2 hours ago, Imran_CFC said:

Looking at the state Man City find themselves in has got me questioning Pep's Managerial prowess, he has experienced great success at the 3 clubs he has managed however he has not really had to build those teams. These were teams which he inherited and not taking anything away from him but he did an excellent job in achieving success with those teams however this is the first time he is being tasked with building a team and I've got to say he is failing miserably. If we look at the team he inherited at City, the starting 11 was as follows:

Hart, Clichy, Kompany, Otamendi, Zabaleta, KDB, Fernandinho, Yaya, Silva, Aguero, Sterling

He has been there a few seasons now and spent close to £750m and the team which started against Spurs was:

Ederson, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo, Bernardo, Rodri, KDB, Mahrez, Jesus, Torres

City appear to be significantly weaker as a team even after such huge amounts invested into the team, should he be in the conversation when we discuss the greatest Managers of all time?   

It's clear by now that he simply couldn't replicate what he did in Barcelona. But that particular team had many players that were the Golden Spanish generation that won 2 Euro's and a World Cup.

If we see Barcelona a bit historically when it comes to managers, in the early 2000's Van Gaal took over and changed some things but shorty after whole Camp Nou was waiving him goodbye with white handkerchiefs, after him comes Antic that gave the chance to a young Iniesta, among others but he as well got sacked after expanding on this new system.

In comes Frank Rijkaard that took the works of the previous 2 managers and he wins La Liga twice and a Champions League (that time vs Arsenal when Henrik Larsson came in as a sub and solved the game with 2 assists). Rijkaard leaves Barcelona in 2008 when the highest point of that Spanish generation came to be and Pep essentially takes over what has been the work of others for the previous 5 years.

Rijkaard never came close to what he managed to win with Barcelona in those years, he's working in Saudi Arabia. In fact every other manager around Pep himself never managed to sell themselves for a top club again, after Pep the assistant at the time was Tito Vilanova and he died but even he managed to win 1 La Liga with that team, Martino after Barcelona managed Argentina and is currently managing Mexico and Luis Enrique that also won 2 La liga titles and a Champions League just like Rijkaard is managing Spain. You could argue that now when that whole generation basically retired, Valverde that didn't win anything despite spending a lot of money is the worst manager Barcelona had in the recent years but we should keep in mind just how much control Messi has over that team now as well.

So only Pep sold his whole persona and convinced the world that he's that amazing, like you said he inherited one of the best teams in multiple occasions, not only in Barcelona but when he came to Bayern, that was basically the best team in Europe at the time and yet he never managed to win another CL title, when he took over Man City they were among the top 4 teams, in the last 2 seasons of Pellegrini at City they finished 2nd and 4th, Pep managed to finish in his first season 3rd and he just started to outspend everyone but he has only 1 PL title more than Pellegrini, in fact Pellegrini managed to come to the semi-finals of the CL while Pep despite inheriting Pellegrini's squad never managed to come to the CL semi-finals yet.

6 hours ago, Imran_CFC said:

Looking at the state Man City find themselves in has got me questioning Pep's Managerial prowess, he has experienced great success at the 3 clubs he has managed however he has not really had to build those teams. These were teams which he inherited and not taking anything away from him but he did an excellent job in achieving success with those teams however this is the first time he is being tasked with building a team and I've got to say he is failing miserably. If we look at the team he inherited at City, the starting 11 was as follows:

Hart, Clichy, Kompany, Otamendi, Zabaleta, KDB, Fernandinho, Yaya, Silva, Aguero, Sterling

He has been there a few seasons now and spent close to £750m and the team which started against Spurs was:

Ederson, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo, Bernardo, Rodri, KDB, Mahrez, Jesus, Torres

City appear to be significantly weaker as a team even after such huge amounts invested into the team, should he be in the conversation when we discuss the greatest Managers of all time?   

I always maintain the argument that he failed at Bayern. He got a bigger budget than most Bayern managers ever had, he took over one of the greatest Bayern sides there has been from that Jupp Heynecks team that just won the CL and blown everyone away comfortably. And even after that, he still couldn't win the CL in those 3 years he was there. Each time he got tactically dominated by the big 3 Spanish teams in Semi's and Quarters. Atletico, Bayern and Madrid all knocked him out in that period. 

I don't really consider winning the Bundesliga with Bayern a major accomplishment, not with the team he had at the time and budget. 

that Celtic team is really dire only worth watching for their comedic value   

December fixtures are out (not quite all yet all of ours):

Saturday 5 December

12:30 Burnley v Everton (BT Sport)
15:00 Man City v Fulham (BT Sport)
17:30 West Ham v Man Utd (Sky Sports)
20:00 Chelsea v Leeds Utd (Sky Sports)

Sunday 6 December

12:00 West Brom v Crystal Palace (Sky Sports)
14:15 Sheffield Utd v Leicester City (Sky Sports)
16:30 Spurs v Arsenal (Sky Sports)
19:15 Liverpool v Wolves (Amazon Prime Video)

