Nice honest appraisal.

On another point, how fricken good was Charlie Adam today?

And Silva's goal was a work of football class.

You're second from bottom. You don't think, and have never thought, that Hodgson was the man for the job.

Screw image. The correct decision is to get Hodgson out the moment they can bring in someone from the top drawer. If Dalgleish would take a temporary position then I'd sack Hodgson now.

I've never quite got the hero worship that Benitez got from the Liverpool fans....His record was a touch iffy if you ask me.

First season he managed the almost impossible in finishing below Everton, though he managed to fluke a Champions League, which glossed over the obvious poor quality of that 1st effort. He did have an excuse in that it was still pretty much Houllier's side.

From then on, with full control over the transfer dealings, he proceeded with a rather haphazard, kamikaze approach to buying and selling....Forwards came and went, almost has if he was hoping through sheer luck, rather than any judgement, to piece together a winning formula.

Then when he finally gets close to completing the jigsaw, he gets in a bizarre tiff with one of his best players (Alonso), whilst hunting a pretty mediocre player in Gareth Barry.

His whole tenure was pretty well summed up for me in the Robbie Keane episode....If Benitez was in any other business but football, he'd have been fired on the spot for his incompetence on this one....First off, 20 million on a player who was probably worth half of that, 3 months later he realises what a mistake he's made and proceeds to flog him back to Spurs for half of that figure....It was comical and summed up the man's limitations.

The man was very lucky that he had Hicks & Gillett playing the panto villains, allowing him to make mistakes that would have sunk other managers a lot earlier than he eventually went.

though he managed to fluke a Champions League

If that was all he had done then you might have a point but he took us to another Champions League final 2 years later and won an FA Cup in the middle thats the kind of success teams dream of.

As for Keane ask Rick Parry.

I'd agree, but the last thing, in the owners' heads at least, we need is the fans 'flipping' again. I'm unsure how the reaction to the sacking of Roy would be, many would say harsh, but I'd hope they'd understand it were for the better.

IMO, it's always best to bring in new managers over the summer so they have time, so the idea of a temporary manager sounds good in principle, but the need to bring players in is a must for any manager here, so it's hard to believe much else will improve enough to justify the decision of sacking Hodgson so early, IMO at least.

I'd love us to bring in a fresh, young coach with a Director of Football on top of that, purely because I believe it could work exceptionally well here if done well (i.e. not, ahem, Dennis Wise), but the need to get it spot on is essential, and, IMO, there aren't enough 'football people' at the club to make the correct judgment. These new owners have admitted they are learning, which essentially leaves the same mob that appointed Hodgson, despite the likes of Pellegrini being available.

It was comical and summed up the man's limitations.

The man was very lucky that he had Hicks & Gillett playing the panto villains, allowing him to make mistakes that would have sunk other managers a lot earlier than he eventually went.

This the same bloke who got the gig at Inter? someone should of told the owners.

I have done, makes fun reading....shame West Ham are shizer!

Anyway, can us bluenoses be confident of a derby win yet?

Roys taking us down.

Rather have Roy Cropper then him.

To be honest, his move to Inter sums up the farce that is football....A man can under-acheive in one job , get sacked, and then walk into another top job....



It is obvious you are a Benitez disciple and I fully respect that, but surely even you and your ilk must have been bemused by some of his transfer dealings?

And as for his trophy record??....Well, 2 trophies in 6 years isn't exactly genius when you look at the money he spent/wasted.

Winning the FA cup is the kind of success the Blackpool and West Hams dream of

La Liga winner. UEFA Cup winner. Champions League winner. FA Cup winner. FL Cup finalist. CL finalist.

It's not football that is farcical, it's the operation of your brain.

They must of looked at his record of 2x La Liga titles 1 Uefa Cup 1 FA Cup 2 Champions League Finals with one win god knows what they were thinking.

2 trophies in 6 years with 4 finals sounds good to me compared just being hopeful of a top table finish.

