New manager thread

[kris90210]

Rafa Rafael, Rafa Rafael, Rafa Rafael, Rafael Benitez!

Do the right thing FSG

[G]

If they were talking to Cruyff a few backs back as the media suggested then it's not hard to see why De Boers name would crop up for us now. He would be a good appointment I reckon but then I'm changing mind on who I want on an almost daily basis

[TheElephantMan]

I don't think anyone could do much worse at Liverpool than Hodgson and Dalglish did. By worse I mean results-wise in the league. The job isn't really that difficult, finish in the top four or acceptably close next season and it would be seen as progress. A new manager will be given cash to splash and spent wisely we would certainly be one of the strongest teams in the Premiership.

[Baracus]

I don't want any manager at the club who does not have a plan ' B' if things are not working out on the pitch and will insit on still playing the same way. As good as some managers are and have been. I believe its crucial in the premiership.

[Shaggy]

Good read for anyone who hasn't seen it...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/8699902/Chelsea-manager-Andre-Villas-Boass-footballing-philosophy.html

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas's footballing philosophy
Ahead of his Premier League debut at Stoke, Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas reveals, in an exclusive interview, how he believes the game should be played and what he expects from his players at Stamford Bridge.


By Duncan White
11:00PM BST 13 Aug 2011

The career of Andre Villas-Boas was famously launched by an encounter with Sir Bobby Robson in the Porto apartment block they shared.

Encouraged by Robson, Villas-Boas would write out detailed scouting reports and leave them for the great man in his post box.

Robson started to invite him to Porto’s training and informal coaching clinics that included Jose Mourinho.

Two years ago Villas-Boas had his own encounter with precocity. On March 27 2009 he went to the Cafe Maiorca in his home town to be interviewed by Daniel Sousa, a 24-year-old student in the faculty of sport at the University of Porto.

“He interviewed me when I was at Inter, assisting Jose,”explained Villas-Boas.

“It was for his university thesis. When I got the club job with Academica back in Portugal I invited him to come and scout for me because from what I saw and heard during the interview it appeared to me that this boy could go all the way, in terms of scouting and in terms of management.” Sousa flourished.

He now does the job Villas-Boas did for Mourinho at Chelsea, working as the opposition scout. Sousa has prepared the dossier on Stoke City that Villas-Boas will have used in preparation for his first competitive game in charge of his new club.

This Cafe Maiorca interview is the most comprehensive expression of Villas-Boas’ football philosophy. In it Villas-Boas explains his theories about how the game should be played and gives a fascinating and detailed insight in what to expect from his Chelsea team.

GLOSSARY

Circulation: the retention of possession by passing from player to player without taking risks.

Vertical: Up and down the pitch, from goal to goal.

Horizontal: Across the pitch, from touchline to touchline.

Transition: When possession is regained, the opportunity to counter-attack.

Low block: A team that defends with two deep banks of defenders and midfielders. Mourinho’s succinct term for it was “parking the bus”.

A FOOTBALL PHILOSOPHY

AVB: There are more spaces in football than people think. Even if you play against a low block team, you immediately get half of the pitch.

And after that, in attacking midfield, you can provoke the opponent with the ball, provoke him to move forward or sideways and open up a space. But many players can’t understand the game.

They can’t think about or read the game. Things have become too easy for football players: high salaries, a good life, with a maximum of five hours work a day and so they can’t concentrate, can’t think about the game.

Barcelona’s players are completely the opposite. Their players are permanently thinking about the game, about their movement, about how to provoke their opponent with the position of the ball.

DS: Does a top team need to dominate possession to win a match?

AVB: Not necessarily, for a simple reason. In Portugal we have this idea of match control based on ball circulation.

That’s what we in Portugal want to achieve in our football: top teams that dominate by ball possession, that push the opponent back to their area.

If you go find the top English teams pre-Arsene Wenger they tell you how to control a match in the opposite way without much ball possession, direct football, searching for the second ball.

Maybe now, controlling possession is the reference point for a top team, but that happens because they have much more quality players than the other teams, so it would be wrong not to take advantage of those individual skills.

DS: One thing Louis Van Gaal says is that you can control a match offensively and defensively but you must keep in control defensively you can also determine where your opponent will play on the pitch.

AVB: Yes, I agree. In that sense, yes. But the idea we now have in Portugal of match control is about having more ball possession than the opponent.

