Football Special Report: Back to the ‘Liverpool way’ under Kenny Dalglish (Part 3)
Asking Torres to wrestle against the likes of Blackburn, Stoke and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wolves-c40952, Hodgson was undermining the confidence of his star man. The tactics of sitting deep in their own half and not pressing higher up the pitch meant that when Liverpool won the ball back,
they had still a lot of grass to cover before they reach opponents 18-yard box.
It left Torres devoid of any opportunities near the opposition box. By not passing from back to front, Torres was left to chase lost causes up front on his own and Liverpool would lose the possession time after again.
Consequently and not surprisingly, Torres looked dejected, short of confidence and at times, certainly ‘not arsed’. The morale of the team hit rock bottom and the team looked short of ideas nearly every time the stepped on the green patch.
With 3 goals under Kenny already, Torres’s goal blip has coincided with Roy’s time at the club. So far we have seen Torres play possibly his best three games of the season under Kenny Dalglish (http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 game under Roy being the only exception, when Torres
put on a man of the match performance).
Roy Hodgson, being an Englishman had the support of media and as expectedly the support of fellow managers. It was right in many ways as it was only a couple of months ago that Hodgson received the ‘Manager of the Year’ award.
However, it was always felt that He wasn’t the right fit at the first place. He proved that with his time at the club and although he did the club immense short term damage, shipping him out might just have saved Liverpool from long term damage.
However, under Hodgson, Players looked frustrated and were found wanting on the pitch far too often. There was the danger of the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Torres-c13707 jumping the ship. In the summer he made some really awful singings (Meireles being the
only exception), played some awful tactics, said some awful things and it inevitably led to some awful results on the pitch. So much so, that fans didn’t feel like coming to the stadium and spend their money to watch the team play under Hodgson.
However, all the blame cannot be attributed to the poor former Fulham manager. Although he made some glaring errors, he had his partners in crime; http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Christian-c9045 Purslow being one. He certainly did not guide Hodgson in the right direction in the transfer market.
Then there was the famous duo of Hicks and Gillet, who were not just abysmal at their football knowledge but also at how to run a football club. The combo of Hicks, Gillet, Purslow and Hodgson was as dreadful as it gets.
Thankfully, all of them have now left the club, thanks to the much controversial sale of the club and the much anticipated departure of Roy Hodgson. Now the club are under the ownership of NESV; now known as Fenway Sports Group (FSG), and the managerial
guidance of club legend Kenny Dalglish.
Add to that Damien Comolli, who signed three cracking players for Spurs (Berbatov, Bale and Modric), http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 look to be heading in the right direction.
Roy was the master of lowering down the expectations and contradicting himself at nearly every press conference. Kenny in contrast has played a straight forward and an honest game. His media handling has been exceptional so far.
Where Roy failed to make any impressions – well it was nearly everywhere – Kenny has done exactly what the club wanted of him. He has taken the pressure of his players, given the right talk to the media and has got his players doing the basics right.
Continued in part 4..
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