Well I was going to blog yesterday about our woeful performances in our Lancashire double against Bolton and Blackburn. The former because we won with a dodgy offside goal, the latter because we didnt play that badly but got sucker punched on the break thrice. Blackburn did what Newcastle and Wolves have done to us recently, pressed and couter-attacked.
Hodgson was bereft of ideas not just on the night but throughout his short, impotent reign. 2-0 down at halftime and made no changes, then they score the 3rd as he is about to bring Dirk on. You would think he would have changed that seeing as the game was lost at that point. But no he plowed ahead even though we needed Dirk for today.
The back 4 were a disgrace with Glen Johnson in particular outshining the cosistently inept Konchesky. I believe he has reacted to Merson's Soccer Saturday commets about his not being good enough by Twittering that the opinions of Alcoholic, drug addicts dont concern him. If that was the case why Twitter???
Possibly because Merson is not wrong in his assessment. I find Merson's comments in general to the point and more often than not correct. He says Torres hasnt tried a leg and Johnson and Konchesky are rubbish, hardly earth-shattering or incorrect!
So Hodgson had to go. He was disrespectful to the fans, who I feel have been very patient, waiting for an outbreak of football. There have been too few times when that has happened this season. He has show a lack of tactical nouse and a distinct unwillingness to make big decisions. There are several times whe he should have dropped Torres especially and others and he wouldnt do it. From the players body language and lack of effort one wonders if he ever had the dressing room. Perhaps Gerrard, Torres and Carra hold too much influence. Lets be honest the 1st 2 have hardly tried at all this season.
Dalglish coming in does seem a bit desparate, although he is already on the payroll and will instantly command and recieve respect in the dressing room. So perhaps there is some sense in it. He already showed today he wont shirk decisions. Made 2 changes 10 minutes into the second half which were positive and almost produced a goal instantly with Babel's shot.
Then with 15 minutes left he brought Torres off who had worked hard for the team and with a game on Wednesday not a bad decision. Hogdson would not have done this. I thought we put up a good fight today and if our captain had a brain between his ears instead of compost, we could won with 11 against 11. We were always on the back foot after the penalty which I think was the right decision. Agger makes contact any striker worth his salt would go down. The Stevie G sending off was a no brainer and Dalglish did not protest after seeing the replays.
Today's result was not important in the context of King Kenny's 2nd spell in charge. We saw more belief and desire and with a bit of luck we could have earned a replay. Even my Manc friends said pen was harsh and they werent very good. In fact if you swapped our midfield for theirs you wouldnt really changed the teams all that much.
Its been our failure in the last 3 years to find suitable partner and cover for Torres and our failure to secure decent fullbacks in that time. We let Riise and Warnock and Arbeloa go and replaced then with Johnson,Konchesky and Insua, clearly not of the same quality.
Lets hope Kenny can motivate the players ad hammer Blackpool on Wednesday night.
YNWA
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