I'm fully aware of his CV you silly ....I'm more baffled at the fact that he spent 6 years screwing up Liverpool big time, loses his job and then walks into the job as manager of the European Champions.

In most other walks of life you would be expected to at least spend a period building back up your reputation before being given such a huge opportunity again.

They must of thought one bad season doesn't make a bad manager.

Beltin reading this.

Benitez only underachieved here in one season; his last. He's a great coach who was up against coaches like Fergie, Wenger, Mourinho and Hiddink in his time here, if people think Rafa underachieved, then you only have to look at his rivals in his time here - all are worthy of places in the top 10 coaches in the world, with some arguably in the top 5. He turned Liverpool from a side floating between the Wafer and CL, to an established (bar the last season) Champions League side that was just short of competing for the league here. I believe that, if we'd have competed in any other league during Benitez's time here, we'd have won at least a league title, but the stupendous level the league was at shown just how hard it was.

I'm no disciple of Benitez, either, I've said on here I felt he should have gone, but I can still see a man that is from the very top tier of coaches. He had his flaws, don't they all, but he'll never be appreciated here like he was by the Liverpool fans, that's why you'll never 'get it'.

No doubt Benitez is a good manager. With the Italian Super Cup already in the bag...



... it will be interesting to see how he does in Europe and Serie A. His side were taken apart by Atletico Madrid in the European Super Cup, but like the Italian Super Cup that's just a one off game and so I don't think you can read too much into it.

2005 was an under acheivement, glossed over by the Istanbul triumph.....Didn't they have to bend the rules to get you into the follwing season's competition because Benitez somehow failed to get his side above an Everton side put together on a shoestring and having just lost Rooney to Man u??

I'm not saying Benitez isn't a good manager, just that he made some downright baffling decisions in his time at Anfield, which seem to be blatently ignored by his loyal followers.

Shame that when Everton dick their red rivals in the Scouse derby to become the top team in the city, most folk are talking about Liverpool.
Well done the Toffees and keep climbing that table

All the talk is of Liverpool, Richard Keys after Blackpool City said 'Liverpool beaten in the Merseyside Derby' and then spent 5 or so mins discussing them with Redknapp, I don't think we got one mention in that time, Fook em. Full deserved victory today, superb. We outplayed and outfought Liverpool today from the first whistle we were the better team. We attacked so well, two cracking goals, Coleman's run was very intelligent, straight to by line and cut back to Cahill. It didn't feel it at the time but it was very comfortable today, a lot more than it should've been. There's been a lot of discussion on Liverpool on here for weeks but I'll leave that to their fans, I'm just going to enjoy two wins back to back and look forward to a trip to Spurs next week although I'm interested to see what Hansen and co have to say tonight on MOTD2.

Amen to that brother!

Jamie Wedknapp chatting about Liverpool? Surely not!

Like what?

2005 wasn't an underachievement, we were average in the league, Everton were great, but we won the CL that year. Even Real Madrid would take a 5th placed finish if it meant winning the CL, it's the biggest prize in club football and we won it, regardless of league position, that triumph alone deemed the season a success.

Benitez did make some poor decisions, I'll wait to hear what you deem poor before suggesting them, but no manager can get every decision correct, Benitez made some strange decisions in his time here but he always maintained a high level of quality in our side, in spite of the mistakes he'd made. I am not a disciple of his, but I can't stand people who regurgitate utter tripe that they hear on things like The Sunday Supplement and Soccer Saturday. The same old crap like rotation, focusing on Europe, £300m gross (or whatever the figure is Redknapp strokes over), Benitez is cold, Benitez underachieved, etc. when, in reality, it is exaggerated crap, made up to suit their agenda.

In other news... www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... ter-united

In other news... www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... ter-united

Quote ="Robbie Rotten"In other news... www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... ter-united'"

Quote ="Robbie Rotten"In other news... www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... ter-united'"