Replacing Brendan Rodgers with Andre Villas-Boas Would Be a Huge Mistake

Liverpool treasures their legendary managers. Bill Shankly, Kenny Dalglish, Bob Paisley; all three former leaders of the Reds are honoured at Anfield, and at times last season, it seemed that Brendan Rodgers would join such esteemed company on that list.

And yet in a demonstration of just how quickly things can change in football, the current Liverpool boss is fighting for his job. The Reds have suffered an atrocious start to the season, undermining all the considerable progress made under Rodgers last term, with the Northern Irishman under intense scrutiny from all angles.

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In fact, Rodgers’ situation is so perilous it has been reported that Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group are already lining up his replacement, with former Chelsea and Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas reportedly top of FSG’s shortlist, according to Duncan Castles of Bleacher Report.

However, replacing Rodgers with Villas-Boas would be a huge mistake. While his achievements with Porto were admittedly admirable, the Portuguese has already been given—and spurned—two previous opportunities to prove himself in the Premier League.

Villas-Boas has built a career—taking in some of the biggest clubs in Europe—on the back of his brand. He is billed as a footballing modernist, one of the managers defined by how they use passing statistics and Prozone PowerPoint presentations and not by the actual results they have achieved in the game. Thus, despite failures at Chelsea and Spurs, Villas-Boas' stock has remained high.

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When Roman Abramovich turned to Villas-Boas, he did so in the hope that he would bring a dynamic, continental style of play to Stamford Bridge. But the Portuguese lasted just eight months at the club, leaving behind a dressing room that had rebelled against him.

Despite this qualitative and quantitative failure, Villas-Boas was once again entrusted with implementing a new style of play by Daniel Levy at Spurs. And while he may have enjoyed slightly more success across London at White Hart Lane, AVB was still ultimately a failure at Spurs. 

There were glimpses of what Villas-Boas was trying to achieve at Spurs, but it became clear following the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid last summer that his side had been largely carried by the Welsh winger’s talent. When he left, AVB followed not far behind.

So if Liverpool are looking for a manager to restore the fast and furious playing style that took the Reds within three points of the Premier League title, Villas-Boas is not the man to deliver as much. In fact, Villas-Boas isn’t the man to deliver much at all.

Of course, Rodgers has plenty to answer for this season, but he has earned himself at least some leeway on the basis of last term’s success (although not in the collective mind of FSG if reports are to be believed).

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In hindsight, Rodgers probably should have remained slightly more coy when things were going well last season. If indeed "anyone can ask a team to just sit back and defend," according to Rodgers (per the London Evening Standard), he should teach his shaky back line to sit back and defend.

And if Spurs made such a mistake by selling their star player Bale and spreading the windfall around a number of speculative signings, a point Rodgers has argued, why did Liverpool make the same mistake a year later after the sale of Luis Suarez?

How have Liverpool progressed in just under two and a half years under Rodgers? The Northern Irishman inherited a team that found itself some way short of the Premier League and European elite with a questionable defence, and what does he preside over now? Pretty much the same thing.

Liverpool are lacking identity under Rodgers, but Villas-Boas’ track record suggests that he would be no more effective in restoring that to the Anfield side. The fact that Rodgers instilled one in the first place surely shows that he can do it once again.

The questions being asked of Liverpool and FSG right now are completely warranted, but for the club’s owners, Villas-Boas isn’t one of the answers.