The search for a NEW LFC Manager Thread - Arne Slot (?)

Virgil speaks on his misconstrued comments

"It's much taken out of context. To be 100% clear, I'm fully committed to the club," said Van Dijk, speaking on the Men in Blazers podcast. "I love the club, I love the fans. It is fully taken out of context. It's not about me, it's not about I, It's about us and nothing has changed [on his situation].

"Five days ago we weren't even speaking about my contract, so it's silly. My full focus is on making sure this year can be a very special year and obviously a big announcement in the last couple of days, it's been a shock to each one of us connected to the club. I feel exactly what the fans have been feeling.

"We mean business here. We want to crack on, we want to achieve things we dreamed of at the start of the season. Don't get it twisted, I'm fully committed to the club. I love it. I'm the captain and we're going to go for it all. Let's see how that goes."

(432) "Don't get it twisted!" | Virgil van Dijk sets record straight after Klopp announcement - YouTube

 

Perhaps , Sam but to be fair if you are managing a relatively small club on the south coast any win over the likes of Arsenal or any of the 'big six clubs' really is a huge deal ie David vs Goliath. I think the fact he's been able actually do this type of thing and has had his Brighton side play some wonderful football too reflects really well on him.
As for experience De Zerbi has been managing for 8 years now learning his stuff from small Italian clubs working up to Shaktar then Brighton . Whether that makes him Liverpool worthy I dunno and the Liverpool job would certainly be his biggest challenge to date.

Now Xabi seems to be the favourite but he only got into managing in 2019 with Sociedad and now Leverkuesen .He has much less experience than De Zerbi though Alonso of course does have that intimate knowledge of both the club and the city of Liverpool.

I think De Zerbi is a very capable manager . My big concern re him is whether he can immerse himself in the ethos and culture of the club cos I think any Lpool manager must be all in. Xabi has the edge there since he's already lived it.

 

De Zerbi is 2024's Brendan Rodgers. talented coach, but a club the size of Liverpool would imo swallow him whole.

we have a dressing room full of serial winners and national-team captains. they'd look at him and think "really?". he has managed 7 clubs incl Brighton - never won anything at all, and has never lasted longer than 3 years at any of them.

style over substance imo.

 

Thats going to be the case with the vast majority of managers , Sam. If we're waiting until we find one with a winning track record who is available this might take a while.

I don't think the perfect option for Liverpool is out there tbh so whoever comes in will also have some flaws , some question marks and also some risk.

 

So long as we don't hire Greg Berhalter, I'm good.

 

yeah that was a tad ott.

 

fact is, Jurgen is unique, and a force of nature. he simply cannot be "replaced".

FSG can only hope to find a person who can do a fraction of what he's done for us, so expectations need to be tamped down.

that said, deZ's employment record and success record as a manager is underwhelming.

 

What we need from a manager is decidedly different than what was need 10 years ago. Back then we needed someone to make the club elite again, but now we need some how can handle and maintain the expectations of an elite club that is expected to win things. They need to have elite club experience.

In my mind there are 4 or 5 managers in the world who fit that profile: Guardiola, Ancelotti, Zidane, Luis Enrique and Xabi Alonso. Taking a flyer on managers like De Zerbi or Thomas Frank, who play a similar style to Klopp, is a massive risk as they managing a mid-table club is nothing like managing LFC right now.

Obviously Guardiola and Ancelotti are unavailable, but any of the other 3 I would expect could handle the pressure/responsibility that would come with the job. The only downside to Alonso is his relative short tenure as manager, but doing what he has done with BL over the last year is really impressive and he seems to have the gravitas to handle the job. He played at the biggest clubs, won the hardest competitions and was managed by the best managers of the past 20 years, who played a variety of styles successfully. Perhaps he may feel he needs a bit more time and the LFC job will be there for him in 3 or 4 years, and if that's the case getting Enrique or Zindane in for a few years to transition from Klopp would be perfectly fine, but if he's up for it, I wouldn't be looking much beyond him.

 

Forgot to add, really hope Tuchel and Nagelsman are cut from the list pretty quickly for not passing the no dickhead rule.

 

I don't see Zidane in this role at all. The language barrier is a starter deal-breaker. Simply not a fit. I hate to do it to Leverkusen, but we must chase down Xabi

 

None of the rest of us have any good telescopes!!!

 

Or Yeti/Bigfoot...
That way the rest of us with simple binoculars can join in the fun!

 

No thanks

 

Whoa! That was an abrupt merge

 

at the final whistle tonight, I felt simultaneously really happy, and pretty damn sad.