What's your unpopular football opinion?

Dots1982

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Unpopular opinion: I think the Neymar to PSG move will go down as one of the tragic 'what if?' stories of our era.

He was exceptional domestically, but he was always going to be judged on his performances in the Champions League. In his first season at PSG, he missed the Last 16 second leg with Madrid due to injury; in his second season, he missed the Last 16 second leg with United due to injury (becoming a meme in the process over the penalty); and now in this most recent season, just when it all seemed to be coming together for him as he helped PSG get past Dortmund into the quarter-finals, the virus pandemic looks to have put a stop to his Champions League hopes. And Paris were looking a very decent bet to go all the way this time with a lot of big teams getting knocked out.

Not many will sympathise with him as he's not the easiest to like, but he's a superb talent and I would have liked to see if he could have delivered a Champions League before he presumably heads back to Spain. I suppose there's still a small chance the tournament could be completed in 2020, but if cases continue to spread I'd be sceptical it can happen.

I would agree wholeheartedly with this. It might still come off but Neymar’s move to PSG has been a huge drag on his career to say the least. He’s still almost certain to overtake Pele as the highest Brazilian International goalscorer of all time so his legacy should be secure but he is a generational talent and may not be remembered like that right now.

Dots1982

I’ll throw out a couple more minority opinions

Pat bonner was overrated for ireland

Niall Quinn was the most underrated Irish international ever.

Anyone who thinks Robbie Keane was Ireland’s best ever player is a long way from right.

Luis enrique’s Barcelona was better than Pep’s.

The Spain team that won euro, World Cup, euro back to back were superbly efficient but not much fun to watch.

Harry Kane struggles to play in hot weather.

Wes Hoolahan should have played more for ireland, but only if Robbie Keane was going to be dropped. Wes and Robbie couldn’t be played in the same team as they were both luxury players. They do nothing when you don’t have the ball. A lot of fans seem to think they should have played together.

Jack Byrne needs to work on just playing in the oppositions half and not come so deep for the ball. He will get crushed by counter pressing if he comes deep.

The reaction against VAR by Irish people when Ireland got eliminated From a World Cup by a player playing basketball in their penalty box shows football fans have extremely short memories.

Irish football is small time and backward. The FAI’s shortcomings is a factor in this but more significant is the Irish state don’t invest anything in the sport here.


John Giles’ main point in his huge career of punditry is that any midfielder who is truly great has to play like John Giles.

English Premier league and Champions league knockout football is absolutely great...but mostly people just moan About it.

Brian?

Girly Gal wrote: »

Guardiola's Barca team were a very good team, filled with some wonderful players, but, are overrated as they could not defend, instead relying on holding onto possession.

That is defending. There were flaws with it, but the best thing about that team was they redefined how to defend and attack.

I think they were the best team I ever watched.

Zico

Every team suffers a loss of form during a season, even the best teams. We'll never know if Liverpool would have collapsed completely in the final weeks of the season.

Devon Loch as SAF used compare it to.

Arsenal would be the most successful team in the PL if seasons were called early or if they were given a few months to regroup when the wheels started falling off the train. And then there's Newcastle oh course.

Big asterisk beside the 2019/20 season whatever way you look at it.
It should be void to be fair.

Girly Gal

Brian? wrote: »

That is defending. There were flaws with it, but the best thing about that team was they redefined how to defend and attack.

I think they were the best team I ever watched.

Holding onto possession is not genuine defending, defending was an aspect that Pep's Barca pretty much neglected.
They were defensively poor, when playing other top teams who attacked them they always looked like conceding, but, because of the wonderful attacking players they had, they generally outscored the opposition. With the attacking talent they had they really should have been able to win consecutive CL, but, because Pep relied on holding possession rather than genuine defending they didn't.

munster87

chicorytip wrote: »

I think goalkeepers ought to be allowed to pick the ball up after a pass back from a team mate. Keepers have no ball playing skills. That's why they end up playing in goal. Why did FIFA change that rule anyway? I think it was an ill thought out innovation, a consequence of one particular match - the 1990 World Cup final - where the tactic was employed in a deliberately cynical manner by West Germany in order to waste time and frustrate the opposition.
Well, whatever the intention, it certainly has not resulted in more skillful, open or entertaining football.

https://twitter.com/elliothackney/status/1196347211870855168?s=21

Was after Euro 92

darlett

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Don't know if this is necessarily unpopular but the away goals rule should be done away with. All it does is encourage defensive play from the home team because they're afraid of conceding an away goal.

