#forzafootball

[footballautopsy]

Legacy of a “Sir”

The title explains a lot about the person discussed. Retired almost 2 years ago, Sir Alex Ferguson is arguably the best manager

in the history of the Premier League. Maybe Liverpool fans will disagree and say Bob Paisley is the greatest, but nevertheless, even the biggest Manchester United hater will admit SAF is a coaching legend. 27 years managing Manchester United and what a wonderful 27 they were. Although his first years weren’t very successful, but when put under the board’s pressure, Ferguson excelled and overachieved. He then went on to achieve more than what was asked of him because he was a footballer, and he knows, fulfilling the board’s expectations doesn’t necessarily mean success. SAF, is missed a lot nowadays. Pundits agree about his marvelous football genius. Only a minority wants to fire shots of hatred and mark him as a normal manager

/coach.

So regardless of what people may say, these are his numbers; 13 Premier League titles, 5 FA cups, 2 Champions Leagues and numerous individual and team awards are the highlight of his career. He was not only a manager, but also a father to many players. He was able to create amazement around the number 7 jersey, only to bump head-first into Valencia. The likes of Cantona, Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo all wore that jersey. SAF was able to unite the fans of football with the club. There was also so much controversy between him and Liverpool, the FA and many referees in which he was fined or banned for a few matches, but SAF always found a way to gain the hearts of the media. Manchester United were not a small club when SAF took over them, but he made sure that he took them to become one of the elites in Europe. Under SAF, Manchester United became the number one football brand in the world for almost 10 years before Real Madrid stepped back in. He was an overall success because of his titles and his management. He also had an eye for young talent. When Cristiano was rejected by Juventus, SAF took him to England and raised him up. Helped by the fact that Cristiano is a tireless work, he created a player that will go down in the history books as one of the greats. In 27 years SAF was only able to secure two Champions League titles, with one highlighted by the dramatic “Ferguson time” win over Bayern Munchen. SAF is a great coach whether you like it or not, he is even a better manager, but what are the reasons of only two triumphs in CL?

1)      They tell you, playing the blame game is the first step to being a failure. But we can blame the English FA for a lot of the slumps of the Premier League in Europe. The second cup, the crowded schedule and the high-wage bills are all key components of Premier League’s failure overall. SAF was part of that league for 27 years, and although he used to approach one of the cups with the substitutes and reserves, that wasn’t good enough to make him better in Europe. SAF shares

responsibility here for the club’s mishaps in Europe because he was not able to balance between the importances of the competitions. He was unable to figure that in Europe you can’t approach games like you approach them against Stoke.

2)      SAF as a manager

handled the acquiring and selling of multiple talents. His latest mistake was letting Pogba go on free-agent the season before he retired. This also affected him when he played continental competitions. The sort of players one needs to attract for Europe, are not the same players you attract for the English game. A game were most of the play is down the flanks and there’s a lot of randomness. SAF understood that, and he forged Carrick into a regista. A player with the sense of Xabi Alonso or Pirlo. It’s no wonder that Liverpool dropped a lot in form

when they let Alonso go.

3)      SAF was overly strict at times. From the shoe incident to the Pogba incident, SAF was unable to tame talent like Mourinho does nowadays. He is a talent builder, or a talent scout who then puts his touch on the player. It is clear to see that when Cristiano hugs him or how the players look up to him. Rooney’s high transfer cost from Everton and many more showed that SAF got what he wanted. But his strictness at times affected the players. Many have gone in the dark under SAF and that is part stubbornness and part over strictness. SAF knew where he stood and at times it seemed that he was content with securing the title and a quarter-final exit from the Champions League.

4)      SAF is a legendary manager

. When you want to analyze a coach, you have to look at all attributes. SAF in 24 years has never slipped from being in the top 3. Pundits on Sky-Sports once said that having SAF is an extra 10 points on the league table. He was that brilliant.

SAF is a legendary coach. Maybe the world deserved to see him coach elsewhere. Who wouldn’t have loved to see him coach Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munchen, AC Milan and many other clubs? Maybe that’s what stood between SAF and Champions League, that rigidness of the league and that by-the-book type of play. SAF’s numbers are beyond amazing and you can’t say that he hasn’t left a legacy and a benchmark for every other manager

in the Premier League. But we can all agree that if Mourinho would stay as long, he might even do better. This is not at all a statement that says Mourinho is better, he needs years to reach that level, but in football, miracles happen and all is possible. Wenger was there for most of SAF’s period and wasn’t able to replicate his success, so who’s weakness is it?

Stay posted for: Ancelotti between greatness and normality

[footballautopsy]

Not so much a philosopher, Pep.

