Redknapp on Liverpool sacking Slot & why he believes Iraola is the 'right man' 🔴

surprised.I have to be honest, mate.He did.When you start to get a few messages and then Fabrizio Romano, he then starts to drop it.And then obviously it comes on Sky Sports News.You start to think, okay, so it's really happening today.

There were obviously a few rumors disappointing with the way the team played at the end of the season, although to some on the slots arguably I won the league last year and in my second year I came fifth you know if you'd have took that after losing on us after losing Jurgen Klopp I think a lot of fans would have said you know that's a great return but I think it was just a style of play that that happened this year wasn't really appealing to the fans.Obviously Mohamed Salah's quotes at the end of the season weren't ideal for Emira.I thought they were poor and obviously that reflects on the manager.And then all of a sudden there's a bit of a snowball effect.And it has caught me by surprise.But I think what Liverpool have to do, if they have to trust obviously what Richard Hughes and the owners have decided to do, I feel Disappointed for Arne Slott.

I think he's done a great job.I really do.The fact that he won the Premier League was an incredible achievement.The way they played, they were fantastic.This year there was a lot of circumstances that made it really difficult to coach that team.So he will probably feel hard done by.

This is football.This is the price on the ticket.I just hope Liverpool don't start to go down that route of hiring and firing.We've seen what has happened at Manchester United doing that.It hasn't always worked.It hasn't always had the desired effect.

I think sometimes you have to stay with what you've got.I think players would have played a big part in this as well.I think they would have been a little bit of player power, maybe speaking to the owners, speaking to the people in charge, and they would have said their piece, and maybe they're not really enjoyed the football, maybe feeling that Arnaud Slot isn't the guy to take them forward.But I think you always have to be very careful listening to the players too much, because a lot of them have their own motives at heart.They're not always thinking about what's the best for the team.But we've got to this point now, and it's a case of, OK, what happens next?

Well, let's bring Vinny back in.I think you've got a question for Jamie.Vinny?

Yeah, Jamie, I was just wondering whether you thought it was a bit of a strange situation, the fact that Mo Salah, it was already announced his departure, and now Liverpool decide to remove Arnaslott from his position in charge.

Yeah, I think so, but I think Mo, I think if we looked at him this year and we're totally honest, he hasn't been the same player, you know, and I think it is time for him to move on.He's been an icon, Premier League icon, Liverpool icon, I think it's the right time.I think, especially if you were to bring in a manager like and only Iola, who's a running manager.Everyone has to run in that team and you have to run back.You have to fall one forward at times.If you're, if you're fullbacks going the other way, you've got to match him.

So I think that was the right time.The only thing that there's probably caught us all by surprise is to Javi Alonso situation because Liverpool would have been monitoring that closely.That felt to me, if you were going to lose on a slot, it would have been Javi Alonso as the next manager.So for whatever reason, Liverpool didn't feel he was the right man.That's how I see that situation.If they really believed that he was the one to take on the Liverpool manager's job, they would have got him and they would have pushed that.

But obviously they, for whatever reason, and I don't know this, you know, but that's just how football works.They would have pushed and they would have probably got Javi Alonso and said, if you, if you're If you're in a position where you want to come to us, we'll take you and obviously we'll move on the slot aside.But they, for whatever reason, Liverpool don't feel that he was the right man for them.So that's why now it feels like Andonier Iola is that right man.There was obviously talk about Labour coups.I'm sure you've heard the rumours about that.

And if Liverpool come calling, whether you're a player, a manager, it's always difficult to resist.So that's why I feel that he is the right man for the job now.And I'll be amazed if he doesn't doesn't get the job.

And Jamie, how excited should Liverpool fans be by that prospect?What's impressed you most about an Areola -Bournemouth team?

Well, I mean, it's my former team.I absolutely love the man. I think what he's done at Bournemouth and the job that he's done.I never felt what Eddie Howell did could be Eclipse, but he certainly has done that.The style of football has been amazing.They play high pressure, they get after teams.I think exactly what Liverpool fans want.