I really enjoy penalty shootouts, and dont accept that they are an unfair end to any game. As said before pens are not a lottery. They involve quantities of skill and nerves. Any game that goes the distance to pens, I'm captivated. Im gonna message my dad or a buddy and say, hey flick on over to this! I hate that away goals rule very often prevents otherwise tied games from been resolved this way.

Brian?

Girly Gal wrote: »

Holding onto possession is not genuine defending, defending was an aspect that Pep's Barca pretty much neglected.
They were defensively poor, when playing other top teams who attacked them they always looked like conceding, but, because of the wonderful attacking players they had, they generally outscored the opposition. With the attacking talent they had they really should have been able to win consecutive CL, but, because Pep relied on holding possession rather than genuine defending they didn't.

I disagree, there is no better way to defend than denying your opposition possession. Barca would press high and win the ball back quickly, stopping teams attacking before they got a chance. It had it's flaws, but it was incredibly successful.

I am not sure what you mean by "genuine defending". Do you mean holding your shape and parking the bus when needed? When Barca had a lead they were incredibly efficient at closing games out. Rather than dropping off and trying to hold, they played the exact same way continued to make the opposition run, it was wonderful to watch and they won a hell of a lot of trophies doing it.

It has influenced the way a lot of sides play and this change is one of the main reasons Mourinho hasn't been successful lately. His game of keeping it tight and dropping deep when you have a lead has been exposed over and over now.

Brian?

Dots1982 wrote: »

I would agree wholeheartedly with this. It might still come off but Neymar’s move to PSG has been a huge drag on his career to say the least. He’s still almost certain to overtake Pele as the highest Brazilian International goalscorer of all time so his legacy should be secure but he is a generational talent and may not be remembered like that right now.

Is it unpopular to thing this? I thought this was pretty commonly accepted. He should have never gone to PSG.

In fact, I think Neymar even agrees.

Brian?

Brian? wrote: »

Is it unpopular to thing this? I thought this was pretty commonly accepted. He should have never gone eto PSG.

In fact, I think Neymar even agrees.

Agreed. It's a popular opinion I would have thought.

Dots1982

Dots1982 wrote: »

Anyone who thinks Robbie Keane was Ireland’s best ever player is a long way from right.

I haven't seen many argue that he was our best ever. In fact remember pretty much the opposite, that it became very popular to moan about Robbie Keane in the late 00s, the whole "Keane is brutal" shtick became popular and people clamoured for Shane Long to replace him

Van.Bosch

For me, Pep is a great manager but has never managed a team who wasn’t favourite (possibly 2nd) to win their league.

If he wants to be great he should manage stoke or villa or someone like that - would genuinely love to see what he could to with a more normal group of players

adox

Van.Bosch wrote: »

For me, Pep is a great manager but has never managed a team who wasn’t favourite (possibly 2nd) to win their league.

If he wants to be great he should manage stoke or villa or someone like that - would genuinely love to see what he could to with a more normal group of players

This will be an unpopular opinion but I had hoped he would have come to Utd after Bayern, instead of City. City was the easy move.
Look Utd are a financial powerhouse so it was hardly going to a nothing club but, the state Utd were in(and still are to a great extent) was a great opportunity for him to go to a club that wasn’t competing at the top table and bring it back to the top.

I lost a bit of respect for him when he took the City job.