DS: Exactly, but match control has to result in scoring chances. That’s the only way it makes sense. There are teams that have like 60 per cent ball possession and that results in nothing at all.

AVB: That’s it. Match control always has to have a purpose, a main goal.

DS: And in that concept of match control, are there any sectors of the team more important than others?

AVB: Well, that depends on the mechanisms you want to use defensively and offensively. Let me give you an example.

Top teams nowadays don’t look to vertical penetration from their midfielders because the coach prefers them to stand in position (horizontally) and then use the movement of the wingers as the main source to create chances.

So, you, as a coach, have to know exactly what kind of players you have and analyse the squad to decide how you want to organise your team offensively. And then, there are maybe some players more important than others.

For instance, many teams play with defensive pivots, small defensive midfielders.

And, except Andrea Pirlo and Xabi Alonso, and maybe Esteban Cambiasso and one or two more, they are players that are limited to the horizontal part of the game: they keep passing the ball from one side to another, left or right, without any kind of vertical penetration.

Can’t you use your defensive midfielder to introduce a surprise factor in the match? Let’s say, first he passes horizontally and then, suddenly, vertical penetration?

THE INFLUENCE OF JOSE MOURINHO

AVB: There has been an evolution in football language and football analysis since Mourinho started to coach. There’s a different way of looking at a match, a different way of doing technical analysis.

People have started to look beyond the formation, and started talking about the dynamics within the team and how they’re more important than the team’s formation.

TALKING TACTICS

DS: What’s the difference between playing with three or four midfielders?

AVB: Rafa Benitez created a 4-4-2 much more dynamic than the usual English 4-4-2. Because he introduced speed in ball possession, he gave it variation between vertical and horizontal passes.

The usual classic English 4-4-2 is more basic: a penetrating midfielder and another one that stays in position; a winger who moves inside and another one who stays wide; a full back who overlaps and another one who covers the defence.

If you talk about a 4-4-2 diamond, that’s totally different. You play with two pivotal midfielders, one defensive and one offensive, so it creates many more problems for your opponent.

Defensively, though, you take a great risk of ceding too much space because you are very central and you lack width. You have to create compensation mechanisms.

Me, I’m a 4-3-3 fan, not 4-4-2. I don’t see how a classic 4-4-2 could work in the Spanish league, where every team plays 4-3-3 and the superiority of the midfield has become crucial.

What Mourinho did with Chelsea with his 4-3-3 was something never seen before: a dynamic structure, aggressive, with aggressive transitions...and then there is Barca’s 4-3-3, which wouldn’t work in England, because of the higher risk of losing the ball.

If you have midfielders like Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard you don’t want your forwards to come and play between lines, because Lampard and Gerrard have a large field of action and very often move in to those spaces.

Lampard was often irritated with Didier Drogba because Drogba wanted to receive the ball there but then, amazingly, his first touch was poor, so he lost the ball and we were exposed to a transition from the opponent.

So we had to limit Drogba from going there and ask him to play deeper.

BARCELONA’S TACTICAL MASTERPLAN

DS: Is good ball circulation essential in the attacking organisation of a top team?

AVB: Well, it’s essential to every team. Every team want to score. That’s the purpose of the game. Barcelona play horizontally only after a vertical pass. See how the centre backs go out with ball, how they construct the play. They open up (moving wider), so that the right or left-back can join the midfield line.

Guardiola has talked about it: the centre backs provoke the opponent, invite them forward then, if the opponent applies quick pressure the ball goes to the other central defender, and this one makes a vertical pass.

Not to the midfielders, who have their back turned to the ball, but to those moving between lines, Andres Iniesta or Lionel Messi, or even directly to the striker.

Then they play the second ball with short lay-offs, either to the wingers who have cut inside or the midfielders, who now have the game in front of them.

They have an enormous capacity not to lose the ball, to do things with an unbelievable precision.

Another thing about Barcelona, there is always a full-back who arrives earlier in the attack, the other stays in position initially but then progressively joins the attack, as the ball circulates on the other side of the pitch, so he can be a surprise element. When you least expect he arrives. He chooses the perfect timing for the overlap.

DS: Louis Van Gaal says a vertical pass is not a risk, but a horizontal pass is because when you make a horizontal pass you are much more open, more exposed in case you lose the ball.

AVB: Yes, that’s right. And there are differences between a horizontal pass and a slightly diagonal pass.

