Mails: Klopp has got AVB written all over him

Not everybody is convinced by Jurgen. So what next for Brendan? Newcastle? Sunderland? Villa?

If you have anything to say on any subject, mail us at theeditor@football365.com

 

Crooks: Celebrity
I called it a few weeks ago: Crooks has become self-aware. This is exactly how Skynet got started. At the very least he’ll end up on Celebrity Big Brother or one of those islands.
Aidan, Dublin

 

Why Klopp Won’t Work…
Quite simply put, because the EPL is far too competitive. I know a lot of people have pointed out the similarities between BVB and Liverpool and how Klopp magically transformed his Borussia Dortmund team into world beaters but can he do the same with Liverpool in a league where Arsenal beat Man United who beat Southampton who beat Chelsea who beat Arsenal? He would be taking over a club in the decline as well and with the players he would have I don’t see much short term improvement. This has Andre Villas-Boas written all over it.
Saladinho, Botswana

 

Who scares Liverpool’s rivals?
I think the real way to tell the value of making Jurgen Klopp Liverpool manager is to ask supporters of Chelsea Arsenal and Man Utd if they will be worried if we do?

No better scale of decision than the calm, calculated nature of the very splendid mailbox contributors and their rationale..

(I assume Stewie Griffin is boiling in his bag) with the very thought of it..

[of_poll name=’Non-LFC fans: Who worries you more?’ id=’59513′]

Al, LFC

 

Why would he join Liverpool? Because they’re the bestest
Sitting in my chair typing this email I can’t help but feel like a peak from Queen’s ‘Don’t stop me now’. All around the internet, back pages and front pages are all aflutter with Klopp to Liverpool. A manager that our rivals said Liverpool weren’t a big enough club to get. ‘Why would Klopp bother with Liverpool?’ Maybe it’s due to the fact that Liverpool is the best team in world.
I cannot understate how proud I am of Liverpool’s owners. FSG has pulled Liverpool from the brink of bankruptcy, invested heavily in players, brought us back to the Champions League, expanded Anfield, and are now on the brink of pulling off one of the biggest coups in modern football by bringing Jurgen Klopp to Anfield.

Hot damn am I excited. Jurgen Klopp has the capability to usher in a renaissance not seen since the Benitez years. What a time to be a Liverpool fan!
Brian (Bring on Spurs!!) LFC

 

What’s next for Rodgers? Spurs?
I was surprised by Alex, Leeds e-mail this morning, claiming that he ‘can’t see Rodgers being Daniel Levy’s cup of tea’ – I cannot see Rodgers ending up at any club other than Spurs. His ego combined with his near-accomplishment at Liverpool makes him a very similar candidate to many previous Spurs appointments, along with his penchant for attractive football and his inability to coach a defence.

The only clubs I could see Rodgers managing as a next gig would be in Spain, if they’d have him – he speaks fluent Spanish, after all. And imagine what the Brendan-isms would sound like in Spanish…
Oliver (I was not joking about Redknapp.) Dziggel, Geneva Switzerland

 

Or Newcastle?
In the post-Rodgers wash-up, each of those points in your top 10 are all individually pretty damning…together it’s actually amazing he stayed in the job so long!

As far as wasting Sterling (and Can) as a full-back, he’s shown that he’s clearly not learned by stuffing Ibe there recently, along with playing a very capable young (developing) right-back at left-back. He buys a potential star in Firmino and sticks him out wide, buys a striker in Ings and…sticks him out wide. Buys a winger in Lallana and doesn’t play him. Buys a very talented if wayward striker in Balotelli and quickly hangs him out to dry while calling himself a great man manager.

Don’t get me wrong, Van Gaal may well receive a similar epitaph if he doesn’t achieve some actual significant success after his repeated dalliances with Valencia and Young as full-backs, his falling out with Di Maria and faith in Rooney, but he at least has credibility based on actual past and recent successes.

Where next for Brendan? His ambition and self-value will only see him looking at top clubs, but his ability is far more suiting the current level of Newcastle. Maybe he can take the walk of shame to Spain and take over from Moyes, who would no doubt leap at the Newcastle job.

More worryingly (unless you’re a Newcastle fan), Klopp joining Liverpool is probably the only appointment that could see them return to anywhere near the top. And after the near-misses of the last few years, surely no neutral wants that?
Guy Shrimpton

 

Or Sunderland?
Alex, Leeds asked this morning ‘…is there another Premier League job for Rodgers?’.

Well Alex, I believe there is. Sunderland. If you look at the other teams in the bottom five you can see why this might be the only possible destination for him:

Chelsea: I don’t think Mourinho will be sacked. If he is, I predict heartbreak for Liverpool fans.
West Brom: If a defensive magician and his trusty cap cannot plug the holes in a leaky defense, I don’t think Brendan ‘Lovren’ Rodgers can either.
Aston Villa: Tactics Tim lost two of his best players in the summer. He helped Villa stay up last year so should be given time.
Newcastle: New manager with uninspired players. Liverpool players have looked just as uninspired on the pitch. Would be a like-for-like swap in that sense.

So we come to Sunderland. First of all, they have no manager. There’s that. Also if Rodgers could muster even a single win he’d be considered a success. If he somehow managed to keep Sunderland up he could prove himself as a manager fit for the league and a potential move back to a top ten club. Include in his contract a release clause terminating his contract if they get relegated and he’s scot-free to try his hand at another bumbling Premier League club the following season.
David (Getting to much enjoyment from Henry’s reaction) Ireland

 

Or Villa?
FAO Alex, Leeds, re Brendan Rodgers:

We’ll have him.

