Roy’s replacements – the runners and riders for Liverpool hotseat
Live4Liverpool columnist Voland picks out five of the best and discusses the pros and cons to each candidate.
Rafa Benitez
Rafa knows Liverpool Football Club inside out, having brought in much of the coaching staff and many of the players (including many of fhe youngsters who are coming through the ranks). One of the best strategists around and a proven winner at both Liverpool and Valencia , with even his short tenure at Inter producing a UEFA Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup. Rafa made some shrewd buys during his time at Liverpool, although using his entire budget on Johnson and the injured Aquilani backfired spectacularly in his last season. At 50, Benitez is still on the young side and, with unfinished business in terms of winning the English Premier League, would bring renewed hunger for success to Liverpool. Overall, surely one of the top coaches in world football today – and a low-risk, high-quality candidate for Liverpool in its current plight.
Criticised for his zonal marking tactics (potentially leading to vulnerability from set pieces) and defensive formations, Rafa is a coach in the mould of Arrigo Sacchi rather than Johan Cruyff. He carries baggage in that he has not been afraid to criticise (correctly) the political leadership of Valencia and Liverpool regarding short-sightedness in their funding plans – and also fell out with Inter’s Moratti regarding the latter’s unwillingness to back him in the transfer market.
Kenny Dalglish
Kenny’s management track record at Liverpool and Blackburn – four First Division/Premier League titles and two FA cups tell their own story. A living legend at Liverpool and a supreme motivator of men, Dalglish surely has what it takes to be a winner.
On the minus side, Kenny’s most recent managerial appointments at Newcastle in 1997-8 and 1999-2000 respectively were not happy ones – and a decade outside active management and an age similar to the much-maligned Roy Hodgson may count against him. Appointing King Ken to the Liverpool hot-seat is not without a major element of risk – which is balanced by the potential rewards should he replicate his previous success at the club.
Jurgen Klopp
Young at 43 and manager of high-flying, attack-minded Borussia Dortmund, Klopp has been hailed (most recently by Joachim Loew, German national trainer) as one of the leading, up-and-coming German managers.
As Beckenbauer pointed out however, Klopp is still unproven at the international level and has no major titles to his name. Potentially a great football manager of the future, Klopp would be a high-risk appointment at this critical time in Liverpool’s history. He would moreover not be available in the midst of a highly promising, Bundesliga title bid at Dortmund.
Joachim Loew
Together with Laurent Blanc and Michael Laudrup, Loew is perhaps one of the most interesting managers on the continent. Loew’s German national teams play attractive, free-flowing football – combined with shrewd tactics and a winning mentality. Loew has earned many plaudits for continuing in the successful footsteps of Klinnsmann at the national team and leading Germany to 2nd place at Euro 2008 and 3rd place at the 2010 World Cup.
Although he can look back to a successful time with VfB Stuttgart in the late nineties, he has only claimed a single German cup title at club level and his track record at 50 years of age looks thin compared to top managers like Mourinho (47) and Benitez (50).
Didier Deschamps
Young at 42 and successful at Monaco, Juventus and Marseille, Didier Deschamps can point to one French Ligue-1 championship and two French League Cups as evidence of his winning ways over a surprisingly long career in club management (2001-2010). A leader on the pitch during his playing career – he was the youngest captain to lift a Champions League trophy and won just about everything there is to win as a player – Deschamps has been able to transfer his enormous success to the management level.
Although he spent a season with Chelsea as a player, Deschamps is untried at management level in the Premier League and would still be something of a gamble for Liverpool at this point in time. All the same, surely one of the top names on the shortlist of the Liverpool board as potential replacement to Hodgson. Whether he would make himself available this time round (having apparently turned us down over the summer) remains to be seen.
Who would you like to replace Roy Hodgson? Cast your vote below.
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Where’s the profile for Rijkaard then? The man that has been as successful as both a player AND as a manager, if not moreso, than all of them barring Dalglish.
Combine that with the fact that he embraces attractive, attacking football more than any of them, has a proven track record of bringing through young talent AND of buying well in the market, and he is EASILY the strongest candidate and immediately available
To me, the only significant blot on his career is the Voeller incident, and maybe losing control of the stars at Barca after several years, rather than his getting sacked by some irrelevant club in a minor league
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Where’s O’Niell or Paco Ayesteran? Would seriously consider Rafa or Kenny back with Carra as assistant (player) manager with a view to giving it Carra in the future
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Regardless of who manages Liverpool between now and the summer it will be very difficult to get into the top four. So the realistic target is top six, we can achieve this with Hodgson in charge if we play like we did against Bolton. I am not in favour and it makes no sense to bring a caretaker manager in until the summer as in effect we already have a caretaker manager in charge until the summer anyway. Chopping and changing managers causes more problems and instability so if the right long term manager is not available until the summmer then we should stick with Hodgson. If we have a few more performances and results like the Wolves fiasco then maybe Kenny or Tommo could step in but for now it makes sense to stick with what we have until the summer.
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meradona…..bring him to anfield, our popularity will soar in sky n players will feel enormous boost of their confidennce…
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Ralf Rangnick should be in there too. Left his club yesterday so is available,his team plays great attacking football and he’s been described as the German Wenger in that he likes to build a club and blood youngsters.
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Absolutely agree with mike arms, it’s never good to change too much in the middle of a season. Give Hodgson a chance to turn this around and redeem himself, even the best managers have bad spells, not saying he is the best manager but for now I reckon it is better to keep him until the summer.
I also belive that it won’t help our beloved club anywhere when us fans are calling for his head, let the men in charge, NESV, make that decision. Let us get behind our team again and help them achieve the best possible results during 2011 no matter who is in charge!!!!!
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i couldnt agree more with chris and mike. this team needs stability. unless you’re telling me we’re shipping out hodgson and getting in mourinho, then maybe, my heart would skip a beat and jump onboard with the idea.
otherwise stick with this setup, and hold fort till season end.
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I don’t remember Tottenham or Chelsea capitulating when they changed their managers mid-season??
The sooner Hodgson goes and a long term manager is brought in (preferably a proven, attack minded manager such as Rijkaard), the better
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I think Rafa is the better choice with still his team here…if the owner can back him on the transfer market..he can bring back the glory days with torres n reina in the team.
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O’Neill is the least risk. His teams never underachieve and he is a motivator. He’s willing to manage teams around the level we are at now but also has good experience, and ambition, to manage in the Champions League. And he won’t be scared to take it to managers like Ferguson.
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