The futures…? What exactly?

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Warning: May cause controversy and opinions in which some may not agree with.

I admit to writing this piece after seeing Jose Mourinho winning the UEFA Champions League with Inter Milan, for the second time in his career. I know a lot of Liverpool fans take a dislike to JM, whether it be because the infamous finger to the mouth in Cardiff 2005, or the rivalry between himself and Rafael Benitez, or his general arrogance and cockiness during his time as Chelsea manager, and the money he went on to spend to win 2 league championships, and FA cup and two league cups. However, it’s difficult to dismiss what type of manager he is. I’ve seen on this site and other Liverpool FC forums, the cry from Liverpool fans for JM to take over as manage, and then the other set of fans who totally do not want him as manage because 1. JM needs money to succeed and 2. He’s not as offensive as people make out him to be.

First of all, it does seem that Mourinho needs money to win. He spent a lot of money at Chelsea to but players such as Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda, Michael Essien, Ashley Cole, the list goes on. He also bought players at Inter to go on and win the treble this season. However, the IRWT brigade want to quickly dismiss JM as manage of Liverpool because he needs money to win, yet they also claim that Benitez’s failings this season has been down to the fact he hasn’t had money to spend. Does that mean that for Rafa Benitez to win things, he needs money as well? Just like Mourinho.

Second of all, it’s clear to me, Mourinho sets out his teams to win, whereas Benitez sets out his teams to not lose. Some people may argue this point by referring to the Barcelona game at the Nou Camp and the game to some extent last night against Munich, where Inter appeared to ‘park the bus/plane’. Yes that is the case, but the bus was only parked AFTER Inter had beaten Barcelona 3-1 (offensive) and after Inter were 2-0 up against Bayern (offensive). Where as, Benitez has consistently played Lucas and Mascherano in the defensive midfield role, and not giving Lucas the free attacking role in which he probably excels in. Would Mourinho do this at Liverpool? Would Mourinho play Torres up front on his own? Would Mourinho play Kuyt on the right? Would Mourinho get the best out of Ryan Babel? Would Mourinho play Steven Gerrard in his preferred role of central midfield? Lets be honest, not even Steven Gerrard knows what his role in the Liverpool team is now other than to put on a front of being the captain.

The fact of the matter is, most footballers in the world would love to play for Jose Mourinho, and he is the kind of manager who puts his arm around you. Would most players in the world want to play for Rafael Benitez? Steven Gerrard has said before he longs for a ‘well done’ from his manage. So can we really blame Steven Gerrard for wanting to leave Liverpool for a Real Madrid team that is managed by Jose Mourinho, where he has a better chance of winning the league and champion’s league? Not really no, he’s done his shift at Liverpool now, and its been much appreciated (except this season he has performed way off what his quality actually is). It must be said though, Steven Gerrard probably would rather win one premier league with Liverpool than 5 premier leagues with Chelsea or 5 La Liga’s with Real Madrid. Liverpool could make a lot of money off him as well; a possible transfer target after Gerrard departure is clearly James Milner who has (admittedly in the press) ‘he wants to play for Liverpool’.

So what does Liverpool’s future hold? Personally I would like to see Jose Mourinho as Liverpool manage, but that’s not going to happen, its may happen in a few years time, but it wont be happening now. In my opinion, the club needs a clearout, owners, manager, average players and unwanted players. Benitez needs money to succeed, so Liverpool needs a manager who can work well under a tight budget i.e. a motivator, for me Benitez is not a motivator. The same names keep cropping up (if Rafa does go), Martin O’Neil, Roy Hodgson. One name for me (which may cause controversy) is Mark Hughes. He did a good job at Blackburn, getting them from relegations battles to qualifying for Europe and FA Cup semi finals, on a low budget. OK he has played for Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton, but I think if Mark Hughes would to a good job at Liverpool. And if Gerrard does ago (and despite what I have said I don’t want him to) you have to say good luck to him and hope he doesn’t do a ‘Michael Owen’. And Liverpool should look to get players like Joe Cole (and not David Bentley which has also be reported), and James Milner who could potentially fill the Steven Gerrard role. Other players such as Gary Cahill should be other targets for Liverpool, and not average players from abroad. There again, we don’t do know what future holds.