Bridge93

Would you lose respect for a player choosing city over United? Managers want to win things too, work with the best players etc. were united matching the money on offer from a City?

citytillidie

Zico wrote: »

Every team suffers a loss of form during a season, even the best teams. We'll never know if Liverpool would have collapsed completely in the final weeks of the season.

Devon Loch as SAF used compare it to.

Arsenal would be the most successful team in the PL if seasons were called early or if they were given a few months to regroup when the wheels started falling off the train. And then there's Newcastle oh course.

Big asterisk beside the 2019/20 season whatever way you look at it.
It should be void to be fair.

So you’re saying a team that went unbeaten in 40 odd games, 2 years unbeaten at home would not have won 2 more games out of 9 ?

Guy:Incognito

darlett wrote: »

I really enjoy penalty shootouts, and dont accept that they are an unfair end to any game. As said before pens are not a lottery. They involve quantities of skill and nerves. Any game that goes the distance to pens, I'm captivated. Im gonna message my dad or a buddy and say, hey flick on over to this! I hate that away goals rule very often prevents otherwise tied games from been resolved this way.

Yeah, the "lottery" bull**** irritates me every time a shootout looks like it might be happening. Usually gets its first airing in the final seconds of normal time. Then again at some point during extra time. Then maybe another for good measure during the shootout itself.

pgj2015

I enjoyed football more when the players were harder even dirty, players like roy keane, duncan ferguson, vinnie jones.

eagle eye

Yeah, agree with that. Football is almost always boring nowadays. Stronger team gets the ball into the final third passing it back and forth looking for an opening, no real creativity just waiting for a mistake from the oppisition. Somebody gets fouled and they're rolling around like they just got shot. Then there's the end of a 1-0 game where the team ahead try and keep the ball at the corner flag.
For the most part it's dreadful stuff. Obviously you have the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Mane and a few others who have a bit of magic about them but they are too few.

StringerBell

6 wrote: »

Agreed. It's a popular opinion I would have thought.

It was a widely held opinion before he even played his first game for psg, all about the money unfortunately.

Was a huge fan of neymar coming through in Brazil, he had so much potential.

TFBubendorfer

adox wrote: »

I lost a bit of respect for him when he took the City job.

Why on Earth would you lose respect for someone who chooses to join a club that is being well run over a club where the management side of things is a complete shambles?

Take off those red tinted glasses and think objectively for a moment.

adox

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Why on Earth would you lose respect for someone who chooses to join a club that is being well run over a club where the management side of things is a complete shambles?

Take off those red tinted glasses and think objectively for a moment.

Nothing to do with red tinted glasses.
Pep will go down as one of the great managers. His place in the pecking order would be higher if he manages a club that isn’t “ready made” for success.

Anyway I didn’t lose any sleep over it and it wasn’t influenced by me being a Utd supporter.

ricero

My unpopular opinion is that Alex Ferguson underacheived in Europe with Manchester United.

Really felt he should of won at least another two european cups during his time at Old Trafford.

Skylinehead

adox wrote: »

Nothing to do with red trinity glasses.
Pep will go down as one of the great managers. His place in the pecking order would be higher if he manages a club that isn’t “ready made” for success.

Anyway I didn’t lose any sleep over it and it wasn’t influenced by me being a Utd supporter.

Why do people expect managers to go to worse clubs and make them better, but don't apply the same standards to players?

Scholes was a decent player but his status seems to be overstated in recent years.

He scored some cracking goals but he was also a nasty so and so who regularly left the boot in.

A bit like Alan Shearer his fouls were always excused as poor timing due to him being more of an attack minded player.

adox

Skylinehead wrote: »

Why do people expect managers to go to worse clubs and make them better, but don't apply the same standards to players?

I didn’t expect him to. I said I was disappointed and lost a bit of respect for him. A player can’t turn a badly run club around. A manager can.

blinding

Ronin247 wrote: »

Lionel Messi shouldn't have been allowed to play professional football.
I will always have an issue with Barcelona being allowed to give him Human Growth Hormone. I realise that he was small, but I don't think it is a coincidence that he turned out to be possibly the greatest player ever. Should teams be allowed to give drugs to players that are "too slow" a course of steroids for players who need to add bulk?

