Liverpool FC Forum

[kazza]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13053841/Liverpool-contacted-Xabi-Alonso-NOVEMBER.html

I would assume that there will be a lot of articles about our next manager, this way we can keep it in one place.

[kazza]

From the independent and others

Here are some of the names who could be in the frame to replace Klopp.


Xabi Alonso

The favourite for the role is Xabi Alonso, the former Liverpool midfielder who has done fine work with Bayer Leverkusen in Germany. The 42-year-old is regarded as one of Europe’s most promising managers having impressed previously at Real Sociedad and taken Leverkusen to the top of the Bundesliga. He spent five years at Anfield during his playing career.

A former Liverpool player currently doing an incredibly good job in another league, Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen sit top of the Bundesliga with a four-point lead over Bayern Munich.

The Spaniard is greatly appreciated by Liverpool fans and has been linked with a host of big jobs throughout the season. Alonso's team play similar high-intensity attacking football to Klopp's Liverpool and he may well be ready for the next step at the end of this season.

Alonso looks like he would be a good fit for the Reds and his natural connection with the club might work in his favour.



Roberto De Zerbi

If Liverpool favour a manager familiar with the Premier League, Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi might fit the bill. The Italian’s progressive coaching style has proved a neat fit on the South Coast, taking the club into Europe for the first time during his first campaign in charge. The former Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk manager has been praised by Klopp, and the two managers share a mutual respect for one another.

Brighton coach Roberto De Zerbi is linked with returns to Italy all the time but still seems keen to stay and succeed in the Premier League.

His brand of football would certainly suit the players in the Liverpool squad and it might come as an ideal time to leave the Seagulls without making them manager-less mid-season, as happened previously with Graham Potter.

There would be an element of risk involved given De Zerbi hasn't managed a club of this stature before, but the Reds have gambled in the past and seen it pay off.




Steven Gerrard

There was a time where a return at Anfield seemed a certainty for ex-club captain Steven Gerrard, who guided Rangers to a Scottish league title after departing a role in Liverpool’s academy. A difficult spell at Aston Villa has caused his managerial stock to fall, while the Saudi Pro League is not perhaps the place to rebuild a reputation, but Gerrard remains popular with the fanbase and impressed Klopp while in charge of Liverpool’s Under-18s.



Julian Nagelsmann

Now in charge of Germany, a jump to the Premier League has long been rumoured for managerial wunderkind Julian Nagelsmann. Things turned a little sour towards the end of his stint at Bayern Munich but Nagelsmann was once European football’s hottest coaching commodity after success with Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig.

Julian Nagelsmann has often been linked with the biggest jobs in world football but his reputation took something of a hit at Bayern Munich.

Klopp's departing interview suggests he does not want to go into a new club job straight away and there has always been the lingering possibility of coaching Germany in the future.

Nagelsmann is the current Die Mannschaft coach but they have not exactly thrived under him. The former RB Leipzig boss may not be the first choice for Liverpool for that reason, but there is a clear pathway where everyone gets what they want. How realistic that is in the short term is another topic.




Ange Postecoglou

Surely not? It seems unlikely that Ange Postecoglou will leave Tottenham after his early success in London but the Australian was a Liverpool fan growing up, and has made a success of virtually every role in a long and varied career.



Ruben Amorim

Another young coach making waves on the continent, Sporting CP’s Ruben Amorim is regarded as a sharp tactical thinker. His positive mindset has also drawn praise during his time in Lisbon, and a step up to a higher-profile job in the future feels a formality for the 38-year-old, who has time on his side.

One of the trendier options, Ruben Amorim's progress with Sporting CP since 2020 has been impressive.

He delivered their first league title in 19 years when they won the 2020/21 Liga Portugal and has honed the talents of some very impressive footballers with very little cash to work with.

Amorim is linked each time a job crops up at a Champions League club and this is no different. Sporting are top of Liga Portugal by a point right now, so he could bag another title before rocking up at Liverpool.



Zinedine Zedan

One day, Zinedine Zidane will take another top job in football.

The Frenchman has been out of work since 2021 and has been linked with huge clubs like Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.

There's an element of mystique about Zidane's powers given his inactivity, but if anyone can match Klopp for charisma, it's the former Real Madrid star.

Having won La Liga twice and the Champions League three times across two spells at Madrid, we know he can do it. Perhaps this is the job opening he has been patiently waiting for?



