Threads containing Ed001's recent posts.
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14 Sep 2024
14 Sep 2024 01:32:55
I do wonder if we will get to see a glimpse of him today? hoping so. My word, proper football is finally back! that couple of weeks dragged like hell.
{Ed001's Note - and we play at a normal time on Saturday for a change.}
13 Sep 2024 21:40:05
Ed's
Appreciate that it is very early days, but any idea how Chiesa has settled in?
Thanks.
{Ed001's Note - bit early mate, everyone was away on international duty so it was difficult for him to settle in with his teammates this early on. Good signs though, he is working hard, was happy to train with whoever was left there from the youth teams, and just seems to be trying to impress right now.}
14 Sep 2024 01:32:55
I do wonder if we will get to see a glimpse of him today? hoping so. My word, proper football is finally back! that couple of weeks dragged like hell.
{Ed001's Note - and we play at a normal time on Saturday for a change.}
14 Sep 2024 07:42:59
Love the passion he has shown for the club and the genuine passion for playing at Anfeild
Can't wait to see him smash one top corner
. please note any area of the goal will be excepted and celebrated.
14 Sep 2024 08:25:28
I think his attitude and his application have always been great, even stuck playing out of position after recovering from a depressing injury he didn’t make a fuss, he hasn’t become a primadonna even after the Italian press made him out to be the next poster boy of Italian football and a potentially generational icon, pretty sure all his team mates at juve liked him a lot too.
14 Sep 2024 09:24:35
I’m excited to see Chiesa but the lads had zero pre season which is similar to that of Grav last season.
14 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 23:45:04
Brilliant article Ed really enjoyed that so thank you! I remember the last one you did about top managers and Michael O'Neil was on there! Unfortunately things have not worked out for him as of yet but maybe he still has time.
Be interesting to read an article on your top 10 overrated managers. Arteta would certainly be on my list along with ETH.
Has Postecoglu impressed you since coming in to spurs? He certainly seems to play an attractive brand of football.
{Ed001's Note - I like Ange but he has taken on the wrong job and he needs to learn to be pragmatic at times. And to play a defender who can defend over one who can run very quick. I do love the way his teams play, but he wants to win and that is not the Spurs way.}
13 Sep 2024 21:17:53
Sorry, ED, I didn't really know where to put this, but I saw your top 10 current managers and it reminded me of someone who has been doing an incredible job, and I was hoping to get your thoughts on him.
The coach for Heidenheim, Frank Schmidt, has honestly blown me away with what he has achieved. To take a little team in the 5th tier of German football, and within 17 years bring them into the Bundesliga is unprecedented. Not to mention, last season, his first season at the top level also, he guided them into conference league qualification.
In fact, this season, Schmidt lost the majority of his key players, moving to bigger clubs, and only spent a small amount to replace them, not even £10 million, if I remember correctly. They currently sit 2nd and are playing some really exciting football. I know they have only played 3 games, but that is still impressive.
I was just wondering your opinion of him, if you had any. I have only heard of his exploits recently. But, it is some reading.
{Ed001's Note - I did think of including him, as I was reading about them myself only recently and started looking into him. It reminds me of the guy that was in charge of Union Berlin, until recently. Who did a similar sort of thing but they still sacked him when results turned sour. Despite doing such a fantastic job there, and at Basel before that, he is still out of work ten months later. But you want to know (unless they win titles or manage to stay up and build over a period of years) if they can step up before they can make the cut.
I fear Schmidt might turn out to be just ideally suited to this job and never be able to have a similar level of success elsewhere. A few more seasons though and, like Gasperini, he can force his way in simply by continuing to remain competitive in the top flight with a team like that.}
13 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 17:09:24
Ed01, I agree with you regarding Arteta. The guy seems to be quite full of himself as well despite not having won as much as a sausage since 19/ 20. At some point like you said and despite all the backing he has had (over 600m spent since 2020), he is going to have to get over the line.
Also, him getting a pass for not even bothering to even try to compete for the lesser trophies is just hilarious. Can you imagine that happening with a manager at LFC?
And him getting another extension will only add the pressure on him, too from a fan perspective cos a lot of Arsenal fans are at their wits end already.