We’d take Ted Rogers right now etc.
Neil Raines AVFC

 

Get him on telly
Please please please could someone give Brendan Rodgers a punditry gig, just so we can get John Nic’s view on whether he’s a Proper Football Man?
Rohit (I’m sure Reidy has a special ‘tooth whitener’) Essex

 

Taking Daniel to task
I very rarely, if ever, write into F365 but I had to get typing this morning soon after I spewed my coffee all over my coco-pops when reading your ‘Top Ten: Where it went wrong for Rodgers’ piece.

I am a daily F365 reader and whilst I agree with some of your points, a couple of others seem thrown in to make up the numbers.. Now I’m fully aware of the stereotypes relating to Liverpool fans and our penchant for looking through red-tinted glasses but I’m assuming whomever wrote this piece simply forgot his spectacles altogether when writing the following two points:

– Persisting with Emre Can at right-back – if I am not mistaken, Can was a versatile player when he left Germany, famously taking up every position on the pitch other than goalkeeper and indeed right-full; perhaps Rodgers bought him for this purpose? Secondly, I actually remember Can receiving a senior call-up to the Germany national team recently and if I’m not mistaken – was deployed at right-back (you’re not mistaken, but he was awarded 2/5 by the German media for his performance against Poland – Ed). However, I don’t ever recall seeing this piece of trivia mentioned anywhere ever on the website or indeed any criticism for Loew after doing so. Selective.

– On not retaining Stevie G’s services – I have been a Liverpool fan all my life and like most Reds fans my age (26); Gerrard was my favourite player. However, how he has acted over recent months has put a sour taste in my mouth and I am sure I am not the only one. But specifically regarding the first point, I vividly recall Gerrard – first writing in his original autobiography and then mentioning in an interview – that he would not be the type of person to ‘sit on the bench’ because as he ‘had been used to being the main man over so many years’ and that doing so would be an impossibility for him due to this fact. Then suddenly, when he is trying to stoke up publicity for his new, ill-timed, book launch – he reveals that all along he was simply making the world’s most mundane joke; he actually did want to be a sub, only he didn’t want to tell anyone about it. Cheeky monkey.

Other than that I congratulate you on being the best football website around and thank you for your work. Now I must go gegenpress my jeans before work…
Jono (LiverKlopp Fan since Oct ’15) Dublin

 

You want Jose out? Really?
Wow, I have read some seriously awful letters over the years, but Paul Michael’s effort this morning goes straight into my Top 3 worst-ever.

I see you prefer Wenger and his champagne football. Do you also admire Wenger’s trophy haul these past 10 years?

You claim Chelsea’s problem isn’t defensively (only one team has let in more goals than Chelsea), but that they need to create more scoring opportunities (only four teams have scored more goals then Chelsea).

You’re defending a player who is clearly out of form on the basis that he was signed as a CB. Despite this signing being seven years ago and him having played 90% of his games at RB and whom many would agree was once one of the best RBs in Europe (let alone the Premier League). Paul, I can only assume you were asking for him to play CB in 2010, when he won the double and 2012, when he won the Champions League. Playing RB.

To top it off, you are clearly annoyed at Jose for his behaviour towards the club doctors (although strangely you only refer to the lady doctor?), yet you finish your ‘letter’ off, by shoiwng your eagerness to push Jose off a cliff. Nice touch that. advocating the killing of a manager, because he isn’t doing what you want him to do.
Neil (who needs enemies when you have fans like this) Surrey

 

Why Ivanovic plays…
Well, after many days of deep thinking, research and worry, I think I finally found a plausible enough reason for Ivanovic to remain in the Chelsea team for now. It’s in the quotes below apparently from Mourinho;

“At the same time, every team expect Maccabi Tel-Aviv is a team of giants. And if you don’t have a minimum of five tall players good in the air, you are dead in set-pieces.”

“When I play Azpilicueta on the right and Baba Rahman on the left and I don’t play Ivanovic, I have only three, not ever four [good players in the air]. So we have to think about all the details. And I think about all the details.”

At least, that’s a straw I can attempt to cling onto.

On another note, it appears that no one knows/cares about Jon Fearn. No mention of Jose’s equally poor treatment of him and no appeals for him to be returned to the bench.
Izu (Ivan has also got experience) CFC Lagos

 

Adrian Durham: Not misogynistic
First, let me say I love Mediawatch. It’s a daily must-read, and has literally never failed to raise at least a chuckle from me. Also let me say that I strongly agree with the general opinion of Adrian Durham, and leave it at that. Man’s a twunt. However, to have a go at him for misogyny when the sentence he wrote was not actually misogynistic is a bit much. If he’d left out the word moody, you’d have a point – he’d be saying that being married to all women was exactly the same, that they are all capricious. However, what he said was that it’s like being married to a moody woman, and that’s a whole different thing. It’s obvious he’s full of outdated and ridiculous prejudices, but you really can only have a go when he actually displays them.

I only pick you up on it because every time you leave even a slight crack in what should be a waterproof front against backwards-looking stupidity you give it a chance to continue. Durham writes plenty of tosh – having a go at him when he hasn’t actually been offensive (unless stating that a woman who happens to be moody is potentially unpleasant company is the same as calling all women moody, in which case I apologise) just lowers your journalism to his level. In short, if you’re going to take on these relics and win, you have to be better than they are. You usually are, please don’t slip up in your obvious (and commendable) desire to rid football of the bollocks Durham and his ilk spout.
Matt, LFC