Pep Guardiola, the only man able to get six titles in one year. The man that people claim is behind the brilliance of the Barcelona era. The philosopher, the mastermind, the man who updated the complete football school into the tiki-taka, all of those are names of Pep Guardiola, but is it the media helping him, or does he really deserve all that noise around him.

Guardiola is from the same generation of Mouinho and they were both at some point in FC Barcelona. Both learned their “tactics” and both have their own style, but they both share

the fact that the media made them what they really are. It is like WWE is not real wrestling, when Mourinho and Pep are on the bench; it’s not really the coaching you’d think of. They also share the fact that they can gather the team up behind them and that they are good motivators, but still they share their negatives as well, and maybe you have to blame the teacher. Guardiola started with Barcelona in 2008 and came in to cover for Rijkaard’s job. His first interview which I doubt many of the recent day football followers saw, he mentions one very important point “Kruyff told me I will play this way!!” Isn’t that in itself a start of someone being the media face while all the real work is actually in the background? Look the video up and you will find him saying those words from his own mouth, and its nothing off of Troll Football. Maybe Troll Football is one of the big factors behind the deterioration of football sense in the world nowadays. Pep has achieved, but has he really?! The team Barcelona had was being built for so long and was already doing well with Rijkaard who won a Champions League title with them in 2006. The team was already in strong form and in 2008, most players were in their prime age, and the best player to ever touch the ball was coming up, Messi. Some Pep lovers claim that he was the one to develop Messi and make him into this unstoppable player, but truth is, Leonel Messi has the ability to build a manager’s career, or destroy it. Just like Messi is doing now with Enrique, who tried 20 different formation at AS Roma before being fired and has tried numerous ones at FC Barcelona before settling on one that started winning him games. Pep isn’t a philosopher for all that counts. Philosophers in the old days used to bring ways of living to life and come up with systems that can be penetrated, but live and form a legacy. Why Pep isn’t the one behind Barcelona’s success is because the team’s game style hasn’t changed much since the day he left. And now his time at Bayern Munchen shows that he has memorized a way of playing. All the appreciation to knowing one thing and making it your passion and building your success around it, but in football, you need to adapt. Football is competitive and aggressive and if you do not adapt, the days will crush you down and any legacy you have built. Pep can’t be just playing the same old system depending on every team to have a Messi for his liking and have a Xavi for his midfield and an Iniesta for his brilliance. Robben and Ribery are fine players but they never truly blended in Pep’s adopted system. Those are players that love the balance between freedom of play and having a specific position and role. A coach has to adapt to the team they go to, to the management and to the overall ambience. Ancelloti faced an issue with the Santiago being quiet in comparison to Serie A stadiums that can’t stay silent. Football is a game of passion. Football is a science, but not a very complicated one. Football is like the technology we see and it changes year after year and you have to be like a lizard that can camouflage when in danger. Football is beautiful and commercialization of awards, coaches and players is killing the game we all love. Here are the reasons Pep is NOT a philosopher, or even close to being one:

1)      Pep has close to ZERO tactics. Yes, close to ZERO. His system has become so firm and rigid that it is rough surface. The friction between the players that have been playing for years in one specific system is high with the likes of Pep. From the days of Barcelona, Pep was always dependent on his players finalizing the game early on, and that was the case mostly when Barca were able to finalize the game early on and then end it with a huge margin. Barca were even able to beat Real Madrid 5-0 and 6-2 and 3-0, those are big margins

for a Classico game. His usual sub at the end of his time with Barcelona was Keita for Villa and position for position, there was no switch in formation to test the waters when the things don’t go the way he wants them to. Most recent can be last night’s game against his old side. Playing a high-line defense against Barcelona is literally suicide. He might have won 3-2, but it was for Enrique’s subs, and because Barcelona took their foot of the gas pedal. His late subs at the 87th minute meant only one thing that he just wanted to finish the allotted 3 substitutes. He has destroyed the legacy of Jupp Heynckes. Whenever you join a team that is already strong, you wait for some time before you let your ideas sink in. He cost Bayern the six titles because of his high-line defense against BvB in the German super-cup.

2)      Pep is stubborn. Stubbornness in football works at very rare times. They work

when you have player you believe in or a system you believe in. Pep believes in his system although it has proven failure. To be hammered in two semi-finals against the Spanish giants that were recently rampaged by Jupp Heynckes Bayern is disgraceful. His stubbornness on killing the position of Lahm and playing him in mid-field although he is the best Right-back in the world, only if he plays that position. Lahm is lost in mid-field doing the dirty work to clean up behind the sloppy Xabi Alonso. The latter is also a burden because when you play a high-line of defense you expect your Xabi to be able to play as the Center-back for the back-line. Just last night he was the man behind conceding the first goal as he put Suarez onside. Xabi lost his glamour, and at Madrid, he had Modric and Khedira to form a balanced midfield. But Shweinsteiger can’t keep doing all the work himself by trying to connect the lines. Stubbornness gets you nowhere Mr. Pep.

