rgk_lfc

This is the part I don't like about him. The folks he surrounds himself with, like Owen Brown, aren't exactly the most distinguished scouts. Rafa's record is good, but you can't beat specialized folks running the footballing side of things. As much as I respect the guy, I don't want to go back to the one person who controls everything model. The way most clubs operate nowadays with Ashworth, Edwards, and their type being in charge of transfers, scouting, and having youth setup independent of the manager makes a lot of sense. It took us three to four years after he left to wean ourselves of his legacy and move in a different direction, as he practically had control of everything. When Klopp, Howe, or Pep leave, the disruption to other aspects of the club will be minimal.

Love Rafa the manager and respect Rafa the person even more. But this is an important aspect that is going to deny him jobs. Everywhere he goes he demands 100% control. Even if signs the contract to a club with a DOF, within six months it becomes either back him or back me. And more than often, this gets played out in the press, and one of them has to leave. This happens almost everywhere he goes including Everton. I am betting this is an important reason why someone like Marsch is getting more interviews than him.

He is physically done. He is getting injuries constantly, and his pressing and running stats are significantly lower than in previous seasons. A unique player in his prime, but any premier league club taking him on is a considerable risk.

I was not being critical of you or your fanbase for being nervous when Howe was hired. Even though his Bournemouth body of work was phenomenal, it is only natural that there will be trepidations when he is being linked to the most important job for the club you love. My comment on opinion on Howe being lukewarm on here at best was way before he was being linked to your job and you had Steve Bruce. Again, not a criticism but more of an evidence of how managers successes are viewed by other fanbases and ownership. Which is fair enough, as we don't know the context under which Howe achieved his success at Bournemouth which is more important than the points he got or did not get. Maybe wilderness was the wrong choice of words, but given his body of work, he deserved a chance at an upper tier premier league club which he was not getting. Of course, he would have gotten a job at lower level PL clubs or Scottish league. A lot of it is timing. Michael Edwards had Howe top on his list to replace Klopp, by the way. If you had not taken a chance on him and credit to your management for doing so, there is a good chance that Howe would be below Gerrard, Lampard and couple of random foreign managers in the upper tier PL job list. Folks like Howe and Potter don't have the old boys ex-players network or reputation to propel them. They also dont have clubs like Valencia, Sevilla, RB, Dortmund, etc which provide a good platform for managers to put themselves in the shopping window. So I don't blame Potter one bit for taking the chance, however poisoned the chalice might be.

I think Potter is quality. I wouldn't be surprised if we take a look at him post-Klopp if he is still available. Plenty of great managers including Rafa and Klopp and others have relegation on their CVs. I would not be surprised if he bounces back given the right setting. I can see Potter doing well at places like the RB franchises, Dortmund, etc.

The reputation of a manager in football is very volatile. It only takes one wrong transfer or a couple of injuries to key players for a club like Brighton to slide, and immediately the envious looks from some of the more established clubs disappear. As much of a basket case Chelsea are, I don't blame him for accepting the job. Look at Eddie Howe. I posted here the summer before you were taken over that Eddie's achievements at Bournemouth is one of English football's great stories. There was not a lot of enthusiasm toward him at that time on here. I don't know the details of your managerial search, but my impression is that if Unai Emery had shown a strong interest in the Newcastle job, there is a good job Eddie Howe might still be in the managerial wilderness. Correct me if I am wrong.

Some interesting developments at LFC. FSG had put the club for sale earlier this season. When the original club was up for sale was announced, our CEO Mike Gordon announced his departure. Members of our background team had also indicated they wanted to leave. John Henry has backtracked and said they are now only looking for minor investment partners. All of a sudden, Mike Gordon announced his return. Gordon, Edwards, and Klopp were the original transfer committee trifecta. Now the rumors are most of our analytics and scouting team will remain. Our DOF, Julian Ward, will leave after this summer transfer window. We are looking for a new DOF. Some unconfirmed rumors of Michael Edwards returning. Strong links in the media to Markus Krosche, current DOF of E. Frankfurt and former Leipzig sporting director. A lot of positive news and rumors about our background setup this week.

Agreed. Milner is another example. My only minor counterpoint is that the demands on JWP under Howe's counter-pressing system will be higher than those on Speed and Lee. JWP has consistently covered the highest distance in the premier league in the last few years. So the miles on his body has been way higher than other players.

