Essentially, Cleary is saying Hughes is shit at his job…
When someone is moving to another company, usually the best is to ask them not to work much, but to focus on just doing an orderly transition.
So I doubt he has been asked to do more than that during this window.
And obviously, FSG has agreed to this.
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Is he gone already? Any announcement about his replacement?
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We’re feeding the unreliable rumours and Who would you buy threads into ChatGPT and whichever user it says had the ideas closest to the side we are ending the day with will get offered the job.
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Google’s AI says the following:
Leading Candidates for the Role
Because Liverpool underwent extensive structural changes behind the scenes recently, internal stability is considered a high priority for Fenway Sports Group (FSG): [1]
David Woodfine: The current Assistant Sporting Director is widely viewed as the most natural choice for a direct, internal promotion. He recently took a front-facing role in managing transitions within the club, including onboarding new head coach Andoni Iraola. [1, 2]
Julian Ward: The current FSG Technical Director previously served as Liverpool’s sporting director and remains highly regarded within the hierarchy. Moving Ward back into a more hands-on role at Anfield remains a strong possibility. [1, 2]
Seems legit. 
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I think it was mentioned somewhere already that the replacement is an internal candidate.
Yeah, especially as it’s Mike Gordon pulling the strings again, so it makes sense. So, Woodfine it is then, or Julian Ward, or at a stretch, Pedro Marques.
I hope this means we go back to our previous modus operandi. Smart buys which fit the hard counterpressing pressing high tempo style of Iraola and the team shape that he wants. And not the best players we can possibly afford and then leaving it to the manager to figure out how they fit.
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Ward’s role should be somewhat up int he air because like Edwards he came back to work for FSG with a remit focused on multi club issues so its not sure exactly what his role is now. However, it was reported that he left the role last time because despite all the smoke about him and Jurgen, the best sourced reporting said he simply didnt like that was too administrative and took him away from more direct engagement with players. It seems unlikely he would want to make that jump again.
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Much as we may not like the decisions made or not made, its wrong to say that there’s no obvious strategy. There in fact is, if you pay attention and not get sidetracked by SM and pundits..
We are continuing the rebuilding of our forward line; specifically the wide areas, in an inflated market, with a paucity of top level left-footed, right sided players.
In response to the market, we are likely moving our strong side attack to the left, from the right, with Barcola as our top target, now secured.
Could we have moved faster? Perhaps..But dealing with PSG is never easy as they are like no other side..
What appears like panic stricken attempts to recruit a right-sided player, can be seen from another perspective. Reacting to the market when your top target declines after stringing you along. Could we have moved faster? Perhaps…
We are also continuing with the strategy of investing in young and very talented players for the future- Lucca Brughmans, Djylian N’Guessan…
To be clear, I have my beef with some of what Hughes has done. I think he and Edwards have not always given our managers sufficient options in their squad building; and the one time we did was the title winning season under JK.
But I think the -ive reaction to him is way overbaord..
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It’s interesting that the two titles that we have won recently were both after summers with minimal transfer activity. It seems that a settled squad is quite an advantage.
It’s a bit of an odd year with both the World Cup delay and a new coach needing to assess his squad. But some of the names I have heard in the last few days sound like desperation. I’d rather they just left them for this window and made do with what we have.
In fairness, the Jacquet and Muñoz signings were both done in time for preseason.
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Understood. But note that, this was tied directly to Gakpo’s exit and we donot know if it was the player pushing to leave…
Its also clear, at least to me, that had this happened, that none of Minteh and or especially Sarr, would’ve been our starter on the left, in the long term…
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Cleary is saying that we should have prioritised a player who allows the rest to push forward.
That is a reasonable take, but also one that I find overly simplistic. A dedicated DM won’t make much of a difference if we keep throwing everyone forward, leaving back just the 2 CBs. First and foremost, we need to play with much greater nous and discipline. We can’t be pushing everyone forward at the same time. Once we stop stupidly exposing ourselves, it will become far more difficult for opposing teams to walk right through us as they have been doing since this time last year. That’s why a DM would be nice to have, but not an absolute necessity.
The real concern Cleary raises is about Van Dijk and his inability at 35 to push upfield when we press or have the ball deep in the opponent’s half. Every time he stays back, we will be stretched and exposed.
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I do not disagree with your take. However, even if you tell szobo/gravenberch/macca to take turns to stay back, they might not be at places where they can effectively corral the opposition in an area where it is least dangerous for us.
Macca can do that sort of job but if his midfield partner is not around, it will be futile. His upper body strength is also suspect when he goes up against physical forwards…
Szobo is best when he carries the ball with his feet. Coupled with average passing and very average vision, he being the pivot will only lead us to be overrun when he loses the ball in the final third. His propensity to somehow always get suckered in for a challenge doesn’t help too.
Like Szobo, Gravenberch is best when he carries the ball with his feet. The bad news is his passing and vision is probably worse than Szobo in the final third. His lack of a football brain leads him to position himself where he is not going to be effectively winning the ball back when the opposition counters or not going to be helping in the buildup.
I remembered seeing one clip of the last match where I saw Trey Nyoni screaming at Gravenberch to come deeper from the number 10 position to an area just slightly ahead him to help with the ball progression and improve the defensive shape.
An 19 year old with limited top flight experience knowing how to do the role as a pivot way more than an experienced 24 year old. Goes to show a football brain is something that either you have it or don’t have it…
As for the VVD issue, we can only hope Leoni or Nduwke can slowly take over from VVD…
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Interesting details provided in the BBC article about our latest signing:
The deal for Brughmans came about as a result of work from Liverpool’s global talent department that is led by Matt Newberry.
Earlier this year, they signed Senegal’s Mor Talla N’diaye and Austria’s Ifeanyi Ndukwe after the teenage centre-backs both impressed at the U17 World Cup in Qatar, while goalkeeper Armin Pecsi and midfielder Samuel Martinez have both joined in the last 12 months from Hungary and Colombia, respectively.
So basically if any of them come good it had nothing to do with Richard Hughes
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How do you know that? Its quite well published that ours is a collaborative process…
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Based on price and hype, and not watching either player apart from a couple of YouTube clips, it seems Brughman is a lot more highly rated than Pesci.
Perhaps some players will be developed and hopefully flipped for a profit? It’s a legitimate part of the business of football. Pesci. But beyond that, even if you can’t say for sure when they are just kids, there are some players we have high hopes for, that they might have a realistic chance of making the first team squad? Brughman?
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I feel bad for Frimpong. He is being asked to play a position he is most ill-suited for. I don’t recall us ever playing with wingbacks, I’m speaking of even before the Klopp era.
What was the thinking behind getting him?