Obviously the choices aren’t great as in 2004 or 2015.
But also, it’s the first time in a long time, that a new manager will takeover when yes there is pressure replacing a great manager (and a lot of other people), but also a lot of club things are working well.
So, we’ll see. I certainly can’t say I’m delighted or disappointed. This will be a summer of being relatively quiet, watching closely our every move, every detail, the early signs, on and off the pitch. Like always for me actually, but now even more because it’s a new era after a while.
3-year contract means that we’ll already have a lot of answers after season one and into two, if we get there together. If we trust our ceiling together. Hopefully we also achieve something in that time, because I don’t want us to lose our general ambition.
Amorim is proven. Won the league. Had his squad stripped out. Regrouped. Looks to be on track to win the league again. All while playing good football.
In addition to that, everything we have read about him says he is an excellent communicator, he does well bringing the group together pulling in the same direction and generating buy in, and when he wins anything he shares the plaudits with his coaching team.
He has had 5 years in management and is definitely seen as on the up. He has more experience than Alonso, and is taking the fight to two richer teams in Portugal and doing well.
Nothing is guaranteed!
It doesn’t matter who we bring in, they won’t be Klopp, and they won’t be able to guarantee anything. There are some experienced managers but they are either past it now, like Mourinho, a bad fit, like Tuchel, or tied down at their club, like Ancelotti.
So we are looking at a younger breed.
At that point, if Amorim is confirmed, bring it on!
In the meantime, here’s hoping we regroup and get back to winning ways in the Prem, and advance in the Europa.
Fixed for accuracy. I’m sorry to probably be slightly annoying (I promise, I’ll shut up after that), but this shouldn’t be omitted imo. For some context, in the UEFA rank of countries, the Portuguese league is sandwiched inbetween the Dutch and the Belgian league, on rank 7. A proven record in such a league is hardly worth a proven record in one of the top four leagues.
Even Klopp had serious doubters at the beginning as well. After the initial success at Dortmund it dropped off and the “smart” people said it was because geggenpressing had been “found out” in Germany and he had no other “tricks”.
The fact he spent the first 18 month to 2 years of his time with us having to face questions of “is he really any better than Rodgers?” really underlines how many questions there were about him, even if lots of those came from dumb places.
Still remember the idiotic line of questioning about Klopp’s win percentage, which was similar to Rodgers’ in his first 60 or so games, even though the quality of football had visibly improved with largely the same team.
What I’m into about Amorim, is that he seems to be into the idea of cultural leadership. What Liverpool needs is a manager that can shoulder the responsibility of millions of mad bastards wanting him to take them on a journey. We want someone we can bond with, and who we can embrace as one of our own.
Everything I’ve heard about Amorim is that he is someone who can bring everyone together in a one club mentality.
Alisson
Konate VvD Robertson
Trent Endo MacAllister Jones
Szoboszlai Diaz
Jota
Just as an example but in theory having one extra player at the back would mean more players competing for fewer positions in more advanced roles.
In this case I haven’t even used Salah (or his ‘replacement’), Nunez, Gakpo, Elliott, Bradley, Danns, Doak.
Will elite players like Virgil, Trent, Alexis and Salah still be the best versions of themselves in a new setup?
What will happen to our academy players who are used to play in the 4-3-3?
New manager and especially with a new preferred formation. There’ll always be ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the squad but this one feels like there will many ‘problems’ straightaway.
I’ll back any new manager coming in but I’m hoping for someone who is able to build on the good work that has been done in the last few years and still able to bring in his own ideas. I’m sure both should be possible.
) NEW: