ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS is the man to replace Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool FC manager.

Lots of people have been linked with the vacant position, but I believe this is the right time for the Portuguese.

People will look at what happened at Chelsea, but I don’t think it was anywhere near as bad as has been made out. You have to equate his Chelsea experience with what he achieved at Porto in such a short space of time.

His brief at Chelsea was to change the team, lower the average age of the squad, get rid of the older professionals and blood more youngsters.

He was trying to do that, but if anything Villas-Boas moved too quickly. It reminded me of when Graeme Souness took over at Liverpool in the early 1990s, and it ended in the same manner then.

Villas-Boas should have used the players to his advantage. He misunderstood the strengths of John Terry, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, and the strength of that dressing room became apparent under Roberto di Matteo. There’s no doubt Villas-Boas can coach and manage, and you’d imagine he has learned from his experience at Chelsea.

Nevertheless, I believe he would need someone older and wiser upstairs to give him a helping hand.

He’s still incredibly young as a manager, and needs some guidance. I can’t see anyone else other than Villas-Boas now getting the job.

Forget the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho; they aren’t coming. Brendan Rodgers, Roberto Martinez and Paul Lambert are honourable mentions, but managing big clubs is different. You don’t go to away games to draw. You go to win. That’s where Roy Hodgson got it wrong.

Porto and Chelsea are big clubs so Villas-Boas will know what to expect.

He understands the mentality and history of a big club, plus he wouldn’t cost any compensation as he’s out of work. Villas-Boas will be hungry to prove people wrong in the Premier League and, for where he is at in his career and where Liverpool are at as a club, he could do a good job at Anfield.