Either drugs are not allowed or everyone can do them....

Even with that he is still no Ronaldo;)

This could be going on with more players than we realise I suppose.:eek:

blinding

ricero wrote: »

My unpopular opinion is that Alex Ferguson underacheived in Europe with Manchester United.

Really felt he should of won at least another two european cups during his time at Old Trafford.

Didn’t the Foreign Player rule scupper them in Europe for a few years. That didn’t help.

blinding

munster87 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/elliothackney/status/1196347211870855168?s=21

Was after Euro 92

Didn’t Jack Charltons Ireland team do a lot of the same ! !:eek:

Drumpot

blinding wrote: »

Didn’t the Foreign Player rule scupper them in Europe for a few years. That didn’t help.

English teams were banned for a start , which made it harder for English teams to compete in Europe, arguably until United won the CL in 1999. Ferguson was only managed for 14 more years and got to 3 finals. 2 of them against Arguably the greatest footballing side of all time (Barca) coming into the peak of their powers.

Another factor was that SAF was due to retire early 00s (Erickson his successor) so he took his eye off the ball. This inludes his falling out with the board over a horse that ultimately led to the glazers taking over. His rebuild led to the exceptional squad in 2008.

What’s also interesting is the fact that the two seasons they won the CL, they won the league aswell. Don’t think an awful lot of teams can say that over the last 30 years.

I think it’s harder to remain at one club for so long and keep churning different squads. For that alone SAF is in a different league to all managers who might be pretenders to challanging his greatness.

Drumpot

Deleted User wrote: »

Scholes was a decent player but his status seems to be overstated in recent years.

He scored some cracking goals but he was also a nasty so and so who regularly left the boot in.

A bit like Alan Shearer his fouls were always excused as poor timing due to him being more of an attack minded player.

I will let xavi express my sentiments.

https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1956/europe/2012/12/09/3590377/scholes-is-the-best-midfielder-of-the-last-20-years-xavi

"In the last 15 to 20 years the best central midfielder that I have seen - the most complete - is Scholes," Xavi said. "I have spoken with Xabi Alonso about this many times. Scholes is a spectacular player who has everything.
"He can play the final pass, he can score, he is strong, he never gets knocked off the ball and he doesn't give possession away. If he had been Spanish, then maybe he would have been valued more."

blinding

Drumpot wrote: »

I will let xavi express my sentiments.

https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1956/europe/2012/12/09/3590377/scholes-is-the-best-midfielder-of-the-last-20-years-xavi

"In the last 15 to 20 years the best central midfielder that I have seen - the most complete - is Scholes," Xavi said. "I have spoken with Xabi Alonso about this many times. Scholes is a spectacular player who has everything.
"He can play the final pass, he can score, he is strong, he never gets knocked off the ball and he doesn't give possession away. If he had been Spanish, then maybe he would have been valued more."

I wonder did He ( Scholes ) and Alex Ferguson let Scholes get the best out of Himself for England.

Perhaps England did not get the best out of Scholes ! !

Drumpot

blinding wrote: »

I wonder did He ( Scholes ) and Alex Ferguson let Scholes get the best out of Himself for England.

Perhaps England did not get the best out of Scholes ! !

England played scholes out the wing FFs.

I think scholes was the best central midfielder of his generation in England but they made a balls of it and went for style over substance as they always do. I also think quite often in the EPL fans equally get drawn to style over substance. The entire league is based on marketing itself as the dogs bollox, a lot of people lap that up. I bet if scholes was a more public player like Pogba on Instagram , pretending to give inspiring team talks, constantly doing interviews and all that fickle crap he’d be far more appreciated.

blinding

Drumpot wrote: »

England played scholes out the wing FFs.

