I said he was a man manager mainly on the strength of his start at Liverpool. He definitely succeeded in creating a positive buzz around Melwood, and we played well against Arsenal and in the first few Euro games. But I think he started to go wrong with the Mascherano saga - refusing to accept that the player would leave the club instead of being a bit more proactive and finding somewhere for him to go (it's not like the player is excelling at Barca now, is he?). After that I think his general lack of tactical savvy became exposed, and for players who have spent up to six seasons working with a manager to whom tactics is everything that's just not going to cut the mustard. It went quickly and horribly south after that, and his random railing in the press is, well, a disgrace.
But I think that in teams where tactics are less important, where grinding out results for fans with lower expectations are the order of the day, Roy's more personal approach will work and he won't be under as much pressure in the media (who tbh have treated him with kid gloves compared to certain other LFC managers).
I agree with your last comment 100% - Roy just doesn't understand Liverpool, and that is the main reason he's failing. He's been caught with his pants down and he doesn't know what to do about it.