{Ed001's Note - I am not sure the Arsenal fans are at their wit's end with him. They seem very happy with him now, after initially being unconvinced. He has the media on his side, which has helped him a lot - they championed his cause to get a chance and now talk up everything he does as brilliant, twisting mistakes into strokes of genius etc. While he has them onside, the pressure will probably be off.}
13 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 13:31:05
Another bullet dodged then. Spurs defending is shocking and all Ven has is I can run fast.
{Ed001's Note - very much dodged. The guy can't defend. He can run very fast but needs to as he is always out of position. And he runs faster than he can control. He is the defensive Adama Traore.}
13 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 10:08:27
Ed001, what do you think of Arne Slot so far in his career? What he has to accomplish to eventually be considered among the best?
{Ed001's Note - so far he has done really well, but it was in the Netherlands, which has been shown by Ten Hag to be a long way from the most difficult league to win. What he has to do now is keep winning games and trophies. The more he wins of both, the higher up he will go in the consideration.}
13 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 09:06:40
Ed1, good morning mate - an excellent read that, as always mate. Was in the middle of a reply last night but got side tracked. Glad to see Gasperini so high up and as for Guardiola, it's one of them names I don't want to see at number one but he has to be going on current active managers. If you redo this article in a few years from now I'd like to think Slot will be on the list somewhere, we'll have to see how he does. I also think Alonso might move up it a little.
Did you ever do one of these on all time managers mate?
{Ed001's Note - I don't think I have yet. I have promised to do international managers next, but I might do that afterwards. Though that is a very, very tough one to do!}
13 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 10:08:27
Ed001, what do you think of Arne Slot so far in his career? What he has to accomplish to eventually be considered among the best?
{Ed001's Note - so far he has done really well, but it was in the Netherlands, which has been shown by Ten Hag to be a long way from the most difficult league to win. What he has to do now is keep winning games and trophies. The more he wins of both, the higher up he will go in the consideration.}
13 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 07:54:01
Great article Ed001
Wrt Arteta. I ask the same questions of him as mentioned above re Pep and his use of certain drugs
The 2 just seem like 2 peas in a pot
Besides my clearly unbiased and total love for Arteta (wink wink nudge nudge) . what are your thoughts on the guy?
{Ed001's Note - I just think he has been handed everything he wanted and has yet to achieve anything. He has had wads of cash to spend, backing of the board over the players, time and everything built around his desires. In those circumstances, he should be winning trophies, multiple trophies. Especially as they have allowed him to buy ready-made players, not youngsters to be developed, while sacrificing all the youth products. Coming second is the absolute minimum he should get each season. This season has to be the last chance saloon with City in a bit of disarray, despite their results so far, behind the scenes. You can't just keep coming second, while not even trying to win the other trophies up for grabs each season, when spending so much.
I have to be honest, his managerial style I find frankly embarrassing. His team talks and stupid pickpocket 'lessons' etc, they are just middle-management stuff. While it is working, then it is fine, but you need to do more than think up silly gimmicks when the tide turns against you. So far he has not had to deal with a genuine blip, the closest was the end of the season before last, but he was then handed the money to go out and buy Declan Rice. So he never had to lift the players out of the doldrums and get things back on track, he had a £100m+ player signing to give the whole club a boost. Until he has a genuine bad bump in the road, we will never actually know how good or not he is. That is when we will find out, when the gimmicks are not going to do the trick and he doesn't have a big buy to lift things, it will be up to him. Then and only then will we find out if he actually has it in him to be a great coach.}
13 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 07:54:01
Great article Ed001
Wrt Arteta. I ask the same questions of him as mentioned above re Pep and his use of certain drugs
The 2 just seem like 2 peas in a pot
Besides my clearly unbiased and total love for Arteta (wink wink nudge nudge) . what are your thoughts on the guy?
{Ed001's Note - I just think he has been handed everything he wanted and has yet to achieve anything. He has had wads of cash to spend, backing of the board over the players, time and everything built around his desires. In those circumstances, he should be winning trophies, multiple trophies. Especially as they have allowed him to buy ready-made players, not youngsters to be developed, while sacrificing all the youth products. Coming second is the absolute minimum he should get each season. This season has to be the last chance saloon with City in a bit of disarray, despite their results so far, behind the scenes. You can't just keep coming second, while not even trying to win the other trophies up for grabs each season, when spending so much.
