Raphinha still out after being cynically taken out by can do no wrong Fernandinho.
I get players take one for the team, and many would’ve tripped the player, but I’d argue the way Fernandinho did it was reckless and should’ve been a red.
Raphinha was way too quick for him, and he made sure to take him out. BTW, as usual, he should’ve been on a yellow already by that stage, but he gets the free pass.
25th trophy for Pep in 13 years as manager, on his way to 26 with the league.
Quality.
Easy to win races in ferraris and lambos when you’re up against Ford fiestas
I don’t agree, not to that extent anyway.
I think there’s also a big or the biggest reason why he keeps getting those jobs and the more years pass by and the more he keeps his level and keeps winning, that will be more evident to me (that he’s a phenomenal coach and it’s a very old story by now).
There are others who get them and don’t achieve nowhere near what he’s achieving.
Really? Who?
Others have had the occasion to drive these ferraris and lambos, and haven’t ended up wih so many trophies.
I don’t like Guardiola at all, and think that he’s a hypocrite of the tallest order, but there’s no denying that he’s a genuine winner.
Really? Who?
I’ll add and for how long?
There are a few top clubs in the world and a thousand managers. Not everyone can get those jobs. Sure, there are some who would possibly/probably do well, but get overlooked. There’s that, too. There are others who fans/media overrate. There are some who we underrate (or their glory raises with time, like Pep’s probably will). Not everyone who get those jobs are as successful as Pep (and some others). Very few are. For me, Pep’s been the best since he stepped onto the scene. I don’t see absolutely anything wrong with that, purely objectivelly speaking.
So, who then? The only one I can think of who has spent as much as Pep over as sustained a period is Mourinho?
I’m not saying he isn’t good. What I am saying is he would not have had half of those trophies without out spending everyone else over the last decade.
Mancini? (four years)
Pellegrini? (three years)
That’s for Cheaty. Barcelona have had countless managers with a lesser record than him. His spell at Bayern though is less successful to be fair, as they are expected to win their league.
Yeah, he’s one. We could say Carlo, he did win in multiple places. But very few in modern times. That means that a lot of managers don’t win even by spending a lot and even rare: keep winning.
It was very much a tongue in cheek/throw away comment chaps.
I entirely appreciate the hard work that Pep puts in to his work day to day, and have often given kudos on Peps team, because at the end of the day, it’s still 11 men against 11 men, and he has them drilled so hard.
But it is also clear that he has the best tools in the trade, at the richest clubs in the leagues he works in. The fact that Pep has won four consecutive league cups just goes to show how strong his squad is.
So maybe the analogy I set out, of Pep racing with supercars, up against fiestas, isn’t accurate, and it should have been that he has more supercars available to him than most teams, so is more likely to win.
He’s achieved what he’s achieved because he is good, but I can’t imagine that he could get near what say David Moyes has achieved with West Ham this season.
For me, the CL thing is overrated. Some clubs have planned to win the CL, but failed to do so. Let alone managers or players as individuals. Barca didn’t win the CL until 1992. Real failed to win the decima after more than a decade. Juve have 2 CL’s in their entire history with 5 straight defeats in a row and they’re known as “mentality giants” of a club (they are). It’s a cup competition with the best sides in Europe, very difficult to “plan” to win it. Real are something special, there are other special (but less special) stories with the CL. Us, Milan, Bayern… those kind of clubs. But the numbers show that it doesn’t happen very often. Even with domestically dominant clubs.
Well, exactly . Mancini and Pellegrini won exactly the same trophies Pep has won and spent less. City can also afford to field a cup team far in excess of quality of anyone else while regularly getting Scunthorpe and Grimsby at home through the competition while Bayern never, ever operates on a level playing field.
Again, he’s a great coach and manager but he also started and continued his managerial career with a silver spoon and advantages that nobody could match.
Guardiola is a great coach, but I’ll say one thing though: Klopp >>> Pep.
And that’s not me being flawed by the fact that I support LFC, really not. Klopp is the greater of these two managers, because he accepts to fight an uphill battle against the mega-money clubs, and refuses to go there when offered the opportunity.
By this time, he could already have been managing Real Madrid, Barcelona, or indeed any top money club in the world if he wanted that. The fact that he keeps refusing these offers in favour of longer term projects at traditional quality clubs is a major feather in his cap imo.
Klopp >>> Guardiola
You don’t give him credit how much he’s improved a lot of those tools? Young players, taking quality players to higher levels? Individiually and colectivelly? Why he keeps getting those jobs, why he’s probably the most wanted coach since he started coaching? When and if he wins the CL again, the world will find the next thing to criticize him for. Probably a baldy head!
I have no issues if part of the footballing world think he’s a fraud or he’s not that good. I think he’s amazing. Not going to wait 30 years after his career to look back and admit “f*ck, he was good wasn’t he?”. Sure, he’s a rival, but now I’m talking purely objectivelly and as a football fan. What else can I say other than he’s at least one of the best managers since he’s been in this role?
His record at Barcelona is unmatched though. For the rest, you can only beat what’s in front of you. But anyway, I get your gist. He’d never be able to do what Klopp has done with us for instance, and he’d be the first to know that exactly. Hence him going from one mega-money club to the next.
I’ll quote my own previous post in response to you suggesting I give him no credit;
I entirely appreciate what he achieves and his success. But again, talking about brining young players through, he has the best rough diamonds in the trade. And the best rough diamonds also often have something about them when it comes to being sponges for learning and success.
I certainly don’t think he’s a fraud, because he has the silverware to back it up - but I also don’t think he would have the mentality to do it at a lesser club. He’s made for super rich clubs.
Oh, okay. Perhaps I read that in a different way. I think with Pep it’s more than hard work. Bielsa apparently (I think there’s often some sort of mhyth around those characters) works harder than anyone and has some really original ideas, but look at what he attracted in his career (which is pretty much near it’s end). No top clubs? I doubt he continuously rejected if he had offers. Perhaps he’s so much loved more than he’s… as good as he’s made out to be? Possible. Not to deny that he did fantastic things at lower levels and in an attractic way, both as a sports person and human being.
And, sorry/thanks to @Nikola for moving this subject here, I didn’t think a little realization of success/normal praise for Pep would always create controversy.