I think scholes was the best central midfielder of his generation in England but they made a balls of it and went for style over substance as they always do. I also think quite often in the EPL fans equally get drawn to style over substance. The entire league is based on marketing itself as the dogs bollox, a lot of people lap that up. I bet if scholes was a more public player like Pogba on Instagram , pretending to give inspiring team talks, constantly doing interviews and all that fickle crap he’d be far more appreciated.

Or Beckham ! !

J. Marston

Arsenal's Invincibles are overrated to a huge degree.

Any team who have done any form of league/cup double is more impressive than a team a who drew about one third of their games in a season and won nothing else. United 99-01, Chelsea 04-06, United 06-09, City 17-19, current Liverpool; all significantly better than that Arsenal side.

DeanAustin

blinding wrote: »

Or Beckham ! !

Here's my unpopular opinion. Beckham had more character than most and I include Roy Keane in that.

Beckham was humiliated by Capello at Madrid and basically made train with the youth team. Did he sulk or play the prima-donna? Did he ****. Put his head down, worked hard and got back into the team and helped them win La Liga.

He was scapegoated by Steve McLaren for England's numerous failures and went from captain of the England team to being out of the squad. Did he "retire" from international football to save face or whinge? No, he put his head down and worked to get back in the England team which he did.

The man, despite the image, had a very, very strong character and is to be admired for it.

DeanAustin

Drumpot wrote: »

England played scholes out the wing FFs.

I think scholes was the best central midfielder of his generation in England but they made a balls of it and went for style over substance as they always do. I also think quite often in the EPL fans equally get drawn to style over substance. The entire league is based on marketing itself as the dogs bollox, a lot of people lap that up. I bet if scholes was a more public player like Pogba on Instagram , pretending to give inspiring team talks, constantly doing interviews and all that fickle crap he’d be far more appreciated.

I actually think they've gone for workmanlike over style a lot of the time. While Scholes undoubtedly should have been played in his best position, Glenn Hoddle was overlooked for much of the 80s for players like Peter Reid, Neil Webb or Steve Hodge. Michael Carrick was also overlooked despite having the best range of passing of any England player for about a decade. I'd also include Jack Wilshere in that bracket although he played a bigger role in his underachievement than the other two.

castletownman

Pep has been mentioned over the last couple of pages, so gives me a chance to voice my opinion again that he can be deemed a "fraud" in Europe.

He can't seem to teach his team to defend, particularly away from home, and while City have been involved in a few classic CL knock-out ties under him, it all means diddly-squat when you are so married to your philosophy that you leave yourself open to countless defensive blunders. I am fairly sure that Bayern exited the CL by the biggest aggregate score of any defending champion in his first season.

Fergie, Mourinho and Rafa all knew when to sacrifice attacking to scrape out a narrow result away from home, and while I definitely agree that Fergie perhaps didn't achieve as much as he should have in Europe, he still didn't have as many defeats due to defensive cluster****s as Pep has had either. Take away his two titles with a great Barcelona side, and his record is no better than Wenger's, a man lambasted for his tactical naivete in the Champions League

Girly Gal

castletownman wrote: »

Pep has been mentioned over the last couple of pages, so gives me a chance to voice my opinion again that he can be deemed a "fraud" in Europe.

He can't seem to teach his team to defend, particularly away from home, and while City have been involved in a few classic CL knock-out ties under him, it all means diddly-squat when you are so married to your philosophy that you leave yourself open to countless defensive blunders. I am fairly sure that Bayern exited the CL by the biggest aggregate score of any defending champion in his first season.

Fergie, Mourinho and Rafa all knew when to sacrifice attacking to scrape out a narrow result away from home, and while I definitely agree that Fergie perhaps didn't achieve as much as he should have in Europe, he still didn't have as many defeats due to defensive cluster****s as Pep has had either. Take away his two titles with a great Barcelona side, and his record is no better than Wenger's, a man lambasted for his tactical naivete in the Champions League

I agree, no doubt we'll have people on defending Pep
apparently he came up with a new system of defending by holding onto possession, therefore his teams didn't need to know how to defend.
That Barca team had some of the best players ever, Messi, Xavi, iniesta, but, defensively were a shambles.

citytillidie

Girly Gal wrote: »

I agree, no doubt we'll have people on defending Pep
apparently he came up with a new system of defending by holding onto possession, therefore his teams didn't need to know how to defend.
That Barca team had some of the best players ever, Messi, Xavi, iniesta, but, defensively were a shambles.

