Liverpool's Roy Hodgson must go now and G�rard Houllier's Aston Villa side are not too good to go down
Liverpool have to sack Hodgson now
Pass and move, it's the Liverpool groove? Not any more. The Hodgson way is more hoof and pray. As endless long punts were hammered towards Fernando Torres and David Ngog during last night's defeat to Wolves, it became increasingly impossible to justify Roy Hodgson lasting at Anfield beyond the end of the week. Patience has its virtues, and chairmen can be trigger-happy, but it is hardly compulsory; Hodgson's time is up. He simply has to go. Forget about giving him extra time and the chance to dip into the transfer market in January. Trust has to be earned and Hodgson has failed. Liverpool are perched three points above the bottom three. Losing to Northampton Town, Blackpool and Wolves at Anfield in the space of six months, no matter what financial constraints Hodgson has had to work under, is a grotesque underachievement for a club of Liverpool's elevated standing.
For all his complaints about the situation he inherited from Rafael Ben�tez, Hodgson took over a squad containing Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt and Torres. Granted, he lost Mascherano to Barcelona but he also willingly parted with Alberto Aquilani, while bringing in the laughable pair of Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen. Although Liverpool were average last season, they still finished seventh. With the players at his disposal, Hodgson has introduced an ugly, negative route-one style, which last night saw the defence bypassing the midfield with alarming regularity.
These tactics might have sufficed at Fulham, but then Hodgson has often appeared dumbfounded by the level of expectation at Anfield. Not only is this approach unforgivable against Wolves, who were bottom of the table before the game and had amassed just one point on their travels all season, it is hopelessly misguided considering the players at Hodgson's disposal. Torres is not exactly Kevin Davies ? he needs the ball played to feet or for him to run on to. He will never beat the likes of Christophe Berra in the air. Torres is a world-class striker being forced to operate like a lower-league journeyman, even if his form has been at that standard since the summer.
While Liverpool's players must take some responsibility too, clearly Hodgson has lost the dressing room, if he ever had it in the first place. Under Ben�tez, when Liverpool were losing games at Anfield, teams would brace themselves for the inevitable barrage as they defended their goal at the Kop End, waiting for Gerrard to pop up with a jaw-dropping equaliser. Last night there was nothing. With Wolves, whose sparky, attractive style of play belied their lowly position, required to do the bare minimum, dissent grew among the home supporters. Afterwards Hodgson was critical of the fans, questioning where the "famous support" had gone. He sounded like an away fan mocking a subdued home crowd about the lack of atmosphere. It almost appears as if he is getting his shots in early. Liverpool's supporters already disliked Hodgson. This will be seen as a step too far.
Arsenal should be investigated by the Premier League
There was nothing wrong with Arsenal making eight changes to the side that beat Chelsea for their visit to Wigan Athletic. What Roberto Mart�nez would have given to have had some of the players Ars�ne Wenger was able to field ? Andrey Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh ? while doing without Cesc F�bregas, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie. Given that Arsenal had excelled and exhausted themselves in beating Chelsea just two days earlier, largely down to a vibrant tempo that overwhelmed the champions, this was prudent, responsible management. But the outcome was still entirely predictable, S�bastien Squillaci's late own goal that gifted the 10 men of Wigan a point once again exposing Arsenal's defensive weaknesses.
But rather than ponder Arsenal's squandering an advantage to pressure Manchester United again, ask yourself this: what exactly is the difference between Ars�ne Wenger making eight changes to his side last night and Blackpool's manager, Ian Holloway, making 10 alterations to his side when they played Aston Villa last month? Holloway found himself having to justify how he managed his own side to the Premier League, an utterly risible state of affairs. As yet, the Premier League has shown no inclination to launch an inquiry into Wenger's team last night. Perhaps eight changes are acceptable, whereas 10 are not, an arbitrary measure indeed. If Arsenal are perfectly within their right to utilise their squad how they please, then so are Blackpool ? not to mention Wolves, who were fined �25,000 for the weakened team they selected at Old Trafford last season. This rule is a sham.
