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The 2011-2012 Football Thread

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Confuzzzed,

Liverpool manager; look at the BS written about transfers, no surprise it's the same re managers. Start worrying if FSG mention Maradona.;)

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Michael Owen; his finishing is still there, pay per play at Swansea City?

Cheers,
OW
 
AC Milan will be out too since they are rebuilding their squad with younger players: they haven't renewed their contracts with Pippo Inzaghi, Seedorf, Gattuso and Nesta

which reduces their squad age average by half a dozen years i would guess


regarding coaches: Klopp will be very likely on the wish list of half a dozen clubs so i doubt that Liverpool could sign him, even thou he likes challenges
 
Rodgers says 'no'. Good decision. Liverpool don't need a Rodgers.

In other news Holt has had his transfer request canned. I wonder where he actually wanted to go.
 
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Confuzzzed said:
It's suspicious (IMHO) that the Guardiola name was thrown out there after the twitteraties questioned LFC's ambition, approaching someone like Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers...So it's probably a smoke screen. It will not happen.
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I agree. I'm sure they stuck the name in there to get press, and may have even sent out feelers, but Guardiola is not going anywhere for awhile, since he made it clear he wants time off.

Confuzzzed said:
If that system is what the owners want (I am not convinced but I don't have £500m to buy the club off them), then we have to play under those conditions. Thus my vote would be for Rafael Benitez as DoF with perhaps a younger ambitious manager coming under him. From the names mentioned, the one that excites me the most (but only under the stewardship of Rafael Benitez) would be AVB or even Samy Hyypia. But by the sounds of it, Rafa is too fractious to be considered for the job, so he's seemingly out of it.

In which case, I would want Klopp (but there are NO signs that he would give up the Dortmund project to come to Liverpool without champions league football).

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I disagree
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The reason I think Kenny had to go is precisely because of the system and the plan you mention. FSG has, from day one, intended to put in a young, promising manager and pair him with an experienced director of football. Kenny Dalglish is the exact opposite of their desired profile for a manager. He was brought in to plug the hole after Hodgson's departure. I'm sure that FSG would have kept him (and Comolli) around had he done well, but after this season's results FSG is probably more convinced than ever that their original plan is best.

As for Rafa, Liverpool needs to look to the future, not the past. Rafa is a good manager and he won silverware. But I don't think he'd work well with (or as) a director of football at Liverpool. In his last stint he demanded total control over football operations. FSG won't want to give him that. Also, his transfer history is checkered. Was he a bad manager? Absolutely not. But I'm not convinced he's where we should be looking.

FSG need to take risks in order to find an up-and-coming manager they will stick with through thick and thin. A guy who will make mistakes but come out of it more experienced and committed to Liverpool for the long-term. Unfortunately, most Liverpool fans will not want to wait for this. They want to finish in the top four next year and be challenging for the league immediately. They want a manager with Mourinho's brain and Kenny Dalglish's body. And they want FSG to spend Abramovich-levels of money. That is totally unrealistic. I think our goals for next year should be to strengthen the squad in a couple areas, lose some deadweight and aim for 5th-6th in the league plus a cup or two. Of course we'll shoot for a top four spot, but it should not be expected. Many supporters would call me crazy, but for as big as Liverpool is, we are in no way entitled to success. It must be purchased/earned.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Rafa is a good manager and he won silverware. But I don't think he'd work well with (or as) a director of football at Liverpool. In his last stint he demanded total control over football operations. FSG won't want to give him that. Also, his transfer history is checkered. Was he a bad manager? Absolutely not. But I'm not convinced he's where we should be looking.
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whilst I agree with much of what you say in your answer, You are lacking context here. I am sure if you were on a sinking ship, surrounded by muppets (eg Hicks, Gillet, Purslow) you'd also look to take matters into yourown hands. Nothing Rafael did wasn't for the benefit of what ultimately fans care about. And his tranafer redord is second to NONE! I'd have him back in a shot. Maybe alongside said younger coach.
 
Prediction time. I'm not very good at guessing results. But since I'd like to see Torres score and Chelsea lose, I'm hoping for a 2-1 or 3-2 in Bayern's favor. Probably the former.

Jaffa Cake said:
He'd be fine. :p
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Ha! :D

Confuzzzed said:
whilst I agree with much of what you say in your answer, You are lacking context here. I am sure if you were on a sinking ship, surrounded by muppets (eg Hicks, Gillet, Purslow) you'd also look to take matters into yourown hands. Nothing Rafael did wasn't for the benefit of what ultimately fans care about. And his tranafer redord is second to NONE! I'd have him back in a shot. Maybe alongside said younger coach.
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Don't get me wrong, I don't think demanding total control is necessarily a bad idea for a manager if he can handle it - I just don't think that Rafa's demands would jive with FSG's intended management structure.

And ultimately, FSG has shelled out a couple hundred million now. So they call the shots.

As for Rafa's transfer history, it is far from the worst out there. But it had some notable failures as well as successes. I still think we need to be a little more daring and go with a new manager rather than looking back through our past gaffers. We also need good foreign talent scouts, since you can't built a title-winning team out of Englishmen.
 
i predict a close 2-1 Chelsea but i hope for the opposite since i simply don't like chelsea's money-blowing away business model


regarding different management systems: it really depends if you can find the characters for either position or one which can combine both

Otto Rehhagel, Felix Magath are infamous for their single person rulership but other have shown success with shared responsibilities

Jörg Schmadkte showed the last years at Hannover 96 how a good sports director can really make all the difference: he showed an uncanny ability to scout and sign incredible talents or really undervalued players and thus made it possible for them to get into the top 6 of the Bundesliga even tough they have a miniscule budget
 
The odds on a Chelsea win are hopelessly daft so I've stuck a princely £2 on them to win. Winning money off them is the only way I can think of to make the prospect of the odious John Terry getting a winners medal even slightly palatable.

I still feel dirty, though.
 
animalresource said:
Hoping for a Bayern Munich win but Chelsea will probably win. They have endless luck money these days.
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Fixed that for you. ;)

takao said:
regarding different management systems: it really depends if you can find the characters for either position or one which can combine both
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It's difficult to find a manager/director of football pairing that works well together. There is no one "right" way to set up a club. I think one thing that might be a big factor for Liverpool is FSG's rumored unwillingness to spend big in the transfer market again. This could make it difficult to attract talent - both in managerial and playing positions. Having a good manager in place might be useless if he isn't given any money to spend.
 
Bayern will win. No matter how you spin it the Bayern team sheet is simply stronger than Chelsea's.

That said, Chelsea seem to know how to pull of underdog/handicapped victories.

In other news Big Sam and West Ham will be joining us in the EPL in Aug.
 
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Wirelessly posted

West Ham United; did Cole get away with a foul - the header - before the last goal? Whatever, Fat Sam is back.

Will Bayern try to block Cech to stop the quick release to Drogba?

Cheers,
OW
 
Jaffa Cake said:
The worst Championship play off final in recent history so far as the quality of the kits was concerned. :eek:
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Who cares? We won and that's all that matter. Third in the league by a long way, so justice was done.
Former hammers players coming home before the start of the season.
Parker
Lampard
Ferdinand
Ba
Well I can dream!
 
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