Brentford’s Thomas Frank may be enduring some challenges this season but has built the London club nicely over the past few seasons, and shares certain sensibilities with Klopp. While news that Pep Lijnders will be departing alongside Klopp would appear to rule him out, he could yet contend as a continuity candidate.

[red till i die!!]

Wouldn't see anything wrong with Unai Emery myself.

[kazza]

The real issue would be if a manager plays in a different style then there would have to be wholesale changes to the squad. Klopp was happy to take over a Brendan Rodgers team as it was a very attacking team which followed his ethos. He just had to sort out the defense which he did and we became the best team in the world. A simplistic view obviously but the core was there to play like he wanted.

[kazza]

Wouldn't see anything wrong with Unai Emery myself.

I’m not so sure, he couldn’t cope at Arsenal and so far he has done well at Villa but I see them slipping and they are a bit defensive. Klopp was a gamble when he came but as it turned out he was a match made in heaven. His personality is what made him a success at Liverpool, we could all relate to him. Emery is much more rigid.

[leeroy74]

last thing we need is a dull manager. No disrespect but Hodgson was dull as dishwater. We need a character that plays attacking football, not a defensive bore that hoofs it up field.
Not sure who to honest.

[Reg]

The most important thing is if it's not broken don't fix it. So better we find a young, growing manager who will continue Klopps philosophy through to its logical conclusion rather than a swanky manager who wants to change direction to demonstrate he's the boss or for the sake of it. Forget the top 6 mangers in europe, they're too set in their ways to change and buy in expensive players who prove disruptive and a massive waste of money. Alonso is perfect but who knows, there may be others.

[kazza]

Our team is grooved on a high defensive line system. We caught more teams offside than anyone else for seasons running. We need to stick with the same philosophy

[Doeboy]

Wouldn't see anything wrong with Unai Emery myself.

Emery is a good manager however he is not a Liverpool manager imo. I think we'll push for Xlonso. Wouldn't totally rule out Nagelsmann after he is done with Germany. Not too disimilar with the way he looks to setup compared to Klopp however do have some concerns with him. Way things went spur at Bayern was All a bit odd.

Let's be honest, we'll be downgrading on Klopp and the guy coming in his going to have huge shoes to fill not only in terms of what we do on the pitch but also personality and won't envy him on bit.

[kazza]

It was not just the way that he conducted himself - and the game - on the pitch, although that was a clue. It was his unwavering curiosity, as Guardiola put it, coupled with a real seriousness. He made football look like fun but he approached it like it was work.

Speaking last season to Simon Rolfes, Bayer Leverkusen's sporting director, about the characteristics that attracted him to the idea of Alonso, he narrowed in on the importance of this personality trait. "Xabi is also a Basque and they are workers," he said.

A stereotype, no doubt, but one that is being reinforced, nevertheless, by the presence of Mikel Arteta and Unai Emery towards the top of the Premier League table. Alonso is a worker to his core but he has added layers on his travels. They can all see it.

Claudio Pizarro wore the No 14 shirt for Bayern Munich and that put him on a collision course with Alonso, who had worn it at Liverpool and Real Madrid. It was the subject of their first conversation. "He said that we needed to talk about the number," says Pizarro.

Alonso had to wait a year for the shirt but Pizarro remembers their season together fondly. He saw a manager in waiting. "We knew. Everybody who played with him knew. He was always directing people and talking to the players. He was a good leader."

Now 42, he is an old head on young shoulders. "We call them an alte fuchs here," says Pizarro. Literally, an old fox. "A very experienced person who can see many things before other people can see them." Not the loudest man in the room but usually the smartest.

Everybody knew Alonso would be a manager.

But they did not anticipate this.

If Bayern were ever to relinquish their Bundesliga title, it was supposed to be Borussia Dortmund who would loosen that grip. They had their chance last season. The crushing failure to defeat Mainz at home allowed Bayern to make it 11 titles in a row.

If not Dortmund then Leipzig, perhaps? But not Bayer Leverkusen. When Alonso was appointed in October of last season, the task was to keep the club in the Bundesliga not win it. But here we are, beyond the halfway stage, with Leverkusen leading the way.

"I am excited that he is doing so well. Xabi is a great guy, a great player and now he is showing that he is a great manager as well. I am really happy for him. The job that he is doing in Leverkusen is something special. It is amazing, for the team and for him."

