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Embattled Manager of the Week: Roy Hodgson

Embattled Manager of the Week: Roy Hodgson, West Bromwich Albion
Hodgson... Embattled (Img: Mikhail Slain)

Yet another disappointing home defeat for West Bromwich Albion, this time against Swansea City having taken a second-half lead, brought the knives out anew for Roy Hodgson amongst the more fed up sections of the Hawthorns faithful. Knives and thorns? Sounds spiky, and there are certainly some rather barbed comments flying around the online Baggies community at the moment…

Embattled Manager of the Week…

Roy Hodgson, West Bromwich Albion

Stands accused of…

“I personally put most of the blame on Roy,WHY?,because he has said before he sets up his team in one way and nothing changes, this indicates to me he has no plan B and he plays the away style at home and that shows. He sets up in 2 banks of four with the two strikers,now some people moan and say 4-5-1 is the way well yes i think so too, but the way we set up is not bad either if you press up the pitch and don’t allow the other team to play. Today as soon as their keeper had the ball all of our players ran back into positions and they would build from the back, this then frustrates the home fans because we want them to press,but its not up to the players that the way Roy wants them to play and let them play the ball around in there half. Then when we have a goal kick they press us up the pitch so then foster can only kick long resulting in us losing the ball straight away .. Also why don’t we keep anyone up from defending corners? what is odemwingie going to do by coming back? can he mark ? NO!. Can he head ? NO? ..can he run ? Yes! so leave him up the front for the counter attack! In my opinion roy is to blame for is negative attitude then you hear the players come out and say we feel the tension. absolute s**t no wonder when we are playing like an away team we want to see our team at least have a go. On reflection he needs to change the tactics quick.. were playing ****e at home getting ****e results,still conceding goals! No better off then last season!” – paulo_wba, WBA MAD 

“We’re no better off this season that last. Yet the league is supposedly weaker and we have a much better squad. Look how the fans got on Carson’s back last season, we’ve replaced him. We’ve brought in Long, Gera, Dawson, Jones, MacAuley and Foster. The football has got worse, the goals have dried up and we’re still shipping far too many. If we’d kept going as we did towards the end of last season and with the new personnel you can’t help but feel we should be doing better than we are.” – boinging_along, West Brom Forum 

“He is too rigid in his so called tactics all the defeats cant be down to bad luck etc He was the one who said i,m happy with the players he has.If we lose our away form we are right in the sh#te so come on sort it out.The past means nothing only the present will save your job.Staying up is all that counts fact. He has to take the stick the same as the players – gornalstripe, WBA MAD 

“If people stop going to the games he could be sacked, the tripe being served up at home at the moment makes me not to want to go. How many decent home games have we played well? Wolves, Spurs & Bolton are all I can remember but look at the recent dross at Everton, Norwich & Swansea, we seem to set up for a 0 0 drew and if we are lucky get a 1 0 win. Poor team selection Cox in midfield, Dorrens out wide etc and then poor subs as well. Even if we stop up if performances like this continue cue a massive drop in season ticket sales” – Kirk, West Brom Forum

In his defence…

“Given the limited backing he has had from our chairman he has made some very good signings IMO and we have a 6 point cushion from the bottom 3, to me that is good progression in a so called second season syndrome, yes Hodgson should be made accountable for the home form as should the players (and the fans!) but also credit where credits due on our away form that no one seems to mention!! Overall it isnt pretty at the moment but will that change when he has his strongest 11 out? i.e Long, Gera, Brunt back and Ridgewell and Andrews to come in, I personally think the football will improve and we wont be worrying about relegation at all. Hopefully Roy signs a contract and carries on the foundations he has obviously built in his first year.” – phbaggies, West Brom Forum 

“Not even been here a year yet and some fans are already calling for his head. Admittedly these same ‘fans’ where nowhere to be seen after the wins at Newcastle and Stoke, even the point at Fulham seemed to disable some of their computers, even so its still a worrying trend. Less than 365 days, has spent a couple of million at the most, and still some want him to go, it makes we wonder it really does. For me Roy is still massively in credit for what he did last season, he does divide opinion, but are some of you lot seriously saying sack the manager that kept one of the lowest three wage bills in the division last season already ?”– Baggie66, WBA MAD 

“Anyone who watched our defending under RDM should be able to see the improvement in our defensive shape and organisation. Do you ever go to games? Obviously didnt see the Man City home game for example. No the problem is at the other end 9 goals all season!!! Weve robbed Peter to pay Paul so to speak. Take the weekend. Yes we were outplayed by a superior side but we still failed with three sitters before we managed to score! and the PO missed an open goal at the death. I think your possibly making your assumptions on your frustration at our failure rather than what is really happening” – albion59, West Brom Forum 

“There are some who are calling for his head and it’s shocking. Who the hell would come in and be better? Who is currently out of work and has the same CV as Roy? The first aim of the season was survival not top half finish as some people think not a decent cup run. It was always survival and guess what we’re achieving. We lost to a very good team who just 2 weeks ago gave Arsenal a lesson in how to play football.” – jettyb_wba, WBA MAD 

So, how does Roy Hodgson measure up on the Embattled-O-Meter?

Unpopularity rating…

48%

Derisive nicknames…

None as of yet (presumably due to the retention of goodwill for last season’s heroics)

Estimated number of games left to save his job…

Until the end of the season – surely Baggies chairman Jeremy Peace won’t pull the trigger for the second season running, having put paid to Roberto Di Matteo’s position mid-way through the last campaign…or will he?

Embattled Manager of the Week: Roy Hodgson, West Bromwich Albion says…

Dismissing such a distinguished coach as Roy Hodgson at this stage could make it rather difficult to attract future managerial targets, given that it may very well confer upon Peace the ‘Deadly’ prefix left vacant by erstwhile Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis, but recent home results should be cause for alarm nevertheless. Gambling on a change worked last season, but counting on it working again could be seen as being rather foolhardy with someone as experienced as Hodgson at the helm. It’s a tough one to call, but if West Brom do ultimately come a cropper, there are still certain factors beyond the manager’s control – as outlilned in the comments at the top of the page – that could be blamed.

Besides, knowing the Baggies, they’d be back in a couple of seasons anyway.

Roy Hodgson – in or out? Have your say in the comments section below…