Beast
The Observer
I know that Pep is an exception to the rule Gio, but that doesn't mean that you should disregard what these types of managers have to offer. my management 101 idea is not a failure. the idea is to get a manager who is either successful and well respected in the footballing circle (Mourinho, Ancelotti, Hiddink, Capello) or a manager who is well respected within the club and knows the club inside/out. any idiot would have been able to say that Maradona would have been able to fail, and not just because you hate him. The jury is still out on Leonardo, because the Milan team from last year was terrible. Van Basten failed, so did Michel and Koeman, so did Roy Keane, jury still out on Hugo Sanchez (but depending how Almeria finish doesn't he deserve consideration?). My point is Gio, that Manu was not the best available choice for the job. you may not like Carlo or Mourinho, but at least they would have commanded the respect of the players. You are correct in saying that a RMadrid-version of Pep would have it's risks, but what coaching choice does not have it's risks? Imagine if Valdano hires an ex-Madrid legend who Perez likes? Who cares if he has slim-to-none managerial experience? Stability comes from the top down. President - Sporting Director - Manager all have to see eye-to-eye and all have to present a united front publicly and in front of the staff/players. That's another point to management 101. You can't have success on the pitch if there is no stability in the front office. that's how it is with any team in any sport on any level. that's what's missing here. if Manu never had Perez's support he shouldn't have been hired. If he was never going to get the opportunities to work out his tactics he never should have been hired. If Valdano and Perez were going to buy players and have a manager come in and fit a hodgepodge type formation in, then they should have bought players with a manager's specific system in mind. It was like the right hand (manager) didn't know what the left hand (management) was doing. Management 101.
The office is fine this time Irv they leave him to screw up with the 4-2-2-2 .. again u missed the point about Carlo & Jose.. one is a presidential puppet and the other still fail tactically in Europe and in Serie A is under a lot of pressure.
face it apart from his domestic success in Chelsea & Inter Mourinho was never able to reach anywhere near what he did with Porto in Europe
In Europe he is on par with Pellegrini the later have an advantage , his teams play well (or should be despite the failure )
Maybe I'm old school, but I've always belived that matches are controlled and won from the midfield - yours doesn't exist. There's a big gap between your DMs and the rest of your midfield - no harmony. And on top of that your 2 fullbacks are very attack minded (+ your left side can't defend for shit, makes Alves look like a "Ballon d'Or" winning defender). You guys have 3 of the best DMs but no playmaker (Xabi has sucked so far and I think he will continue to suck). And Granero is not doing a good job either, he's mediocre at best.
It's not old school it's modern school as well.. agree if u don't control the midfield u don't control /win games.. Real failed to do that this season