I have to be honest, his managerial style I find frankly embarrassing. His team talks and stupid pickpocket 'lessons' etc, they are just middle-management stuff. While it is working, then it is fine, but you need to do more than think up silly gimmicks when the tide turns against you. So far he has not had to deal with a genuine blip, the closest was the end of the season before last, but he was then handed the money to go out and buy Declan Rice. So he never had to lift the players out of the doldrums and get things back on track, he had a £100m+ player signing to give the whole club a boost. Until he has a genuine bad bump in the road, we will never actually know how good or not he is. That is when we will find out, when the gimmicks are not going to do the trick and he doesn't have a big buy to lift things, it will be up to him. Then and only then will we find out if he actually has it in him to be a great coach.}
13 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 07:02:28
Good article and good read ed1, cheers. As a matter of interest if klopp was still going where would u have put him in list?
{Ed001's Note - top.}
13 Sep 2024
13 Sep 2024 01:42:48
In the interest of fairness. Didn't we at Liverpool have 2/ 3 of the team registered as asthmatic at one time? They could then use a drug that opened up the lungs and allowed for a quicker recovery time. Don't know if this rumour had any foundation, Eds?
{Ed001's Note - no mate, it was nonsense. It was based on what the UK and Sky cycling teams were doing but absolutely made up when it came to football.}
12 Sep 2024
12 Sep 2024 18:22:42
A poster earlier on mentioned patrik berger as one of his favourite players. i remember him being good with a cracking left peg but as i was young i don't know how good he was. so ed01 what you think.
{Ed001's Note - I have to be careful what I say here, my ma is in love with him so to say anything other than good things will get me in a lot of trouble. He was a very good player, worked hard, quick, good left peg, could hit a shot but did have a few injury problems.}
12 Sep 2024
12 Sep 2024 14:55:40
@Ron, there are also indications that the authorities are in on it. I suggest reading about the Fuentes case because it really is interesting and extremely shady.
During the trial, he offered to reveal all the names of the athletes who he doped but the Spanish court, where his trial was heard, declined his offer stating that he was under no obligation to reveal those names. They subsequently sentenced him to one year in prison (suspended) and barred him from being involved in sports for 4 years, a verdict that was formally overturned 3 years later. The blood samples that was taken from him were initially ordered to be destroyed but was subsequently turned over to the World Anti Doping Association for further tests but only after the statute of limitations had already passed.
Like I said, extremely shady by the Spanish courts and absolutely reeks of a cover-up. If I recall, Ed001 did write about this in the Lance Armstrong article as well.
12 Sep 2024
12 Sep 2024 13:20:39
I’m surprised you didn’t qualify your ranking of pep with a remark on your distaste for his style of play as well, Ed, to me his style of playing is so robotic, maybe not as automated as conte but it’s close to being that way in theory and practice, he has had the advantage of managing some truly great players who made it less boring (like kun and silva) but to me watching his football is like watching the most expensively assembled tank in history steamrolling slowly over a bunch of go karts, not sure why anybody would really like watching that kind of thing consistently. That being said, his teams are slightly more fun to watch now because of their defensive vulnerabilities in transition, they can be caught by surprise on the break now if rodri doesn’t manage to drag somebody down to prevent it, even United have done a job on them more than once now.
{Ed001's Note - I simply forgot to include that bit mate.}
12 Sep 2024
12 Sep 2024 12:50:56
If he’s doping then it’s up to the authorities to prove that. So for now, that’s not a reasonable stick to beat him with.
{Ed001's Note - the authorities have no interest in catching doping Ron. That is why they do not even publish the results of dope tests and players that are caught out do not even get named. Instead they are simply put down as injured. The authorities fear that if they admit the truth, football would suffer the same financial hit as road cycling did. Sponsors don't want the association with cheating.}
12 Sep 2024 12:00:06
Following on from a point below.
Ed's, interested to hear of any players that you know of that were close to joining but never quite happened. I've been a fan for 50 years now and can remember the likes of
Frank Worthington
Michael Laudrup
Cristiano Ronaldo
David Silva
Danni Alves
David Villa
That were supposedly close to joining.
Intrigued to know of any others?
