Roy Hodgeson

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I imagine they'll keep Hodgson for as long as they can - especially as NESV were initially wanting to take over Fulham and have spoken to Hodgson a few times. Although I do agree, if come end of the season it hasn't improved he won't stay.

Hodgson never really invested in the youth at Fulham due to funds really, imagine with financial backing and the owners wanting the youth to be taken care of, he'll be able to do so.
 
Steven defour is an awesome player, reminds me a lot of alonso with his range and quality of passing. He is someone I've been saying we should sign for a long time now. (along with keisuke Honda although his long contract would make him hard to acquire)
 
especially as NESV were initially wanting to take over Fulham and have spoken to Hodgson a few times.

Are you sure about that?

IINM Fenway Sports Group (owned by NESV) were interested in some sort of commercial agreement not actually buying Fulham.

Regarding Hodgson's transfer dealings; Pigeon touched on it earlier, he comes across very short-sighted. I mentioned it during the summer transfer window but all his deals (both in and out) were focussed on the immediate future and not a year or 2 down the line. This doesn't tie-in with what NESV have done in Boston.
 
Are you sure about that?

IINM Fenway Sports Group (owned by NESV) were interested in some sort of commercial agreement not actually buying Fulham.

Regarding Hodgson's transfer dealings; Pigeon touched on it earlier, he comes across very short-sighted. I mentioned it during the summer transfer window but all his deals (both in and out) were focussed on the immediate future and not a year or 2 down the line. This doesn't tie-in with what NESV have done in Boston.

So he didn't have money to buy a high quality left back for the long term, so it would be better to buy no one if no ones available/no money, and have no left back, than get someone cheap whose got experience, really, thats a bad thing?

LIkewise, Poulsen may or may not be playing crap, he played crap for his country, he doesn't usually play crap for his country, therefore you can probably safely assume he's not playing anywhere near his best for Liverpool either.

I also find it funny people critise his being overly defensive until the last game. Well Liverpool are conceding a lot with fairly little discipline, he's trying to instill a new way of playing, thinking and new roles for the players. Once they are practiced and well drilled its easier to be more expansive but still know when to get back to defend.

This is ignoring that fact that with Torres playing like utter turd, Maxi/babel/Cole being anything but reliable scorers, playing an offensive game with more holes at the back, when your front line is playing like utter turd, is simply asking to lose.

This is the fundamental thing really, Fulham didn't become good overnight, before Hodgeson even signed you had Fulham fans across the country quoting their players, saying new systems, new training, hugely more disciplined and hard training took a long while to get used to, then it clicked and everyone loved how the team started playing.

So before he signed almost everyone was basically telling Liverpool fans exactly what to expect, a manager who knows his stuff actually trying to change the fundamental problems at the club(Reira/Babel/Maxi, several others who all like the money but have no interest in really doing much at all, all massively underperforming) and it would take time.

Then several games into the season you're all shocked it didn't happen instantly.

Then people having a go at him because he isn't completely honest with the press, since when is that a requirement of good management. He will have a go at players in private most likely, but to build confidence you tell the players they are improving, if you tell them they are getting worse constantly, they WILL NOT get better.

Again I'll point out Benitez, he said they could get 4th when no one else on earth thought they could, why, because if he tells the players its impossible, he's already lost the players, they all lose hope and all play worse.

Using what he says to the press as a reason to have a go at the guy is moronic. If you're in League 1 in two years, playing like crap, in the relegation zone and he's still saying it, you have a point, early in the season as he tries to build a team and inspire confidence, you're just undermining the team.
 
We effectively released Insua on a free, gave up 2 of promising youngsters (1 very highly thought of) and paid ~£5m to sign Konchesky. It's hugely debatable that Konchesky is an improvement on Insua but considering our financial situation the deal stinks.

Likewise, we sent Aquilani out on loan which meant we had to replace him in Meireles. Had we not done that, we could have spent the ~£12m Meireles money on a decent DM and not had to spend another ~£5m on Poulsen. I've not seen anything to suggest Meireles he's any better than Aquilani was at the end of last season and I'm certain that we could have found a far better DM with the Meireles money than Poulsen and still been £5m better off.

All of Hodgsons transfer dealing were of a man that wasn't expecting to be in the job in a years time. He was acting in what he believed were his best interests in the short term, not the clubs best interests.

edit: and ask Danish people what they think of Poulsen. It's mentioned earlier in this thread that he was given 0/10 in several Danish rags for his recent performances for the national team. I can honestly say I've never seen a player given 0/10 before.
 
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Think the Aquaman deal was done in principle before Roy took charge but his signing of Poulsen is my main issue with him, why not play Spearing or Shelvey as both of them are miles ahead of Poulsen if you actually watched the Napoli match.

