NAMING RIGHTS THREAD: Liverpool really won't win the Premiership 2010-2011

Better or worse under Benitez? Would've preferred him to be reaping this tbh, but more likely they'd be doing better I guess.

idk

bad day at the office

nothing to worry about :)

I think they would be playing about the same but we would have more points. Which doesn't make much sense but that's kinda how I feel. Don't think we would have lost to both Blackpool and Wolves at home tbh. Think Torres might be playing better.

Why is it going this badly? (This is a real question - I haven't been paying an awful lot of attention). At the time he was appointed (and where those quotes were plucked from) it was widely assumed Torres and Gerrard were on their way. But they stayed. And the yanks were dragging the club down into bankruptcy and points deductions. But Liverpool were saved at the eleventh hour. So if anything things should be going better than predicted, but they're clearly not.

Btw am recording MOTD. Is Balotelli's hat trick in fact "the laziest of all time"? I'm certainly looking frwd to seeing it tmrw.

ffs I've been backing Roy 'til tonight and I've been public about it. No need to dredge it up tbh

Chill - no criticism intended, just laughing at the hideous confounding of predictions. If you dredge hard enough you can find posts from me predicting the imminent demise of Ferguson circa 2005.

gif the chelsea fat man please

xp to NBS
Those things SHOULD be positive, yes. Esp. the ownership issue. But there just seems a fatal sense of ennui around the club. Just drifting drifting drifting into a 10-7 place finish. It's as if the players know they won't go down (they won't) and also that they won't win anything(okay we haven't won anything for 4 years but they didn't go into previous seasons knowing that) For all that we haven't won the League in 20 years lols this is the first time in over a decade that I've been SURE we wouldn't challenge for anything(spoilt I know). Not sure Hodgson is really a long term project guy and our better players (Reina excepted) don't have the time for a long term (over 2 years) rebuilding job. It's perhaps not as bad as I'm making out, but by God some of the football has been wretched.

by God some of the football has been wretched

That's presumably the worst part. Is this Hodgson's doing, or due to wider circumstances?

_____________________

chelsea tho

malouda, drogba, essien alive

they'll survive

Yeah okay xp, it's just that doing it tonight made me look like I'm hypocritically driving a bandwagon that I'm only just flagging down.

I don't hate Roy at all, I think he's a decent man who I'd in other circumstances be delighted to have in charge - hence the initial enthusiasm. But it isn't working, there's no getting around that, and no reason to believe it's going to start working when you get dross like that six months in.

Why isn't it working? Good question and you'd probably have to be on the inside to know. At a guess it's a fundamental incompatibility personality-wise between Roy and squad, and result is can't-be-arsed. Reminds me a bit of Scolari at Chelsea.

terrible hat trick

Btw am recording MOTD. Is Balotelli's hat trick in fact "the laziest of all time"? I'm certainly looking frwd to seeing it tmrw.

― my name is lucas (pandemic), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 23:06 (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

no

the most laconic, maybe

<3 balotelli

silva taking to pl surprisingly well

ronan's prayers for a winger look set to be answered: rumour is rennes' marveux to liverpool in january

Wretched football is mostly Hodgson's doing, sadly - he's got a certain type of tight & narrow thing he wants doing but the players want and in some cases need to be more expansive. If the players were more dedicated or less talented it'd probably work, but it's reached an unhappy balance where the talented ones switch off, while the donkeys try and get all the blame. Meireles is the only one whom it suits I think. Roy's fault for not working with what he's got ultimately.

xp
I like the idea of a laconic hat trick very much. Am excited now! :)

liverpool is the grave of wingers for longer than rafa afaict

u need strong managers to protect those delicate flowers from fickle fans

Been impressed with Silva last 8 games or so. I mean obviously v good player at Valencia but really stating to show his skill and smarts for Citeh now.

yeah it was all about consistency for him, the skill was undoubted

really glad to see a player like that thriving in england

xp
Was Mark Walters a Souness winger?

Silva's been outstanding from day one. City were terrible for a good while but he always looked the real deal.

mancini deserves some credit for that

What do you think is the best City front 3 Nakh? Choosing from Tevez, Johnson, Mario, Silva, Jo, Adebayor(lols) etc

Has there been any word about what budget (if any) Hodgson will be given in the transfer window?

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%40danwalkerbbc

bale god what a player

if if was 433 then maybe balotelli--tevez--silva l-r

i'd play

                balotelli
                
               tevez
silva                                milner
            touré        de jong

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Be crazy to give him any more than 3-4 million I reckon. Just wait until the Summer and give the money to the manager you're going to go ahead with (doubt it's Roy)

I forgot all about Milner FFS! Embarrassment of riches there.

i don't rate milner that highly but i'd include him for workrate/solidity over the more talented aj

this blackburn kean dude looks INTENSE

kalinic looking like a proper pl star, great goal, scrappy goal, psycho challenge (lol scharner)

Obviously with the money they've spent it should go without saying, but they've built a hugely impressive team I think. Boateng and Kolorov are massive upgrades at full back position imo. Also Kompany has been great. They look like a 'proper team' to lapse into Souness speak.