(Frank Worthington's reason for failing his medical is hilarious if I remember rightly! )
{Ed001's Note - there were thousands over the years mate. Even in recent years, there was Nabil Fekir and Max Kruse.}
12 Sep 2024 13:24:35
Rafa said we were close to Aaron Ramsey, but Cardiff wanted to keep him for their cup run. By the time they were ready to do a deal Arsenal came along and outbid us.
12 Sep 2024 13:25:54
Alan Shearer, John Terry, Alan Smith, Luis Figo, Vidic, Aguero, Bale, Willian, Diego Costa, Kovacic, Sneijder. There were also whispers that Juan Mata was willing to join but Kenny turned him down for Stewart Downing but that might have just been an online rumour.
12 Sep 2024 15:03:17
I remember we signed bolo zenden instead of figo, and then the next year we passed on signing dani alves……you couldn’t make it up, we really went through that nonsense as a fanbase.
12 Sep 2024 15:10:36
Figo would've been 33 when we signed Zenden, so not sure if that was ever a goer.
12 Sep 2024 16:38:11
Ken Aguero was nailed on.
{Ed025's Note - i remember when that dick head fat spanish waiter wanted Barry instead of Alonso..
12 Sep 2024 16:43:41
R9 as heavily linked with us at the time, as well and I think (I could be wrong) he was open to it. Same for Batistuta.
12 Sep 2024 16:48:08
He blotted his copy book there, Ed025. Never understood what he was thinking there.
{Ed025's Note - nor me Rome, dont get me wrong Gareth was a fine player but was never an Alonso mate..
12 Sep 2024 16:53:29
Fido at age 33 was surely light years ahead of zenden, who was a decent and hardworking player for us despite injuries, but won’t be remembered for much in particular.
{Ed025's Note - even at 33 he would have had a dogs life at Liverpool PB.. :)
12 Sep 2024 17:22:33
Good one, Ed25. I see what you did there. Chuckle!
{Ed025's Note - sometimes i just cant resist Rome.. :)
12 Sep 2024 18:29:23
Signing Fido would of been the dogs bollocks.
{Ed025's Note - love it mate..
12 Sep 2024 18:47:10
Ed025 well rafa tells a different story on alonso. I trust neither. Every club moves on from managers and players.
{Ed025's Note - they do Mizer but some decisions do seem strange at times, but it would be a boring old world if we all thought the same mate i suppose..
12 Sep 2024 21:54:56
Ian Wright was close to signing as was Roy Keane.
12 Sep 2024 22:50:18
im still awaiting simao.
12 Sep 2024 23:03:18
Theres some pretty average human beings we missed out on, regardless of how good they were on the pitch. I can't say im sad we skipped out on Alves, Terry, Keane, Bale or Costa.
13 Sep 2024 00:56:26
Round the mid point of his time in Florence I know rui Costa had an offer on the table from us and almost took it. I've never heard anyone talk about it but I know it's true.
13 Sep 2024 06:54:46
Ron keague. Keane close to signing for lfc when he leaving forest? I thought it Blackburn.
13 Sep 2024 07:50:53
Remember with bale he was playing lb then and wasn’t very good and people didn’t want him signed.
13 Sep 2024 08:58:08
Rafa didn't want Barry specifically to replace Alonso according to his own words on the Stick to Football podcast. He said he went for Barry because he could play 3 positions and that we needed to sell. He literally said he was given £15m, £17m or £20m each season as a budget. He wanted to use the money we'd get for Alonso to sign Barry and Jovetic. He also says Alonso refused to play in a Champions League qualifier because he had an agreement with Arsenal, but Rafa forced him to play and that cup tied him which is why Alonso stayed an extra year.
Nobody really knows what Rafa planned to do with midfield options of Barry, Jovetic, Gerrard, Lucas and Mascherano because he never got the chance to show us. Either way, it's clear he had a vision for his squad that his pitiful budget wasn't allowing him to execute so he opted to sell a player who was more easily replaceable than the likes of Gerrard or Torres but would still bring in enough money to strengthen the squad overall in his opinion.
I hate the the oversimplification that Rafa wanted to sell Alonso to sign Barry. From the man himself, the truth is that he wanted to sign multiple top players and had to sell to make it happen. It just feels like a cheap dig to me which is very disrespectful given how much Rafa gave us and still loves the club. Barry won the league at Man City in 11/ 12 and is still the record holder for most Premier League appearances so it's not even like Rafa was trying to sign a bad player. Jovetic also went on to score over 100 goals around Europe and won the Premier League with Man City in 13/ 14. He went on to claim he was blown out the water for Vidic, Ramsey and Bale because the club couldn't compete financially. Imagine what he could've achieved with owners who gave even half a damn.
