Pep will probably go to City, the Barca connection is strong. City officials want him bad, its just a little disappointing how its being played out. Pellegrini is good man and a good manager, but seems to not get the best out of his players. Ironic, because he's known as being a players coach, one would think they would play twice as hard for him. For City, they want the big name manager, its good for marketing and revenue, and as a City fan, that is what they have become. Globally expanding the name and brand, Pep also I think would bring the best out of City in European competition, something that Mancinni and Pellegrinni have not been able to do. For a squad so expensive, they should be a little better than what they are. But winning the league 2 out of 3 years is an accomplishment in itself. Going to be tough going forward for City, or any club in the EPL to win the league, especially with this TV money that is going to be distributed in the summer. Teams like Stoke, Everton, Spurs, Southampton etc are really going to push for a top spot in the table. I do think in the end, Pep will end up at City, but the season is not over, and Pellegrini can make a statement for himself. 

 

I saw some of you were talking Chelsea. Im not sure if Simeone will end up at Chelsea. I think its tough for a manager who does not speak english to transition to the English Premiere league! He's a legend at Atletico Madrid, he would have to really be tempted to leave. And again, I think going to the EPL, it is important the manger speaks english. Diego Simeone does not. 

tens of millions of dollars can buy a lot of rosetta stone lol.

 

in all seriousness i do agree that it pretty essential to be able to speak the language of the country in which you are coaching. i was reading where his main assistant knows English. i'm one who tends to be torn, a little when it comes to true manager influence on a club. personnel decisions as far as when to play people, subs, and transfers obviously is something they effect directly. But once everything is in place, it's not like they call plays 50-70 times a game like a coach in the NFL. it's really up to the players at that point. diego seems to be a little more influential than most once the game starts, but really, a managers job is call 3 subs and stand up a few times if things aren't going according to plan. Maybe thats just me but every time i see one of the managers trying to get the attention of one of his players, i think back to when i played and remember every time my  coach would do crap like that, i would just look at him like "no [BLEEP], im playing the same game your watching" lol. IMO managers are the scape goat if things are not right, which kind of sucks for them.

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tens of millions of dollars can buy a lot of rosetta stone lol.

 

in all seriousness i do agree that it pretty essential to be able to speak the language of the country in which you are coaching. i was reading where his main assistant knows English. i'm one who tends to be torn, a little when it comes to true manager influence on a club. personnel decisions as far as when to play people, subs, and transfers obviously is something they effect directly. But once everything is in place, it's not like they call plays 50-70 times a game like a coach in the NFL. it's really up to the players at that point. diego seems to be a little more influential than most once the game starts, but really, a managers job is call 3 subs and stand up a few times if things aren't going according to plan. Maybe thats just me but every time i see one of the managers trying to get the attention of one of his players, i think back to when i played and remember every time my  coach would do crap like that, i would just look at him like "no [BAD WORD REMOVED], im playing the same game your watching" lol. IMO managers are the scape goat if things are not right, which kind of sucks for them.

I've known times where a player has taken matters into his own hands, scored a goal, won a game and still been fined or benched for the next game from going against the 'play book', if you like.

 

'Old school' managers have a lot of say over team dynamics. It's all in the job title.. Normally if a Soccer Team have a Head Coach, they normally have a 'Director Of Football' too. This means that the coach coaches the team on and off the pitch, but the DoF sorts out the logistics and transfers etc. If they have a 'Manager' then they tend to do all of this rolled into one.

 

You're right about Diego Costa though, he has a lot of influence as soon as he steps over that white line... whether it's all good or not.. well that remains to be seen, for me the jury is still out.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

tens of millions of dollars can buy a lot of rosetta stone lol.

 

in all seriousness i do agree that it pretty essential to be able to speak the language of the country in which you are coaching. i was reading where his main assistant knows English. i'm one who tends to be torn, a little when it comes to true manager influence on a club. personnel decisions as far as when to play people, subs, and transfers obviously is something they effect directly. But once everything is in place, it's not like they call plays 50-70 times a game like a coach in the NFL. it's really up to the players at that point. diego seems to be a little more influential than most once the game starts, but really, a managers job is call 3 subs and stand up a few times if things aren't going according to plan. Maybe thats just me but every time i see one of the managers trying to get the attention of one of his players, i think back to when i played and remember every time my  coach would do crap like that, i would just look at him like "no [BAD WORD REMOVED], im playing the same game your watching" lol. IMO managers are the scape goat if things are not right, which kind of sucks for them.

