I was going to mention Leonardo. It must also be pointed out he also criticised the whole structure in France, referees for example that many fans would like to see more of here, and it got him and the club in trouble.
I quite liked his aggressive manner and think many fans appreciate that from a club. The problem is when they overstep the mark, which Leonardo often did. Often he helped the manager out however it created stories that the press wanted the manager’s view on, which wasn’t comfortable.
I always thought PSG would look to bring him back somehow but they haven’t.
I do want to say something about Slot that seems to be somewhat forgotten in the current unhappiness about the continued regression of the team.
I felt he represented the club extremely well when dealing with the tragic loss of Diogo. He spoke very well and I was impressed with how he steered the club during the summer months.
That is entirely separate to my observations regarding the team’s performance from last January onwards.
I feel it’s important to acknowledge that, regardless of how we feel about his continued stewardship of the team.
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There’s too much deflection going on here. Hughes, Edwards, the league being crap etc. none of this excuses the terrible coaching we are witnessing.
Look at this example - this has happened for most of the season. It’s only 2-2 at this point and looks at our structure here. The head coach has repeatedly made substitutions that lead to this.
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It’s disgusting.
The bollocks leadership on the pitch is also to blame. For all his limitations, Henderson wouldn’t have put up with that.
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Yawn.
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Its ynwa.
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This has been really bugging me as well. But you never see DoF’s or sporting directors ever front up. People like Billy hogan or even our owner JH will take up the mic from time to time but Hughes is unlikely to be publicly vocal
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No, it’s definitely yawn. And I think as soon as criticism of the manager turns into outright nasty unwarranted insults you renounce the right to use the club’s motto.
What does him being bald have anything to do with this? If he was black would you think it was OK to call him a black fraud? Or do you think some physical characteristics are fair game to be turned into a perjorative?
This forum is not the public sphere. If you think that your precious freedom of speech should extend nasty personal remarks, Twitter is over there. Fill your boots.
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I think one thing I do appreciate about our club is that they don’t do business in public. There may be lots of speculation, which tends to come from agents or selling clubs, but there is very little directly from us. Occasionally, we will get something from the club via Paul Joyce, but that’s about it.
The question is what would they discuss. Slot always shuts down any questions about transfers, contracts and so on. Hughes would likely do the same.
What would be of interest, is more strategic things. That could be training and development. It could be our overall playing strategy. But how much of that would be related to the private business side?
What I would like to see is any questions outside of Slot’s remit being shut down. So if any transfer or contract question comes up, we have a spokesman that can politely say that we don’t discuss those in public.
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Slot usually deals with it pretty well, in terms of transfers or contracts. He doesn’t even need Tony Barrett for that.
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Yeah, that’s the issue right now. And he can’t keep quiet, he has to say something. If he kept quiet btw, he’d be criticized for keeping quiet. He can’t win.
The only way to turn it around is more consistency in results. I doubt we’ll see it this season. Too much has gone wrong at this stage (among other issues, several nasty injuries to important members of the squad). Maybe we can snatch a cup, who knows. We seem to be better against ‘big’ sides this season, rather than against the underdogs.
Maybe next season we’ll see consistency coming back, with Slot if fsg hold out and keep trusting him, or with another manager, we’ll see.
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You are such a control freak, obviously you have hair shortage problems yawn. PS its called X. 
OK. You want to see me being a control freak?
Wind your neck in, listen to what you’re being told, and take the point on board.
Your criticism of the manager is straying into personal, unnecessary, nasty insults. That stops now, or I remove you from the forum.
I expected that to be the case, and am very disappointed to be honest. When talking about things going wrong at the minute, this is one of them imo. Slot could and should have been backed much more when some key issues came up during the season. Yet, he was left out to hang dry in front of the media time and time again.
He alone had to publicly address the issue and the overall impact of Jota’s death.
He alone had to publicly discuss the impact of a brutally reshuffled squad during the summer.
He alone has had to stand in front of the media when refs took points away from us in scandalous circumstances, and navigate the cliffs between justified criticism and menace of being fined by PGMOL.
He alone has to answer questions about the current lack of depth of the squad because of nasty injuries.
It’s too much, and meanwhile, Hughes is hiding. He hasn’t made one single statement for instance about why we aren’t bringing any reinforcement to our depleted backline.
Where is that feeling of the ‘LFC family’ which was so strong when Klopp was here, of everyone having each other’s back? Out of the window it seems, and no clear leadership to be seen above Slot. That is bound to have an effect on the players and the way they perform. As said very disappointing.
Slot might or might not be good enough to coninue with this club, we’ll see, but this is an issue which absolutely has to be addressed going forward in my opinion.
In England, yes. But if you take Germany, it’s an entirely different situation. Sporting directors will publicly discuss ref decisions and will address all questions regarding moves in the transfer market etc. Meanwhile, the head coach can concentrate on the football. I honestly think that this is an example English football could take a leaf from, as the media exposure and public pressure is even bigger for head coaches in the PL.
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I’m trying to remember if Damian Commolli gave interviews?
Only at the news conferences for signing Suarez and Carroll but I can’t remember him saying much
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Germany is a different model, agreed but that’s exactly the point.
If media-facing sporting directors are the norm in your league, then speaking during a downturn doesn’t signal anything. It’s routine.
At Liverpool, it isn’t routine. Hughes never gives regular media briefings, so if he suddenly came out during a rough patch, it wouldn’t be read as ‘German-style transparency’. It would be read as:
• Slot is struggling with press
• something’s wrong
• internal pressure
• blame management
• or vote of confidence.
In a system where silence is the default, breaking that silence becomes a message in itself. We all know how the UK press works. There is real risk of it backfiring.
That’s not to say a sporting director should never speak but if you want to normalise it, you don’t start during a crisis. You start when things are stable, or even going well
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I agree with that. It’s too late for him right now to come forward. But overall, I’m disappointed. Last season, everything was going smoothly, so there was no big need for him to talk to the media, but he could have done it on several occasions (ie. the issue of that stupid Dubai trip in the midst of the season, or other minor events). This season, it was always going to be tough after what happened in the summer, so I’d have wanted to see a more present SD to back Slot. But yeah, it’s maybe a cultural thing, as I’m used to the BL and sporting directors not holding back with their public comments when needed.
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Aye, that’s the disconnect in the discussion there for me at least. Situation right now vs general strategy. People seem to have an allergic reaction to that idea, because it’s seen as an excuse or some kind of instant fix (which it wouldn’t be of course). More of a general idea for the future. And no, we shouldn’t turn into Bayern either, there are many traditional ways the club has been doing stuff that are worth preserving, no matter who gives interviews or how often.
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