Saturday 12 December

12:30 Wolves v Aston Villa (BT Sport)
15:00 Newcastle Utd v West Brom (Sky Sports)
17:30 Man Utd v Man City (Sky Sports)
20:00 Everton v Chelsea (BT Sport) 

Sunday 13 December

12:00 Southampton v Sheff Utd (Sky Sports)
14:15 Crystal Palace v Spurs (Sky Sports)
16:30 Fulham v Liverpool (Sky Sports)
19:15 Arsenal v Burnley (Sky Sports)
19:15 Leicester City v Brighton (Amazon Prime Video)

Tuesday 15 December

18:00 Wolves v Chelsea (Amazon Prime Video)
20:00 Man City v West Brom (Amazon Prime Video)

Wednesday 16 December

18:00 Arsenal v Southampton (Amazon Prime Video)
18:00 Leeds Utd v Newcastle Utd (Amazon Prime Video)
18:00 Leicester City v Everton (Amazon Prime Video)
20:00 Fulham v Brighton (Amazon Prime Video)
20:00 Liverpool v Spurs (Amazon Prime Video)
20:00 West Ham v Crystal Palace (Amazon Prime Video)

Thursday 17 December

18:00 Aston Villa v Burnley (Amazon Prime Video)
20:00 Sheffield Utd v Man Utd (Amazon Prime Video)

Saturday 19 December

12:30 Crystal Palace v Liverpool (BT Sport)
15:00 Southampton v Man City (Amazon Prime Video)
17:30 Everton v Arsenal (Sky Sports)
20:00 Newcastle Utd v Fulham (Sky Sports)

Sunday 20 December

12:00 Brighton v Sheffield Utd (Sky Sports)
14:15 Spurs v Leicester City (Sky Sports)
16:30 Man Utd v Leeds Utd (Sky Sports)
19:15 West Brom v Aston Villa (BT Sport)

Monday 21 December

17:30 Burnley v Wolves (Sky Sports)
20:00 Chelsea v West Ham (Sky Sports)

Saturday 26 December

12:30 Leicester City v Man Utd (BT Sport)
15:00 Aston Villa v Crystal Palace (BBC)
15:00 Fulham v Southampton (Sky Sports)
17:30 Arsenal v Chelsea (Sky Sports)
20:00 Man City v Newcastle Utd (BT Sport)
20:00 Sheffield Utd v Everton (BT Sport)

Sunday 27 December

12:00 Leeds Utd v Burnley (Sky Sports)
14:15 West Ham v Brighton (Sky Sports)
16:30 Liverpool v West Brom (Sky Sports)
19:15 Wolves v Spurs (Sky Sports)

Monday 28 December

15:00 Crystal Palace v Leicester City (Amazon Prime Video)
17:30 Chelsea v Aston Villa (Amazon Prime Video)
20:00 Everton v Man City (Amazon Prime Video)

16 hours ago, Valerie said:

You would not believe how many hoops I had to jump through to watch this video, and then disappointingly end up seeing the unwashed sing Who the f**k are Man United  

Yeah but you loved it just the same.

So as it turns out Dani Güiza is still playing in Group IV of the Spanish third tier at the age of 40.

Just reading that the Christmas fixtures are least kind to Chelsea and Man City with only 48 hours between games. Liverpool , United and Arsenal all get 3 days between theirs.

Who'd have thought it?

5 hours ago, carrickblue said:

Just reading that the Christmas fixtures are least kind to Chelsea and Man City with only 48 hours between games. Liverpool , United and Arsenal all get 3 days between theirs.

Who'd have thought it?

With the pandemic having such an effect on the games schedule, you would like to think that the Premier League would make things easier, but nope, money and tv is all they are concerned about. All teams should be getting equal recovery time.

This current Liverpool side is so lucky, Brighton miss a one on one and than a penalty.

This has to have been the worst season in a long time for penalties. So many terrible ones. No excuse for missing the target when it's a slow shot along the ground.

That looks offside

Michy B should have gone Brighton over Palace. He'd walk into their starting XI and they play some decent football. 

Brighton throw given, Salah argues with the linesman who changes his decision and gives Liverpool the throw.

Laughable.

Brighton look like they're never going to score, despite the chances they're getting. Liverpool will probably score on their one break of the half

Brighton have been poor up top, it’s like they don’t really have the belief that they can win this.

And there was the one chance. They'll collapse and lose 3-0 now.

Jota is some player.

Odd substitution considering they are losing.

Maybe Brighton have written this one off and are ok with a slender defeat.

Edited November 28, 20205 yr by 2211

How the f**k is Steve Mcnanaman a commentator, the guy talks absolute bollocks.

2 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

How the f**k is Steve Mcnanaman a commentator, the guy talks absolute bollocks.

How can he say that wasn’t a free kick to Brighton?

Edited November 28, 20205 yr by 2211

If I got a penny for every time the media mentioned Liverpool's injury crisis, we get it they have a few players out.

get in!

Another pen

They deserved that 

Brighton have been the better team, not sure what Klopp is complaining about that was a definite penalty.