13 Sep 2024 09:47:00
The truth isn't as juicy a story for sites to peddle and for your average reader to consume. Plus many prefer to take as negative a view as possible, which is regularly seen on this site alone.
I'm pretty sure if Rafa had been backed properly he would have won a lot more (including the PL), although some of his football wasn't easy on the eye.
I'll always admire Rafa for calling Ferguson and the referee bias out, while several other managers were busy kissing Ferguson's backside.
That took huge cojones to swim against the tide like that.
13 Sep 2024 10:20:22
It must be unbearable for our above average readers coming on here.
13 Sep 2024 10:37:24
It's debatable to say "Rafa wanted to sign multiple top tier players " because some of the players he wanted to sign weren't top tier, jovetic being a good example. He was very problematic for fiorentina.
13 Sep 2024 11:35:52
It's debateable whether Barry or Jovetic were "top players" but what isn't up for debate is Rafa obviously thought they were and more importantly they were the players he wanted, but he wasn't backed.
13 Sep 2024 12:34:42
Lee Bowyer in 2002 on 40k pw before God pulled the plug on him. simething about not showing 'professionalism or something to that effect.
We dodged a bullet there!
13 Sep 2024 13:57:47
From what I remember Bowyer himself pulled out of the deal just before he was due to sign?
13 Sep 2024 08:25:30
Ed25.watch the overlap with Rafa . he said Alonso wanted out the year before n had a deal all done with Arsenal. he wouldn't play a champs league qualifier but we had no team so rafa made him play. so while I agree Alonso far superior player . looks like he shouldn't be overly praised on here esp over the Barry saga.
{Ed025's Note - its all hearsay Strom i suppose mate..
13 Sep 2024 23:16:06
I think Rafa was in the right place but at the wrong time which ultimately meant he wasn’t the right person for the club, and having said that I will always have a soft spot for him as a person for his (and his wife’s) support for the community.
I think Jurgen was in the right place at the right time and was, consequently the right man for the job. The free wheeling, get into them approach was brilliant and, for me the period in late 2019 was the best I’d seen us play in about 30 years. Also, like Rafa and his missus, Maria, I think Jurgen and Ulla also ‘understood’ the area and played a significant role supporting the community.
Too early to tell with Arne but the early signs certainly look good. A funny thought occurred to me as I was writing this - I don’t know if he is married or not. Does anybody know without looking it up? I think it might be a bit less of the ‘what you see is what you get’ with Arne than it was with Jurgen. Time will tell.
14 Sep 2024 09:11:12
Timing's everything, as they say.
12 Sep 2024
12 Sep 2024 11:01:23
I remember ed001 shared exactly how close Laudrup was to joining us and how we messed it up, wasn’t he supposed to join us straight from Denmark and somebody thought he wasn’t worth the money?
{Ed001's Note - no mate, Laudrup himself didn't feel he was good enough to play for us at the time. Strange for a self-confessed Liverpool fan, but that was the big issue.}
12 Sep 2024
12 Sep 2024 11:01:23
I remember ed001 shared exactly how close Laudrup was to joining us and how we messed it up, wasn’t he supposed to join us straight from Denmark and somebody thought he wasn’t worth the money?
{Ed001's Note - no mate, Laudrup himself didn't feel he was good enough to play for us at the time. Strange for a self-confessed Liverpool fan, but that was the big issue.}
12 Sep 2024 07:39:01
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Top 10 - Managers
12 Sep 2024 08:55:46
Good article, Ed.
I just can’t separate Guardiola from the money/ cheating, no matter how many trophies he wins. His style simply doesn’t work without him having the exact players he wants in (nearly) every position. A fairer, less corrupt sport would have exposed Guardiola a long time ago.