And when teams did win the ball of them he had is players drilled to foul as quick as they could to give away free kicks in less acting areas and less chance of getting a yellow card.

TheCitizen

Omackeral wrote: »

Seen as you brought it up in the very first reply, quite possibly.

Relevant unpopular opinion here though, there is no difference between Liverpool and United fans in this country. Fans of them are cut from the same cloth mostly. Even among your own friends and acquaintances. Think about it, they socialise together, come from the same streets and towns and work together in the same office/site/whatever. You even find bothers and sons/fathers who support the other side. There's nothing really that differentiates a Pool fan from a United one.

It’s the equivalent of voting for Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael

Drumpot

citytillidie wrote: »

And when teams did win the ball of them he had is players drilled to foul as quick as they could to give away free kicks in less acting areas and less chance of getting a yellow card.

Literally any manager of Bayern or Barca win the League. Pep gets teams to play exceptional football when he has exceptional teams who are far superior to the teams around him. But he’s tactically naive at times and very limited one trick pony. It’s a superb trick but it regularly fails when teams figure out how to play against it and he doesn’t know how to change it.

Klopp has been like this in the past although I feel like the last 2 seasons (since losing to Madrid in CL final) he’s learned and been much cuter in games. His team looks able to win ugly or drag out a win, there’s a lot to be said for being able to win multiple ways.

Brian?

Girly Gal wrote: »

I agree, no doubt we'll have people on defending Pep
apparently he came up with a new system of defending by holding onto possession, therefore his teams didn't need to know how to defend.
That Barca team had some of the best players ever, Messi, Xavi, iniesta, but, defensively were a shambles.

Man City conceded 23 goals in the league in the 18/19 season. 2nd best defensive record in the league.

Barca defensive record:
10/11 La Liga: 21 goals conceded (best in the league)
09/10 La Liga: 24, best
08/09 La Liga: 35, best

Bayern record is the same. Every year, best defensive record in the league.

As I said, it had some flaws, but it was extremely effective.

Girly Gal

Brian? wrote: »

Man City conceded 23 goals in the league in the 18/19 season. 2nd best defensive record in the league.

Barca defensive record:
10/11 La Liga: 21 goals conceded (best in the league)
09/10 La Liga: 24, best
08/09 La Liga: 35, best

Bayern record is the same. Every year, best defensive record in the league.

As I said, it had some flaws, but it was extremely effective.

The above stats don't prove his teams were good defensively. In Spain Real Madrid were his only real opposition at the time and in Germany he inherited a treble winning team that had no serious domestic opposition.
Pep's teams do play some great football and are good to watch but leave themselves very open defensively, he does neglect the defensive side of things and this is shown in Europe against other top teams, since leaving Barca his teams have struggled to make an impact in Europe despite being dominant domestically and having the funds to buy almost any player he wants, this season if it is completed looks like his best chance since leaving Barca. His teams failings in Europe have been down to poor defending as the squads he has had should have have been good enough to challenge better in Europe

Bridge93

Drumpot wrote: »

Literally any manager of Bayern or Barca win the CL. Pep gets teams to play exceptional football when he has exceptional teams who are far superior to the teams around him. But he’s tactically naive at times and very limited one trick pony. It’s a superb trick but it regularly fails when teams figure out how to play against it and he doesn’t know how to change it.

Barca have won it what, once since Pep left 8 years ago?

Bayern have won it once in 19 years and twice since the mid 70s. Not as simple as any manager wins it for either of them. No doubt pep has his issues, don’t think a single manager doesn’t.

Drumpot

Bridge93 wrote: »

Barca have won it what, once since Pep left 8 years ago?

