rgk_lfc

In the 1990s and 2000, there was this German manager - Wolfgang Frank - who primarily operated in the Bundesliga second division. He was a big fan of Sacchi. Went and studied Sacchi's football and then spend time at Ajax and studied their total football principles. Bought those back to Germany and installed those principles at Mainz. First person to use video based evaluation of opposition and introduced zonal marking and counterpressing in Germany. Wolfgang Frank was the original German gegenpressing hipster manager. He had success at Mainz but was never able to cross the line - unable to get them promoted. His central defender at Mainz was Klopp. When Klopp was interviewing for the Mainz manager position, he said his goal was to go back to the principles of Wolfgang Frank. By every tangible metric, Wolfgang Frank was a failure at the highest level. Nothing of note in his CV, except losing a German cup final. At the same time, Klopp considers Wolfgang Frank to be one of the most important managers in German football and one of the greatest footballing minds. He states everything he applies in the field was learned from Wolfgang Frank. That Mainz school also generated Tuchel. Low and Ragnick also were inspired by the Frank school of coaching. Mangers like Bielsa, Wolfgang Frank - I wouldn't want them at the current LFC. But that does not mean we shouldn't admire them for what they did.

When you are evaluating Bielsa, you do need to look beyond the results. Yes, I wouldn't want him at LFC or would not recommend him to any top club, but that does not mean his contributions to football can be washed aside. Guardiola considers him to the most important manager in world football. "He is probably the person I admire the most in world football - as a manager and as a person," said Guardiola. "He is the most authentic manager in terms of how he conducts his teams. He is unique. Pochettino, Klopp - all rave about him. There is a big group of managers plying their trade in South, Central, and North America who considers him to be their most important person in terms of football development - Gallardo, Martino, Sampaoli. An entire generation of Argentinian footballers - Ayala, Simeone, Mascherano - all consider him to very influential in their football development. Yes, he has not been successful if you consider trophies and league positions in Europe. He does have some very serious flaws which come up again and again. But there definitely is something about his core philosophy, the way he encourages people to express themselves on the field which has inspired so many great and influential managers. It feels like more than often he is able to create something brilliant but flawed which can be improved by adding some pragmatism to achieve great success. Like for example, Chile's Copa America triumph , a big part of the success was attributed to the foundations laid down by Bielsa. Sampaoli, another Bielsa disciple, continued along the same lines but mixed the high press with defensive resoluteness and they had great success. Not trying to downplay Sampaoli or overplay Bielsa, but he does always leave something positive behind.

His passing has been unreal the last few years. I have never been consistently wrong about a player, like I have been with Harry Kane. First, I thought he was going to be a one season wonder. Then maybe two. Then I thought he is going to be a pure goalscorer and will not add anything else to the team. The way he has evolved his game is brilliant. Even in England's Euro, campaign he dropped deep and did significant damage with his passing. My memory might be wrong but I think Kane's pass released Trippier who crossed it to Shaw for the goal. Unbelievable player and easily top 3 or 5 in Europe.

Another important statistic to keep in mind is the goal difference as I think there is a good chance that there is a tie for the 15-17th position. Norwich are at -38. No way they repair that by the end of the season. If they stay up, they have to stay up by putting up 3 points soon. Leeds are at -27 and worsening every game by a decent number. Watford are at -22. You are at -19 but as with all other statistic, Howe has stabilized that and most likely will be moving in a positive direction the next 5-7 games. Everton's goal difference look good at -12 but their trajectory is opposite of yours. They could cross you in the next couple of games if Lampard doesn't get that defense in order. Burnley have a goal difference of -8 which is impressive. They have only let in 29 goals which is top 7 level. That is better than united, West Ham, and Spurs. They could very well draw and nick a couple of wins their way to safety.

Very tough to predict relegation teams this season. Zero chance of you getting relegated. Said this a couple of times over the last month. The trajectory of every statistic associated with your games look positive and improving - xg, miles covered, shots taken, shots conceded, etc. When performance statistic looks good and improving, the points will follow. Leeds might be the worst team we played this season. They are in trouble. Norwich and Burnley actually impressed me. Norwich gave us trouble until Thiago came on and took control of the midfield. Burnley was very resilient. Impressed by their spirit if not their football.

Made this prediction on January 21. Smiles smugly and points fingers at all of you who are piling on the will not get relegated bandwagon now . I was not making that prediction randomly. You were looking good on every metric - offensively and defensively, running more miles, taking more shots, Xg, preventing easy chances etc since Howe took over. It was obvious that the points was going to follow. Secondly, I rate Eddie Howe that highly. You can see posts of mine praising him last summer, long before he was linked to you. All of those foreign managers turning you down was the best thing to happen to you, well second best after Ashley sold the club. You will be competing for Europa League places at the bare minimum, if not champions league places next season.

They need to find a way of being effective without a prime Vardy. Not easy moving forward from a premier league great. He was their Suarez, Henry, Shearer. Not in terms of statistics but in terms of influence. Gave them a real edge upfront offensively and defensively.