Can see why he signed Konchesky but at £5m for a nearly 30 year old nowhere near one of the best in the league was a bit much, just need him to put Kelly in at RB and push Johnson up the wing and that should sort the right side
 
Agree with Baz.
Letting Insua go was a major own goal. At least he was awesome going up the pitch (Most assists from FB in the PL), even if his defending was a bit suspect.

In Konchesky we have someone who can neither attack, or defend, and time isnt on his side.


In regards to Aquilani, the deal was done to save cash reading between the lines.
Rafa hints to as much in his recent interviews, the 'new MD' (ie: Purslow) was told to cut costs, to try and keep the old owners in power. Aquilani was 2 games away from triggering the next instalment, so he had to go.
Wish we had kept him though :( he was in the Searie A team of the week twice in a row now. And the end of last years form was amazing, 7 assists and a goal in 6 games if i recall.
 
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I was very miffed to see Insua go, he is very young and I felt he had a lot of potential. His defending wasnt as good as his going forward, but then Ashley Cole was also much better at going forward than defending (some would say thats still the case) and yet he is now often referred to by some people as the best english left back. Felt that Insua was very much a hot prospect for the future.
 
Likewise, we sent Aquilani out on loan which meant we had to replace him in Meireles. Had we not done that, we could have spent the ~£12m Meireles money on a decent DM and not had to spend another ~£5m on Poulsen. I've not seen anything to suggest Meireles he's any better than Aquilani was at the end of last season and I'm certain that we could have found a far better DM with the Meireles money than Poulsen and still been £5m better off.
And I thought Aquilani was starting to fit into the game more after his injury towards the end of last season? Might be wrong with that as I'm not a consistent follower. Seems silly to loan him out.
 
After the win over Blackburn I was prepared to be a little less harsh on Roy but after his interview today attacking Rafa I hope the pathetic **** has a breakdown. If he wanted to become as hated as H&G were he's just about achieved it.
 
I was very miffed to see Insua go, he is very young and I felt he had a lot of potential. His defending wasnt as good as his going forward, but then Ashley Cole was also much better at going forward than defending (some would say thats still the case) and yet he is now often referred to by some people as the best english left back. Felt that Insua was very much a hot prospect for the future.

Reading that you seem to come across as thinking there's a better English left back?

Is there anyone to even closely rival Cole?
 
Why did Benitez buy Aquilani? One of his worst, there's been a few.

Because he thought he was the best person to replace Alonso. The fact that he was going to be out for the first 4-6 weeks of the season was far from ideal but you have to weigh up the importance of getting the right man for the long term and their importance in the short term.

It turned out a bad buy because he suffered a set-back in his recovery which kept him out far longer than expected but mainly because he was let go this summer.

He ended last season playing very well and looked like a decent player. The decision to let him go out on loan was a joke imo.
 
Because he thought he was the best person to replace Alonso. The fact that he was going to be out for the first 4-6 weeks of the season was far from ideal but you have to weigh up the importance of getting the right man for the long term and their importance in the short term.

It turned out a bad buy because he suffered a set-back in his recovery which kept him out far longer than expected but mainly because he was let go this summer.

He ended last season playing very well and looked like a decent player. The decision to let him go out on loan was a joke imo.

I do think it was poor judgement on behalf of who bought him. He was stunningly injury prone in Italy, and moving to a country where the football is played at double the tempo was always going to end awfully. I can see it if he was a bargain, but for the money paid, the risk was far, far too high. Also as you say, not sure who decided on the loan but it was a massive surprise. Maybe he just realised he couldn't cope here and pushed it through himself?
 
I do think it was poor judgement on behalf of who bought him. He was stunningly injury prone in Italy, and moving to a country where the football is played at double the tempo was always going to end awfully. I can see it if he was a bargain, but for the money paid, the risk was far, far too high. Also as you say, not sure who decided on the loan but it was a massive surprise. Maybe he just realised he couldn't cope here and pushed it through himself?

As above, he's become a flop mainly because he's been loaned out. Who knows how things would have turned out in the long term had he still been at the club. He wouldn't be the first player to have a slow start to his career in a new country.

We're never going to know whether he'd have settled or whether the pace of the game etc would have been too much for him because he's not been given the chance. All I can say was that the way he ended last season, the signs were looking good.

If it was perfectly clear that he was useless and couldn't cut it over here then Benitez should take full responsibility but I really don't think that's the case. Benitez takes his share of the blame because of how long it took him to recover from his injury. Beyond that, we'll never know.

And because it's often misunderstood; Aquilani cost 20m Euros (£17.1m at the time) + another ~3m in add-ons (none have or will be fulfilled). However due to the size and timing of the payments and the fall in the Euro, that £17.1m will be closer to £15m. Not £20m like many people think.
 
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