It’s not as black and white as that. It all depends on what that 8th looks like, and the signs showed.
When Mourinho finished second, Liverpool finished either 4th or 5th, yet the overwhelming feeling was that Liverpool were better placed to challenge for the title the following season. Remember, this is Liverpool who hadn’t won the league for 28 years at that point too. It was based on what people were seeing on the pitch. Klopp had got them playing well, scoring goals, and a danger even to the biggest teams in one off games. It was easy to see that if they improved in certain weak positions, they would be right up there, meanwhile we who finished second were largely dismissed because we convinced nobody.
People tend to focus only on the numbers of everything these days, but the real story is often in between the data. I think we all recall Simon Jordan declaring, despite us being ahead of Arsenal, that Arteta would end up the better manager. It’s not always as straightforward as saying ‘he’s 8th and he’s 2nd, how can you say that?’.
First part of your post is right. Its not though that players are work shy, though mentality is a factor. We simply pay far too much money for them to care too much. Another thing is players were signed with different styles of play and dont fit into what each new manager wants. ALso apart from ETH, our managerial appointments were terrible (Moyes, Ole, RR) or over the hill/ found out (LVG, MOu)
I don't buy the money angle. If you're getting players in with the right mentality, it doesn't matter how much they get paid or how high their transfer fee was. We're not the only club paying high wages.
I've addressed the point about different managers in the post you've quoted. If we had a proper sporting director in place, we wouldn't have been swinging between styles of football because incoming managers would be in a similar mould and players would be signed that should suit any incoming manager. If the style of football wasn't working or the players being brought in didn't fit, you'd replace the sporting director. The club is simply shoddily run and hasn't kept up with how things are nowadays.
We're still operating as if the current manager will be here in five years time, but the reality is that we're yet to have a manager see out three full seasons since Fergie retired. It's been the best part of a decade since the current tactics-meta came about, and it's no secret that three of the main components to a successful side are pressing well, transitioning quickly, and recycling possession when necessary. If we'd brought in a proper sporting director that understood this at any time in the last decade, the squad wouldn't be in the shape it's in and we quite probably wouldn't have hired some of the managers we've hired.
As it is, we've got two unqualified people operating as director of football and technical director, neither of which seem to actually do what their job title suggests.
