Imagine the absolute fume.
Blue Mong would break the internet 
https://twitter.com/Ivan_Schwakoff/status/1752361380047454372
Hats off, Ivan. That’s brilliant.
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Did you read the article? O’Hanlon isn’t some hack. He makes an interesting case for Thomas Frank.
Instead, my mind keeps coming back to one name: Thomas Frank. He is currently coaching Brentford and, I’d argue, is a better fit than all the aforementioned options.
Uh, the dude coaching the team currently in 14th place?
Per Twenty First Group’s performance rating, Frank is the third-best coach outside of the England’s “Big Six” clubs in the Premier League, Spain’s big three in LaLiga, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. In other words, he is one of the top candidates in the pool Liverpool will be selecting from.
Per the site FBref’s estimates, Brentford had the smallest wage bill in the Premier League last season. This season, only the three promoted teams have smaller payrolls. Plus, that relatively impressive underlying performance was often without their best player, Ivan Toney, who missed five games last season and has only played once this season, due to suspension.
Only Brighton rivals Brentford in terms of outperforming their resources, and Brighton rely much more on undervalued player identification than Brentford do. On top of that, Frank oversaw a significant stylistic shift in Brentford’s play as the team went from the Championship to the Premier League, and he is used to working within a data-fluent environment where the manager doesn’t have unlimited power.
Perhaps most importantly, Brentford aren’t totally dissimilar to Liverpool. Among all of the teams in Europe that move the ball upfield at 1.25 meters/second or faster and allow 11 passes per defensive action or fewer, only Barcelona and Liverpool have a better expected goals differential than Brentford do this season.
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I read 50% of his stuff, and of that probably 50% of the time I quit before I get 50% of the way through the piece and leave shaking my head.
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I respect that you may disagree, but O’Hanlon’s opinions are generally data driven, which I appreciate, and he’s also a Liverpool supporter.
He’s worth a read even if you don’t agree with everything he says. And he’s offering an opinion here that is worth considering.
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Totally. Didnt mean to come across as an inconsiderate prick dismissing something someone presented as potentially interesting to others. I am a data nerd in my real life and am fascinated with the sport’s data revolution, but within that you get lots of people trying to make hay out of it who are unconvincing. He tends to fall into that category for me.
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Luton are making me very aroused right now.
I do think Thomas Frank needs to make a move elsewhere, but not to us. Perhaps he could go to Leverkusen! I think the last few years have done his reputation more harm than good. His football is just dour, and that can be down to the resources Brentford have, simply trying to keep them in the league. I don’t blame him, but he just doesn’t have it.
It reminds me of when FSG narrowed down the search to Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez. We had to hype ourselves up on a few articles about Rodgers’ obsession with tiki-taka, just to convince ourselves he was the right man.
I think what Klopp has shown the owners is that you need a bit more about you, and that you have to question whether you can translate your body of work into the behemoth that is Liverpool. I personally can’t see VVD, Salah, or TAA being inspired by us appointing Thomas Frank. However, I can see them being intrigued by Alonso.
If you put Alonso, De Zerbi, Nagelsmann, Frank, Schmidt, and Amorim in a line, and you asked ourselves, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Man Utd (most likely to look for managers this summer or next) to pick their first option, I think Alonso would come out on top.
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I appreciate that and respect your perspective. To be clear, I’m not endorsing his opinion with respect to Thomas Frank - I just think it’s an interesting one to consider in light of the links to Xabi.
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You’re probably right. But to be fair, I’m not taking manager-hiring advice from Barca, Bayern, or Man U. 
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I would definitely consider Zidane.
He’s a big name and commands respect. He’s won many titles including champions League, multiple times I think. In fact, I don’t think Klopp has ever beaten him so he’s also a good strategist.
With Zidane I could see him attracting good players to want to come to us. He’s on my list along with Xabi.
I like Alonso and of course have bias for him but the way some of us seem to just brush off other possibilities using all sort of justification is funny…
Zidane wouldn’t come here. I think he’s waiting for Deschamps to retire so that he can take over Les Blues after the 2026 World Cup.
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Zidane would be a bigger fuckup than BR.
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That’s a high bar even for Indi Kalia
Not any more 
What do you make of Rafa Benitez comments on this? “I know the situation.” I am inclined to believe the conclusion in the article I pasted below, but the press is already twisting it. Check the daily fail title. 
https://www.thisisanfield.com/2024/01/i-know-the-situation-what-rafa-benitez-said-on-jurgen-klopp-leaving-liverpool/
German gossip media (Bild) went with that Rafa story as well this morning, it is what it is. and this will go on and on and on presumably.
What a shit translation that is, practically Google translate.
But from what I understood from the quotes, don’t see anything wrong with it?
Obviously this is big news in football and here, an ex-Liverpool manager was asked about it and he said nothing special or outrageous.
We cannot expect this not to be a topic and nobody talking about it.
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Exactly this.
We need to move away from thinking about ‘the next JK’ and start thinking about, the next mgr and the next team.
This period makes me think of Old Bacon Face and Kevin Sheedy (Essendon, AFL). Almost none of you will know who the latter is, but both were those gaffers who were the club and who left the joint in disarray, hanging on for grim death and not giving two fucks about their legacy…both shitholes are still in the wilderness.
I am supremely confident JK is not like the above. He has left a chair ready for the next bloke to sit in and make his own.
In fact, his shoes are essentially unfillable…
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Maybe that cranky old fuck who coached New England is a good example of leaving a club in disarray, too?
I dunno. I dun know nuffin bout that stuff.