They want to see people with high energy.Whether that fits the Liverpool mould, because they'll play man for man a lot, that style of play in midfield is really high energy and where Verts, for example, fits into that will be fascinating to see.Everybody is going to have to run in that team.There's lots of talk about him as a manager that he doesn't like to have too much dialogue with his players.If you're not in the team, he doesn't want to talk to you.That won't appeal to a lot of players.

But at this day and age, a lot of players go straight to the chairman or the directors of football anyway.But he sets his stall out really early.The dialogue between the player and the manager won't happen.You'll be in the team.I think he tells you a couple of hours beforehand.Can he manage?

What will be the question now going from Bournemouth to Liverpool?How do you handle that transition?I don't see it as a problem for him.I think as long as he gets the right players and you've got to trust in Richard Hughes and the team of sport directors they have there to bring in the elite kind of players that he needs.You can see that he has made so many players at Bournemouth look like okay players and he's turned him into fantastic players, you know, look fit for the bill, you know, so I've got no problem whatsoever.Can he handle it?

He was a very good player and he's become an elite manager.So I think it's, if it is to be him, I've got no doubt at all.And I think if you're obviously Kirk has the left back, he'll be delighted because he had him obviously as his coach beforehand.But what, what I think will happen now, which is fascinating as well, was there's going to be a lot of player movement because I wouldn't be surprised one bit if Javi Alonso looks at this situation and thinks, I wonder if I could prize Lorien Wurz out of this squad and maybe take him to Chelsea.of the style of play that he wants.He's going to play a three, four, three situation formation that might suit them.

Does he fit into the way that and only Iola plays Anderson, obviously Fernandez at Chelsea, he will be looking at that situation and maybe thinking Mariska will be his type of manager.if he ends up a man city.So this is going to not only be a bit of a managerial merry -go -round that we're going to see in the next few days.I think this is going to be really interesting for players because Liverpool definitely need you know, midfielder, they need a high energy right midfielder.That's going to try and get the goals and do what we see.Mahala Mohammed Salah has done for many years, another defender.

So there'll be no doubt at all that it's not just going to be the manager.That's going to be really important.It's obviously going to be the players that they're going to bring into the squad.So it's very interesting times, but if I only gets a job, I certainly will be delighted with that.I can honestly say that I'm disappointed for Arne Slott because I think in the two years he did there, he can hold his head high.And I was disappointed with how a few of the players came out at the end of the season and were a bit negative towards him.

I think he deserved better than that.

Jamie, can you put into context, you kind of touched on it there as well, it's a very different pressure here at Liverpool compared to Bournemouth with all due respect to them as well.Can you just put into context how different that kind of spotlight is?

I can obviously talk from a player's perspective.I signed for Liverpool as a 17 -year -old, and that's when the Bournemouth weren't the Bournemouth that they are now.We're now talking about a Bournemouth side that have been brilliant in the Premier League.And the job that he did last year, when they lost Howson, Zabani, Kyrgiz, they lost their goalkeeper, they lost Semenyo in January, and it never affected them one bit.If anything, they got better.So I just feel that he can handle the situation perfectly.

He's a very calm manager.He doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low.The coaching is the style of football that I thinkfeel will really suit the fans because they're knowledgeable fans, Liverpool fans.They understand the game really well.They don't like to get on managers' backs and I think this year has been a really hard watch for them.

And it might take a little bit of time so I think we have to be really careful that we don't get too You know, things are obviously going to evolve slightly.You've still got to build a team around the likes of Virgil van Dijk, who's been a fantastic leader in that team.A lot of players will, if they're, if they look in the mirror, they're probably very quick to blame on a slot.But if they look in the mirror this year and say, okay, if you're as an example, Alexis McAllister, how's my season been?He hasn't been good enough.you know, grab them, but actually in midfield was a leap last season.