He is a very good footballer who is underrated due to his setpiece and loyalty to Southampton. Since 2014-2015, he has missed only 11 games due to injury. I think he has played every minute of Southampton's PL games for four seasons or something like that. While that is massively impressive, players like that often deteriorate rapidly once they hit their late 20s or early 30s. There is that risk with JWP due to the mileage. We are facing the same with Fabinho this season.

I am fairly confident they will try and get Poch back. I also read some reports that Simeone is stepping down at the end of the season and Luis Enrique and Poch are the top of the list at Atletico Madrid. Again these are from random reports.

It was inevitable.

If I had a modicum of talent, I would do my best to hire Chupo Montings agent. How does he end up as the striking option for Bayern and PSG in the later stages of the CL.

Sane, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Firmino, Son, Aubameyang, Kompany, Dzeko - to me, are the notable successes. Might have forgotten some more. Matip would also be counted as a decent transfer. Keita, Kagawa, Mkhitaryan could be added to the flop category.

“Parker (42) was announced as the new head coach of Club Brugge on 31 December last year. The English ex-international previously worked for Fulham and Bournemouth and replaced Carl Hoefkens at the club. In 12 games, the Briton could only win two times.” I am getting the feeling they weren't that impressed with Parker.

We might actually let him go. Excellent player but has major injury issues. He missed 23 games this season, 23 games couple of seasons ago. A fit Jota is an amazing player. But wouldnt be surprised if we sell him to raise money for a different profile of attacker.

I am still unable to process yesterday's game. Iconic result for me. I don't think I will forget this game for another 20-30 years. Now that our players return from injuries, we see the next phase of Liverpool's attack - Diaz, Jota, Nunez, Salah, and Gakpo. Nunez is the wild card. We expected someone more polished and refined for the money we paid. But at the same time, we play better when Nunez is playing. Klopp said it best - our attack is organized chaos, with Nunez being the chaos. Many people are reading too much based on one freak result, whether it is Liverpool's ascendancy or United's issues. We are still the same team that struggled to break down Palace without Zaha. Our issues still remain until we fix our midfield.

I highly doubt he has the legs to play in the premier league anymore. He was never the fastest but he is noticeably slow nowadays. His game is all about pressing and harassing defenders and expect his effectiveness to decrease significantly in the coming years.

FSG is very picky about wages. Gini was on 120k per week. Normally, we would have extended his contract at higher wages and sold him to raise transfer monies. Rather than hand out contract extensions, they would rather lose players for free. By the way, this is my best guess, I don't have any inside information. Not sure I particularly agree with their strategy, but it is what it is. We lose a lot of players for free compared to other clubs. Mane was the only top player in recent times we sold before the contract ended.

Great player. Very underrated. One of the few attackers who improves every other player in attack. Also, very vital from a pressing point of view. He has been frequently injured over the last two years. When he returns from injuries takes a while to get going and then the next injury comes along. Needs to constantly play to have an impact. He is not the type to come off the bench and change the game. Also, not sure why but we seem to be OK with letting folks off for free at the end of the contract than trying to sell them before the contract ends - Gini, Ox, Keita, Milner, Can, Firmino.

Ox, Keita, and Milner will leave at their contract's end. There are rumors of Fabinho also leaving for Spain. I think we will be after three midfielders. Firmino is also leaving at the end of his contract. Looks like Gakpo will be his replacement. Some rumors of Salah to PSG being considered among somewhat reliable journalists. If that happens, expect one more attacker. My guess is that our entire transfer strategy will be based on whether Bellingham agrees to come to us.

200 percent behind him. Irrespective of how bad this season gets. He won us the CL, PL, FA Cup and League cup. We seem to have lost our way a bit with our transfers with Michael Edwards and our transfer committee leaving. But we are being linked to interesting folks for that position. I am confident he can build the next good liverpool team.

I just came in to wish all of you the best of luck. Hope you all win. Regardless of the outcome, remember to enjoy the day, and absorb every second of it. This is not like the finals you played in the past. Even if the worst happens, similar days are coming soon based on your trajectory. Good luck!!!!!

Madrid have our number. Carlo has Klopp's number. Whenever Henderson comes up against Modric for England or Liverpool, he spends an hour chasing shadows. Gomez, TAA, Matip, and VVD have all been various degrees of poor. I might be wrong, but I think a big part of it is the lack of protection from the midfield since our press is not working well. Having said that, I don't think gegen or counter-pressing will work against a team of technicians and mentality like Madrid. They will coolly ride out the press and pass around it, and in the blink of an eye, it is Modric, Vini, or Benzema against our defense.

There seems to be a small campaign here in the US media in favor of Marsch for coaching the US national team. Maybe he is waiting for that?