No disrespect to the Basque people but that flag looks like it’s been put together with different coloured gaffer tape
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I had a lot of thoughts on Slot, Alonso and Ireola so I put it in a video instead as I couldn’t be arsed writing it down
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That’s all well and good, but what does all this have to do with Iraola?
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I can’t stand Carragher these days. Legend as a player of course, but as a pundit he can fuck off. Should have lost his job after spitting at a kid. It’s way worse than some of the things people have been fired or cancelled for.
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Twatagher is just a rent a gobshite. Im not sure he even believes the shite he spews out its all to push the Twatagher brand.
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We have a pundits we hate thread. Let’s keep this on Iraola please.
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Nice to put a face and voice to the user name!
What you said sounds the most feasible hypothesis for what has gone on behind the scenes, although for me it was around the Tottenham game that I thought Slot went from being stressed about the team, to simply resigned to the situation.
If we are getting Iraola a year early, then so be it. I expect most fans will cut him some slack even if he is learning on the job. Hopefully, the club will give him assistance where he needs it, or he can suggest specialists where it would help.
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So, do we know when he’ll start work at Kirkby?
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Didn’t someone say that he is technically under contract to Bournemouth until the end of the month?
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1st July then?
Already slacking Iraola out…
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At the latest. I’m not sure how these work. I have started a job before officially ending a previous one due to technically being on holiday in the old one. If he has no work to complete down south then he can probably start before that.
I expect he has personal matters to attend to as well.
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There seems to be a groundswell towards bringing him back…
Give me him over a couple of the others any day
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Hi Sweeting, enjoyed this (stupidly had imagined you were American!) and you make your point eloquently as per usual. Just feel there may be a bit of hopeful confirmation bias in the ‘always AI’ argument and I question why Xabi wouldn’t have been considered as a LT option nor why Andoni would be identified as the LT option even before Arne was hired. I personally think there is a lot to recommend about him in terms of his playing and managerial experience and temperamentally once he has authority of being firmly in place I think he’ll thrive. Hopefully we can make some changes for him in the summer to address key weaknesses at CB, CM, right side but I don’t think we can judge him as likely to be successful LT until he’s had 3 years to really weave himself into the squad - and hopefully won a big trophy (or two).
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Suspect your old employer wasn’t aware you’d started new role. Expect Bournemouth may have better intel/Southampton-style-spies 
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The buggers actually called me at my new office!
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“Hello? No this is blueWhippet, I don’t know any reds”
Did they buy it?
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I very much doubt that will have any relevance. He has completed his hand over to Rose already so there is nothing else for him to do for them. Also if you remember when Hughes arrived he was allowed to start working for us 2-3 months before his contract officially ended there, in a role and at a time when he would have still had work to do at the club.
EDIT All of which you largely say in your follow up 
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Ha, no not American but I do live in America so that’s probably where that comes from!
You could be right I’ve been a huge Iraola fan for a couple of years now and felt that move up here was always a possibility so now that it has happened it certainly feels to me like it was always the plan.
I said it in the video but maybe not as clearly as I wanted but Xabi would have been a long-term option but once he turns us down to go to Madrid I think he kind of indicated that he doesn’t see Liverpool as a long term destination for himself, if you see what I mean?
And I think the transition required to play his style of football is a lot more for this squad. Xabi likes a controlled game and we don’t really have a lot of technicians, we have a lot of runners. So I think we’d be looking at a complete revamp of the team to bring him in - that may have been possible two years ago when knew a blow up was coming but hadn’t started yet but once we’ve gone down the path of more energy, more runners I think that showed that we had long since decided on Iraola.
But you are right this squad needs plenty of work. I’m hearing people talking about Jacquet coming into the season as the starting CB, I don’t feel comfortable going into a potential 60 game season with van Dijk, Jacquet, Leoni and Gomez as our CB options personally.
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Yep, we definitely need one more cb signing.
Plus a midfielder, two wingers and a fullback.
Five signings for me, and it could go deeper depending on exits, but I’m trying to keep it somewhat realistic.
Nice video clip above, cheers for that.
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