Hansenâs recent article and brilliant reply by fanâŚ
Liverpool have relied on two players too long and Fernando Torres is now going backwards
Hodgson has been in football long enough to know that he will carry the can for everything that has gone wrong with Liverpoolâs start to the season.
Lying 19th in the Premier League, that is the nature of the game. The problem, though, runs deeper than that.
Sport on television Liverpool are paying the price for relying so heavily for so long on two men: Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. For several years, they have turned to them to win games, to get them out of trouble. For years, they produced.
Suddenly, one of the two is proving ineffective.
It is Torres who is of concern. No player has ever become a superstar at Liverpool in such a short space of time. Yet he has gone from being a world-beater to the sort of striker any defender would relish marking. His game has always relied on pace and sharpness, and at the moment he has neither.
Like Wayne Rooney, he looks as though he has never seen a football before.
Hodgson is caught in a Catch 22, because the only way to help Torres recapture the form which terrorised the rest of the Premier League for so long is to offer him the playing time he needs.
Every time he plays, though, he looks worse, he loses a little bit more confidence and the problem becomes more entrenched.
There is an argument that Torres needs more help from his team-mates, but then he did not need that assistance three years ago, when he was more than capable of picking the ball up and comfortably beating three men.
His confidence is so low now, though, that every time he received possession yesterday, he looked to play it backwards. That is not the Fernando Torres of old.
Because he has effectively been removed from the equation, Liverpool now find themselves looking to Gerrard to win games on his own.
Though he has played better than all of his outfield team-mates this season, he can no longer drag the club along by the force of his own will. And yet there is nobody among the squad at Hodgsonâs disposal prepared to stand up and offer something extra, something different, when they stand on the edge of the abyss.
There are too many players who look good when things are going well, but seem resigned to being poor when everything is not so perfect.
That has been coming for a long time. Hodgson inherited a squad with too many average players and four or five exceptional ones, but for so long had they been used to looking to the real top two that, when they are a shadow of their former selves, there is nobody to step into the breach.
This is largely the same Liverpool side who finished second just two years ago. True, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano have left the club, but the overwhelming majority of players were there when Real Madrid and Manchester United were beaten comprehensively in successive games.
They still have internationals in every position, whether it is Joe Cole, who has been a regular in the England set-up for years, or Dirk Kuyt, who played in the World Cup final for Holland, while they have added Raul Meireles, who was exceptional for Portugal in South Africa.
But the difference between then and now is in their confidence as a collective unit.
Imagine going into the dressing room two years ago, when Torres and Gerrard were at their best, brimming with certainty that, while you had to play well, those two would do more than enough to win the game for you.
Now, you would look around and see Torres a million miles from his best, leaving Gerrard alone to make the difference.
It is up to others to step up to the plate. They have not done that for so long that you wonder who is capable of doing so.
It is to Hodgson that the task of turning that around falls, and how he goes about it is something only he can answer.
That is how he earns his corn. But what Liverpool need more than anything is to throw caution aside against Blackburn on Sunday and produce a performance to show the world that they are not finished.
Not only that, but a performance to prove to themselves that they cannot possibly be as bad as they currently are.
ReplyâŚ
Jocky, prick your ears up and listenâŚ
Our ârelianceâ on Gerrard and Torres is talked about as if they were doing us a massive favour. In reality, they are our two best paid employees and they WERE doing what they were paid to do. But to suggest that the rest of the team were unable to step up to the plate is a huge mark of disrespect to players like Kuyt, Alonso, Reina, Mascherano, and Benayoun, all of which took turns to be lauded by some of the top professionals in the World at various stages over the last two years. And Benayoun and Reina aside, all have played more World Cup games than you, and made more European appearances than you, so how about having a bit of respect?
Also, regarding the two-player thing, please tell me that the trophy winning years which you took part in were any different. Because if my memory serves me correctly, it was Kenny and Rushy scoring all the goals in the early years, and Beardsley, Barnes and Aldridge in the latter years.
You were also a footnote in the glory years of our club because other people were scoring all the goals. Is that an accurate portrayal of your contribution to the titles?
No, thought not.
Hodgson is not in a Catch 22 with Torres. That would suggest there is an equal chance of a downside as there is a chance of an upside. In reality, Torres is one of the top 3 strikers in the World, there is only an upside to a fit Torres in your team.
Unless, that is, your team tactics are so moribund, so bland, so formless, that you leave Torres isolated, with his back to goal, surrounded by 2 or 3 men, and with no support within 35 yards of him. As has been mentioned countless times on RAWK, our formation is not 4-4-1-1 but more akin to 4-4-1-----------------------1
Whatâs more, if we have an unfit Torres, then Iâd like to remind Mr Hodgson that David Ngog is currently our top scorer.
Your description of our current squad is 4 or 5 exceptional players, and the rest are average.
Well, isnât that typical of just about every top club in every country, with the exception of the monstrosities of City, Barca, and Madrid?
Drogba is exceptional, Alex is not.
Lampard is exceptional, Mikel is not.
etc
Rooney is exceptional, O Shea is not.
Nani is exceptional, Carrick is not.
etc
Has it not always been the case that top sides have been elevated by a small group of exceptional players to make that collective work?
Did Gary Gillespie really deserve equal billing with Kenny? Of course not, but he did his job.
Iâm not alone in saying this Jocky, but your comments after the dismissal of Benitez were cowardly and below the belt.
Last year, with horrific injuries to Torres in particular, and a prolonged absence for Aquilani, Benitez laboured to a 7th place finish, 7 points off a Champions League place. We finished with 68 points from 38 games.
If Roy wants to emulate this perceived abject failure of a season (which led to the manager being sacked), then he has to find 60 points in the remaining 30 games left. Even if he does accomplish this difficult task, he would only retain parity with our nightmare season from last season, despite having a fraction of the injuries to accomodate.
Thouands of us were very vocal in our wish to keep Rafa, but media henchmen like you were keen to get rid and give it to Roy Hodgson.
At the very least, I would like a written apology for suggesting Roy was fit to manage Liverpool football club. Ideally, I want you to give up writing columns and sullying your fantastic reputation. The more you expose yourself, the sillier you sound. Itâs much too late for Lawro now, heâs considered a laughing stock by much of the Liverpool support these days, especially so after reading his comments about punditry in his autobiography from years back.
Just bear in mind that there are people out there, like me, with time to pick through your shit and make you sound very, very stupid. And I wonât get tired of doing it every week if I need to. Ban me, and I grow another head, trust me.
Now just shut up and start behaving yourself.