Something that used to happen a lot in England, when teams played 4-4-2, was that the central midfielders exchanged the ball between them in parallel passes so what we did with Lampard, or Liverpool did with Gerrard, was to try to cut into that space between the two midfielders with fast movement from Lampard.

If they got the ball there, there were already two opponents eliminated in the attacking transition.

DEALING WITH DEFENSIVE TEAMS

DS: How do you attack a team that plays with an ultra-low block?

AVB: Let’s see. Juventus play with an ultra-low block, they don’t put any pressure on you high up the field. Nowadays most teams don’t. It can limit you because they control the space behind them with perfect offside timing.

They limit your vertical passes as well because they are all grouped within 30 or 40 metres, completely closed in two lines of four plus the two forwards.

So you start constructing “short”, begin the attacking process with your centre-backs of full-backs carrying the ball forward to the midfield area but then you want to pass the ball to the midfielders and you don’t know how to do it, because there is an ultra-limited space, everything is completely closed.

DS: So what to do?

AVB: You have to provoke them with the ball, which is something most teams can’t do. I cannot understand it. It’s an essential factor in the game.

At this time of ultra-low defensive block teams, you will have to learn how to provoke them with the ball. It’s the ball they want, so you have to defy them using the ball as a carrot.

Louis Van Gaal’s idea is one of continuous circulation, one side to the other, until the moment that, when you change direction, an space opens up inside and you go through it.

So, he provokes the opponent with horizontal circulation of the ball, until the moment that the opponent will start to pressure out of despair. What I believe in is to challenge the rival by driving the ball into him.

That’s something Pep Guardiola believes is decisive. And that’s something that Henk ten Cate also took to Avram Grant’s Chelsea. He took it with him form Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona. We did it differently at Chelsea under Mourinho.

Our attacking construction was different, with the ball going directly to the full-backs or midfielders. With Ten Cate, play was started with John Terry or Ricardo Carvalho, to invite the opponent’s pressure. Then you had one less opponent in the next step of construction.

[McDermotX]

Good read for anyone who hasn't seen it...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...hilosophy.html

Roy Hogdson :
"Launch it"
"When you are 1 down with 10mins left in the match. Launch the ball into the box........I give it the UEFA Elite Coach Badge of Approval"
"When opposition receives ball on the edge of their area, retreat back to 20 yds from your own goal........I give it the UEFA Elite Coach Badge of Approval"

[Ben_Itez]

Ah i remember you Ben, we had this chat before didn't we? I think i said something like "With your username this conversation will never be balanced". So i bid you good day sir

And the fear and uncertainty comment i made, i was including myself.

Dan i also think that FSG probably wont appoint Rafa due to the reasons most people bang on about. However, we dont know for sure. I was simply just highlighting that you stated it as absolute fact. The truth is no-one really knows what FSG are thinking and who'll be our next manager, it's all guesswork.

For the record I have absolutely no problem with your posts, opinions etc but just wish you wouldnt state things as fact when you dont know what's going on

I also agree with your fear and uncertainty comment as i, like yourself, am of the the same mindset. I highlighted your post as you were talking about opinions minutes after stating facts.

Obviously I am a Benitez fan but wouldnt be averse to a few of the candidates being mentioned. I've thought about changing my username too as most people cant see past it when debating issues.....the simple fact is my name is Ben, Rafa was manager when i joined this forum and it seemed the obvious choice of username to me.

Anyway i have no beef with you so please dont take it that way.

[danperkins]

Dan i also think that FSG probably wont appoint Rafa due to the reasons most people bang on about. However, we dont know for sure. I was simply just highlighting that you stated it as absolute fact. The truth is no-one really knows what FSG are thinking and who'll be our next manager, it's all guesswork.

For the record I have absolutely no problem with your posts, opinions etc but just wish you wouldnt state things as fact when you dont know what's going on

I also agree with your fear and uncertainty comment as i, like yourself, am of the the same mindset. I highlighted your post as you were talking about opinions minutes after stating facts.

Obviously I am a Benitez fan but wouldnt be averse to a few of the candidates being mentioned. I've thought about changing my username too as most people cant see past it when debating issues.....the simple fact is my name is Ben, Rafa was manager when i joined this forum and it seemed the obvious choice of username to me.

Anyway i have no beef with you so please dont take it that way.

