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The Year 2016




The year is 2016 . I am relaxing at Dortmund Brackel training ground . We had just won the 2014 and 2015 editions of the champions league and after the parade that followed people nearly worshipped me .


It was one of the best years of my life . From being fired from Liverpool , to going to Inter Milan , winning a league title there after which Rauball approached me to sign for Dortmund because Klopp was leaving for Germany , I had decided to make sure that I leave a mark here and I had been largely successful winning the league once and the Champions League in succession . Things were looking great .


I had been a Liverpool player for 6 years and when they came to me with an offer I couldn't refuse and I took it . Being the first year in management I failed miserably ,but learnt a lot of things .


Dortmund has a very special place in my life , I would certainly like to thank Rauball for the trust he showed in me and now we were Champions of Europe for the second year running .


Hans walked in while I was just recollecting my thoughts . We discussed about the transfer of an exciting young player . 21 year old Phillip Foose . He was playing extremely brilliantly for Galatasaray and Hans and the head scout Sven Mislintat said he was exciting player and we were to make a bid for him in the coming days .


I had been following Liverpool for quite some time now . Though they fired me , I was a player for them in my playing days and I was a RED by heart . Martin Jol had just led them to league glory . The first time after 1990 . It was a great day for them .

We had a general training session . Buvac the assistant manager had been there for me to smooth things out when I moved to Dortmund from Inter . From making sure that I spoke great German to finding out good German Restaurants , he had always been there for me .



I just turned on the TV and to my shock . Jol had been offered the England Job and he was more likely to accept the Job . I thought Liverpool were losing a great manager from making sure they won the league he had also been a father figure to a lot of players there and they played for him . I was unsure as to how Liverpool would perform after he left .


A couple of days later it was confirmed.


Jol Leaves Liverpool for England.





And there was a report along with it . Which had the names of people who would take over him . And then there were the usual candidates linked to the top job

Candidates like Andre Villas Boas , Frank De Boer , Josep Guardiola and a few others . The surprising thing that I read was this line .


"Ajay Bhat considered to be odds on favorite for the Liverpool job "


And my stomach churned , I felt uncomfortable . Even if it were the media report , I could not help thinking about Liverpool . Dortmund had given me everything and I had won a lot of things with them . Hans was talking about building an Empire like Barcelona or Liverpool of the 80's , and I had absolutely agreed with him there


But that line made me think . Would it be right to take a new challenge? Is it where I belong ?


What happens if they do offer me the Job ?




 
The Decision Day

I was just sitting at home pondering on my next move if it did come , and a minute later there was this phone call . It was Hans , he was furious . He said that Liverpool had approached and asked for me .


And he asked me "Ajay, do you want to go there ? "

And there was this eerie silence that followed , a big long wait and I did not know what I wanted to say .

I said " I don't know " .


Hans was furious once again because he expected me to stay because of all the massive plans we had for Borrusia . We were one of the most youngest sides in the world and we had a great bunch of talent coming up . We had recently signed Munain and Hans was like " You don't know what you want ? . Is this what it is ? "

I told him that I needed time to think over it and that he would have my decision by tomorrow morning .




As I walked in there I had already made my decision . Hans was generally disappointed , he was a fatherly figure for me , he had shown immense faith in me to lead this great Dortmund team . I told him it was nothing personal and I was just going to the place where I belonged . I wanted to finish off something that I could not achieve .


It was big meeting where there were a lot of goodbye's and then he just asked me who my recommendation was to the job after I left .

I said "Tunchel. He is the right man for the job " .


Tunchel had done a great job at Leverkusen and they had won the league a year before and we constantly pushing the top two teams and Tunchel had achieved a niche for motivating his players to extraordinary levels . I had always found them hard to beat .





