The performance itself was again the problem on Saturday. As I have said this on a lot of occassions this season that I could handle a the results (or at least some of them) if I felt we were growing or building towards something, but the fact is apart from a few minor peaks the general theme this season has been disappointment. Against Stoke we got one of the clearest indications yet of the impact Roy Hodgson has brought to the club, we were out-played, out-thought and out-fought by Stoke City.
The thing is that we are now a third of the way through the season and we are still showing no signs of improvement and to me it seems that any signs of the style that Roy has brought to the team have all been negative and contrary to the ideal's Liverpool fans hold dear. Pass and Move, Passionate football has been replaced by Hoof, Hope and Sitback football and the Kop dont like it. I have seen polls on many of the site's I visit frequently where over 90% of the voters believe Roy should go now. That would seem an accurate reflection of the popular opinion which was also proved by the travelling Kop singing Kenny Dalglish's name on Saturday.
I dont think there are many people who can argue that King Kenny is the long term solution for Liverpool Football Club but there is no denying the deserved love he receives from every single Liverpool supporter the world over.
I am of the opinion that we need to change our manager. I never believed Roy would be the man to bring us to the next Level and he has done nothing so far to change my mind. In fact, he didnt even have to take us to the next level really the fact that our last manager was sacked for finishing 7th with this team whilst achieving an often forgotten UEFA cup semi-final means Roys initial remit would have been to simply improve upon last season, and at this stage it must be said that even that looks unachievable at the moment. There seems to be a lot of fresh starts at the moment and NESV are going through a process of putting their stamp on the club, they have changed the structure of the club by bringing in Comolli as director of football, and are currently searching for a new Chief executive, surely it makes sense for them to hire a new manager, their manager to take the club forward. They are clever people and i am sure they are going through the process of finding the right man now. There is a case to be made that the reason Comolli has been brought in so early is so he can be involved in helping choose a manager who suits his (and NESV's) vision, and it is important this process is thorough and is not rushed so that when the right man is found he has the full backing of the owners and has the best chance to succeed.
However, Liverpool fans have been at war for a long time now. We were at war with Hicks and Gillette for so long that it caused divisions between fans. We were at war with each other over Rafael Benitez. Hell, weve even been at war over the standard of player in our squad this season with some people believing it is the worst crop of players to be at the club in 100 years and others believing we have a stronger squad than the press will gived us credit for, certainly stronger than our current style and position reflects. I think we need something to galvanise the fans again and get us all back on the same page, united in support of the red men. That is one thing which Kenny Dalglish could most definitely do. We not looking for him to come in and win the League (although we wouldnt mind) just to restore some pride and unite the fans again.
The thing is that if all Roy is doing is treading water until the owners man comes in surely it is doing more harm than good right now. Every few days another story of player unrest is reported. The two latest being Glen Johnson and Dani Pacheco (one of the more promising youngsters in Europe who has been effectively frozen out). Surely if morale is allowed to keep on slipping in such a way we are going to find it harder to get it back.
So, is it time for change? In my opinion, its been time for change for weeks!
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