{Ed001's Note - and that is the problem mate. We don't have a sport without corruption, and so we can never judge Guardiola properly. One thing is for sure, if you add in recruitment to the mix of things to judge him by (which would have been difficult as so few are heavily involved in recruitment these days), he defo comes out a lot worse. Not one of his teams have recruited well, they just buy and buy and buy, but somehow, at the end of it, his teams are never as good when he leaves as they were at the beginning. Citeh, for example, are so much poorer without David Silva, no one has come close to replacing him, even though he has spent hundreds of millions trying to do so.}
12 Sep 2024 10:47:43
Just on Guardiola and cheating, I think it goes beyond just money since there has been suspicions of doping going on in his teams, especially the miraculous recoveries from injuries weeks before the projected dates. Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't there whispers that his Barcelona team (and the Spanish FA at that time) engaged the services of Fuentes to give the players an additional boost? That and his players going to Spain for "treatment" during their injuries is extremely shady.
{Ed001's Note - yes and at Bayern he dismissed the medical staff to bring in his own, all of whom have been implicated by Fuentes. The medical staff he dismissed have also been vocal in claims that they were dismissed because they would not utilise doping, but that could easily have been sour grapes.}
12 Sep 2024 11:40:58
Too right Ed01 and the other lads, regarding Pep. He has always had the most money, the best players and the best teams. Even at Barcelona B that a ton of his acolytes like to put forward as him "working his way up the ranks", he always had the best team back then in a league full of part-timers and amateurs for the most part.
We have managers like Klopp, Arrigo Sacchi and others who coached in the German or Italian second division and worked their way up to coaching the best teams and winning the biggest trophies. Pretty sure when Klopp and Sacchi were coaching Mainz and Parma respectively in the second division, those clubs were NOT made of money like Bayern, Barcelona and City esp. are/ were. As for the cheating? I really think the Pep cannot be bothered about any of that since he is so obsessed with winning, he has no flips given on how he gets there.
And regardless being born with a silver spoon in his mouth managerially, his record at Bayern was absolutely abysmal despite the advantages he had with them. He managed to make that super team Heynckes left him worse. And his record in the CL is quite poor overall compared to the likes of Ancellotti for example who also made his name coaching Parma as well. That's why I will always have a hard time giving Pep his due cos unlike others who really did the work thru the ranks, Pep always had the skids greased for him and that will always matter, IMO.
12 Sep 2024 12:33:32
Ed1 - I was of the same opinion on Pep.
However we cannot discard this fact below -
We can get lower ranked teams to higher rank (like 8 to 5 or 4 to 2 any maybe 1st occasionaly) but I feel it is much more difficult to keep 1st ranked team at the same place year after year.
I know he is spenindg millions every year and always take the top team in each of the league but to keep motivating the high performers again and again is also a big task.
I am not sure if we give Man City and same spending power to Klopp, he will deliver similar results as Pep every year.
He might win a year here and there but not sure if he can replicate same success year on year.
On the other hand, if Pep takes up any 5th or 4th placed team with spending power restricitions, I am sure he will not be able to repicate his success.
In this scenario, the likes of Klopp score above Pep everytime.
12 Sep 2024 12:50:56
If he’s doping then it’s up to the authorities to prove that. So for now, that’s not a reasonable stick to beat him with.
{Ed001's Note - the authorities have no interest in catching doping Ron. That is why they do not even publish the results of dope tests and players that are caught out do not even get named. Instead they are simply put down as injured. The authorities fear that if they admit the truth, football would suffer the same financial hit as road cycling did. Sponsors don't want the association with cheating.}
12 Sep 2024 13:20:39
I’m surprised you didn’t qualify your ranking of pep with a remark on your distaste for his style of play as well, Ed, to me his style of playing is so robotic, maybe not as automated as conte but it’s close to being that way in theory and practice, he has had the advantage of managing some truly great players who made it less boring (like kun and silva) but to me watching his football is like watching the most expensively assembled tank in history steamrolling slowly over a bunch of go karts, not sure why anybody would really like watching that kind of thing consistently. That being said, his teams are slightly more fun to watch now because of their defensive vulnerabilities in transition, they can be caught by surprise on the break now if rodri doesn’t manage to drag somebody down to prevent it, even United have done a job on them more than once now.
{Ed001's Note - I simply forgot to include that bit mate.}
12 Sep 2024 13:33:10
SamiKewell - I’m not sure people dispute that Pep is a top manager. One thing he’s done well is getting City competitive every year - a minimum requirement given the money spent to fund and maintain that team, but one that was beyond the likes of Mancini and Pellegrini (two okay managers) .
