épieur

If there is no player investment this window, they will have an uphill battle ahead of them to convince the fans, and probably players too, that they are not a bunch of American lying liars back for round II of lying to and deceiving the fans in the name of $$$.

it's so f***ing smalltime. Winning tropies is a coup. Beating your archrivals is giving them their just deserts. Stop talking like we're Northampton whom you were couped out of the league cup by. Please, someone administer the Coup de Grace before sunday.

I should think there would be far less impressive finalists to pick on both before and after than Ajax if i weren't.

Unless they have plenty of time on their side, which most top managers don't, I think top managers think like top players: They want to play with the best and where they have a chance of winning trophies. Signing up with Liverpool FC means a rebuilding project of several years before that is a genuinely realistic prospect (barring miracles like Istanbul). Unless FSG whip out a checkbook with enough blank checks to make a top manager positively giddy, I think it will be very difficult to attract managers in the top tier, certainly so for those already in a job. I think our realistic candidates are those looking to establish themselves in the top tier and see Liverpool FC as a viable platform for that. The trick is to figure out who of those are actually good enough to do it.

I somehow doubt most top managers will see it that way.

I KNOW he made it to the CL final, but hey, teams like Ajax won it as late as 95.

It's not that I want that to happen. But in some strange, twisted way, it would be a fitting end to the narrative we've endured these past 18 months. A kind of 'you have to hit rock bottom before you can get up' kind of thing, I guess. We're close to it as it is and it'll be over soon anyway.

I thought for a second, 'good, meireless and lucas in midfield, gerrard behind torres. We might have a chance.' Then I realised he might just play raul on the right.

Just shut the f### up roy.

I am anticipating this as the grand finale to a horrible story written for the benefit of all our rivals and dectractors over the past 18 months by the hand of god. We've been dragged through the mud, eroded financially, watched our squad turn dramatically worse, been scorned by the press. And just as one dark chapter comes to a close for a brief intermission of joy when G&H are ousted, another begins as it becomes truly apparent how inept Hodgson is and the saga continues. Now it has been strung out for so long, it simply can not draw on any longer. It has to end soon. But as a fitting end to the melodrama, we'll finish this story with one last unhappy ending. The media will be focused on how nicely Hodgson has covered up his corpse pallor, and that there is a surprising spring in his step for a dead man walking. Some of the players are caught laughing in the warmup and a lipreader says on Sky that they were making private bets on how much we'll lose. We are then utterly trashed by the mancs, barca-real style. Ferguson is seen shaking his head laughing when Hodgson makes a desperate substitution of Poulsen for Torres and as the final whistle blows, Roy runs over to fergie, trying to mask his disappointment at losing his job and suffering public humiliation with a grand overbearing smile in the hope that Ferguson will be magnanimous enough to wine and dine him that evening. Monday morning, we all wake up to a new dawn. Hodgson's sacking that morning is already so old news it doesn't even make the headlines. The return of the king is sounded from Anfield Road and liverpool fans can finally start believing again, knowing that the nightmare is well and truly over.

well, that balloon was punctured quickly before the hot air could take off.

did I miss something? Is Van Gaal somehow available now or in the summer? I'd be delighted.

Agreed.

Frankly, those are my minor concerns. I am more concerned with whether he would have the proper backing in the dressing room and, to me, the very real possibility that Rafa has taken his eyes off the ball in the past 18 months and needs some serious downtime to re-asses his approach and methods before he has the proper perspective and stress levels to manage at this level again. I know some will also say 'f*** the players' and anticipate a grand revolution, where the heroes are saluted, the villains are slain and the peasant boy gets the princess after slaying the dragon. But I'd rather appoint someone who doesn't have to make such a clearout in order to assure his authority and backing in the dressing room

interesting stuff. Sadly, it probably also highlights why Rafa coming back would not be a good idea.

Should be here, but he is not the only gifted manager out there. I'd rather we gave the job to another gifted manager who doesn't have the deck stacked against him in terms of a divided fanbase, a hostile press, an unknown number of players reluctant to see him back and a torrid past 18 months on the CV. There's a tremendous amount of baggage that would come with his return. And if we leave the romantic beauty of his return to the winds, we'll probably be better off without it (assuming we can find someone who is actually a gifted manager).

Whatever the case, it's hard to conclude anything other than tactics being a very simplified matter at spurs based on those quotes. Maybe Harry just keeps hidden from the players all his deeper analysises, maybe he is just more of an intuitive tactician (I think the latter). But I don't think it defeats my point that you are not necessarily hopelessly antiquated if you haven't been keeping meticulous tabs on the developments in the modern game. I still say that he is a throwback in the sense that what he is doing is little different from what someone like him would have been doing 20-30 years ago in a similar position. and it's working for him today.

tears in my eyes reading that.

I am quoting the man himself. And just to show that there's nothing out of context, from Van der Vaart:

Did you make that up or did he actually say that? If so, another one for the file. It's so hard to tell because no one charicatures Roy Hodgson better than Roy Hodgson.

that would be hilarious. The fans would be so cheerful they might actually sing his name. I can see the mancs do the same. Imagine all of old trafford saluting roy hodgson. If he sniffs enough of the ether before the match, the senile old lesbian might actually believe it's genuine too.

It's not being glossed over at all. If his record of winning trophies was more recent, he'd be a no-brainer for the longterm position as well. No one would think twice about Benitez or anyone else when we obviously would have a much more succesful and capable option available. The thing is, it's doesn't actually say anything about his qualifications. It raises question marks, but none of us know how up to date he has kept himself/how ahead of his time he were/how good he is as a manager in general to compensate. Harry redknapp doesn't believe in tactics and is a relic of a former era, yet does well with spurs, even if he is probably a fundamentally limited manager. I think Kenny's thoughts, even if not fully up to date, are somewhat more refined than this, but my point is that there certain managerial qualities that seem to work regardless of how modern you are and likewise, we don't know to what extent kenny has those.

last period of relaxation before getting back in the hot seat. The prodigal son will be coming home soon. Home at last.

the afternoon will soon be over. why is he not sacked yet?

Include his playing career and Dalglish has won more league titles than Roy has won away games in the prem.