beejay

There's a link with Matt Jarvis of Wolves today. He is a Commoli type - young, talented, and fairly cheap. I've heard from a Villa source that we are sniffing after Ashley Young and they may sell, partly because his contract runs out in 18 months but also, they have Albrighton & Downing on the wings with Young playing 2nd striker. He won't come cheap though, so may not happen.

Dunno how many times I have given up on Lucas, but the lad keeps proving everyone wrong. He has morphed on so many occasions but is now stronger, fitter & more confident and his passing game, which has always been his greatest asset, is getting sharper. I have accused him of being a one-dimensional player in the past but that performance today had a bit of everything. Carra gave him a right earful in the 1st half (wrongly from where I was standing) about a half-heatred tackle but I hope he put his arm round him after the game and congratulated him on his warrior display, his intelligence and his character. Outstanding Lucas, well played lad

I don't want us to go all out French. Laudrup was sacked after 6 months at Spartak Moscow but I can't recall any job in Turkey

I don't think the next manager has to be a "statto". That's Commoli's job. The new manager has to be a coach who will mold the players into an attractive, winning side. I'd like to throw a name into the mix - Michael Laudrup. He is young (46), was a great player which doesn't always matter but it can help to earn respect in a dressing room, has done his apprenticeship in management with the national side as assistant manager under Morten Olsen, followed by Brondby where he won the League & Cup double after replacing an old, experienced side with a much younger squad including several from the youth team, then moved to Getafe where they over-achieved playing great attacking football and is now at Mallorca who are stony broke (kicked out of the Europa Cup because of their debts) but he has taken them to a creditable 7th including draws against Real Madrid & Barcelona and an away win at Valencia. Speaks excellent English, would wow the media and was strongly rumoured to have been on the point of signing for us when he was a kid and still has a soft spot for us.

Harry Kewell was similar though. He was a top, top player when we signed him

What's that supposed to mean?

How long do you think Stevie G can play on for? He is 30, had injury problems (groin, a recurring & debilitating injury) all last season but played through them and is back to his best. He is athletic, fast, great range of passing in fact he is the ultimate footballer in that he can play anywhere on the pitch except goal and be the best player in that position. So allowing for the odd injury and the huge effort he puts in to game after game where he will stretch every sinew to chase a lost cause because that's how he plays the game - how long can he continue to be at this level? I think he is so good, he can go on until his late 30s probably by dropping deeper where he could still run a game with his passing ability.

Yeah, their only threat was the Argentinian, Lavaressi (sp). He was another prototype in the short, squat, powerful Argie assembly line like Tevez, Aguerra, Maradonna etc but still not in their class

I agree with nearly all of this. Poulsen is shot, he should be nowhere near the 1st team and Spearing wasn't great but at least put in a shift and tried to drive us forward even if he did misplace far too many passes. The two of them make Lucas look world class. Meireles' touch was poor and he also gave the ball away plenty, but he is energetic, mobile & has passion. You can see he wants to do well even if the execution was off at times he was beating himself up and you can tell he is a warrior. Unlike Jovanovic who is lazy and hides. I'm in the Kop above our left touchline so had a good view of him and he clearly didn't give a sh*t, it's no wonder he was subbed. Hodgson's tactics again allowed the opposition to have as much ball as they liked and a decent side would have put us to the sword. Napoli were crap thankfully and their fans are a typical bunch of Italian sh*thouses

Confirmed as Sporting Director? His job at Spurs included control over the Academy & Medical as well. This must be the 1st in a series of appointments

Great sentiments Andy, but the change in direction can only start when Hodgson leaves. Sooner the f*******g better, hopefully Johnny boy will pull the trigger after all his meetings this week

Roy responds to the news from the changing room http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UURsFGI0ahk/TI0Du6GmPpI/AAAAAAAAUCc/a8omav7QLl4/s400/74094-biggest_selling_point_liberace_bio_pic.jpg

Huge relief when we scored, being out of the bottom 3 is hardly a great moment in our history but it still feels a whole lot better this morning. My concern is that we are seeing a shift in our personnel and playing style, through the necessity of battling out of the relegation zone, that will lead us to mid-table obscurity if it becomes entrenched in our game. In other words, we are in danger of becoming a typical Hodgson side. I don't want to be unfair to him but he has a set pattern of play and it would be too much to expect him to adapt to a different system, so he is progressively moving us in the direction he wants - to be solid at the back, hard to beat and capable of grinding out results. He is not an advocate of controlling a game through possession of the ball and passing through the opposition. So we now have a back four that has been much more reliable but has precious little in terms of composure or making any attempt at building from the back. The default position of all 4 players is to relieve pressure by clearing the ball away from our area and we are therefore missing out the midfield for much of the game. We then have to battle away to recover possession but faced with teams who press us, we end up lumping the ball in the general direction of Torres. Even Reina is being forced to kick long because none of the back 4 are natural distributors of the ball and we are unable to link play into the midfield. It was only in the last 20 mins when we finally started to make some inroads through the centre, when the game became more stretched. If footballers who are comfortable in possession and can build the play, such as Agger & Johnson, can't get back in the side we are looking at more of the same and will have to get used to seeing the ball in the air for long periods. You can't fault Kyrgiakos who has been an inspiration but the way we are playing, allowing other teams to get at us, means his strength in the air is needed. Having Carragher & Konchesky at full back restricts our forward play and Skretl is fast becoming Carra-like in his hoofing. I tend to think that if Hodgson is allowed any freedom in the transfer market, we will quickly regress into a long ball side, with a big striker to hold the ball up almost certain to be his next buy. As we become accustomed to this style, I reckon we will move up the League but we will be miles away from competing for titles because the best sides will always dominate possession.

