BlueRockape
Well-Known Member
This lad AP88 is winning my little competition over there at the moment.
Indeed he was Ferguson’s pick, but he dodged the job because he knew the has-beens and Cleverleys, Welbecks etc that Sir Alex had been miraculously winning with would have exposed him as an incredibly one-dimensional coach, instead opting to sabotage then-European Champions Bayern before accepting the job at Manchester’s equivalent to a lottery winning Celta Vigo, on the promise of what will soon become a £1B squad, despite once famously saying money clubs that don’t develop their own talent make him sad.
Considering Ranieri turned Mahrez into POTY, I imagine he’d do fairly well with a starting 11 that cost on average circa £50m per head, and seeing as Dyche is turning lower league players into England internationals, I’d fancy him to do a reasonable job too.
It’s not Pep’s tactics that set this City team apart, nor the patterns of play - it’s the abnormal insensity that facilitates such goals as the second one yesterday; the likes of De Bruyne had never shown such sustained mobility prior to this season, then suddenly can overrun every other team in England.
Even peak Ronaldo, built like an Olympic sprinter, looked more strained on the counter than these previously/dubious athletes under convicted drugs cheat Pep. David Silva had never beaten an offside trap in his career, yet suddenly in his 30s looked like Giggs circa 1994 to set up the third.
AP88 in full flow now.
Pogba and Lukaku were disproportionately expensive, and account for more than half of that £300m; the rest of that spend is easily eclipsed by what Pep has spent on goalkeepers and defenders alone in 18 months.
Mourinho’s work with Lingard is more commendable than Pep’s with Sterling, De Bruyne or Sane, yet is widely ignored by the media, who act like Guardiola pulled them from the academy and made them Champions - just how they did with Messi, despite him widely being tipped to become the worlds best as far back as 2005; as they did with Pique, despite him personally accrediting his time at United for his defensive development, or Iniesta and Xavi, despite both playing key roles for Spain at Euro 2008 before he coached them. In the same way they imply Neuer was effectively Roy Carroll until working with the Catalan Christ.
Mourinho’s playing catch-up, and without the limitless charity of an Arabian oil state, has to selectively replenish his squad gradually over numerous transfer windows; once he has a similar depth of quality to work with, only then can their achievements be compared meritocratically.
They both sound as if they are from Korea