The results have been remarkable. Leverkusen remain unbeaten in all competitions this season, the only team in Europe who can claim that. But it is the manner in which he has navigated the challenges of this first top-division job that has so impressed.

Alonso leaned on the counter-attack in steering the team away from danger last season, utilising their speed in attack. In time, there has been more emphasis on an intricate passing game but this is still a team that can win in a number of ways.

"Working with young players is key," said Rolfes when asked about the demands of coaching Leverkusen. But when reshaping the squad in the summer, Alonso was not ready to make the mistake of Chelsea and flood the team with youth. He wanted to win too.

Stream Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich on Sky with NOW
It was courageous rather than selfish - it put a bit more pressure on. But it has been the making of those young players at Leverkusen and brought more out of experienced professionals too. Granit Xhaka has thrived in a deeper role since arriving from Arsenal.

"He put him in a position where he could control the game," says Pizarro. "Xabi played in this position himself so he knows exactly what to do. He knew [Xhaka] could play this pivotal role. He took him, put him in this position, and he is doing a great job there.

"He has done this with wingers and strikers too."

Indeed, it is not just Xhaka, it is Alex Grimaldo, who has been a revelation out wide. It is Victor Boniface, the striker whose career has been propelled to new levels. And it is the way that Leverkusen have continued to succeed even in the absence of Boniface.

Everybody knew Alonso would be a manager.

But they could not confidently predict this career path because he has been so patient in constructing his career. His return to Real Sociedad to coach the club's B team was more than a mere stop-off point, it was three years of his life, a promotion and a relegation.

There were offers from big clubs in Europe before he opted for Leverkusen and there will be bigger ones coming now. The reported clause in his contract that entitled him to speak to his former clubs has been brought into sharp focus by events at Liverpool.

"He can succeed anywhere he wants to go," says Pizarro. "When you see what he is doing at the moment at Leverkusen, you can see that he is going to be a great coach. He is always talking to the players. He has the experience. We will see where he is going [next]."

Before that, there is the chance to make history with Leverkusen, a club that has never won the Bundesliga before. It is the chance to break Bayern's streak. Even if big things await him in the future, these could still be the defining months of his coaching career.

The Bundesliga title is in the balance but Alonso is a sure thing. "Wherever he decides to go, he will do well. He understands everything about football. That is very important." And just another reason why everybody knew Alonso would be a manager.

The video you are trying to watch cannot be viewed from your current country or location
A look at how Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen set up and what makes them so good
Speaking last season to Simon Rolfes, Bayer Leverkusen's sporting director, about the characteristics that attracted him to the idea of Alonso, he narrowed in on the importance of this personality trait. "Xabi is also a Basque and they are workers," he said.

A stereotype, no doubt, but one that is being reinforced, nevertheless, by the presence of Mikel Arteta and Unai Emery towards the top of the Premier League table. Alonso is a worker to his core but he has added layers on his travels. They can all see it.

Claudio Pizarro wore the No 14 shirt for Bayern Munich and that put him on a collision course with Alonso, who had worn it at Liverpool and Real Madrid. It was the subject of their first conversation. "He said that we needed to talk about the number," says Pizarro.

Alonso had to wait a year for the shirt but Pizarro remembers their season together fondly. He saw a manager in waiting. "We knew. Everybody who played with him knew. He was always directing people and talking to the players. He was a good leader."

Now 42, he is an old head on young shoulders. "We call them an alte fuchs here," says Pizarro. Literally, an old fox. "A very experienced person who can see many things before other people can see them." Not the loudest man in the room but usually the smartest.

Everybody knew Alonso would be a manager.

But they did not anticipate this.

If Bayern were ever to relinquish their Bundesliga title, it was supposed to be Borussia Dortmund who would loosen that grip. They had their chance last season. The crushing failure to defeat Mainz at home allowed Bayern to make it 11 titles in a row.

If not Dortmund then Leipzig, perhaps? But not Bayer Leverkusen. When Alonso was appointed in October of last season, the task was to keep the club in the Bundesliga not win it. But here we are, beyond the halfway stage, with Leverkusen leading the way.

"I am excited that he is doing so well. Xabi is a great guy, a great player and now he is showing that he is a great manager as well. I am really happy for him. The job that he is doing in Leverkusen is something special. It is amazing, for the team and for him."