Ben in a forum full of opinions and people stating their opinions i don't really think anyone states anything as an absolute fact, unless someone says this is an absolute fact or have some evidence to prove this.

I said there was no way that Rafa was ever going to get the job and that statement has been said by many. Obviously this is my opinion mate and i have no concrete evidence to suggest he won't, only given what has gone on in the past.

I funny thing about forums is with comments like yours above i think it gives people the need to put "IMO" in every one of their posts, just incase people says things like "you're stating it as if it's a fact" etc.

Mate i have no problems with you, your username or anyone for that matter, i'm just another random dude posting on a football forum. Just this is the second time you pulled me up about things regarding Rafa, and the defensive nature of your posts leads me to believe you're a Rafa fan, not your username which is just coincidence.

Anyways IMO he will not get the job, as incidents like this i.e. mass fan divide is not a good a good starting point for a club looking for unity & that's not even going into Rafa history with previous owners Or being another former manager. Just my opinion mate and certainly didn't mean to state is as fact

[Ben_Itez]

Fair enough.

I'm a bit tetchy today anyway. I was in a good mood til i logged onto my computer.

Just wish we could fast forward a couple of weeks so we know who the manager is then we can just argue and debate about his credentials and if he'll be any good for us. All this wild speculation is and fan bickering is TOTALLY DOING MY HEAD IN!!!

[Kenneth]

Roy Hogdson :
"Launch it"
"When you are 1 down with 10mins left in the match. Launch the ball into the box........I give it the UEFA Elite Coach Badge of Approval"
"When opposition receives ball on the edge of their area, retreat back to 20 yds from your own goal........I give it the UEFA Elite Coach Badge of Approval"

[Neil Young]

The viscous reaction to Martinez as a candidate saddens me.

It's thick, tacky and totally gloopy.

Whether we want him or not, the response has been unpleasant and embarrassing.

[dizzycat]

Rafa's mentality is just what the club needs at the moment.

[danperkins]

Fair enough.

I'm a bit tetchy today anyway. I was in a good mood til i logged onto my computer.

Just wish we could fast forward a couple of weeks so we know who the manager is then we can just argue and debate about his credentials and if he'll be any good for us. All this wild speculation is and fan bickering is TOTALLY DOING MY HEAD IN!!!

yeah i hear ya mate, think as a LFC fan you get sick of all the off the pitch drama it's beyond ridiculous at this stage.

[kingfunk]

Tompkins.
http://t.co/bgsYCyol

In the old days we wanted Liverpool FC to do its business in private and only release it to the world when it was complete. Now, in life in general, no news is bad news. Indeed, no news is terrible news. No news is an excuse for mass hysteria.

I’ve been guilty of it, too; Twitter, in particular, does that to you. You stare at the screen as it updates … and still no news! It’s been five seconds! Refresh, refresh.

It turns you into a lunatic. The modern, internet age – of which I am proud to be part – has so many benefits, but as much as I love what Twitter can offer, it can turn every aspect of football into a circus. It never stops, it never rests, it never sleeps; it’s a monster that needs to be fed, and we love to feed it. We can’t help ourselves.

I can mostly handle the stream of abuse that comes my way on Twitter, but the constant state of unrest is arguably more disconcerting. Add the two together, and do I need it? I’ve reached the conclusion that I don’t. I’ll set up an account to follow the views of the select few writers I respect, and use the pre-existing one to post links to this site, but I don’t have the energy to cope with everything the Twitterverse throws at me (good and bad). It steals my time, and it steals my mind.

We’re addicted to new news – the latest news – and the number of ways we get our news, and how quickly we get it, just continues to grow apace. And once a wave of unrest starts to ripple, it’s hard to resist.

When, just a few days ago, fans started panicking about the number of people being sacked/let go by the club, I was caught up in the unrest. But we need to stop and think, take a step back. Passion is great when you want an atmosphere at a football ground, but it makes us stupid and irrational.

Everyone knows that a wide-ranging review was in place at Liverpool FC – that was hardly a secret – but did we really have to know who was undertaking it? And when it was complete, did we expect the owners to make decisions about letting people go, and not bother to bring anyone in? Was the plan simply to sack people?

A new structure is being put in place; I know this for a fact, although I don’t know any of the details.

(Dion Fanning has written a superb piece on the issue.)

I’d imagine that undertaking such a task – which amounts to an overhaul – is not straightforward. God-knows whether it will prove to be the right structure, or contain the right personnel. But we’ll know in time.