I really hope this stuff isn't being leaked to Bascombe from NESV. If they think Rafa was the problem in the last regime they need to think again. Rafa's transfer record was good, if you looked at the value of the squad he inherited compared to the one he left and deducted the transfer fees, he would be showing a big profit. And I don't get this bit about £120m wages was a sign that costs had spiralled out of control. We were still some way below the other top 3 clubs and yet had finished 2nd, 3rd twice and 4th for every year in the last 6 except the annus horribilis of last year. The list of players on fat contracts we can't get rid of includes Pennant, Riera, Voronin and Dossena all of whom have actually been sold. The only real unflushed turd is Itandje. The wage bill also seems to include big one-off costs such as redundancies for the reform of the Academy and scouting system which most people recognise was a positive move. Finally, the article goes on about big increases for the likes of Gerrard, Torres, Reina, Kuyt, Agger & Benayoun. Well hang on, those are our best players and in return for these pay hikes we got extended contracts meaning that we either 1) don't have to sell them or 2) if we do sell, we get top dollar. So how was that bad management FFS. And if it was a case of out of control costs, what the f*** was Purslow doing? That was his job wasn't it? Just where do they expect Hodgson to finish if he has a team with the 4th highest wage bill? Who is the one who is seriously under-performing?

Wish my calculator did that

I'm sure the new owners are fully aware of supporters' feelings about Hodgson but I wonder if there is an element of putting the genie back in the bottle at play here. They can't allow themselves to be too populist because that is dangerous ground for a strong, decisive management team and they are also aware of the powerful impact the fan groups had in the downfall of G&H when that turned sour. They are not likely to keep Hodgson if they believe someone else can do a better job (which should be obvious by now) but they may not want to be seen to be playing to the crowd. Hopefully the appointment of a new Chief Exec will provide the opportunity for a clearing of the decks to bring in a whole new management structure that can be portrayed as a fresh start. Hodgson has to go but it could be all about timing.

1 Yes it will 2 Why the hell not? 3 N/A People are being too simplistic on this huge issue. I'm glad that NESV are reviewing all options including remaining at Anfield, the arguments in favour of the new stadium 3 years ago may not apply now and I have never yet seen a proper cost value comparison between the two. There is also a debate needed on the detail of any new stadium because the current design has many flaws

1. Tell the whole world it's now the Budweiser Anfield Stadium. 2. Tell the sponsor we are staying at Anfield for the next 100 years 3 Why?

Hang on, if it's that easy why don't we sell naming rights for the existing stadium? Then the money goes straight into the coffers. There is also huge scope for increased advertising from an extended Anfield. And we can cram shedloads of boxes, restaurants & corporate facilities into a new 3 tier Main Stand and Anfield Road Stand

Makes a pleasant change that a Blackburn side are sh*tting themselves over every set piece while we have no problems with theirs. Same at Bolton would be good

Legend has it that some of the players in the miss category arrived because of a change of chairman, with Noel White's brief but misguided tenure putting an embargo on expensive transfers meaning we shopped in the Co-Op for the likes of Carter and it was eventually one of the main reasons for Dalglish resigning. His record at Newcastle didn't look great but they were a dysfunctional club pining after Keegan and signings like Jon Dahl Tomasson were huge flops but turned out to be class, playing for some of the top clubs in the world.

Carra has looked better at full back, more solid and his crossing isn't bad. The panicky one is Konchesky, he was all over the place totally lost his head.

A few points : First the good bits : a decent performance, created plenty of chances, changed tactics to press high up the pitch, some outstanding individual displays notably the Greek, and a return to team play with the players (including Torres) working hard. But : - Konchesky put in a performance of utter ineptitude in every facet of the game, even his throw-ins were desperate. He has graduated from West Ham & Fulham foundation schools to reach his 1st Class Honours Degree in Sh*teness, in fact that was a true Master of Arts in panic-stricken headless chickenry. - Lucas made another curate's egg contribution. Composed, always available for a pass, excellent link play, won his fair share of tackles and looked like a class player. When we were on top and bossing the game. When we were under pressure, he reverted to anonymity doing his amazing invisible man impression, occasionally re-appearing in human form to commit a dumb foul on the edge of our box before disappearing out of sight again. If he has any sort of future with us (which I doubt, except as a sub) he has to develop his game so that he stays involved and actually runs a game. He has to step up when we are under the cosh but he rarely, if ever, takes a game by the scruff of the neck and playing in the key centre midfield area, it is a massive flaw in his game or his mentality. - Torres badly needed that goal and looked back to his old self for a while, but someone has to coach out of him the increasing tendency to always go it alone when surrounded by opposition players. Maybe one day he will emerge with the ball but usually he gets dispossessed easily and we are facing a counterattack. - What the f*ck was Hodgson doing moving Meireles out wide again? At that point in the game, we needed to retain possession, take back control and see the game out. Instead, we dropped deep and hoofed it inviting pressure even from an understrength crap side. - The defence is still vulnerable, buy Kyrgiakos is undroppable at the moment and Skretl is a different (ie better) player alongside the big Greek. And Carra is doing a better job than Johnson at right back. I would be inclined to keep things as they are except to swap Aurelio for Konchesky and perhaps move Johnson into right midfield, while we hopefully move up the table. Longer term, a transfer priority has to be a younger, quicker version of Kyrgiakos to play alongside Agger, Skretl or Carra all of whom are suited to the sweeping up role. I'm looking forward to the Bolton game, I think we can take the points again with the same starting team. -

Kyrgiakos Maxi Meireles