The results have been remarkable. Leverkusen remain unbeaten in all competitions this season, the only team in Europe who can claim that. But it is the manner in which he has navigated the challenges of this first top-division job that has so impressed.

Alonso leaned on the counter-attack in steering the team away from danger last season, utilising their speed in attack. In time, there has been more emphasis on an intricate passing game but this is still a team that can win in a number of ways.

"Working with young players is key," said Rolfes when asked about the demands of coaching Leverkusen. But when reshaping the squad in the summer, Alonso was not ready to make the mistake of Chelsea and flood the team with youth. He wanted to win too.

It was courageous rather than selfish - it put a bit more pressure on. But it has been the making of those young players at Leverkusen and brought more out of experienced professionals too. Granit Xhaka has thrived in a deeper role since arriving from Arsenal.

"He put him in a position where he could control the game," says Pizarro. "Xabi played in this position himself so he knows exactly what to do. He knew [Xhaka] could play this pivotal role. He took him, put him in this position, and he is doing a great job there.

"He has done this with wingers and strikers too."

Indeed, it is not just Xhaka, it is Alex Grimaldo, who has been a revelation out wide. It is Victor Boniface, the striker whose career has been propelled to new levels. And it is the way that Leverkusen have continued to succeed even in the absence of Boniface.

Everybody knew Alonso would be a manager.

But they could not confidently predict this career path because he has been so patient in constructing his career. His return to Real Sociedad to coach the club's B team was more than a mere stop-off point, it was three years of his life, a promotion and a relegation.

There were offers from big clubs in Europe before he opted for Leverkusen and there will be bigger ones coming now. The reported clause in his contract that entitled him to speak to his former clubs has been brought into sharp focus by events at Liverpool.

"He can succeed anywhere he wants to go," says Pizarro. "When you see what he is doing at the moment at Leverkusen, you can see that he is going to be a great coach. He is always talking to the players. He has the experience. We will see where he is going [next]."

Before that, there is the chance to make history with Leverkusen, a club that has never won the Bundesliga before. It is the chance to break Bayern's streak. Even if big things await him in the future, these could still be the defining months of his coaching career.

The Bundesliga title is in the balance but Alonso is a sure thing. "Wherever he decides to go, he will do well. He understands everything about football. That is very important." And just another reason why everybody knew Alonso would be a manager.

[bunglemark2]

Xabi just battered Bayern Munich 3-0. His stock is definitely on the rise...

[redshade]

Xabi with an awesome performance, not easy to dispatch Bayern.

[damjan193]

Yeah great job by Xabi, was hoping to catch that game to see what he can do but sadly couldn't.

Anyway, it's a risk since he just begun managing and he's had only one good season but I think he's the best candidate for us.

[Reg]

The tide waits for no man, you have to assume that a Liverpool manager will serve at least 4 years so if Xabi wants the job, he has to jump now...

[Reg]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... liverpool/

Tottenham Hotspur hold no fears over the future of head coach Ange Postecoglou, despite the Australian being touted among the potential successors to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso is the overwhelming favourite to take over from Klopp, who will stand down at the end of this season, with Postecoglou listed among a list of possible alternatives should the Spaniard stay put or go elsewhere.

Klopp’s departure, along with Xavi Hernandez leaving Barcelona, is expected to put in progress a summer merry-go-round among some of Europe’s top coaches and clubs.

But Tottenham are extremely confident that Postecoglou will not join Liverpool or any other rival club this summer, as he looks to build on the encouraging start he has made in London.

Postecoglou signed a four-year contract when he was appointed Spurs head coach last summer and it is understood his deal is heavily incentivised, meaning the 58-year-old can earn significant bonuses and pay rises.

While the details of those remain private, it would be expected that Postecoglou would be rewarded for qualification for the Champions League and Saturday’s victory over Brighton lifted Tottenham back into the top four of the Premier League table.

Postecoglou has previously revealed that he used to support Liverpool, but that has not raised any concern at Tottenham, who believe the former Celtic manager is completely committed to his current job.

In fact, Postecoglou has already hinted that he could be ready to put down roots in London and stay at Tottenham for some time should the club remain happy with his work.

Telegraph Sport has reported that Postecoglou is among the coaches Manchester City would consider to succeed Pep Guardiola, but there is no suggestion the Spaniard will leave the Premier League champions before his contract expires in 2025.

That is not currently something Tottenham need to consider or worry about, as Postecoglou plots how to maintain his good start at the club.