But I’m not buying the football genius label. Most of Pep’s ‘innovative’ tactics fail, and he then has to go back to the tried and tested method of ‘having better players’ to rectify the problem.
Klopp would wipe the floor with Pep if their budgets were even remotely comparable. Even Solskjaer regularly beat Pep up when he was in charge of United.
12 Sep 2024 14:55:40
@Ron, there are also indications that the authorities are in on it. I suggest reading about the Fuentes case because it really is interesting and extremely shady.
During the trial, he offered to reveal all the names of the athletes who he doped but the Spanish court, where his trial was heard, declined his offer stating that he was under no obligation to reveal those names. They subsequently sentenced him to one year in prison (suspended) and barred him from being involved in sports for 4 years, a verdict that was formally overturned 3 years later. The blood samples that was taken from him were initially ordered to be destroyed but was subsequently turned over to the World Anti Doping Association for further tests but only after the statute of limitations had already passed.
Like I said, extremely shady by the Spanish courts and absolutely reeks of a cover-up. If I recall, Ed001 did write about this in the Lance Armstrong article as well.
12 Sep 2024 16:02:54
Aye Dracred was just going to post that - the Spanish Courts ordered everything to be destroyed
Strange, one would think, giving the mandate of Courts - but, apparently, the ramifications of such being brought to public knowledge could have had ramifications to the Spanish national team, given the success that they enjoyed during the period that the doping occurred.
12 Sep 2024 15:59:56
I find the doping interesting.
I see it a bit like the flat earth loonies who say that the earth is flat and all pilots know it but are told to keep it a secret. Someone would squeal just for notoriety if nothing else!
Surely if systemic doping is happening at least one player would call it out? I might be wrong though, Lance Armstrong got away with it for years I suppose and he wasn’t even the start of it in cycling.
12 Sep 2024 16:50:59
Ed01, that was exactly what Major League Baseball did during the "steroids" era. They knew a ton of players (hitters like Sammy Sosa, Aaron Rodriguez, Barry Bonds etc. ) or pitchers (like Roger Clemens) were on 'roids at the time.
But cos they were hitting so many home runs and the fans were rushing to the stadiums to watch games live hence, the money kept flowing in MLB just looked the other way and focused more on the dollar signs which was immense. They did nothing to hold these guys accountable for blatant cheating in order to "protect" the sport. Same thing has happened to football, IMO.
13 Sep 2024 01:03:10
Italy pursues doping quite religiously. People think Italy is corrupt because of all the people who get caught cheating but Italian authorities don't **** about. They want to catch them, they publicise when they do catch them and they give real punishments. It happens in every league, but Italy is the only one who chases them publicly.
Everyone else gives the impression of pursuing them but uses a test that's easily tricked test/ epitest ratio, only does it once per season and doesn't publish when they catch someone.
Spain is by far the worst league. They have zero interest in catching someone and it wasn't even against their rules until 2010 and even that was because of public pressure from the Fuentes trial. Three Spanish doctors all admitted working for Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia all three had been convicted of doping previously and this all happened at the same time Spain just so happened to win every national trophy after going 40 years winning nothing.
13 Sep 2024 01:42:48
In the interest of fairness. Didn't we at Liverpool have 2/ 3 of the team registered as asthmatic at one time? They could then use a drug that opened up the lungs and allowed for a quicker recovery time. Don't know if this rumour had any foundation, Eds?
{Ed001's Note - no mate, it was nonsense. It was based on what the UK and Sky cycling teams were doing but absolutely made up when it came to football.}
13 Sep 2024 04:44:37
Potclay - That was a load of horse manure manufactured on Twitter to soil Liverpool’s title win in 2020 after every other attempt, including calls to cancel the league altogether, had failed.
It was utter nonsense.
13 Sep 2024 07:02:28
Good article and good read ed1, cheers. As a matter of interest if klopp was still going where would u have put him in list?
{Ed001's Note - top.}
13 Sep 2024 07:54:01
Great article Ed001
Wrt Arteta. I ask the same questions of him as mentioned above re Pep and his use of certain drugs
The 2 just seem like 2 peas in a pot
Besides my clearly unbiased and total love for Arteta (wink wink nudge nudge) . what are your thoughts on the guy?