Milner? Not on the wing tho surely?

ps NB&S there are others dont believe LFC ever had a title challenge, but I'm ok with being saddled as the most vocal tbf.

It's very hard to say if Rafa would be doing any better, but even I have to give him the benefit of the doubt on that in the circumstances. That's a reflection on the players more than Hodgson though, there's a lot of talented players out there tonight not willing to work under Hodgson's system, and the system ain't that fuckin important.

Mancini deserves credit as well for sidelining the duds quickly and firmly too - Lescott, Adebayor, etc.

lescott back in team?

Obviously with the money they've spent it should go without saying, but they've built a hugely impressive team I think. Boateng and Kolorov are massive upgrades at full back position imo. Also Kompany has been great. They look like a 'proper team' to lapse into Souness speak.

― my name is lucas (pandemic), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 23:45 (1 minute ago)

yeah there's some substance in the team, however unlikeable the city 'project' is -- i've heard great things about kolarov and hoping he gets a good run in the team now, boateng looks like he could play well across the back line which is basically invaluable

milner could easily play a sort of tucked in right winger role

i'd rather him there than in centre mid

lol "hodgson's system"...hoof it up the pitch you mean?

in all fairness, is that a very different system than what they were used to?

No pressing, defending deep, inviting pressure.

Rafa always spoke about the team doing it's best to win every game. He spoke about quality, focus, mentality. Roy's crossing his fingers that City don't beat us 6-0 and calling Northampton a formidable opponent.

Owen Coyle tonight: "I'm looking to pick them up, get a smile on their face, and go to Anfield on the front foot and look to try and win a very difficult game." Great mentality.

find it very hard to believe that hodgson is sending them out there saying 'play like we always did, but btw, the front four needn't try off the ball'

ih he's doind that, then yeah he needs to be sacked.

Rafa always spoke about the team doing it's best to win every game. He spoke about quality, focus, mentality. Roy just wants us to lose, he hates dignity. If he had his way, Liverpool wouldn't even have been European Capital of Culture. The man is a fucking pig.

hansen was really weird on motd; starting off suggesting tonight was a tipping point but then backtracking swiftly mid sentence as if he'd been poked in the ribs.

not paid to have an opinion, i guess? bbc mandate? i dunno.

wolves, pool - extraordinary game - because it seemed like it was the easiest 3 points wolves had gotten all season. once ward's goal had gone in, it was just a matter of stearman heading balls clear and the midfielders launching it back into pool's half - cant recall a single clear-cut home chance bar mereiles' one-on-one in first half. wolves' old flaws were in evidence - the inability of hunt or jarvis to deliver from the flank particularly, though those two did cover a lot of ground.

i think hodgson will go in midweek. i'm not sure who pool should appoint from here, but there is no way woy could or should carry on from here.

but as said, it's very tough to see who they can get in right now that's going to make it healthy or worthwhile? I know that it's a balance between the damage keeping him could do and the damage such a quick managerial turnover could have on the club, with absolutely no guarantees that the next guy (whoever it is) will be able to lift such a jaded looking outfit.

I don't think pool are in any real danger of relegation, I think there's prob an outside chance that they'll snap out of it soon enough to push for Europe, but in all likelihood they're looking at a season finishing somewhere around 10th under Hodgson. I don't think there's anyone out there going to come in in the middle of a season and do better.

As it happens, I think that he will probably go in the next week or two, but it'll be a resignation. To push him now wouldn't be a good move for the club though.

dmac's relation to liverpool is kinda like a redneck with a caged armadillo that he pokes and riles and then bring cocoa and then pokes and riles again

it's like conan and his trainer tbh, when they're ready i'll release them without warning or reason, because the plot demands it.

what i meant to say was that wolves won despite a performance riddled with flaws - not to criticise them, they were excellent - but it should be a lot more difficult to do what they did. i mean, i love the wolves and was rooting for them, but there weren't too many times when i was nervous about them holding on - pool's game plan was often just to engage in a reina vs hennessy long ball battle, except the wolves players would actually compete in the air, while the pool players were incredibly static. this was a point where it seemed pool werent even competing, rather than being just muddled.

In case it's not abundantly clear, and it may not be, it's not LFC I have a problem with- it's Benitez that I think is a blight on all of football. Sure, LFC have their fair share of dicks like Carragher and Gerrard, but I mean rather them than Bentley/Jenas, right? At least they're on vaguely the right side of the 'gives a fuck' divide, which I can admire.

xp- Agrees, Wolves weren't pushed at any stage once they nicked the goal.