From what I witnessed last week on Twitter, the idea of FSG making a managerial short-list, as well as the varying reported lengths of it, has been ridiculed. Limiting their options was daft, and keeping their options open was daft. The idea of not having a manager in place when sacking the existing one is ridiculed, when the idea of having a manager in place when sacking the existing one (especially one as revered as Kenny Dalglish) would cause outrage.

The notion of Roberto Martinez – no trophies – was ridiculed, and the same people ridiculed the notion that the club (allegedly) dare approached Pep Guardiola (who, incidentally, had no top-level managerial experience before Barcelona).

No ambition and too much ambition, all in the same day. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. This is the poisoned chalice of making decisions in football. The same applies to managers: their every last call is micro analysed. We can’t help ourselves; it’s what fans do. But the discussions that once took place in private are now everywhere. And yes, of course I’m as guilty as anyone on this. But removing myself from the Twitterverse might help me regain my sanity.

Maybe FSG will evolve the old the Liverpool way, but it’s about getting a balance between core values and modernising, in the way that Barcelona had to get to grips with a decade ago, and how, as outlined in the aforementioned Dion Fanning piece, Newcastle started doing a year ago. Roy Hodgson didn’t get the Liverpool way to such an extent that it was painful; but he’s something of a dinosaur (who is bloody good at setting up low-ambition teams using a rigid system).

The modern football landscape has changed, and the fact is that all players aspire to the Champions League. I’m old enough to remember when the domestic cups were very important, and 4th meant nothing, but it’s a bit like when a player wins the ball with a studs-up tackle and the hoary old ex-pro says “that’s never a foul, he won the ball!”

Things change. We might not like that change, and we might fight against it, but once in place, and until it changes again, you have to play by the current rules.

You move with the times. These days, winning a cup (aside from the Champions League) is like a national side beating Brazil in a friendly; but finishing 4th is like winning qualification for the World Cup.

Of course the club exists to win trophies. But the club cannot easily attract the best players, and pay their wages, without the Champions League. The European Cup is the trophy that everyone wants (which I type with gritted teeth, after last night), so you need to be in the top four (or reigning holders) to have a chance of winning it. And no-one has won the league in the past 20 years without first finishing in the top three.

Personally, I’d have labelled the season a big success had Liverpool won two trophies and finished 5th. One trophy and 8th is a different story. I don’t think it meant that Dalglish had to be replaced – I didn’t expect FSG to be that brave (or stupid, depending on your viewpoint) – but I don’t think that for the longer-term picture, winning the Carling Cup is better than being in the Champions League.

Big name or up-and-coming?

I don’t know who the new manager will be, nor do I know who should definitely get the job. There are those I’d be happy with, and those I’d be less sure about.

What I will say is this: doing well at a small club does not automatically mean that a manager can do well at a bigger one; this is the classic mistake so many people make. But equally, doing well at a small club does not mean that is the limit of a manager’s abilities.

And albeit with a project he inherited mid-season, Roberto Di Matteo has just won the Champions League (and FA Cup) without prior big-club management experience. But when he was at West Brom, I am on record as saying that I thought he had the right approach to succeed at a bigger club. Roy Hodgson may have ended up doing fractionally better than Di Matteo at West Brom, but Chelsea wouldn’t touch Hodgson with a bargepole; he just doesn’t have that big-club approach.

This article by Zonal Marking perfectly illustrates how someone like Roberto Martinez can make brave, clever decisions to solve problems. He’s ahead of the times; switching to a formation that’s on the rise across Europe. It’s not like he’s stuck to the same approach, year after year.

Whether or not that makes him suitable for Liverpool I don’t know; but you can’t write him off based on his Wigan record. He’s not been at a club riding the euphoria of promotion, or one that has large fanbase, an intimidating atmosphere or any money to spend. Presumably he’s being spoken to based on his sharp thinking, not his win percentage at a club aiming to scrape by each year.

Wigan sell their best players to keep stay afloat, receiving fees far in excess of what will be reinvested. Also, you can probably escape relegation more easily when playing football like Stoke (while playing football like Stoke won’t get you a job at a bigger club, where playing football like Stoke would be abhorred.) Martinez wouldn’t be my first choice, but just as some players at small clubs are at the apex of their journey, others can join the elite.