Bayern have won it once in 19 years and twice since the mid 70s. Not as simple as any manager wins it for either of them. No doubt pep has his issues, don’t think a single manager doesn’t.

My bad, meant to be leagues, not CLs.

Pep is one of the best coaches around, just pointing out he’s only ever managed and has success with clubs who were successful with and without him.

That’s what separates him from Klopp whose brought success to clubs on the fringes and less likely to succeed. That’s part of the reason why I rate Klopp higher to be honest. I suppose if you have a club that’s got everything in place for success and the riches to make it happen, Pep might be a better suit. If you need a fair bit of work and will need to work within a more restrictive budget Klopp is definitely a better choice.

CSF

Klopp has come from further to become what he has become for sure, but I think he still needs to win some more honours to exceed Pep.

Pep has only managed top clubs, because he is a top manager, but this will only be the second time since he started in 2008 that he has failed to win his domestic league.

Add in 8 domestic cups and 2 Champions Leagues and I don’t think these arguments about only managing at top clubs (it would be weird if the same logic was applied to Cristiano Ronaldo who only plays at top clubs also) carry much weight.

It doesn’t take that much footballing insight or genius to be able to see why Pep goes to top clubs and is so dominant, where others go to top clubs and are very often less so.

Klopp has now put together a team to be discussed in the same breath as Pep’s Barcelona and Man City teams at their best, so he absolutely has an opportunity now to achieve the kind of trophy haul that would truly cement that legacy

eagle eye

Saying Pep Guardiola is not the be all and end all is not an unpopular football opinion.

Drumpot

eagle eye wrote: »

Saying Pep Guardiola is not the be all and end all is not an unpopular football opinion.

It depends on what you consider to be a popular opinion. I would consider the majority of the footballing world to consider Pep “all that”. Some think he’s revolutionised the game but asides from that great Barca side, that’s been great without him.

@CSF, Bayern And Barca win the leagues without Klopp. Mancini and Pelligrini won leagues with city. Peps tactics have been the icing on already tasty cakes, not necessarily an integral component to mould success.

Klopp had the league won, let’s no pretend otherwise. His team also pushed city to ridiculous levels last season, they don’t need over 95 points if Liverpool aren’t as good as they are. Klopp also challenged Bayern’s dominance in Germany and has been very good at getting peripheral teams like pool and Dortmund into serious contention and success in Europe. Klopp hasn’t done any better with city or Bayern in terms of CL football.

Peps ticky tacky entertaining football is great for the sport so he’s not really scrutinised.

Hodors Appletart

people who malign professional players for seemingly "only being in it for the money" yeah no chit they are professionals this is their job

expecting players to behave like fans of the club you support is romantic nonsensery and buying into players who pull the badge in celebration is childish

expecting loyalty from players when clubs and fans will drop players in a heartbeat is again bullchit

sure some players who grew up as fans of a club probably do feel it more but there is a lot of absolute balderdash written both on social and media about players with zero connection to a club city or area

everyone grows up supporting a club and we all know that lads who hop around clubs they support are usually fraud supporters the same goes for players they have their team and there's no way they start to love another one half as much

players are there to do a job for as long as the club wants them to or another club offers them more money or better career development just like you and me and having a go at players for chasing the dollar or backing themselves to improve at another club is absolutely stupid

Brian?

Girly Gal wrote: »

The above stats don't prove his teams were good defensively. In Spain Real Madrid were his only real opposition at the time and in Germany he inherited a treble winning team that had no serious domestic opposition.
Pep's teams do play some great football and are good to watch but leave themselves very open defensively, he does neglect the defensive side of things and this is shown in Europe against other top teams, since leaving Barca his teams have struggled to make an impact in Europe despite being dominant domestically and having the funds to buy almost any player he wants, this season if it is completed looks like his best chance since leaving Barca. His teams failings in Europe have been down to poor defending as the squads he has had should have have been good enough to challenge better in Europe

So consistently having the best defensive record in the league doesn't mean anything?

What matters to you is subjective analysis over facts.