Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

Egypt are pretty awful. One player won't win you a tournament anyway.

He could well find himself on Newcastle's shortlist for when they inevitably sack Howe, given how much the fans there love him. Might be a good job for him, though Mourinho feels like the one they'd go for, for his profile as much as his current quality.

Rafa ? His man management style has been said by former players to be really cold. It's the complete opposite to Klopp who has not just players but staff behind him due to his personality. It would serve to disrupt all the good work done.

Salah will bear the brunt of the blame for Egypt going out, already lots of keyboard warriors claiming he faked injury to get out and back to Liverpool. Sad

It seems like a lot of AFCON nations seem to think they’ve a divine right to win every game and when they lose there’s a sort of bloodlust.

It aptly describes more than a couple of posters on here too, to be fair.

I was thinking about this, cos I'm a massive Rafa stan too. There's also a case, albeit one riddled with issues, for giving someone the job for a year and seeing is Klopp still happy with "a normal life" after that. If we'd done that with Kenny in 1991, we'd have gotten 3-4 more years of him at his best instead of Souness. (yes, that would've ultimately only papered over how badly the club was run in the 90s, but we might've gotten another title)

If we're doing that, there are two people who I think would consider it: Ljinders and Rafa. And I take Rafa every day of the week with that choice. I think most Liverpool fans would.

There are risks though:

1) Rafa's post Newcastle record isn't stellar.

2) Rafa is tactically completely different to Klopp. If it worked, he'd have a year of settling into the new system and then we go back to Klopp-ball.

3) Rafa or anyone being manager on an interim basis only undermines their authority.

4) Rafa would take the job only because he'd get his foot in the door and would angle for the job, maybe at a stretch some other role like DoF, permanently.

5) Klopp could still be happy on sabbatical / retirement and someone else could've snapped up Alonso/Emery/Nagelsmann/whomever we want by then.

6) What happens if Rafa goes ahead and wins the league and Klopp does want to come back. (Caveat this likely requires City getting into serious trouble over you know what)

All in all though, a permanent appointment is a better idea and Rafa's just too big a risk as a permanent appointment. At the least, I'd take Alonso or Emery ahead of him.

I don’t think Klopp would be the type to go back to a job he’s already done. One of his main concerns is leaving the club in a healthy space to continue after he’s gone, and looking at the squad right now I can see why he would feel that way.

A short term manager would always have the spectre of Klopp hanging over them if it wasn’t going well which would lead to more pressure for him to come back.

I don’t expect to see him at Anfield that much either when he leaves. Obviously he’ll be back in Germany but I think he understands well that his presence would be an unnecessary burden on the new management. The running joke of cutting back to Ferguson in the crowd when United have been abysmal has been hilarious from our side, but really they should have been asking him to keep his distance to allow the club to move on.

I liked the way Klopp said he had no involvement in the selection of a new manager either because there is an entire team behind the scenes who will be working on that. Gives me hope that the transition won’t be as painful as Uniteds.

Just hope whoever the new guy is is given time and understanding. There is no moving away from Klopp without expecting a general drop in performance, the guy is special. Hopefully though we can keep challenging at the top of the table.

For whatever reason, either the club, or possibly Pep himself, think he's not ready given that Billy Hogan said he wants to pursue a career as manager elsewhere, and the club respect that.

The worry I have with him is he's only had 4-5 months as a manager at NEC Breda where he wasn't brilliant and got sacked.

Thats a small sample count to judge him on. I dunno I just thought they were grooming him to step up, he does some of the media work too like, seems a really good character and we know hes an excellent coach.

While I'm sad to see Klopp go, I'm disappointed were are losing Ljinders too. He had a huge influence on Klopp in changing our style leading to our success. When "The Brain" left, we shifted to a more possesion style.

I'd imagine too he knows its an impossible task to fill his shoes and would be better off building his career.

I think he should be in contention for the job, honestly believe klopp is going to take some time off,the decision seems a quick turnaround from signing contract extension, not that quick but still a u- turn,I wonder if there a health issue/ scare with himself or a family member that led to a rethink on the approach, either way best of luck to him, just seems to have come from no- where,he has been fairly honest in his approach and I believe that his intention is time off.

And so it begins...

I absolutely expect him to leave, he'll be 33 then and looking for a new challenge, he could have the pick of clubs and wouldn't be a big fee with 12 months left.

He'll be 33 when next season starts.

Maybe one more challenge for him?

Would we let him go on a free? If not, what could you sell him for at this stage?

Which clubs would want him as a stopgap?

If I were him, I'd stay as long as we are in CL.

Sorry to nit pick but it's NAC Breda or NEC Nijmegen.

The Vvd stuff is just click bait waffle, he'll be nearing his contract end and there's always uncertainty there.

Ah yeah, my "so it begins" was more what the cycle of press conference questions and clickbait headlines will be for the rest of the season

True but the likelihood given the factors is he will move on.

Lijnders managed NEC Nijmegen, not NAC Breda. He wasn't sacked, he could have stayed with the club but chose to return to Liverpool when Klopp offered him the position of assistant manager.

Its the same sort of talking in circles like Mane did. Its the right answer though, he is going to say "ya im off too" with 5 months to go

We probably can't give VVd a 3 year deal but I'd hope we wouldn't quibble over 2

Not really. I'd say he is more likely to stay than he is to move.

Trent's contract is up in 25, we should be working on that as a matter of urgency.