3)      Pep is media-made. Just like the media is affecting people’s minds on Mourinho and overrating English players for example, Pep was built by the media. Keep this sentence in your mind because a few years from now, the media will break him down and burn down the fake empire he thinks he built. Pep is followed a lot and whatever he says is considered magic, but has he ever spoken of true tactics or approaches. He always tends to state the obvious, state things that the average football viewer can detect and say.

4)      Pep doesn’t deal well with the media. Yes, he is built by the media and there is no contradiction with the above point, but Pep unlike Jose can’t deal well with the Media. He let Mourinho drag him into tussles off of the field and then he lost the game. He said that Messi is unstoppable while Heynckes found a way to neutralize him, and even force him back to defensive positions. Pep is not a magician, but the media will always be there and you have to expect that as a coach of a big club. They have done all the work

to build you and they will not rest before they get their answers, and they deserve to.

5)      Pep is not a club manager

as well. Mourinho is able to manage clubs and many other coaches are able to do that. Coaching and managing are different. In England, the coach/manager can do the transfers and can also sell or buy players. Elsewhere, there are designated people for that job

. Pep can manage a team and bring them closer together by motivating them and making them love the game but his relationships with the club’s top management was always a big question mark of his attitude. He left Barcelona and said I would leave before they let me go and lately has cost Bayern one of the best, if not the best, medical staffs in football history. You can go on a rage-attack at them, but never in public, never in front of a filled squad and your bench. The players you have bought together to support your cause will lose belief in them because their physios and doctors are being shredded right in front of them. Pep should learn that for a successful team to be built, the all round relationship on and off the field should be as close as it can be to perfection. Team-work on the pitch, but also team-work in the shadows and in the areas where the doors are closed.

There is no shame in admitting you are wrong, and also there is no shame in admitting that criticism towards you is constructive. Germany is a very patient nation but they will not hold back from slaughtering him on the front-pages of their newspapers and magazines. Pep isn’t the greatest coach and he is nowhere being in the best top 20. Every coach should have the chance to coach a smaller team, or a less budgeted team to actually show their true tactical ability. Otherwise, we will just be playing FIFA on Manager Mode.

 Stay tuned for: Arsene “A specialist in …”

[footballautopsy]

The not so “Special One”

He won the Champions League with Porto and proclaimed himself as “The Special One” when Roman Abramovich signed him to manage

Chelsea FC. Since then, and the media has been over emphasizing his presence on the field and off it. Mourinho joined Chelsea in 2004 in which he remained three years in attempt to satisfy Abramovich’s hunger for a European title. By the end of his first term in Chelsea in 2007, Mourinho has placed Abramovich in a debt of 600 million pounds. He is back to where he loves to be and where the fans chant his name and worship him, but the question remains, is he really “The Special One”?

Mourniho’s time at Porto was impressive and winning the Champions League in 2003/04 season attracted eyes from Chelsea’s owner, Roman Abramovich. Since day one, Mourinho seemed to be a manager

who is a legend in the making. The media crowded him and raided his space to get more and more into his personal space. His presence in the Premier League at that time also served his image really well since the EPL was undergoing a branding campaign like never before. Jose was always a smart man when it came to handling the media, but only to his benefit. Nowadays he seems to shy of them whenever things go bad for him or his team. He then moved to InterMilan, a club that was already nibbling on the remains of the Serie A that was struck with a fake Calciopoli. This saw sides like Juventus, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio sink down into a dry spell of titles and a weak purchasing power during the transfer windows. Mancini who preceded him started winning titles the moment there was no more competition left, and so did Mourinho. But his time at Inter just got better when finally in 2010 they won the Champions League title after a very controversial trip. Seems that wherever Mourinho goes there’s controversy. “No publicity is bad publicity” as the first wife of Jorden Belfort tells him in the movie Wolf of Wall Street. But in Jose’s case, publicity and an aggressive psychologically balanced approach gave him the upper hand over many competing manager, coaches, media, and even officials. Mourinho’s Inter won a controversial tie with FC Barcelona who at the time was in their prime age. Whether it was disallowed goals, or offside goals or many other provocative speeches Mourinho gave, they all seemed to work. Then comes his time at Real Madrid where he was able to win a league title and break the years of elimination in Champions League, but he was welcomed then with a hammering from FC Barcelona, managed by Pep Guardiola at the time. Long story short, his failures in Madrid, the politics within the club, the power of Florentino Perez and many other factors played a role in his shameful departure. Only for Carlo Ancelloti to come the year after and win the Champions League, the La Decima for a club that has been craving it for so long. Mourinho, or as he likes to call himself “The Special One” wasn’t so special after all. He couldn’t bring the Galacticos house together and caused a rift every now and then in the locker-rooms.

