserves his time to do that. A couple of extra players in the January window, a couple of wins on the board and Villa will turn it around and move up.

All Liverpool need to do is dispense of Roy Hodgson's services and let Kenny Dalglish take over until the end of the season. By no means does it solve any problems, but it certainly will appease a lot of people for now. That "new manager" feeling and initial string of wins are exactly what Liverpool could do with right now.

A neutral who gets it?! By God.

I was really shocked Hodgson wasn't sacked the morning after the Blackburn result so yeah, I'm really happy at this. Like I've been saying for months, if it's hard to imagine somebody else doing worse, you can't make an argument for them staying - absolutely nothing bad can come of this change. Will it drastically improve things? We'll have to see. But I'm fully confident we won't get any worse.

[Blue Rosler]

England soccer star Andy Carroll was left in agony after a drunken fall from a casino bar stool at 5am, it was claimed yesterday.Carroll, 22, had just ordered 30 “Jagerbombs” – a potent mix of spirit Jagermeister and Red Bull energy drink – for himself and 15 pals.

Next day the £20million striker’s club, Newcastle United, announced that a thigh injury would rule him out of at least three games.

Lad!

[Dan]

It's only been 15 years since Dalglish won the league with Blackburn, that's not 3 decades ago, and that's one fucking great achievement.

A good achievement, sure, but not "fucking great" when they had one of the best players in English football that decade, and they almost fluffed it.

English Football is a different kettle of fish since Abramovich bought Chelsea, I just can't see Dalglish doing anything with Liverpool, if they could have prised Coyle from Bolton, I could have seen them progressing, but they'll have to spend big money and keep hold of Torres (and get him playing consistantly) to have any chance of getting top 4 (maybe even 6) in the next few years.

Edited January 8, 2011 by Version Dan

[TCO]

It's only been 15 years since Dalglish won the league with Blackburn, that's not 3 decades ago, and that's one fucking great achievement.

I'm not discounting that, hence why I said majority, not all.

He won three League titles and two FA Cups in the 1980s, compared to one honour in the 1990s.

5 honours is the clear majority over 1, so if you read what I said correctly, you'll find it astonishingly accurate.

[therockbox]

It's only been 15 years since Dalglish won the league with Blackburn, that's not 3 decades ago, and that's one fucking great achievement.

A good achievement, sure, but not "fucking great" when they had one of the best players in English football that decade, and they almost fluffed it.

English Football is a different kettle of fish since Abramovich bought Chelsea, I just can't see Dalglish doing anything with Liverpool, if they could have prised Coyle from Bolton, I could have seen them progressing, but they'll have to spend big money and keep hold of Torres (and get him playing consistantly) to have any chance of getting top 4 (maybe even 6) in the next few years.

He's not here to do anything beyond stop us getting relegated. He's only here to the end of the season, at which point a number of managers that aren't available now are far more likely to come.

If Hodgson hadn't have been such a disaster, Dalglish wouldn't have been appointed. This isn't a long-term appointment, it's a reaction to Roy dragging us into a relegation battle.

Edited January 8, 2011 by therockbox.

[lanky316]

It's only been 15 years since Dalglish won the league with Blackburn, that's not 3 decades ago, and that's one fucking great achievement.

It's only 13 years since he had a mental breakdown because a non-league team said they had a chance of beating him in the FA Cup though That Blackburn team as great an achievement as it was to see them get there were a highly expensive team, granted it takes more than money to win the title but like Leeds they bankrolled beyond their means got their moment of glory (before humiliating themselves in Europe) and had to rebuild again.

I'm not surprised Hodgson went but I thought he was going to hold on a little longer, after the Blackburn result I assumed we'd be hearing it before they were off the pitch (as happened at Spurs with Jol) but when he got away with that I thought he'd be remaining a little longer. I suppose they were just trying to sort out the financial terms of the contract. Don't know how much improvement they'll be able to make. The team look like they've got no interest in turning up and you'd need a good motivator to lift them, maybe Dalglish'll sort that out but I guess we'll see.

[Hobo]

During the Summer, there was talk of Daglish getting the job as well. I was against it. For a lot of the reasons people here have suggested. But I can accept him in charge temporarily. Because when it comes to people who are already at the club, who could take temporary charge, it's down to Sammy Lee and Kenny Daglish. I'd rather Dalgish.

Oh and it's only 11 eleven years since he took temporary charge of Celtic. If we're playing the 'how many years since Kenny Daglish...' game. Which as true as it all is, he can't do worse than Roy. His remit won't be to get Liverpool into the Champions League in the remaining games just to keep the club from sinking any lower than it already has.