Source: Team_Talk
Roy must put his stamp on Reds
TEAMtalk's Simon Wilkes feels Roy Hodgson must emerge from Rafa Benitez's shadow and be braver with his Liverpool team selections. Excuse me if I'm wrong but I could have sworn Liverpool appointed a new manager earlier this summer.A manager who favoured a fluid 4-4-2 system with wingers and two strikers up top at his previous club.I must be mistaken as we're now four games into the 2010/11 Premier League season and the Reds are still playing with two slow defensive midfielders - home and away.Captain Steven Gerrard, fresh from two stunning displays in central midfield for his country, is playing off lone striker Fernando Torres - the set-up which so infuriated Liverpool fans under Rafael Benitez's tenure.Torres and Gerrard are Liverpool's 'X-Factor' players - but they're spending most of their time chasing shadows and looking increasingly frustrated.Thank god that their other 'star' player brought his A game to St Andrew's, as without Pepe Reina, Roy Hodgson's Reds could have been left feeling blue, with the Spanish goalkeeper pulling off two world-class saves to keep Alex McLeish's battling Birmingham boys at bay.Last season's seventh-placed finish was quite rightly deemed unacceptable - hence the departure of Benitez and arrival of Hodgson at Anfield - but the Reds are 13th in the table at the moment and their only league win was a slightly-fortuitous one over a West Brom team who outplayed their more illustrious opponents but were undone by a moment of Torres magic.Hodgson has the players at his disposal to field an attack-minded line-up, which is why Reds fans are slowly starting to grumble about the former Fulham gaffer's selections.You could hear the groans of discontent sweeping across Merseyside and in the away end at St Andrew's when a midfield pairing of Lucas Leiva and Christian Poulsen was announced over the tanoy - and even Messrs Gerrard and Torres gave the impression they weren't too impressed as they produced poor first-half displays in the Midlands.Something needs to change quickly if Liverpool are to get their season back on the right track - and it'll be interesting to see if Hodgson has the courage to emerge from Benitez's shadow and put his own stamp on the team.