I have to say when I first heard us being linked with Manuel Pellegrini for Liverpool’s vacant manager’s position I was delighted, firstly because it meant that we were seriously looking at all possible candidates and thus giving ourselves more options. Secondly, after all the doom surrounding our club at the moment, you’d have believed that we could no longer attract a top class manager, so to learn that we have reportedly held talks with the highly respected Manuel Pellegrini is a pleasant development.
Although Pellegrini was sacked by Real Madrid, many would argue that he was unlucky not to be given at least another season with Los Blancos. He guided them to their strongest ever La Liga campaign, finishing with a club record of 96 points and pushed the out of this world Barcelona team to their limits in the race for the title. Some would argue that with the team he had at his disposal, he should have won the league with ease and made it a lot further in the Champions League than the second round. However, you have to consider the problems he was faced with in his one and only season in Madrid; firstly, with so many new acquisitions joining in the space of one summer transfer window, the team was always going to take quite a bit of time to gel together and become more effective. Secondly, he had to put up with club president, Fiorentino Perez, forcing him to sell two of his best players, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder, right at the start of the season.
It wasn’t the only time Pellegrini had to work under conditions where his hands were tied. At Villareal he managed to turn them into Champions League regulars and got them to within inches of the final in 2006, all on a very small budget. It’s because of his experience with working under a tight budget that I believe he has a chance of making it at Liverpool. In terms of recruiting players and convincing our key men to stay, I believe Pellegrini would have more star power than say a Martin O’Neill or Roy Hodgson, especially if we were looking to sign up and coming La Liga talents.
Judging from his time in La Liga with both Villareal and Real Madrid, Pellegrini does seem to opt for a slightly more adventurous playing style than Rafa Benitez. It would be refreshing to see our players adapting to a new system where there is more onus on playing a penetrative passing game as opposed to Rafa’s stifle the opposition philosophy (which was let’s face it becoming stale).
The only question mark hanging above Pellegrini’s head, however, would be whether he could adapt to the premiership. We’ve seen many examples of top foreign coaches getting the sack after failing to understand the type of tactics that are needed to succeed in this league (Juande Ramos being a clear example).
For that reason only I have a slight doubt over whether Pellegrini is the right man to take us forward, but if he were to be appointed I would back him 100% in the same manner I supported Rafa Benitez during his time here. I for one am happy to see Pellegrini’s name linked with us, and I’m hoping that whoever gets the job has at least a similar managerial reputation to our now former Spanish manager. Whether Manuel Pellegrini gets the job or not, I’m just relieved to see that we’re not letting our dire situation affect our ambition in the search for Rafa Benitez’s successor.
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Some people are easilly pleased obviously. I am seriously worried about the names being linked with us, that King Kenny feels he is best qualified for the job says it all(and i’m not knocking his qualities)
What about Kenny Dalglish, cant we give him the job because he knows the club!!!
Capello will be available this week.
We should move for him.
And Dalglish (as his son Paul said) even believes Capello is a better option than himself.
To Daz: You do not appoint a manager just because “he knows the club”. I learnt that the janitor has been at Anfield almost his entire life. I suppose he qualifies too as far as you are concerned.