luxury_scruff

From The Old Blind School: To The Grapes:

Arne's lot.

This could be Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome, Wherever Arne manages, He'll never need a comb... He'll never need a comb...

I'm getting bad vibes about this appointment. It's too soon for him, and it's being driven by an over-confident Michael Edwards.

https://archive.ph/pwDl8

https://archive.ph/bkl6a

It's between him and De Zerbi.

The thing is Jurgen, it wasn't incredible.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp to TNT Sports: "It was clear we gave ourselves a massive hurdle. I liked the game a lot tonight with the desire and power the boys show. It was incredible from them. "It was really tricky and we were too hasty in moments. If Trent Alexander-Arnold had been a bit fitter we could have gone a bit longer, but it is insane that he has even played! In the end he was running out of gas. "We won the game and that was the reaction we wanted to show. It was difficult and we knew it would be but they deserve to go through 100%. "We have to focus on the league and that is exactly what we will do from now. Tonight we won the game so we are back to winning ways. We have a few days to recover to go again against Fulham. That will be a different game but it will be tricky." On how he is feeling: "It is mixed emotions. We are out but I am happy with the game. We would have wished that we could have gone to Dublin but that hasn't happened. "We now have one competition left and we will throw ourselves into that completely."

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To me, it feels like it's all over now. There's not enough fight or energy in this team. I think we'll lose more games and stick on 3rd place. Klopp has delivered the best football I've seen, but like my ninth wank, it's all air bubbles and piss.

Our keeper is so slow in getting the ball out with his feet.

When you've three at the back, And the Kop says fuck that, that's Amorim When you're drawing at home, And they let out a groan, that's Amorim...

Yep. If we would have scored 10 more goals over the last 31 games, we'd be top. 1 more goal every three games... and we've had the opportunities. Drawing at Old Trafford is nothing new. I'm hoping that the foursome of Macca, Trent, Jota and Salah can get us past the deficit and beyond.

A decent, football man:

https://www.daveockop.com/latest-news/paul-joyce-reveals-three-liverpool-signings-that-were-jurgen-klopp-driven/

Hughes advised Liverpool over Salah and Alisson – and is De Zerbi fan March 12 2024, 12.20pm GMT There should be little sense of trepidation for Richard Hughes as he prepares to officially take over as Liverpool’s sporting director at the end of the season. After all, there were times during his tenure as Bournemouth’s football administrator that he found himself on the same wavelength and displaying the same vision as those already in situ during one of Anfield’s golden periods. Hughes targeted Andrew Robertson at Hull City, Fulham’s Harvey Elliott and pushed for Charlton Athletic’s Joe Gomez during his time on the south coast, while also identifying Celtic’s Virgil van Dijk and Roma’s Alisson as signings that, in an ideal world, he would have pursued. If, on each occasion, Liverpool’s pulling — and spending — power left him to some extent frustrated, there was the consolation that his identification process had been highly efficient. The occasional scalp also tasted sweet. Much to Liverpool’s annoyance, Hughes was successful in persuading defender Lloyd Kelly to reject the lure of Merseyside to move to Bournemouth in May 2019 for £13 million. That deal prompted a begrudging, congratulatory phone call to Hughes from Michael Edwards, then Liverpool’s sporting director. It is Edwards’ appointment as chief executive of football at Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, that has now smoothed the wheels for the next step in Hughes’ career progression. The closeness of their relationship stems from time together at Portsmouth when Edwards was chief analyst and Hughes the club’s respected captain and midfielder. He was among a core group, which also included Eddie Howe, Gary O’Neil and Matt Taylor, who sought out information on their own performances plus those of opponents and teams from abroad. Indeed, while Hughes was viewed as natural to move into coaching after retiring as a player, it was Howe who persuaded him to work behind the scenes. While in recent years Hughes and Edwards had become rivals in the transfer market, the differing budgets and aspirations at Liverpool and Bournemouth meant there were also times when the latter would seek the insight and advice of the other to add weight to his own gut feeling on a target. Alisson was one of those players and Mohamed Salah another. That Hughes proved a sounding board for two deals that were struck with Roma should be of little surprise given the Scotsman grew up in Italy, began his football career as a youth player at Atalanta and developed a passion for AC Milan [and also Barcelona]. He also sought to appoint Roberto De Zerbi as Bournemouth manager following the departure of Scott Parker in 2022, only for a delay in the change of ownership at the club allowing Brighton & Hove Albion to entice the Italian instead. De Zerbi will feature on the list of candidates to replace Jürgen Klopp in the summer, while Hughes knows Xabi Alonso’s agent, Iñaki Ibáñez, as he also represents Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola. It will be Hughes who will make that appointment with support from Edwards, although he will not micromanage the new incumbent. A long-standing desire to work with him again has come to fruition because Edwards respects and trusts Hughes’ football knowledge. He also perhaps sees something of himself in the 44-year-old. That is a sporting director who will be football first, looking deeper than a club’s status to assess individual performance, rather than being operational focused. While a list of players Hughes signed at Bournemouth includes names such as Nathan Aké, David Brooks, Aaron Ramsdale and Dominic Solanke, it would be remiss not to mention Jordon Ibe and Brad Smith who were far less successful deals earlier in his reign as technical director. Both were signed from Liverpool, although it is understood Hughes was less of a driving force in those deals, which served as a lesson to him. After the short-lived spells of Julian Ward and Jorg Schmadtke as Liverpool’s sporting director, it is important that Hughes’ appointment brings with it stability and structure that will create the best conditions to allow Klopp’s successor to focus primarily on extracting the best from the squad they inherit. To that end, there is a need for clarity on the futures of Van Dijk, Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold. All three will have one year remaining on their contracts in the summer and there is a sense of surprise in some quarters that more of an effort has not already been made to tie down such key performers. There are some at Liverpool who believe that, even allowing for the success in the Klopp era, stepping into the German’s shoes should not prompt apprehension. All that it needs is the ideal candidate possessing the cojones to accept the challenge. It will be up to Hughes to now help prove that is indeed the case.

https://archive.ph/DBPdf

He can't even spell beaut right, the bad texan.

Edwards has met with FSG: https://archive.ph/dPp0p

You should read this: https://archive.ph/2D6B4

Yep, them's the rules:

70% of the earth is covered with water. The rest is covered by wataru.