If there’s one domestic matter that is dominating the footballing headlines despite the international break arriving this week, it’s all about Liverpool’s search for a new manager after Brendan Rodgers’ departure.
In truth right now, the Northern Irishman’s successor looks like being former Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp who the Reds are hoping to have in place by Friday but nothing is set in stone at the moment.
A hugely charismatic personality, if the Reds are to appoint Klopp, the German will be taking over a Liverpool side jammed right in the middle of the Premier League table right now in 10th place and on 12 points.
Just four points off third placed Manchester United at the moment, the Reds aren’t that far away with the situation being far from a disaster but Rodgers’ dismissal ultimately came after the manager seemingly ran out of ideas on how to motivate his squad and particularly his defence to produce consistent performances.
Falling short in the transfer market too despite investing heavily in playing staff, Reds supporters will hope that whatever the future brings will help trophies arrive more readily at Anfield than they have been with Liverpool’s last major success coming back in 2012 under Kenny Dalglish when the Reds won the League Cup against Cardiff City.
But what if Klopp opts not to sign on the dotted line, claims one of our punters briefly turning around from his spell on the fruity in the corner; what then?
Well, one of the other outstanding candidates out of work at the moment is former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti who was relieved of his duties as Real Madrid manager at the end of last season.
With the Italian in mind, we’ve devised a list of five reasons why Carlo Ancelotti is a better bet than Jurgen Klopp to succeed Brendan Rodgers instead of the German.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five reasons Carlo Ancelotti is a better choice than Jurgen Klopp for Liverpool.
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Quite simply, he’s already won the Premier League in England
Having never won the Premier League in the modern era, what better way to go about winning it in the next few seasons than by appointing somebody who already has experience of lifting the crown?
When Brendan Rodgers was appointed back in 2012, some eyebrows were raised as to whether the former Swansea City boss was a big enough personality to manage a club of Liverpool’s worldwide stature but in fairness to the Northern Irishman, he oh so nearly brought the title itself to Anfield back in 2013/14.
In Ancelotti however, the Italian of course won the Premier League back in 2009/10 with Chelsea in what was their third top flight triumph.
Beating Manchester United by a point come the final reckoning, this feat was completed in Ancelotti’s first season in English football too in further testament to his management credentials.
What’s more, there’s no doubting that having been where he’s been in the game, he is a big enough personality for a club the size of Liverpool.
He’s more experienced in handling the biggest of egos
While it could be argued that no huge egos remain at Anfield with Mario Balotelli away on loan, Raheem Sterling defecting to Liverpool and club greats such as Steven Gerrard since moved on, the fact still remains that Carlo Ancelotti has managed some of the biggest egos in the game and thus should find managing the Reds’ current pool of players far easier.
From Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Paris Saint-Germain to Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid, one thing you always hear about Ancelotti is that the great players always respected him as a man manager and this speaks volumes.
In the end of his time at Real Madrid, despite Los Blancos not winning a single honour in his final season (unacceptable in the Spanish capital!), many of Real’s players were sad to see him depart and lets not forget, he delivered the Champions League and La Decima for the same club just a season earlier.
By Liverpool hiring a manager with these experiences under his belt, in many ways, there is not much that Ancelotti hasn’t seen and done in his career so far as an elder candidate than Klopp and for this reason, he could be the better choice.
He’s won league titles outside his native homeland
When assessing the respective CV’s of both Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti, they’ve both of course won league titles but having been around in the game far longer, Ancelotti boasts more league titles but not simply in his homeland.
Klopp rose to prominence having won back-to-back titles with Borussia Dortmund to break the dominance of Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga but Ancelotti has pushed himself to win a title not only in the Italian Serie A with Milan back in 2003/04 but also Chelsea of the Premier League in 2009/10 and Paris Saint-Germain of Ligue 1 in 2012/13.
Having accumulated these experience outside his homeland, Ancelotti has spoken multiple languages while ultimately getting a feel for the media and football landscape within Italy, England and France.
Altogether a more rounded candidate, Ancelotti knows what it takes to win with different rosters of playing staff and many Liverpool fans would be grateful for his insight and wisdom.
Greater pulling power in the transfer market
While many Liverpool supporters have been sold on the hook that Jurgen Klopp might end up convincing a few of his Borussia Dortmund big hitters such as Marcos Reus and Mats Hummels to eventually follow him to Anfield, there is no guarantees that’ll take place.
As we’ve seen with Louis van Gaal’s tenure at Manchester United however, being as experienced a manager as he is does end up drawing marquee names to the club, not to mention exciting younger starlets and we’ve seen that this summer in the shape of the Red Devils landing the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Memphis Depay.
Liverpool have struggled to land top class household names in recent transfer windows and although they’ve signed capable pros such as Christian Benteke, you feel the Reds need to be landing the Alexis Sanchez’s of this world ahead of their rivals to change the game.
In Ancelotti, the Italian is a manager who has managed an entire plethora of world class talents during his management career so far and you can imagine that by appointing a manager such as this, Liverpool’s pulling power in the transfer market will be ramped up a few notches that’s for sure and we’re not talking about landing the Lazar Markovic’s of this world!
He boasts even greater pedigree in the Champions League
Given their current status as a Europa League club, Liverpool supporters ultimately want to shake this tag while returning to the superior Champions League whereby they boast so much history and glory in the past.
Compared to Jurgen Klopp who reached one Champions League Final back in 2013, Ancelotti has managed to win three including one actually against Liverpool for AC Milan in 2007 in Athens (pictured).
Being the manager that was of course also in charge for Liverpool’s famous Istanbul Champions League Final victory for the Reds over AC Milan in 2005, Ancelotti has tasted both victory and defeat in Europe’s elite club competition but ultimately has tasted sweet success more often.
If the Reds truly have designs on clawing their way back into the Champions League in the next few seasons, appointing a manager who has so much experience within it wouldn’t be the worst start!