Ancelotti is one of the best man managers around. With Zidane, his stature in world football is such that he could probably walk up to Ronaldo and ask him to put out cones and then ask Modric to make and bring tea to his office. Easier to make others fall in line when you are one of the biggest living legends in the history of the game. Not quite sure if you could classify that under man management. But even as a player you could see that he was a natural born leader. There was no doubt who was the captain of the dressing room when he played.

Aah. Didn't know that.

We have spent last three to four days negotiating with Fulham to sign Fabio Carvalho. Looks like we finally have an agreement. Anyone seen this kid play? I have never seen us publicly put so much effort for signing a youngster. Hopefully, the kid is special. He looks good from youtube compilations.

Outside of the poor defense, I also think it has to do with how some of these pressing coaches attack. They have specific patterns. Like if you watch Dortmund youtube videos under Klopp, you will notice attackers swarming around pressing and making themselves available for the pass. The goal is to receive and release quickly. Not a lot of players taking on the defender in one on one dribbling battles. The fact that the opposition defenses are poor, play a high line, and there are a lot of gaps helps play this way. In the premier league, the gaps are not there, the defenders are better and more physical, and an attacker is expected to win one on one battles with the opposition defender. Klopp's Liverpool play a bit different from Klopp's Dortmund. We have players like Salah and Mane who are aggressive in taking on defenders and winning one on one battles. With Sancho and Havertz, I feel like there is a little bit of history repeating itself with Kagawa. I remember Nuri Sahin who was supposed to be an immense attacking midfielder for Dortmund then moved to Madrid and then Liverpool on loan. He looked clueless for us on the pitch - looked like a fan who won the lottery to play for us. Shelvey had more impact for us. Of course, I watch very limited football outside of English football and my views are based on youtube compilations. Maybe I am completely wrong.

Werner, Havertz, Sancho cost more than 200 million in transfer fees, paid around three quarter million in wages per week combined and have contributed four goals and 3 assists in 44 PL games this season. I wonder if three high profile transfers not living up is just an anomaly or indicative of the way Bundesliga defenses play the last few years. If you go back more than 5 years there are some notable successes - Son, Sane, De Bruyne, Firmino etc.

0 and No to the two questions. Mainly because I rate Eddie Howe that highly. I know he likes the high press and you probably have the worst midfield in the PL in terms of suitability for high press, but I think he will find a way. Win against Everton and the momentum should carry you through.

He is intelligent, analytical, educated, thoughtful. Doesn't toe the line and spout cliched bullshit. Forms his own opinion based on facts. And most dangerously, has the charisma and is articulate enough to convince an entire fanbase (as long as they have an open mind towards him - Newcastle, LFC, Valencia) to his point of view. He is on a different plane intellectually compared to almost all football pundits and they know that. He "isn't one of the lads". He is exactly the type of person a bully would target and if you think about it, that is kind of what has happened to him over the last 15 years. Unfortunately for them, he has a thick skin, doesn't give an iota of f*** what they think of him, doesn't back down. So they have no other option rather than keep on the hostilities. People like him are an existential threat to the modern football punditry industry and PFM mafia. If fans actually start demanding analysis approaching his level, almost all football pundits would be out of jobs and even worse, out of relevance once they hang up their boots. And of course, garnish all of this with a seasoning of racism.

The one aspect which is going to prevent Rafa from getting a job he deserves is the bolded part. I don't think he can work with people who is not in his own circle. Every club with some sort of ambition is moving towards a DOF model where the DOF and scouting operation is independent of the manager. I was skeptical of the transfer committee initially but having experienced it for so many years, it makes so much sense. That model is here to stay. Given the amount of money in wages being spent on wages, it doesn't make sense to uproot the entire scouting operation, coaches, key members of the squad every time a manager is sacked. The problem with Rafa is that whenever there is a disagreement with the DOF or head scout or head of transfers, it immediately reaches the press. Within six to seven months, there is a situation where either back him or the DOF or head of transfers. The process repeats itself everywhere he goes. If I was a DOF, why would I recommend Rafa when I know the chances of me being fired increases as soon as he signs the contract. Conte is another manager with more recent success whom some of the top clubs are reluctant to hire because of the reputation of being "difficult". From my previous posts, you should know that I respect Rafa, the manager a lot, and Rafa, the human being even more, but I don't want anyone in his inner circle associated with LFC. There is nothing wrong with Owen Brown but I don't want anyone of his calibre as a head scout or any position of influence. The problem with Rafa is that at the first sign of disagreement, he will try to dismantle the existing setup and then the usual names will start popping up. He is still a great footballing thinker and one of the best tacticians around, you don't loose that, but I don't think the team (Assistant Managers, physio, etc.) he surrounds himself with is still worthy of running football operations at a club which has top level ambitions.