Hans called up Liverpool asking them to talk to me . I did not know whether I made the right decision or whether it would haunt me again . I did not know whether I would be a failure like the last time . I wanted to be someone whom the Liverpool Fans would remember for a very long time . I knew I was a failure before but now I had to do something to make sure that I make a mark for myself at Liverpool



Tom Werner and John Henry flew down to China to talk to me about Liverpool . They told me that they were impressed with the Job that I had done with Dortmund and hoped that I could do the same job with Liverpool . They were very keen on winning the Champions League . Liverpool had won the champions League way back in 2005 on that fantastic night at Istanbul . Tom and John and put in a lot of money and they had made a lot of profits from their other businesses which they put into Liverpool . Liverpool ended up spending around 90 million last season and that ended with them lifting the title . The one thing that I had learnt is that there was no point in keeping players that I did not want and I told them that . They seemed keen on this idea and told me that they would agree on anything provided we did great in the league and the Champions League .


I was also very interested in developing the youth system and I told them that it would be essential to change the system that Jol played (4-4-2) to playing my system(4-2-3-1) and thus I would look at players there and decide whom to choose .







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Liverpool appoint Bhat as their new Boss


Liverpool FC have appointed Ajay Bhat as the new Boss . Bhat who managed Dortmund over the last 3 seasons has seen his stock rise up from the time he was fired from Liverpool .

He is highly rated by all the Liverpool FC decision makers . The new appointment comes after Martin Jol who lead Liverpool to league glory for the first time since 1990 departed to manage England .

Bhat brings with him 2 champions league titles , a league title and a Scudetto from his time at Borrusia Dortmund and Inter Milan respectively .

It is believed that due to Liverpool finishing 1st last season Bhat will be given a sizable budget to spend and it is also believed that Bhat would not be looking at Dortmund players and would not poach anyone from Dortmund .

Bhat played for Liverpool during his days as a football player and has been considered as a brilliant appointment from the fans and the decision taken by FSG is considered to be well appreciated by the fans .

 
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The First Day At Liverpool


It had just been a couple of days after I had agreed to sign for Liverpool . I had contacted Franco Baldini who I had worked with at Inter to come to England and be my assistant manager . Buvac who had been my closest friend at Dortmund said that he would not be able to come to England with me as his entire life was settled in Dortmund and would have liked to stay there . Franco was an expert in fitness and had a lot of technical knowledge . I was particularly impressed by him at Inter and I hoped that he would accept my offer and he did .

The Meeting with the players

After reaching Melwood I was greeted by a familiar face . Henrik Mkhitaryan , he was one of many players that I had signed when I was here a few years back . Mkhitaryan had established himself as one of the cult heroes and had been a huge part in the league win last year . He welcomed me and said "Hey Boss, glad to see you here again" .
I smiled and I knew Henrik , when I signed for Liverpool he was someone I was looking to build the team around . He was versatile and was a determined individual . After Steven Gerrard retired he was made the captain of Liverpool football club and he had not disappointed .

I met with a lot of players and I talked to them about how we would play and how things are going to be in the coming season . I told them that this was a transition and it would be hard for them as well as me , but I told them that I would make sure that I give everyone a fair chance before making a decision . I had also prepared some slides and some videos just to outline how we would start and how we would proceed .


Tom and John had already stated that they wanted to win the league again but they had also stated that they wanted to win the Champions League this season . It was a difficult task and I knew it . For me , I knew that I had to take it slow . Earlier I made a lot of different changes in formation , did not allow people to settle into the formation and it led to me getting fired . But this time I was determined to make it right .



It was a good meeting with the players and the same day I was in my office and looking for all possible formations that we could play in and where certain players would fit in . I did realise that I would have to let go of a lot of players and bring in a lot of new ones to fit in my style of play . Would it hurt me ? I hoped not


Liverpool had just signed Andre
Schurrle and Darijo Srna on free transfers and I was not sure how Srna fitted into the formation . I saw and was disappointed as to have only a couple of English players in the lineup . I wanted this Liverpool team to have a core English group like the one in the 80's . But would it help me this time ? We were the league champions . Would it backfire if I changed a whole lot of things? I was adamant . I wanted to stamp my authority on this team and I wanted this to be my team , not Jol's inherited team .


A couple of training sessions after I knew who I wanted and who would be leaving .



