Why Roy Hodgson deserved the sack and why Kenny Dalglish is the right choice – Part 1
Roy has managed teams for 35 years and he certainly can’t be a bad manager if he has done it for so long. But he was never the right man to manage Liverpool. Although ‘Manager of the Year’ with Fulham last year, he still had very little experience of managing
a big club, like http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809.
His appointment did raise a few eyebrows which seemed justified time and again over the course of the season up until his sacking after Liverpool’s ninth defeat of the season at the hands of Blackburn http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rovers-c40385. His statements and tactics both echoed mediocrity
on his part. He seemed to put more effort in lowering the fans expectations rather than trying to improve and take the club forward.
Roy has stuck to his guns where ever he has been and his win percentages at the three big clubs he has so far managed (Liverpool, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan and Blackburn) are low. His lack of silverware at all of them shows, he isn’t a top manager and definitely not a
great one.
He is a man who proudly confessed, back in 2002, that he does not believe in innovation (he probably meant ‘change for change’s sake’). He has stuck to the same ideologies and tactics for nearly 35 years now. His 4-4-2 formation, even though it worked wonders
at some clubs, is surely not a modern day formation anymore.
But for the system to work efficiently one needs to have the right type of players. You would need more Dirk Kuyts rather than http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Torres-c13707 to make such a formation work, as it requires lots of energy and discipline.
Liverpool have been crying out for a strike partner for Fernando Torres for some time now, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone of the highest quality present to play alongside Torres. Hodgson persisted in 4-4-2 with the young, inexperienced and certainly
not up to the level, David Ngog partnering Torres up front.
Maybe Ngog would have adapted as time went by, but it looked highly unlikely. Roy seemed to stick with his failed ideas and it was baffling to see his team make so many silly errors all over the pitch, throughout the season. The problem wasn’t the errors
being made but the consistency with which they were being committed. In fact, their numbers were on the rise, as Liverpool players looked as if they had no confidence left in them what so ever.
At 63, Roy wasn’t a popular choice to start with, and then he managed to infuriate fans through his controversial press conferences and football. He slated Rafa time and again for the poor squad he had left behind (ignoring the fact that only one of his
own four singings looked good). He even managed to have a go at one of the world’s most respected fans, and his relationship with them came to a boiling point. 10,000 empty seats on New Year’s day at Anfield was a good indicator of his affiliation with the
club supporters.
At the time of his appointment, Hodgson had claimed that he is more of a coach than a manager and will be able to get the best out of this group of players. Hodgson had surely done that effectively during his time at Fulham. He made the likes of Clint Dempsey,
Zolton Gera and Bobby http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Zamora-c40983 there into much better footballers.
However, at Liverpool he already had better players than he would have probably thought of before landing at Anfield. He preferred workaholics over more skilful players. His decision to let go £20m stylish midfielder, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alberto-Aquilani-c4313 on loan was one that
brought down his reputation, even before the season had begun.
He then ignored, probably the best centre back at the club, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Steven-Gerrard-c34196 was fit. He did this despite his statement
at the start of the season that he will play players in their preferred positions and where they would feel comfortable – or maybe that statement only applied for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ryan-Babel-c31971.
Continued in Part 2...
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