Fair point I thought they'd played Norwich I take it all back. All hail King Josep, footballing demi-god.
Disagree tbf...Chelsea battered Norwich by 7 iirc and there was no where near as much adulation. People said it was impressive but pointed out just how bad Norwich were on the day. If we hit teams for 6 or 7 I would be well pleased but tbh the press would rightly look at the failing of the other team, like they did with Wigan, Everton, Leicester and Hull when we were a good team. I get City fans loving him but thetedious thing re the media love in with he who must be called Pep is that there is rarely any real criticism of him by them. He got off scott free when he whined about being short of players the other day He's record in the CL in 6 years with City is farcical. One final with that squad is an embarrassing failure...and they were as abysmal as we were in the final too yet it is glossed over. Even though he was a gooner, the difference with the criticism of Wenger by the media when he was winning titles but failing in the CL shows the hypocrisy very clearly. I love his philosophy on how football should be played but think that he should have won at least 2 or 3 CL and at least 2 more titles (he's won 3 I think... 18, 19, 21). A billion spent (an average of £170m every season he has been there) and he inherited Aguero, Kompany, Debruyne, Silva, Stirling etc. Sorry if I sound picky but his record is pretty meh for me considering those facts.
I agree he’s always had good teams and always had lots of money to spend but for me he’s still the best manager about. You have a point about CL wins but then Coty aren’t the only club throwing money at players to try to win it, you’ve had Chelsea, PSG and even the likes of Barca and Madrid have spent more than they could realistically afford to ‘buy’ success. Sir Alex ‘only’ won 2 CL in his whole managerial career, I don’t think it’s an easy achievement to do once let alone twice as the style of football changes so quickly. Pep is still relevant which is pretty impressive when you see where all his rivals from his pomp era at Barca are now.
The majority view of Arsenal fans perhaps, there were a significant amount of raised eyebrows from elsewhere at the amount you’d given Aubameyang considering his age. There’s no denying he’s been a very good striker and would’ve been worthy of a new deal but you basically gave him a lovely retirement package and he’s taken that quite literally.
Klopp over Pep any day for me. Klopp’s shown he can actually transform teams into title winners. Pep plays an absolutely beautiful brand of football but he’s managed the three best teams in each country where he’s either already had the best players or the money to buy them.
It only underlines how impressive Real's winning 4 CL trophies in 5 years was - and with a squad that by the fourth was very much in decline. I tend to agree with RCL though. Zero CL trophies since leaving Barca. Three years at Bayern, five at City, untold billions spent in between and one runners-up medal to show for it. We have the same and we spent 50p to get there. It isn't a good enough ROI, no matter which way you slice it.
If you have a budget then yeah Klopp all day long. He’s grown as a manager and made Liverpool into one into the best teams in the world. He won’t ever take another job like though, now he’s at the level of Pep, he will only take huge club jobs like Barca, Madrid or Munich or the national team Germany. But if you’re one of the biggest clubs in the world and money is no object then I’d still go for Pep over anyone else about.
Simply not true about Jesus. Last season Jesus made 29 league appearances (starting 22 times) and this season he has made 14 league appearances starting (12 times). Re Aguero I did say he play a few games
There is no plausible definition of a 'striker' which would include Jesus but not Son and Bergwijn though. If we only have one striker then City have none.
Although he has played as number 9 for City, he’s usually plays on the wing for Brazil. His best performance for City this season was when he played on the right for them against Norwich. They still badly need a number 9 and I agree with Powerspurs here that they don’t have one.
Absolutely, however Leeds are a poor team, weakened hugely by injuries at the moment. Phillips and Bamford in particular. A thrashing can say as much about the fight and determination of the beaten team as it does about the prowess of the winners.
I am not persuaded that many other managers couldn't achieve the same with the same resources. For example the season he took over Citeh he didn't do very well (considering the team available). But instead of criticising him for it, after he bought a new defence for £££££, the pundits heaped praise on him for "identifying weaknesses". Oh how clever! It's just that most managers can identify weaknesses, but they don't get a virtually unlimited budget to correct it and buy more or less whoever they want to fix it. And even with these resources his CL record is poor. Yet still he's praised for what he achieves and given a pass for what is, in relative terms, a failure when he doesn't win things.
