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| He's gonna get sacked in the morning. |
Before it becomes lost in the pre-history of five minutes ago on the internet, it should be mentioned that for a brief time yesterday the rumor that Frank Rijkaard was on the verge of making the move to Liverpool blew up. It turned out to be a twitsplosion based on reports in the Turkish media that were themselves based solely on reports on the rumor-mongering website Caught Offside. The day Caught Offside doesn't come out with (at least) a dozen dodgy, unsourced rumors regarding LFC is the day the internet has broken down, so that they floated something about Rijkaard when reports from his agent and Galatasary claim he's still (tenuously) the manger there is hardly a surprise. A line about shit, walls, and seeing if something sticks comes to mind. A bit of a surprise, perhaps, is the urgency with which Liverpool's faithful jumped on it in desperate hope despite Rijkaard being a name most would have considered second tier in the summer because of how he lost the dressing room towards the end of his Barcelona days in rather spectacular fashion. That and there's the whole part about it seeming reasonable he should be leaving Galatasary because he's started the season with them almost as poorly as Hodgson has with Liverpool. That has to make you wonder, too.
For the most part people agree he's a wonderful attacking coach who sets his teams out to play attractive football. A fairly large group of people also wonder if he has the ability to deal with a potentially fractious dressing room, point to Liverpool having questions of player power, and question whether he would be the best fit. In light of the way these latest rumors took off I suppose it's fair to say that just about everybody would see him as a massive improvement over Hodgson regardless of any reservations and his poor start in Turkey. From where I'm standing, though, I do wonder at all the excitement given the aforementioned caveats. And meanwhile Hiddink or Pelligrini, or evern Van Marwijk or Löw, could probably be brought in within the week if the new owners decided they wanted them badly enough. There are some big names out there right now that probably wouldn't mean having to wait for the season to end.
Guess it all comes down to how negatively people feel about Hodgson.
If NESV is paying attention, they'll have a hard time missing that the natives are getting restless even if the media isn't.
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In other news that might not be Liverpool related but that's good for a chuckle or two for those who follow LFC, Shrek-gate has gone from marital infidelities to contradicting Mister Alex to maybe angling for a move to Real Madrid to definitely angling for a move to Real Madrid to probably angling to join Carlos Tevez at City. I don't care if it would make City even stronger. I don't care that I'd gotten my hopes up at the prospect of Rooney buggering off to Madrid. I need this to happen. I mean I need this to happen. It would be absolutely glorious.
Also, for those in search of a football fix that doesn't involve Roy's negative "tactics," there's an early Champions League distraction coming up at 5:30 GMT / 12:30 EST between Spartak Moscow and Chelsea followed by Arsenal vs. Shakhtar Don't Ask Don't Tell and the marquee Real Madrid vs. AC Milan match at the more standard 7:45 GMT / 2:45 EST.
Ed might be along later in the day with a post or two to keep things moving, and if not I'm sure somebody will say or do something stupid for me to ramble on about. In the meantime have a bit more post-rock to help pass the time.