Ha. Messi, Xavi, iniesta, fabregas, Sergio etc were a once in a generation crew and pep deserves credit for not only utilizing their skill but also their approach: 3 seconds to win the ball back etc. the 5-0 win over Madrid during that time was the closest thing to sports perfection I’ve ever watched. At one point Xavi and iniesta we’re passing it back and forth 30 yards from the goal, just standing, and no one on real even tried to win it back they were so defeated. Anyway, they’re all mercenaries now.
I’m really rooting for ole. This Fernandes is great and they might be getting the Dutch back. Good times ahead again for United. As for Pogba. I don’t know. He doesn’t seem to have that sir Alex ethic.
Pogba wasn't trusted by Fergie even as a kid. A lot of the transfers made were for PR/commercial reasons. It was the European approach -- buy them and then let the head coach get them to work together.
But instead of a Director of Football, it was done by the Vice Chairman's commercial team.
The big mistake United did was not to appoint Jose right after Fergie retired.
Jose came in the wrong time when the team was a mishmash/remnants of various squads of the previous managers. You know Jose is best only with mature players -- he knows/trust their skillsets and attitudes and can put together a team that way. He could have squeezed out the last drops of that ageing post-Fergie squad.
And lets see if he is a tactical dinosaur next season when he gets a full pre-season with his Spurs team, assuming that they can even start the season as per-normal -- which is looking increasingly unlikely.
Instead, they got Moyes who I am sure was hardly the 3rd or even 5th choice. The other mistake was letting David Gill the CEO retire along with Fergie the same time. Very poor succession planning by the Board of Directors.
LVG was the ying-yang manager. Very bad on the eyes to watch but great as sleep therapy.
I know LCG was considered amongst the grandfather of the tiki-taka style along with Cruyff which eventually led to the peak-Barca. But man, when you are watching an LVG/United team, you long for basic hoof-ball. I came to hate tiki-taka style because of LVG.
If it's possible to humanly euthanise a person via watching football, I think LVG found the perfect solution.
I watch United matches like at 10 or 11pm. Occasionally we have the late matches that start after Midnight, Singapore time. When LVG was around, I would be asleep by 10.30 or 11.30 almost 50% of the time. Even when we won, it felt like a loss.
The standard message I used to get on my Whatsapp (with my JH's roommate) was: '' You still there or asleep?'
Just hope that LVG wasn't working for the Illuminati and those pattern of plays wasn't some subliminal brainwashing.
That once in a life-time generation is just so hard to replicate. They played forever in that team. So you would have lost talent coming out of La Masia in droves. That's the danger. And was Fergie's genius building up three generations of squads.
But the style of football has changed and to be honest, for the better. Its the gegenpress, heavy metal style out of Germany. Klopp took a couple of seasons to get this right -- his teams used to be knackered after 65th -70th minute like some premature ejaculated teenager. Van Dijk has made a huge difference to that style of play. A solidity at the base.
There are derivatives of the German approaches being Nagelsmann, Lucian Favre etc. But I don't know how transferable their style of play is to the EPL. The German league's a lot more homogeneous in their style. The EPL has a Klopp, a Pep and then a Watford or Crystal Palace.
A full pressing attacking opposition to a 100% counter-attacking team the next few days. And even the re-emergence of the old 4-4-2 with some clubs.
I am 100% behind Ole. But at some point, he would have needed a Pep-like sabbatical after all that (currently) unappreciated heavy-lifting by short-term thinking fans.
Then who next? Nagelsmann? But from the German league? That's a risk due to the reason mentioned above. Klopp may be a one-off.