To be honest the Liverpool job in my opinion is still a very attractive one because it is the most challenging right now in Europe. The one who can bring glory back to the club will be the true special one. Pretty sure the best of the best would relish that challenge!

This post has been edited by Cloud0890: May 20 2012, 05:52 AM

nah lets replace FSG with Sheik Mansour

Isn't it obvious that we really missed Xabi's creavity in his last season in charge? I don't even understand how you believe selling Alonso to fund for Barry is a good idea. How is that fantasy football when you attempt to replace a player with an inferior one, Xabi never wanted to leave in the first place. It was this decision in my opinion that led to poor showings the following season partly contributing to H&G's dismissal of Rafa. Had he not ended up in 7th place we would still be seeing Rafa today. Going from 2nd to 7th is not because of luck, something very wrong must have been done. Don't misunderstand me, I would rather have a quarter Rafa over a full Houllier. I for one thought the sacking of Rafa was unjustified, he has proven that he is a capable manager, cup specialist and challenging for the title but he himself partly contributed to his own downfall.

Would love to have him back though over lots of the names being thrown around, pretty sure he can do much better with FSG's backing unlike H&G. But FSG seem to want to give the DoF more power, not the type of structure control freaks such as Rafa and Mourinho want to work with. Also it looks like FSG is trying to avoid reappointing another cult figure of the fans the way they appointed Kenny.

EDIT: Liverpool have former manager Rafa Benitez under consideration for the director of football's role.

The Sunday Mirror says Benitez has been approached by Liverpool as their search for a new boss took another twist.

After being snubbed by Swansea’s Brendan Rodgers on Friday, Liverpool have continued their hunt for Kenny Dalglish’s successor by speaking to their former manager.

The Spaniard left Anfield in 2010 before Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool and they are impressed by his CV.

Benitez has been itching to return since quitting Inter Milan 18 months ago and has long hoped to take over from Dalglish.

This post has been edited by Cloud0890: May 20 2012, 01:49 PM

and it is justifiable why FSG would want a return on their investments...not everyones a Roman or Sheikh ya know?

Liverpool was sold to FSG for 300mil, not sure if it includes the repayment of 350mil debt we had under H&G but 300mil isn't a small amount while FSG is a sports investment group so of course they would want something in return...surely they wouldn't already have made a return on their investments after just one and a half season. Also talks about a possible new stadium is still ongoing and surely they need funds for that. I guess that is why they are desperate for us to get back into CL.

Successful managers often have a close bond with his players. Mourinho at Chelsea and Inter, Fergie, Pep and now possibly Di Matteo. The trust between player and manager seem to somehow bring out the best from the players. That I think should be FSG's priority, Rafa has had a good relationship with most of the players that is still the core of our current team before he was sacked, this should be taken into consideration. While AVB has achieved a lot at Porto, he failed to bond with the players at Chelsea.

yes many players still speak highly of Benitez...his sacking indirectly led to Masch and Torres leaving the club

they have publicly stated that even in troubled times they have utmost confidence in Rafa and stayed at the club out of loyalty for him even when we are doing very badly. When H&G sacked Rafa, both players lost confidence in the management and eventually left the club.

This post has been edited by Cloud0890: May 20 2012, 09:47 PM

Hmm? Di Matteo had no confidence in Torres to take a penalty?

Remember how Drogba cried like a little girl with some other Chelsea players when Mourinho left? Well that wasn't the case for Rafa. Rafa was more of a respected figure in the dressing room I guess.

Though he proved what he is capable of, I feel we should go for a younger and hungrier one in AVB who surely is desperate to prove himself just like how LFC are trying to prove ourselves again as one of Europe's best.

Torres wanted to move to Chelsea to win trophies didn't he? He should stop whining then. He would have played games and been a more central figure at Liverpool. Play football on the pitch vs Winning trophies from the bench, he made his choice, no one else to blame but himself for his poor form.

This post has been edited by Cloud0890: May 21 2012, 10:44 AM

FSG are trying to implement a structure that is similar to those in Spain. Managers are only head coaches who concentrate on matchdays, trainings, tactics. Whilst there is a Director of Football to make signings and etc. Managers like Rafa and Mourinho will never want to work under this system and Mourinho was promised by the president that he will have full control over matters before he took the job hence Jorge Valdano the general manager was dismissed after his rumoured internal feud with Mourinho.

If you look all the way to the top I guess H&G is responsible for the Barry/Alonso saga for not providing Rafa with sufficient funds. To be fair, since H&G took over Rafa hasn't really been provided with decent funds apart from the signings of Torres, Mascherano and Keane but he was sold back almost immediately to Spurs. We were lacking depth in so many departments, we have no proven striker apart from Torres, Kuyt was played as a winger, N'gog isn't good enough to lead the line for Liverpool. But in all honesty, I feel he could have chose some other players to be offloaded rather than Alonso.