The assistance of an experienced football man in a kind of General Manager role, to help co-ordinate a lot of the stuff that can sap a manager’s time and energy, would mean that a less-experienced manager with bright ideas would presumably stand a better chance of succeeding. In theory it makes sense, but you can never know until it’s tried.

I’d obviously like to see Rafa Benítez at least considered, as the only current inhabitant of Merseyside to have managed a team to the Champions League. It was too soon for him when Hodgson was fired, and I frequently told people on this site that I’d only discuss Rafa returning after Kenny had gone. (The amount of begging emails and tweets I received in relation to trying to help bring Rafa back was incredible; but until last week I fully expected Kenny to remain in position, and then, to me, the issue was moot.)

An altered structure behind the scenes might actually help Benítez, although the relationships with those around him would have to be solid. He’s great if people are on the same wavelength and pulling in the same direction.

Iberians make sense, as the Spanish flavour has worked well at Anfield in the recent past, and the Academy set-up employs two important figures from the Barcelona system, brought to the club by Benítez three years ago. Perhaps Pep Segura and Rodolfo Borrell will rise to the first team picture, and take an overview of the whole club.

Whoever gets the job, the structure should provide an assistance rather than a hindrance.

“Advising” FSG

Finally, on a personal note, I’ve seen it said that FSG should be talking to a wider variety of fans than just me and one or two others.

First of all, as well as presumably downplaying the number of fans they converse with, this seriously overplays my influence. Also, I’ve been told that I speak only for myself, and not as part of any organisation.

As much as I gave my full backing to Spirit of Shankly in the fight against the previous owners, and as much as I believe in the importance of fans having a voice, I’m not sure they’d want to be contacted with a one a.m. request as to how to create a Guardian chalkboard, or where to find certain statistics. Does it really need a committee to do that?

On the sporadic occasions when asked, I gave my opinion on football matters, but I also outlined the what other fans were saying (if different from my view), and gave the contact details of experts when the issue was beyond me. I’m not someone who’ll bull**** when lacking an answer; quite a lot of the time, I just don’t know.

Beyond answering, every now and then, a few football-based questions, I’ve had no direct input whatsoever. As I said in my statement, I am free to email John Henry my views on footballing issues, but that doesn’t mean he’ll pay any attention.

As for a group of fans having a dialogue with the club, I assumed that was what the committee, chaired by Bill Shankly’s granddaughter Karen Gill, was set up to do:

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/gill-named-committee-chair

The last time I heard her speak on the issue, a month or two back on the excellent Anfield Wrap podcast, she was very positive about the committee. I presume that, as intended, the club listens to these people, although as I’m not involved, I don’t know how it all works.

I’m a not a political figure by nature, and try to retain my independence, so that I am not tied into any one direction (not to be confused by being tied to any of One Direction, something I’d find equally unappealing.)

While I don’t particularly appreciate being named in the SOS letter, even though they kindly forewarned me and said no malice was intended, I do continue to support their existence; I think it’s important that the union remains together for situations like those we saw a couple of years back.

However, I don’t think we are anywhere remotely near that stage.

They have every right to push for information, but the club also has a right to only release information when they think it’s pertinent. This is not a criticism of SOS or a defence of FSG, simply what is supposed to be “the Liverpool way”. You can’t simultaneously communicate openly and keep everything behind closed doors.

Like anyone, I’d love to know what’s happening with the stadium, but equally, it’s hardly proved a straightforward issue for anyone over the past dozen years at the club. FSG have a track record of getting this side of things right in America, but perhaps things are easier to facilitate in Boston. We don’t want to wait forever, but with at least £50m wasted on failed attempts, the club need to get it right; and for that, I’d rather wait a bit longer. (Even if, by waiting longer, I am not saying that it will definitely be resolved; I have no idea.)

My only true wish now, as a Liverpool fan, is that the fan-base finds some common ground, and gets behind the next manager, whoever he is; and that, hopefully with stability and an improving team, FSG can successfully sort out some of the other issues with at least a modicum of goodwill retained. Failure on the part of any of those involved – fans, manager, players, owners – will just lead to more heartache. And we’ve had our fill of that.

[badpiggy]

The viscous reaction to Martinez as a candidate saddens me.

It's thick, tacky and totally gloopy.

It's also unusual and indeed inappropriate for a man of science like DWW to respond to viscosity with any emotion. WTF ****s going on?