You all need to stop evaluating players like Gini based on how he did under McLaren and Rafa. Quick read of Eddie Howe's tactics and philosophy. http://outsideoftheboot.com/2017/10/06/tactical-philosophy-eddie-howe/ Look at one of the subheadings. "High pressing". "Howe instructs his players to close down the opponent whenever they have the ball, if the opposition is in control and just maintaining possession, the nearest player must go to press than player, but if an opponent has found themselves in an uncomfortable position where they are likely to make a mistake that Bournemouth can pounce on, this is where Howe’s tactical genius comes into play. Howe uses pressing triggers, they vary from the opponents playing a poor pass to the opponent taking a poor touch, both will trigger instant pressing from Bournemouth and overload the space to limit the opponent’s options." Guess which midfielder is available and who got trained in high press and looking out for pressing triggers for four-five years under Jurgen Klopp? From the same article "The fullbacks push up high to support the attack, either by overlapping the winger or coming inside to give an extra passing option." Guess which fullback is available, wants to return to England, and is really good at pushing up high to support the attack or coming inside to give an extra passing option. Also can play both left and right back. There seems to be a method to your transfer targets. Gini will help Howe install the high press. Trippier will help him design plays based on attacking threats from fullbacks.

Have to disagree a bit on that statement. Once FSG fired Kenny Dalglish, their first real appointment was the manager of Swansea. That was also the time they setup the current version of LFC transfer committee. Members of that include Edwards (who was number crunching at Portsmouth and Spurs before that), Julian Ward (Played for Morecambe, scout for City and had a informatics background), Graham (Phd in Physics background and working in a sports analytics company and was at Swansea for sometime I believe). Did not exactly scream elite. Those appointments along with Klopp set the foundation for our league and CL win. British unis are doing high tech research in data analytics, machine learning etc. Not just Oxbridge, but universities at all levels have high level data mining researchers which are producing graduates with top level data skills. This has led a number of talented young folks who are applying these skills to things they are passionate about like football. Michael Edwards for example had a Bachelors in Information Science. One of the reasons for our success is the analytics team setup at LFC which are primarily these young graduates combined with football folks who understand data. In terms of scouting and performance analysis, there is no need to search for them in places like Bayern or Sevilla or Madrid or Dortmund. If you are looking to employ smart scouting, folks like Edwards and Ashworth are as good if not better than anywhere else in the world. Also appointment of these folks doesn't mean the owners are not going to spend money. It doesnt mean you are trying to get things done on the cheap. Klopp first choice for left attacker was Gotze. Gotze was showing reluctance to come to England. Edwards and team convinced him to spend more money on Mane. Similarly Brandt was Klopp's first choice. The scouting team strongly advised him to consider Salah over Brandt. Again, we spent more on Salah than what we would have on Brandt. Klopp was reluctant to spend a world record fee on VVD and Allison. The transfer committee pushed for both these transfers. Appointment of folks like Ashworth and Edwards, ensures that you have value and consistency in the transfers, whether you spend 10 or 100 or 1000 million. Their role is not just to get a a 40 million player for 25 million. These are the kind of folks who will state rather than spend 25 million on this player, spending 40 million on the other will have more impact.

He 100% deserves the sack. Must be the worst DOF in recent memory. But at the same time I don't understand why they renewed his contract in April. His contract was ending in summer. They could have just let him leave. Now they will have to pay out his three year contract. Very weird decision making.

His original contract was ending in August. He signed a three year contract extension in April.

This summer, the player who was consistently linked to us by journos who had inside track knowledge was Bowen. Most of us were wondering what the hell was happening. Looks like he is going to be another Jota like player.

Man United's problem is that for the better part of three decades, the main reason for their success was the genius of Ferguson. That was their football strategy. People have come up with all sorts of ancillary reasons - Class of 92, youth team, Cantona, Kean, Ronaldo, best placed to exploit the growth of money in football, etc. Yes, those helped. But the main reason started and ended with Ferguson's brilliance. They are now figuring out how to win without their ace. They have too much money not to succeed. They will figure it out sooner or later.

I did not know that. Makes sense.

One of the issues with PFMs and their media lobby is that ambitious clubs have been scared away from British managerial talent. I am glad Henry and FSG went for Rodgers over cooler foreign managers at that time. With all due respect to Rafa and Houllier, whom I respect a lot, Rodgers came closest to delivering the title playing significantly better football. I also believe the attacking philosophy and pressing tactics he coached made it easier for Klopp to take over. There is a new generation of British coaches with good ideas on how to play football and ability to coach. I believe Rodgers, Howe, and Potter have the potential to be elite. They are not the finished articles and are work in progress. But I would rather take a chance on someone like them rather than Nuno or Emery (again, I respect both of them). Before anyone points at Howe's relegation with Bournemouth. Both Klopp and Rafa have relegations on their CV. Klopp spent 6-7 years managing Mainz and was relegated at the end of it. Rafa's coaching record before Valencia - Real Valladolid (2 wins in 23 games, bottom of La Liga), Osasuna (one win in 9 games in second division), Extramudara ( got promoted to La Liga then relegated), Tenerife (3rd in the second division). Essentially both of them had nothing to speak off in the top division before getting their breaks at Dortmund and Valencia. I am not saying Howe will be as good as Klopp or Rafa. But at similar stages in their managerial career, Howe's record is actually comparable and I would say better. I am surprised he has to wait this long to get a job after Bournemouth.

I don't think any of the clubs which were used to calculate that relegation statistic has had such a massive injection of goodwill, energy, enthusiasm at all levels of the club and the fanbase.