Personally I agree with Rafa's statement. Offense win games but Defense win titles. Yes you have to score to win but more often than not you will end up losing points due to poor defenses (look at Arsenal) hence balance is important. He said wingers are important, yes if you view them as the source of creativity in the final 3rd but look at the wingers we had Kuyt (hardworking but not creative), Riera (only decent), Babel (wants a more central role), Benayoun (lacks pace, more of a free role player). Maybe not Rafa's fault as I remember reading an article where he stated he wanted to buy some attacking flair players (forgot who) but wasn't provided with the funds.

This post has been edited by Cloud0890: May 21 2012, 02:23 PM

Exactly! Apart from the occasional magical moments from Suarez (because he is the only one who is capable of creating something out of nothing), we are boring as hell. Maybe Bellamy, I like his burst of pace too but he is aging no longer fit to play many consecutive games.

This post has been edited by Cloud0890: May 21 2012, 02:25 PM

Ah yes nice reminder there...

Makes me wonder,if its true FSG is trying to hire a young manager who favours fluidity, passing, high tempo football then where would Carroll stand?

I can't think of any team emplying this type of football and uses a tall target man such as Carroll that is meant for direct long ball style.

Just wondering because I can't see Carroll fitting into that system. Carroll is more of a power type target man unlike perhaps Crouch or Berbatov who are both very skilled and have finesse for their height. If its gonna be AVB, just look at Drogba and Lukaku, I can imagine whats probably gonna happen to Carroll

This post has been edited by Cloud0890: May 21 2012, 07:27 PM

nopeeeee he signed a contract extension to lead Germany to the 2014 World Cup. His project to rebuild the German national team with young players and attacking football is only midway through, surely he will want a good finish to it hoping to finally lift the WC.

Think again though imagine if he was only a small partner/investor in FSG while Roma is of his own property, he invested a sum of money in FSG, FSG in turn buys Liverpool but the club does not belong to him or any other partners because legally FSG is considered to be another entity (a person). Depending on how much he invested in the investment group he will get an annual return for his investments whereas at Roma, his Dibenedetto group that purchased the club consists of other investors as well but he is the largest shareholder and also the current president of the club.

So if it were you, would you have a better manager at a club you have more shares in (Roma) or less (Liverpool)? Maybe he saw some negatives of AVB and decided not to go with him.

Well DiBenedetto AS Roma LLC owns 67% of Roma whilst we don't know how much stake he has in FSG but I think its safe to assume that he doesn't have as big a stake compared to that of what he has at Roma because FSG is controlled mainly by John Henry (principal owner) and Thomas Werner (chairman) along with more than 15 stakeholders as compared to DiBenedetto AS Roma LLC's 4 stakeholders.

If you claim that DiBenedetto would piss off his other partners at FSG just because he is trying to employ AVB, are you implying that his FSG partners would threaten him into not signing AVB? If so then I have serious questions about their integrity.

But yes of course its subjected to debate as we are not the ones behind the scene but this is what he said that could shed some light on which club he would prioritize more...
Another interesting point is that UEFA rules states that "No individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a Uefa club competition". This is defined as "holding a majority of the shareholders' voting rights" or "being able to exercise by any means a decisive influence in the decision-making of the club". Judging from this, he obviously has a major stake in Roma so I guess he does not have any decisive influence in FSG. Just my own interpretation on this matter, both clubs have yet to qualify for the same european competition so I'm not exactly sure what would happen.

Roma too tried to implement a Barca system by hiring Luis Enrique but it failed and ended up appointing a former player who bleeds Roma. On the other hand, we sacked Kenny who bleeds Liverpool and possibly trying to emulate Barca's structure? Would DiBenedetto's experiment at Roma have any influence on FSG's decisions with Liverpool?

This post has been edited by Cloud0890: May 22 2012, 12:50 PM

I actually rate him quite highly for what he had done at Villa, wanted him to replace Rafa instead of Woy at the time and right now he is doing quite a decent job at Sunderland. But he might still hold a grudge against us when Rafa tried to "tap" Barry away from Villa cheaply, not sure if its against us or just Rafa.

Nice avatar Really do feel feel for Rovers, once upon a time winner of the PL, consistently participates in the UEFA/Europa Cup, decent mid table team, now relegated by a bunch of headless chicken owners and incompetent manager. Just sad...

Back to Liverpool, FSG seem to be doing it the corporate way where applications are put in and selected managers come in for interview instead of hand-picking one, sure hope this works.

Big Sam for Liverpool? Wonder how Rafa will feel about that...

I personally don't think the tactic applied to Boston Red Sox will work for us...completely different system and sports.

American sports leagues have salary caps and uses a trading transfer system where you trade players for players for as long as the deal fits within both teams' salary cap. Unlike in football, billionaires buy a playground and try to fill it with toys by bidding silly money and wages on players inflating the transfer market. No loyalty whatsoever in this system, players can easily get out of his contract by refusing to play or whatever forcing the club to sell him.