Liverpool defender Glen Johnson is confident the team can put their poor start to the season behind them and challenge for the top four.
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Roy Hodgson has challenged his Liverpool players to end their second-half syndrome after seeing Newcastle grab two late goals to beat his side at St James’ Park…
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Joey Barton is expected to face further disciplinary charges after making explicit gestures during Liverpools 31 defeat to Newcastle United.
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Roy Hodgson’s men yesterday travelled to St James’s Park for their evening kick off against Newcastle who had experienced a week of turmoil and conspiracy after the sacking of Chris Hughton. This of course should have made them easy pickings where winning the game was concerned.
BUT
As appears to be the norm these days, Liverpool Football has a terrible habit of being unable to take their home form into away games. Why is this, is the question on everyone’s lips this morning. I am still as angry as I was last night because, it appears we have a manager in Roy Hodgson, who simply does not seem to understand the meaning of the word WINNING. He has according to the statistics issued list night only won 1 in 27 away games. That is a disgrace on its own and brings the frightening prospect of either being in the bottom half of the table or indeed in the relegation zone out into the open. We as the supporters of the club know, that is totally unacceptable so why is nothing being done about it.
The team performance last Monday gave us an idea of what the team could do with several of the fringe players included and it was a pleasure to watch. They ran rings around the Aston Villa team and proved that if given regular football they would be an asset to the team. So this of course begs the question, why on earth did Roy tinker with the team yesterday?
He did though and I suspect player power has something to do with it. Yesterday evening saw the return of Fernando Torres who had been left out on Monday evening due to birth of little Leo. I can understand that having a new born baby to care for, can make you more tired than usual, but throughout the game he gave the impression that he was simply fed up and could not be bothered. Several of the balls he missed, a couple of years ago would have hit the back of the net quite easily. For him to return to the team which was still without Stevie G and Jamie, should have been the one thing stirred the team to ensure a win. As we all know though it did not and Newcastle over the course of ninety minutes ripped us apart. Our defence was broken down far too quickly and yet at Anfield it is like a wall of steel that visiting teams find hard to breach, although some do. The stand-in captain also went missing yesterday – where was the encouragement from a leader that the players needed on the pitch?
What or who seems to send a message to the players that losing an away game is better than winning it?
A lot of people say that person is Roy Hodgson, who appears to have taken a job that is totally beyond him. He seems to be unable to grasp the fact that Liverpool are a major club and should be in the top half of the table, if not in the top four. To do this of course you have to win both at home and away.
He was as we all know chosen during the summer to replace Rafa Benitez who was sacked for only steering the club to 7th place in the premiership. This morning Liverpool sit in nineth position and unless a major overhaul takes place then we will go downwards rather than upwards.
Did Roy pander to Torres I wonder, after the display and effort that Ryan Babel had put in last Monday alongside Ngog, surely it would have been better to have left him in place. I have nothing against Torres and I can fully understand why perhaps he feels so let down, but surely a period on the bench would do him good – he needs to be treated the same as the rest of the players and earn his place. Going by the way the Lucas and Meireles partnership appears to be blossoming this should also apply to Stevie G although he is the automatic choice for captain. Where Jamie is concerned, young Martin Kelly is doing all he can to make that position is own and with age catching up with Jamie, should be given more chances in the first team.
There have been conflicting reports regarding the January transfer window. Damien Comolli has said that he is looking at players to bring in, Roy has said that he feels that with the players we have, there really is no need to spend and it would be better to wait until the summer. John Henry and Tom Werner have up till now kept quiet other than their open statements upon the purchase of the club Who I wonder is actually in charge of player transfers/buys now because I can see a major period of unrest due to clashes amongst the staff. This also applies to Dr Brukner and his staff. They said in a television interview that Stevie G was fit and would be able to play yesterday. On Thursday Roy said, no he won’t and was consequently left out. I wonder if either of them had the good manners to ask Stevie how he actually feels.
Of course none of this answers the questions as to why Roy was seen, rubbing his face and then cupping it in hands, due to the dire display in front of him. He after all is the manager of the team, he is the man who takes the training sessions, he is also the man who chooses what he believes to be his strongest team but he is also the man who is presiding over the decline of a once great club. HE IS THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DIRE DISPLAY.
I have often sat here and wondered if the players actually do get on with him. PR is a wonderful tool and can of course mask what is really happening behind the scenes. Stories have surfaced and have been killed equally as quickly about the growing unrest re the manager from the senior players. Of course like the supporters, they want to know now that with new owners in place if there is going to be any further investment in the team?
Now our new owners Fenway Sports Ventures (NESV) have spent quite a lot of money recently on American players for their teams in the States – is that going to happen here – I have my doubts I must admit, but of course time will tell. I know John Henry and Tom Werner are still going through a learning process where English clubs are concerned but I don’t honestly believe they understand how important it is for Liverpool to be in the top four with the prospect of Champions League Football. If they did, I am sure they would realise by now that a change of manager should be the one thing that is marked as urgent on their list of early improvements.
They said on their arrival at the club that they would listen to the supporters, and although I know people have been voicing their opinion through twitter. Unless something is going on behind the scenes that we are not aware off nothing appears to be happening to be happening and people are beginning to ask questions.
Monday though could change that. John Henry, Tom Werner and Ian Ayre are appearing on the re-launched LFCTV show LFC Now between 1700 – 1900 p.m. This is the supporters chance to quiz them about all things Liverpool FC.
I suspect though that they will not get a full understanding of the way us the supporters feel because the calls and emails will be vetted before they are aired and only the ones deemed suitable will be put forward to John, Tom and Ian.
This of course is the wrong way to go about things as quite frankly we need to know what is going on and how they are going to improve the position the club is in at the moment. If you wish to contact them, the information is below. Please though keep your telephone calls and emails clean as well not too obvious – that way you more of a chance of getting on the programme.
CONTACT INFORMATIONFOR THE PROGRAMME
0845 234 4567 – LFC WILL CALL YOU BACK
EMAIL: lfcnow@liverpoolfc.tv
TWITTER: @LFCTV
What we the supporters have to try and ensure is that we have two hours to put our points across and it must be used to our full advantage. The answers we get must be truthful ones and not ones that will lead to a further set of unanswered questions in the future.
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Palermo midfielder Josip Ilicic is attracting the attention of an English club other than Liverpool
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