Former Liverpool player John Barnes backed Andre Villas Boas for the vacant managerial post at Anfield, following the sacking of Kenny Dalglish by the club’s owners on Wednesday.
The 61-year old Scott was fired from the job in view of the Reds abject league standing in the 2011/12 campaign. Liverpool finished the table at eighth place with 52 points; their lowest standing in the table in 18 years and their worst point tally since
1954.
Following the Scott’s ouster, reports have linked candidates such as Rafa Benitez, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Martinez-c24468 and Villas Boas to likely assume the managerial seat at Liverpool.
Nevertheless Barnes, who made 407 appearances for the Reds during his playing days, voiced his support in favour of the Portuguese manager for the job.
Villas Boas last managed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 for a brief period of eight months in the recently concluded 2011/12 season. The former Porto boss was sacked after suffering a sequence of poor results, which resulted in the Blues failure to challenge for the league title.
However, Barnes believes that the management http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 suits Villas Boas better than at Chelsea. He opined that the reason behind his sacking was his inability to deal with the older players in the team, and that he won’t experience the same problem
with the young Liverpool squad.
Barnes told the reporters, “Andre Villas-Boas is a good manager. His footballing philosophy and his style of play fit. He proved he could win things at Porto.”
He also highlighted the fact that Liverpool are going through a transition phase, and the Portuguese manager will get the full backing of the players, who will be eager to learn from his plans and tactics.
The Jamaican-born Englishman, who had played under Dalglish’s first managerial stint, also revealed that he was shocked to hear the news of the Scott’s dismissal, and felt that he had laid down a strong foundation since making his return as a manager in
January last year.
He continued, “I feel a bit sorry for Kenny because I think with him Liverpool would definitely have improved on the last year.”
“The new manager coming in will come in to a better Liverpool but I'm sure had Kenny stayed that would have been apparent anyway.”
Apart from Villas Boas, 48-year old felt that the Reds former manager Rafa Benitez will also be a good choice and that the fans would love to see him return to Anfield.
He said, “He is still a very good manager, he's still highly regarded at Liverpool and a lot of the fans still love him."
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