Mourinho’s successes and failures all reflect on his CV and not only on the club’s history. But history mostly remembers those who win and not those who come second. In the end, coming second is only being the first loser. Here are some points as to why Mourinho is not the greatest coach ever, nor is he the best coach in the world right now. Mourinho is far from being there, and here’s as to why that is the case. 5 points to discuss his coaching sense and tactics.

 1)      Mourinho has very low tactical flexibility. Shown on many occasions, Mourinho was unable to act tactically and turn the games around. He was able to motivate and group at Inter and Chelsea, but his tactics failed him a lot. His most recent failure was against 10-man PSG when he was unable to attack and go forward even when the advantage of one more man was for around 60 minutes of the game. The weakness in tactics is clearly shown when he has started 80% of the game with at least 9 same faces. It is good to always want the win, but in some games it is very important to rotate the squad and rest key players (Matic and Willian as examples). He exhausts players and especially in the English league, this is a game changer. His inability to substitute when needed shows that he is a coach dependent on his players and this brings us to point number 2.

2)      Mourinho has always had open budgets at his the clubs he coached excluding Porto which was a source of numerous youngsters and talents that were then spread all over Europe. Mourinho had an open budget at Chelsea and still has that until this current day. His policy in the transfer market

is hideous. He attracts top players while killing clear talent. This year’s murdered talents in Chelsea were Salah, Schurrle, Felipe Luis, Cuadrado and Remy. All of which Mourinho sidelined to play his favorite eleven. The list goes on and on, but Mourinho’s stubbornness remains the same.

3)      Mourinho is a defensive coach. Winning by a high margin isn’t necessarily a sign that entertaining football was played, but also defending every single game even though a team possesses offensive talent is shameful and disgusting. We can’t avoid PSG’s game without actually discussing the fact that the moment Zlatan was sent off, a holding mid-field should have been subbed off for an offensive one who will occasionally track back. The term “Park the Bus” is exaggeration at times, but at times it is also true. Mourinho wants the away goal but always work

towards defending that goal without scoring to secure the goal or a lead. His approach in away games against clearly weaker teams is disappointing from someone that the media thinks so big of, and when the fans are clearly affected by media and stupid comparisons.

4)      Mourinho is a great psychologist. What he lacks on the field he takes for in psychology. He is able to tame talent, not always, but he has the ability to. “The Manager” by Mike Carson talks a lot about his ability to do what he does in the Premier League. He can fire back at the media and also go out and claim that the FA is against him, and the fans would believe whatever he has to say. The FA has no benefit in taking sides, especially since on paper Chelsea FC is the strongest side that can compete in European competitions. Mourinho always finds someone to blame except himself. That is a very bad characteristic

. He was full of applause for PSG when they went through but couldn’t admit that his subs were late and that his stubbornness cost Chelsea the game and cost the players their amazing effort put in the game. Taking the blame off of the media takes a lot of pressure from the players and lets them know that the man in training is also the man who has our back in a “Pub fight.”

5)      Mourinho was always firing shots at opposing managers

. Wherever he goes he focuses on pressuring the opposition managers but never focuses on pressuring himself to perform better. “The Special One” should be able to be present in the top 4 of Europe in every single year. Calling Arsene a “specialist in failure,” is not a statement so far away from the truth. But what Arsene has achieved during his invincible run is something that no manager has been able to replicate in the Premier League until now. The players did assist Arsene a lot, but doesn’t Mourinho have the players that can do that as well? It is a matter of simple math when it comes to that.

In the end, no one can ever say Mourinho is a bad coach. But he is definitely not the best coach. He still has time in front of him to gain more experience and become a better coach, but he needs to be accepting of criticism. Jose Mourinho has a special flavor in football and his presence is entertaining and blockbusting. The media should give more attention to the managers

and coaches that have “less important” players and focus more on the football than on the shenanigans of Mourinho. All the respect to Jose and what he achieved, but he is still a long way from being the best. From reaching the levels of the greats the preceded him and build football systems that are still used until now.

Stay posted for: Not so much a Philosopher, Pep.