This season, has he been good enough?No, too many players haven't been good enough.So for and only going into that squad, I think if you, if he gets a job, he'd be licking his lips.He'd be thinking, right, I've got Alexander reset to get fit.Obviously there's a couple of little dilemmas and, and question marks about how he's going to fit players into that team.a couple of obviously injuries as well.

Eka TK has been out for, is going to be out for a while.So when he gets back in, how do I fit grab a virgin and a critique came to the team?How do I get the best out of verts?That's going to be fascinating to see because having watched form of so closely, you have to run in that midfield.You cannot have luxury players.And I'm a big fan of, of verts, but that's going to be a fast, a fascinating one for them, how they fit that into the team and make sure that everybody works together.

So, so there are, there are a lot of question marks as well about this squad.They are going to need a bit of bolstering, a little bit of picking up a bit more pace in that team.Cause what I saw from a Liverpool side last year was a case of too many times getting out run.But the question that you asked me right at the top, can he handle it?I've got no doubt, you know, Bournemouth this year have been a joy to watch.He could go in there full of pride of how the team have played.

He's in a great position, you know, but there are other managers out there.I don't think you should be ruling out people like that.who's done well at Crystal Palace.Now, I don't see him as an ideal fit for Liverpool, but he's done a really good job.So, yeah, manager of Merigo Round.I think we'll see a player of Merigo Round in the next few weeks.

But can he handle it?Absolutely.I've got no doubt.He's an elite manager.

Jimmy, just to expand on a point you touched upon earlier, Xabi Alonso, some people, I guess, may be prescribed to the suggestion that Liverpool have missed a trick letting him go?Why do you think Liverpool didn't go with him, and how strange will it be to see him in the Stamford Bridge dugout next season and not Anfield?

Yeah, I think it's a great question.I will get this straight.I think he's an incredible acquisition for Chelsea.Make no mistake about it.But for whatever reason, Liverpool must have looked at it and thought he's not right for them.Now, I don't know the answer to that, but it was there in plain sight, because if they did, And I've got no doubt, and this is no disrespect to Chelsea, but because of Xabi's relationship with Liverpool, he's held in the highest esteem.

He's one of the best midfield players they ever had.I think if they would have said to him, we want you right now, you can come, because there's no doubt his agent would have been saying to Liverpool and to Chelsea, once Chelsea came in, look, are you sure he's going to sign for Chelsea here?There's an opportunity.Would you still want to take him?Liverpool could have made that opportunity happen, I think.Now, that's no disrespect to what Chelsea have done, because I think, as I say, he's a great acquisition for them.

But from Liverpool's point of view, they didn't feel it was right.they don't, they didn't feel that he was the right manager for them.So they've looked now and I feel that Andoni may be talking to a couple of other clubs as false Liverpool's hand.Hence why we've seen this happen a couple of weeks after this or a week after the season's finished.And they probably thought if we don't act quickly, what they didn't want No doubt at all, was a situation that next season where if Liverpool were to start poorly, the fans, there was a little bit of unrest.They're not happy with how Arnold Slot's team were playing.

That would have come on very quickly and the pressure would have then gone away.Then Liverpool would have been a really difficult situation trying to think, okay, who is the next manager for us?And then a lot of managers would have already been tied up.and why they didn't get him.I cannot give you the answer to that, but there is absolutely no doubt because of the actions and how this is obviously developed.They didn't feel he was right, but that doesn't mean he's not right for Chelsea.

He's exactly what they needed because they've had, they've been trying to appease, you know, they've tried to have a situation for too long where the manager hasn't had the power.Now, Xabi Alonso has the power there to do what he wants, and he's going to do a great job there.But now, obviously, Andoni's the one that it feels like Liverpool want, and I'm sure they're going to give them everything they can to make sure that it does work.

Yeah, fascinating summer ahead.Jamie, Vinny, thank you both for your time this afternoon.