Rooney is doing nothing to justify his pay rise
Imagine having a job where you could woefully underperform for the best part of nine months, criticise your employers, double your money and then show no signs of improvement. That sounds ludicrous, right? Well, it's what Wayne Rooney has done. Oh to be a Premier League footballer. The Manchester United striker has now failed to score a goal in open play for his club since his effort away to Bayern Munich in March. In all competitions this season, he has hit the back of the net twice, penalties against West Ham and Rangers. During United's 1-1 draw with Birmingham City, Rooney delivered yet another vapid performance, one completely lacking in the sort of menace, skill and all-round brilliance that defined him at the start of the year. He is getting increasingly desperate in his search for a goal, and where there was once a clinical, louche air to his game, as if it all came easily to him, he is almost trying too hard to reverse his fortunes.
On one occasion during the second half at St Andrew's he found himself charging at an exposed and retreating defence, only to lose the ball meekly, something that would not have happened in the past. It would be pointless to write him off, however. He is too good for that, and if he does rediscover his form in good time, United will waltz to the holy grail of a 19th league title. Until then, the sublime Dimitar Berbatov, who took his goal with panache, will be required to undertake the work of more than one man.
Tim Cahill is not a striker
There is nothing quite so satisfying as when a well-hatched plan comes together. By the same token, however, there is nothing quite so frustrating as when a cunning ploy fails to work out as planned. In 2001, Sir Alex Ferguson thought he had hit upon a foolproof idea, after he signed Juan Sebasti�n Ver�n from Lazio. In order to accommodate Ver�n in the same team as Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, he decided the best solution would be to move the latter behind a lone striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy. In theory, it made sense: Scholes had a terrific goalscoring record from midfield, so moving him further forward felt like a no-brainer. One key element was not taken into consideration by Ferguson, though, namely that much of Scholes's success was down to his ability to make late, ghosting runs into the area. His redeployment robbed him of that privilege, and United ended up finishing third.
In much the same way, David Moyes's decision to play Tim Cahill on his own in Everton's attack stifled the Australian's threat against West Ham. In Everton's victory against Manchester City last week, Cahill benefitted from having the hard-working Victor Anichebe alongside him, scoring once and setting up Leighton Baines's goal. However, Anichebe's red card in that game meant he was suspended against West Ham. Instead of introducing one of Louis Saha, Yakubu Ayegbeni or Jermaine Beckford to complement Cahill, however, Moyes erred by leaving all of his available strikers on the bench.
As a result, the isolated Cahill was marked out of the game by West Ham's impressive defensive duo of Matthew Upson and James Tomkins and although Everton dominated midfield, they rarely tested Robert Green. In the area, Cahill was rendered an irrelevance against a defence that has struggled to deal with crosses all season ? and his only memorable contribution was providing the delightful ball from which Seamus Coleman equalised. Everton would do well to take this lesson on board.
Aston Villa are in freefall
In May, Manchester City hosted Aston Villa with both sides still harbouring realistic hopes of breaking into the top four. City won and haven't looked back since then, which is all Villa have done in the intervening months. Their latest capitulation, a 4-0 defeat to City, which followed the lamentable defeat at home to 10-man Tottenham, reveals a side rotting to the very core. The last few months have been dreadful for Liverpool managers past and present: Hodgson is under pressure at Anfield, Ben�tez has been sacked by Internazionale and now G�rard Houllier is leading Villa in only one direction.
Houllier's management so far has been atrocious. Since his appointment, Villa have won just three games and have been knocked out of the Carling Cup by their neighbours Birmingham City. Along with West Bromwich Albion, they have conceded the most goals in the league (34) and have the worst goal-difference (-14), which makes a mockery of Houllier's decision to freeze out Richard Dunne. He has also fallen out with John Carew, Stephen Warnock and Stephen Ireland ? admittedly not the most difficult of tasks ? and the signing of Robert Pires has not worked out. Their best player, Ashley Young, wants to leave. Villa are in seemingly terminal decline. They would not have expected to be in a relegation battle at the start of the season and this is something Houllier has never experienced before. They are not too good to go down ? maybe they were not that good in the first place.
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