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11 Comments

  1. If your’e suggesting Inter played offensive football at any stage during the champions league final last night then we clearly were watching a different game of football. And Hughes/ O’neil wouldn’t be any better for liverpool than Benitez. They also spent money and still weren’t great. (Roy Hodgson is a decent manager though!)

    Every manager needs money to improve the squad. Better players cost more money, and if all the teams around Liverpool (City, Spurs etc) are spending more money per player than Liverpool then their squad is going to eventually become better than Liverpool’s squad, hence why they will finish higher in the league. Which they did. Its not Benitez’s fault we are 7th. Spurs/ City are better than us. Simple as. You can argue that Villa aren’t as good as us and we should have finished higher, but the difference between 6th and 7th doesn’t concern me; neither 6th nor 7th are good enough for our wonderful club.

    Bottom line is that Chelsea, United, Arsenal, Spurs and City spend more, so finish higher.

  2. Mark Hughes.are you serious,are you a liverpool fc FAN,id question your self,firstly iff Rafa does go,its a big iff,iff he does go,then we have to go to the old Liverpool way,the Liverpool way which brought fear across europoe for decades,a Liverpool way that brought countless cups,league titles,the new manager must have played for us,its as simple as that,dont forget Liverpool are differant from the rest of the world,we love our own,we suppport our own,the players would be lifted an extra 10% iff we had one of our own,so who could we get,Dalglish,Toshack,Evans,Keegan,Stevie Nicol.Phil Thompson,the list goes on and on,id have carrreger as a number 2,MARK HUGHES HAHAHA

  3. i wouldnt have a manager with no experience.. just because they played for liverpool doesnt make them a good manager.

  4. The management ‘elephant in the room’ here is that Benitez led us to 7th and, embarrassingly, without UEFA denying Portsmouth their rightful spot in the Europa League, Liverpool would have no European football to talk of next year – at all. Our top players, if they’re not already considering it anyway, would most certainly have had even greater impetus to leave had this occurred and the finances of the club would be even greater mess with no consolation revenues from Europe’s second-tier competition.

    The severity of last season’s collapse in confidence, depth of squad and therefore performance on the field – must not be so easily deflected onto the (admittedly frustrating) boardroom antics but they should be laid squarely at the manager’s feet.

    If, as Shankly said: “1st is everything; 2nd is nowhere,” then he must be turning in his grave at 7th and dumbfounded at the support for a manager who’s most inspiring comments are: “Expectations were too high this season.”

  5. Okay, everyone has a right to an opinion. Mark Hughes is, with all due respect, not top team material. He was great for Blackburn, but he did not have the experience to handle the flashy stars he brought to Eastlands. If Fergie could not handle Tevez, you can imagine Hughes.
    Mourinho is a good tactician, but he won the CL with Porto in a freak year, and then spent millions at Chelsea and Inter to get results, still better than Man City spending Stg 200 million plus and getting nothing out of it. Expect big changes at Real if he lands there. Mourinho was never a candidate for the Liverpool job. No sugar dadies here. Abramovich and Moratti suited him perfectly, so will big-spending Perez at Real.
    Many things will change at Liverpool, but next season Rafa will still be in charge, and both Gerrard and Torres will lead the line for the Reds. Guess we just have to wait, and see!

  6. How can anyone take your opinion seriously if you can’t even spell and rafa successes so far have proven he doesn’t need money to spend he needs to not have hocking decitions and a lengthy injury list an just some money to add to the squad!

  7. Agree to an extent with your initial paragraphs. Not the last paragraph. I can see the frustration coming out. You are not alone.

  8. Mark Hughes isn’t good enough Rafa is way better off him.Rafa’s problem has been lackluster of players in the first team and his over-cautious approach to matches where he should go all out and attack he would be defensive and when we concedes goals we find it hard to overturn results in our way rather we end up loosing matches I can’t say number of matches we concede goals first and loose it unlike 2 seasons ago even when we concede goals we overturn it and end up winning..Rafa needs a proper wingers don’t wanna see Kuyt playing wide area how can a player as Kuyt whose first touch is horrible be our wide man Kuyts best position is centre forward maybe as a first or second striker he’s got cannon shots in his right leg and can shoot very well off the box maybe he needs to improve on some little details,first touch etc..Rafa also plays some players on favoritism not on merits in some matches

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