ROY'S THE BOY

                      ROY'S THE BOY   

I am disappointed but not surprised by the reaction of the supporters over the last few days with the vast majority wanting Hodgson out. Its plain for all to see with our League position that we have had a terrible start to the season one in which we have not seen for nearly fifty years which worryingly so we were relegated in.
  The feedback I have been getting from fellow Liverpool supporters has been that Roy's time is up before it is too late, where I am going to be in the minority and probably get slated for saying that I believe he needs more time to turn things around.
  Hodgson has came in at a very difficult time, with the ownership saga which has thankfully been settled. Roy has also inherited a poor squad from Rafa which was found out last season with our poor league position. Hodgson has came in with virtually no money to work with a poor squad and has been asked to wave a magic wand overnight.
                    TEAM SELECTION

I have felt that most of the games this season that Hodgson's team selections have been ok and as strong a team as he's been able to field other than obviously the cup games where he has tried to give fringe players games. There has been a lot of criticism of Hodgson's tactics in games saying that he is too cautious in his approach and maybe so but with a new squad of players it takes time to see what tactics work with the players you've got. I like everybody else am critical of some things he has done this season, I would like to see Cole just play behind Torres and Gerrard play deeper in the central of midfield where he can influence games alongside Meireles. Many supporters think we should play with two men up front but I think Torres prefers to play the lone striker role. Its up to the midfield to support and they have not been doing this nearly enough leaving Torres a frustrated figure. But overall experience wise Hodgson doesn't have a lot to work with in his squad and now he's stuck with it until January. 

                           TOUGH START

Liverpool's fixtures to start the season have been extremely difficult for a new manager coming in to a new club. A baptism of fire saw Liverpool face Arsenal at home on the opening day and if Liverpool had managed to hold out just a few minutes more then I'm sure we would not be talking about a crisis. Away to Manchester City was next up and we were well beaten but the carry on with Mascherano couldn't have helped the preperation for the game. West Brom was an unconvincing win, our only League win to date. Away to Birmingham was always going to be a difficult game with their outstanding form at home in recent times, so a draw wasn't bad. The Manchester United game was disappointing as we were second best for most of the game but somehow Gerrard once again managed to drag us back into it before losing a late heartbreaking goal. After those tough fixtures to start the season with I felt now we had a couple of fixtures to pick up some points with Sunderland and Blackpool at home, but maybe with confidence low and the off the field ownership saga we couldn't muster a win, drawing with Sunderland and losing the Blackpool game. With the ownership of the club finally settled last Friday I was hoping for a spirited performance on Sunday but once again I was left disappointed. The tough fixture list has certainly drained the team of confidence but it is now up to Roy to lift his team for the Blackburn game at home on Sunday as I don't think Hodgson is going to have much time left to turn things around.

                          THE PLAYERS

Everybody is blaming Hodgson for the results and anything else going wrong at the club. But these players he is sending out every week really need to have a look at themselves. I played football for twenty years and I have witnessed our manager try every form of motivation to get us to play better and at times we still went out and played rubbish and who was to blame ? us the players. So I believe Hodgson is trying everything right now but once those players cross that white line then its up to them. Other than Carragher and Gerrard on Sunday, if the players can't lift themselves for a local derby then they should be sacked, Everton were far more hungry for the fight and thoroughly deserved their victory. I hate naming names but Lucas would never play for me again after that performance I don't know how many times I saw him jog back when Everton were breaking forward when he should be chasing back to help his defence. He is to blame for the first goal with his poor header but worst still was his effort to recover the situation by puting in a half hearted tackle in reply before giving up leaving Konchesky to deal with it. So the players need to respond big time for Hodgson after Sunday's performance.

                            TIME

I know many of you will disagree with this article and feel free to comment below but I would like to give Hodgson fifteen League games to turn it around before replacing him. I think he will get it right as his experience in the game will prove invaluable for us. His comments after Sunday's game have been widely criticised and I like everyone else was surprised by them but I reckon he made those remarks to try and defend his players as everybody knows it wasn't a good performance. So maybe now we might see a different attitude from the players with Hodgson sticking up for them. But there is a lot of work to be done and Hodgson knows that better than anyone but it is still far too early in the season to be calling for his head. This League is so tight that if we win a couple of games it will be crisis over and we could be mid table so although we are printed at second bottom of the table we are not too far adrift to get back in the thick of it. It is just a severe shock to our system to find us here and I think this is leading to everyone's panic.
  So like I say give Roy fifteen league games and see where we are, and in my view Roy is still the Boy for the job. Lets get behind him and the team.

YNWA