Villas-Boas and not Martinez the man for Liverpool

It's been a difficult few years for Liverpool and the next managerial appointment looks like being the most important decision yet for owners John W Henry and Tom Werner.

They may have backed Kenny Dalglish financially but they failed to back him with arguably an even more important commodity - time.

He was turfed out of Anfield after a disappointing Premier League campaign where they finished in eighth place and a massive 37 points behind Manchester United and champions Manchester City.

Dalglish did win the Carling Cup and lost in the final of the FA Cup but their dire record in the league that saw them win just six times at home all season was enough to see him eased out of the door.

The new manager will at least know where they stand in terms of performance and the man to take up that task looks like being either Roberto Martinez or Andre Villas-Boas, who are favourites at around 3.55/2.

However, there is only one man who Liverpool should be going after - Villas-Boas.

The Portuguese may have had a difficult time at Chelsea but he has far more experience at the top end of the table than Martinez whose sole job since he took over at Wigan in 2009 was to keep the club in the Premier League, a task he has admittedly fulfilled.

Villas-Boas' record at Porto was absolutely fantastic though, winning the Portuguese league (without losing), the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League in 2011. He is the youngest manager ever to win a European competition and Liverpool looks a far more appealing prospect for the 34-year-old than Chelsea ever was.

There are far less egos in the Liverpool team and Villas-Boas will surely have learnt from his Chelsea experiences where his attempts to overhaul the team resulted in him isolating several senior players.

He can also point to his very decent signings for Chelsea, with the Portuguese bringing in Juan Mata who was arguably Chelsea's standout player for much of the season.

He's not perfect but, of all the managers currently being touted for the job, he looks the most capable and is well worth backing at his current odds of 3.814/5.