I think its a little more important in the EPL for the manager to be able to communicate. LVG did not speak a lick of Spanish and he was able to perform at Barcelona. Like you said, the manager can only do so much. At Barcelona, when you have guys like Messi, Ineista, Xavi, Ronaldinho etc as LVG had, theres only so much the manager can do that will make those stars listen, I mean what can Messi learn from LVG that he does not already know? Heck, you could put you or I in there and we would look like geniuses ( tongue in cheek). 

 

In the Barclays Premier League, I feel its a little different. The media has so much influence and its important the face of the team is able to communicate, theres no real style in the EPL either, a lot of money is at stake etc. It really is important for mangers in that league to speak english, and I cant really remember many that have not spoke english. 

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I think the media coverage over the EPL is to blame for a lot of this, as mentioned above.

 

Often the term 'best league in the world' gets bandied around.

 

In England we have 4 really competative tiers of soccer.. I mean, you go to Poland or Germany and I bet their fourth tier will not pull in a crowd of 16,000 for a regular league game (like Portsmouth do)..

 

Best league in the world? Most competative league in the world? Do they both mean the same thing?... I think the EPL is the most competative. For example, you wouldn't expect teams like Crystal Palace and Watford to be in the top half of the division going into January.. best in terms of quality? I don't believe so.. personally.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

I think the media coverage over the EPL is to blame for a lot of this, as mentioned above.

 

Often the term 'best league in the world' gets bandied around.

 

In England we have 4 really competative tiers of soccer.. I mean, you go to Poland or Germany and I bet their fourth tier will not pull in a crowd of 16,000 for a regular league game (like Portsmouth do)..

 

Best league in the world? Most competative league in the world? Do they both mean the same thing?... I think the EPL is the most competative. For example, you wouldn't expect teams like Crystal Palace and Watford to be in the top half of the division going into January.. best in terms of quality? I don't believe so.. personally.

La Liga probably has the best quality teams, but that is changing fast. EPL and the new TV deals and the money being distributed will make teams like Southhampton, Everton, Tottenham, Crystal Palace etc really push for top spots, more quality players will join mid table clubs. Look at Shaqiri, he joined Stoke and he's a extremely gifted talent in soccer, former Bayern Munich star and played for Inter Milan. Stoke are very very very good in my eyes, they have spanked the suppose top 4 to 5 teams and they do it on a regular basis. 

 

I agree that the most competitive league is EPL, but there may be better quality in La Liga, but that is changing fast and with the new TV deals and all that money being distributed, teams like United, Chelsea, Arsenal and my team City will find it very hard to win the league. 

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La Liga probably has the best quality teams, but that is changing fast. EPL and the new TV deals and the money being distributed will make teams like Southhampton, Everton, Tottenham, Crystal Palace etc really push for top spots, more quality players will join mid table clubs. Look at Shaqiri, he joined Stoke and he's a extremely gifted talent in soccer, former Bayern Munich star and played for Inter Milan. Stoke are very very very good in my eyes, they have spanked the suppose top 4 to 5 teams and they do it on a regular basis. 

 

I agree that the most competitive league is EPL, but there may be better quality in La Liga, but that is changing fast and with the new TV deals and all that money being distributed, teams like United, Chelsea, Arsenal and my team City will find it very hard to win the league. 

I can't argue with any of those points made.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

I'm a big hammers fan and I'm loving the league this year to be honest.

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I'm a big hammers fan and I'm loving the league this year to be honest.

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I'm a big hammers fan and I'm loving the league this year to be honest.

 

The league is wide open at the moment.

 

Great result yesterday!!

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

The league is wide open at the moment.


Great result yesterday!!

Getting a double on the scouse is always good fun.


Even speaking as a big Sam fan, Bilic has been top class so far.

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Getting a double on the scouse is always good fun.


Even speaking as a big Sam fan, Bilic has been top class so far.

 

Absolutely. He's pulled off some massive results this season..

 

I'm quite a fan of Michail Antonio.. Unfortunately, I don't get to see much success (I'm a Swindon Town fan).

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Absolutely. He's pulled off some massive results this season..


I'm quite a fan of Michail Antonio.. Unfortunately, I don't get to see much success (I'm a Swindon Town fan).

He's got bags of potential.


We all have burdens to bare I guess. Followed ye pretty closely when Di Canio was there but haven't heard much since. How's things looking?

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He's got bags of potential.


We all have burdens to bare I guess. Followed ye pretty closely when Di Canio was there but haven't heard much since. How's things looking?

Ahh the Paolo era, that was a roller coaster. He was great when we had the money to spend, he would go awol if there weren't funds available..

 

Currently we're managerless, out of all domestic cups (including the JPT), and 16th in the league. Luckily this season the league is wide open so anything can happen. Our chairman said he was looking to get out of League One.. I just hope he meant through promotion and not relegation..

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...