{Ed001's Note - I just think he has been handed everything he wanted and has yet to achieve anything. He has had wads of cash to spend, backing of the board over the players, time and everything built around his desires. In those circumstances, he should be winning trophies, multiple trophies. Especially as they have allowed him to buy ready-made players, not youngsters to be developed, while sacrificing all the youth products. Coming second is the absolute minimum he should get each season. This season has to be the last chance saloon with City in a bit of disarray, despite their results so far, behind the scenes. You can't just keep coming second, while not even trying to win the other trophies up for grabs each season, when spending so much.
I have to be honest, his managerial style I find frankly embarrassing. His team talks and stupid pickpocket 'lessons' etc, they are just middle-management stuff. While it is working, then it is fine, but you need to do more than think up silly gimmicks when the tide turns against you. So far he has not had to deal with a genuine blip, the closest was the end of the season before last, but he was then handed the money to go out and buy Declan Rice. So he never had to lift the players out of the doldrums and get things back on track, he had a £100m+ player signing to give the whole club a boost. Until he has a genuine bad bump in the road, we will never actually know how good or not he is. That is when we will find out, when the gimmicks are not going to do the trick and he doesn't have a big buy to lift things, it will be up to him. Then and only then will we find out if he actually has it in him to be a great coach.}
13 Sep 2024 09:06:40
Ed1, good morning mate - an excellent read that, as always mate. Was in the middle of a reply last night but got side tracked. Glad to see Gasperini so high up and as for Guardiola, it's one of them names I don't want to see at number one but he has to be going on current active managers. If you redo this article in a few years from now I'd like to think Slot will be on the list somewhere, we'll have to see how he does. I also think Alonso might move up it a little.
Did you ever do one of these on all time managers mate?
{Ed001's Note - I don't think I have yet. I have promised to do international managers next, but I might do that afterwards. Though that is a very, very tough one to do!}
13 Sep 2024 10:08:27
Ed001, what do you think of Arne Slot so far in his career? What he has to accomplish to eventually be considered among the best?
{Ed001's Note - so far he has done really well, but it was in the Netherlands, which has been shown by Ten Hag to be a long way from the most difficult league to win. What he has to do now is keep winning games and trophies. The more he wins of both, the higher up he will go in the consideration.}
13 Sep 2024 10:40:41
Nice to see gasperini getting some love. He's always been an excellent coach and rather rarely for Italy he loves attacking and scoring goals.
13 Sep 2024 17:09:24
Ed01, I agree with you regarding Arteta. The guy seems to be quite full of himself as well despite not having won as much as a sausage since 19/ 20. At some point like you said and despite all the backing he has had (over 600m spent since 2020), he is going to have to get over the line.
Also, him getting a pass for not even bothering to even try to compete for the lesser trophies is just hilarious. Can you imagine that happening with a manager at LFC?
And him getting another extension will only add the pressure on him, too from a fan perspective cos a lot of Arsenal fans are at their wits end already.
{Ed001's Note - I am not sure the Arsenal fans are at their wit's end with him. They seem very happy with him now, after initially being unconvinced. He has the media on his side, which has helped him a lot - they championed his cause to get a chance and now talk up everything he does as brilliant, twisting mistakes into strokes of genius etc. While he has them onside, the pressure will probably be off.}
13 Sep 2024 18:06:05
Ed1. Me too.
13 Sep 2024 23:45:04
Brilliant article Ed really enjoyed that so thank you! I remember the last one you did about top managers and Michael O'Neil was on there! Unfortunately things have not worked out for him as of yet but maybe he still has time.
Be interesting to read an article on your top 10 overrated managers. Arteta would certainly be on my list along with ETH.
Has Postecoglu impressed you since coming in to spurs? He certainly seems to play an attractive brand of football.
{Ed001's Note - I like Ange but he has taken on the wrong job and he needs to learn to be pragmatic at times. And to play a defender who can defend over one who can run very quick. I do love the way his teams play, but he wants to win and that is not the Spurs way.}
14 Sep 2024 09:14:21
Ed01, I hope so for his sake cos I've seen lots of fans online saying he has to deliver this season and no amount of double speak from him and his allies in the media will cut it for them. Like you said tho and now that he has gotten an extension, they'll prolly leave him alone for the most part.