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The Club Captain



 
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Suarez,Coutinho and Ben Arfa want out


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Trouble in Paradise




In a shocking move . Luis Suarez , Coutinho and Hatem Ben Arfa have decided that they want to leave Liverpool . There have been a lot of reasons why all 3 want out , the first of them being that they loved Jol and they aren't ready to play under a manager they played for earlier with disastrous results . Suarez who was Liverpool's top scorer last season is seem to have made it clear to Bhat that he does not want in on his plans and wants to leave as soon as possible , whereas Coutinho has echoed Suarez's concerns and has decided to leave Liverpool


I has been a very difficult start to Bhat's Liverpool career with 3 of his main players ready to leave . Rumors are rife that Barcelona are ready to come for Suarez who turns 31 this year whereas big spending Benfica are said to be in for Coutinho . Hatem Ben Arfa would be ready to join City as per reports



Liverpool have already slapped a 30 million price tag on both Coutinho and Suarez and we definitely would see both of them leave in the near future .



Could this be trouble in paradise already ? Has Bhat lost the dressing room already?


 
Anyone reading this ? Do you want me to write each match report or 2-3 matches combined together in a brief report?
 
Whatever suits you, just keep it coming!

Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk 2
 
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Liverpool confirm sales of Ben Arfa , Coutinho and Suarez




Liverpool Football Club have confirmed that the trio of Coutinho, Suarez and Ben Arfa have left the club .

Liverpool have agreed a deal that takes Suarez to Barcelona for 30mp , whereas Phillipe Coutinho has agreed a deal with portuguese champions SLB also Hatem Ben Arfa going back to Man City for a fee of around 13.5 million pounds .


With Liverpool selling of around 75 milliom pounds it would be interesting who Bhat gets in the transfer window.
Liverpool are the current league winners and players are really interested in joining them this summer


Darijo Srna and Andre Schrulle have already joined them following free transfers.

 

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Liverpool : Liverpool FC are delighted to welcome Kevin De Bruyne and Bernard to the club . The Belgian who moved to Aston Villa from Chelsea last year was said to be frustrated about the lack of first team opportunities with the blues . The move failed however as Villa finished 17th in the league . Many big teams such as United ,Man City, Barcelona and Real Madrid were in for his signature , but De Bruyne insisted that he wanted to stay at Liverpool and that he wanted to work with new boss Ajay Bhat .


The deal for Bernard was kept under wraps for a very long time . Liverpool were the first to approach Athletic Minero for his signature . A lot of club scouts had been watching Bernard for the past couple of months and Athletic Mineiro made it clear that they would not sell Bernard to any club unless they met his release clause .
Liverpool acted first and they got their man for a fee of around 31 million pounds .

Thats quite a large amount of money to be payed , but do remember that Liverpool did also lose out 3 of their key players this season and Bhat is keen on strengthening his teams with younger and better options .



Kevin De Bruyne :24 Million
Bernard :31.5 Million





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Kevin De Bruyne and Bernard both joined Liverpool on long term contracts making them Ajay Bhat's first signings

 
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Liverpool confirm 4 huge signings

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Liverpool have completed the signing of Lars Bender , Yann M'Villa , Luke Shaw and Martin Kelly

Liverpool manager in a recent interview stated that he did not have any defensive midfielders in his squad and thus wanted to bolster the squad . And Liverpool have done brilliantly by grabbing an opportunity to sign Lars Bender from PSG and Yann M'Villa from Tottenham who were transfer listed by their respective clubs

Both of them cost Liverpool a bomb but Bhat made it absolutely clear that he wanted to bring the best young players at the club and these two would be essential to add spine to the squad .


M'Villa and Bender cost Liverpool around 50 million , but the details have not been disclosed as of yet . These signings along with the signings of Martin Kelly who played for Liverpool earlier but had been transferred to Arsenal and Luke Shaw have made it clear that Bhat wants to add an English contingent to this Liverpool squad . In his first interview he stated that Liverpool being an English club needed more English talent playing for them and he has brought in 2 young players who are also playing in the England team right now


These 4 signings would definitely help Liverpool and it is widely assumed that Liverpool are going to give the pink slips to more of their players who Bhat does not fancy in the starting lineup .

There is so much of a change of structure at Anfield . The league champions have made astounding changes in the transfer window and only time will tell whether it was a wise decision by Bhat to change a good well oiled unit or not .

 
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