It wasn't that the players couldn't perform, there was a break in communication between the tactics and the man management. AVB failed miserably at that, and culminated when Lampard called him out mid-season.

I personally felt that his tactics were always good in theory. Rafa instead is more of a money-ball player, where he finds all the right pieces and then says 'go out and do what you do best'. Tactically, not as aware as the chess-playing AVB, but management-wise, totally different. It's like the difference of optimizing fantasy football and Football Manager. If it had been AVB at Inter post-mourinho, I think AVB would've lasted longer.

Where Rafa needs time to put together his team, AVB needs time to implement his tactics. Not sure either would get it at Liverpool.