Luke Young Going to Liverpool

[Dr Butler]

Hodgson took a team from certain relegation to the UEFA cup final with little spend.

O'Neill took  over a team certain for relegation to a series of top 6 finishes and two trips to Wembley in the last 4 seasons.

Can we please stop using "two trips to Wembley" as though it's some major achievement? One of them should have been at Old Trafford.

Sorry, just stating a fact and you are absolutely right one of them should of been at Old Trafford.

UTV
The Doc

[Concrete John]

Hodgson took a team from certain relegation to the UEFA cup final with little spend.

Sorry for harping on, but this is correct, and he started this by getting their defence organized -- ensuring that the number of goals conceded were radically reduced. I doubt that O'Neill could have done the same -- not to the same extent, at least.

The season before Martin took over we let in 55, which was the 6 worst record in the league.  His first season we let in 41, which was the 6th best.  And we didn't sign any defenders that season.

What year did Hodgson take the Fulham job?  It would be intersting to compare the two differences.

[spangley1812]

Hodgson took a team from certain relegation to the UEFA cup final with little spend.

O'Neill took  over a team certain for relegation to a series of top 6 finishes and two trips to Wembley in the last 4 seasons.

Can we please stop using "two trips to Wembley" as though it's some major achievement? One of them should have been at Old Trafford.

well said Dave, excellent point well made..............................

[pauliewalnuts]

The season before Martin took over we let in 55n, which was the 6 worst record in the league.  His first season we let in 41, which was the 6th best.  And we didn't sign any defenders that season.

We did get Martin Laursen for almost half a season, though.

Played in 14 league games, in which we only conceded 11 goals.

[Arsey]

Hodgson took a team from certain relegation to the UEFA cup final with little spend.

O'Neill took  over a team certain for relegation to a series of top 6 finishes and two trips to Wembley in the last 4 seasons.

Can we please stop using "two trips to Wembley" as though it's some major achievement? One of them should have been at Old Trafford.

well said Dave, excellent point well made..............................

wouldn't it have been played at the Emirates?

[Risso]

Hodgson took a team from certain relegation to the UEFA cup final with little spend.

Sorry for harping on, but this is correct, and he started this by getting their defence organized -- ensuring that the number of goals conceded were radically reduced. I doubt that O'Neill could have done the same -- not to the same extent, at least.

The season before Martin took over we let in 55, which was the 6 worst record in the league.  His first season we let in 41, which was the 6th best.  And we didn't sign any defenders that season.

What year did Hodgson take the Fulham job?  It would be intersting to compare the two differences.

That's a little bit simplistic though.  O'Neill obviously had a positive effect, but in O'Leary's last season, Laursen played one game and Mellberg 27.  In O'Neill's first season, Mellberg was an ever present and Laursen played a third of the games.

[Eigentor]

Hodgson took a team from certain relegation to the UEFA cup final with little spend.

Sorry for harping on, but this is correct, and he started this by getting their defence organized -- ensuring that the number of goals conceded were radically reduced. I doubt that O'Neill could have done the same -- not to the same extent, at least.

The season before Martin took over we let in 55, which was the 6 worst record in the league.  His first season we let in 41, which was the 6th best.  And we didn't sign any defenders that season.

What year did Hodgson take the Fulham job?  It would be intersting to compare the two differences.

Hodgson took the Fulham job in the middle of the 2007-08 season. That season Fulham conceded 60 (and finished 17th). The following season they conceded 34 (and finished 7th).

[eastie]

I know which I'd rather have in charge as well and he doesn't wear the number 31!

[Concrete John]

The season before Martin took over we let in 55n, which was the 6 worst record in the league.  His first season we let in 41, which was the 6th best.  And we didn't sign any defenders that season.

We did get Martin Laursen for almost half a season, though.

Played in 14 league games, in which we only conceded 11 goals.

OK, that means we conceded 30 in the other 26 games, which is 1.15 a game.  The 55 in 05/06 equates to 1.45, so 0.3 a game improvement, which is 11 or 12 goals over a 38 game season.

So, was it 2008 when Hodgson took over Fulham?  If we're going to say Martin couldn't do what he did then we need to compare the two records.

[eastie]

Our defence improved last season at the expense of our attack, we looked woeful as an attacking force at times and put too much emphasis on not getting beaten rather than trying to win- negative .

[Dave P]

Hodgson took a team from certain relegation to the UEFA cup final with little spend.

O'Neill took  over a team certain for relegation to a series of top 6 finishes and two trips to Wembley in the last 4 seasons.

Can we please stop using "two trips to Wembley" as though it's some major achievement? One of them should have been at Old Trafford.

I agree mainly but it is fact though.  For a team with such a poor recent FA Cup record, getting to the semi final was an achievement and they happen to be at Wembley now.  It was only our 4th semi final (I think) since we won it in 1957.

[Concrete John]

Hodgson took the Fulham job in the middle of the 2007-08 season. That season Fulham conceded 60 (and finished 17th). The following season they conceded 34 (and finished 7th).

Fair enough, looks like he did better job on the defence then.

Not trying to get out of the argument, but was there an immediate impact defensively or did it wait until the following year?  As in was the improvement he managed a matter of organization solely, or did he also need to bring his own players into the mix?

[Clampy]

Fulham did very well last season in getting to the Europa League final, but they also finished quite a way down the table and have'nt qualified for Europe this season. Would this have been acceptable for us?

[Concrete John]

Our defence improved last season at the expense of our attack, we looked woeful as an attacking force at times and put too much emphasis on not getting beaten rather than trying to win- negative .

We only scored 2 less goals in 09/10 than we did in 08/09, which is a reasonable trade off for the defence being so tight.  And when you consider we didn't have Laursen's ability as set pieces, maybe the extra defending didn't actually cost us anything?

[Risso]

Our defence improved last season at the expense of our attack, we looked woeful as an attacking force at times and put too much emphasis on not getting beaten rather than trying to win- negative .

We only scored 2 less goals in 09/10 than we did in 08/09, which is a reasonable trade off for the defence being so tight.  And when you consider we didn't have Laursen's ability as set pieces, maybe the extra defending didn't actually cost us anything?

At the end of the day though, it didn't do anything to improve our league position.  We've been crying out for a new striker for ages, and this simply has not been addressed by O'Neill.