I am curious where those Jose's bashing articles from decent journalists are?
No, but
Two players. Costinha and Maniche never amounted to much, they actually went to Dynamo Moscow and a poor Atletico afterwards. McCarthy had maybe half good season at Blackburn a few years later, Derlei did not go anywhere and that Carlos Alberto kid who looked so impressive went back to Brazil, failed at Werder Bremen and then went on to play for about a dozen different clubs.
Stop chatting bollocks. The likes of Maniche, Costinha, et al were hardly coveted before or after 2004, and even of the two players he brought with him to Chelsea, it was only Carvalho who you could argue became a truly world class player. Fereira was a decent full back, the archetypal PL fullback of that era.
I am not hyping City. I am pointing to the groundwork that was done to give Pep a head start and how he hasn't been able to use that advantage fully vs Jose coming to a club that was in turmoil and has done relatively well. Jose is not an underdog, just a better manager as he can succeed when the environment is not perfect.
I think his fans themselves have realised he's(possibly) a fraud and therefore get upset when people keep pointing it out. Usually people who can never admit they where wrong. And many still genuenly do believe he's the best in the world.He didn't have anything near the quality of Barca's side in that Porto or Inter side.
Why do some people get so irate when St. Pep's credentials are questioned? It's weird.
We all question Jose's methods at times and rightly so. But when it comes to baldy, some around here seem to take it personally.
Good post.
That's like saying Conte took a team that finished 10th and is winning the title. Barcelona finished 3rd because it was the end of the Rijkaard/Ronaldinho cycle, not because they didn't have the players
i can only laugh at this, honestly. I even get what you mean, and still, i find it a jokeThey'd just dominated the Euro Cup with Spain
He did no such thing. Guardiola made absolutely NO decisions on transfers in his first season in charge. He actually wanted to keep Dinho
Again, not his call
Again, not his call
Nobody's doing that
5 of those players were starters for Portugal in 2006, finished 4th. They may not have been great players, but together they certainly made for a great team. That Porto side wasn't Ancelotti's milan, but it was one of the best around at the time. And their biggest scalp was Man united. That was the only team better than them they faced in knockout rounds
Hmm that's why Maniche lasted barely six months at Chelsea and was flitting in and around Russia afterwards. Costinha fell off the map. Likewise Valente. Baia was a Barca reject.
Well have to agree to disagree on this one because I genuinely believe that Porto side was class. Even if giorno is the only one who agrees with me. not knocking joses achievement there they were far from the best side in it but IMHO only marginally.
That Porto side was one of the best in the world that season, but that doesn't mean they had many great players. And they were one of the best in part because of mourinho
I agree, it's true that instant success was expected when he was brought in and he definitely hasn't done enough but I'm still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, to achieve something next season. Although, even if he doesn't improve next year, his fans will still find an excuse for him, no doubt.
Sadly though there's no chance Pep will be with you 5 years, as i think he could do some pretty serious damage to the club in that time span. He only managed relatively short stints at clubs where he had world class squads & little competition. I hope he stays indefinitely.
I dont think it's writing him off. It's more that he's been brought back down to earth and not heralded as a mesiah of football like he was on this forum. There was hot debate on if he was this amazing manager that could do anything with any team, or if. he was some fraud that got lucky with always having best players with the best clubs. It's probably somewhere in the middle. What you see is. probably relief on this forum that he wasn't all he was cracked up to be (which was alot). First couple games posters thought he would walk the league. But just like Jose he's having difficulties and still trying to figure out / fix the problem. I don't think he's written off as a great manager, he's just written off as the greatest manager the world has ever seen.
I disagree that the problem is that his philosophy doesn't work here, otherwise Barca and Bayern would fail to continuously humiliate PL sides. It's 11v11 and the pitch doesn't change. For me it's about players like Clichy, Kolarov, Sagna and Otamendi (to name a few) who dont have the ability to play possession based football, or the ability to defend. Given that's almost our entire back line and his football starts from the back, it's easy to see why we've struggled this year. If he brings his own players in across the back and we still see the same struggles then I think I'll start to wonder.
You just confirmed what others are trying to say. It's not that the philosophy is useless, but it's ultra demanding. For it to work, you need the players. These players are harder to find. Unlike about a decade ago, most of the big teams seem to be in a transition period & they wouldn't let City having a free run at strengthening their squad. Great players in other system maybe irrelevant for this Pep's philosophy. And the more important is that Pep is a purist & he doesn't like to change the fundamental of his ideas to help his players when they ain't having any of what he wanted.
Then they equalize.
Doesn't mean anything - they still stink.
Indeed!
