As for Villas-Boas....I'd be very, VERY wary of letting a young one-season wonder manage a club the size of Liverpool. Yes, hes done quite well al Porto but they nearly always win their league anyway so it's extremely difficult to judge what impact he has made, if any.
Two season wonder; ie both his seasons. He inherited the Academica side that were bottom of the league and hadn't won a game after 2 months, and took them 10 points clear of relegation (11th of 16) AND to the league cup semi-final. He also took over Porto after they finished 3rd in what was essentially a catastrophic season for the club. While it's not unusual for Porto to win their league, he's turned them into a goal machine (111 goals in 48 games is a staggering goal rate, considering they only conceded 26 in the same time). The Portuguese league may be weak, but even Mourinho didn't win 85.4% of his games with Porto during a season.
The point is that he's one to watch. He's young, followed Mourinho around for years, and is clearly capable of finding a tactic that suits squads of vastly different capabilities. This is the same guy who would produce a DVD per opposition player for the match squad when he was Mourinho's assistant. I put him in the same boat as Carroll - massive potential, but will he realize it?
Snakeye, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, here. Been saying we should have got him long before they appointed Kenny. Not saying Kenny should be overlooked, but as I said earlier, if we're going to have reservations about retaining Kenny then it's probably better to get in someone like VB who can grow with the team, and who understands something about managing a club at the top of its league.