Long time readers may well be aware of my admiration of the guy as a manager. He’s also a pretty good guy too who forms bonds with his players and they often run through walls for him. His move to PSG in hindsight was a bad move as going from somewhere like Spurs where he could work with up and coming hungry players to PSG where he inherited lazy players like Mbappe, Messi and Neymar which just isn’t his vibe.
He started to turn things around at Chelsea in their mess which bodes well for his ability to do things with our mess too - especially as I feel whilst we won’t have loads to spend I think he’s going to be given a few good players to add to the good young ones we have. Plus he wanted to sign Bruno at Spurs so obviously rates him.
He’s the bookies favourite to join us so hopefully a deal is done by the end of next week and his first game is the community shield in August 😛
The logical first signing is of course Conor Gallagher.
In support of Poch
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
comment by Christopher (U20930)
posted 20 minutes ago
Poch was a forerunner for the modern era of the PL. He arrived during SAFs last season and peaked during Pep's first season, arguably being the best coach in the league during these awkward middle years that many would consider to be one of the weakest periods in PL history. He was a pioneer for the emphasis on pressing that we are now seeing across the league.
However, imo poch went the way of a lot of pioneers - unable to keep up with a movement he helped create. it's no coincidence imo that his success at spurs started to decline following that peak in Pep's first season - once Pep and Klopp finished reconstructing their squads you saw what modern football was actually going to look like moving forward. in 2019 Klopp and Pep are battling out with 98 and 97 point finishes. Meanwhile, Poch is doing a straight up bad job in 2019 - he doesn't have a single away win in the league.
Poch was very ahead of his time when it came to pressing, but Pep and Klopp surpassed him by being much more disciplined and rigorous in terms of what their sides did with the ball. Spurs regularly had close to furthest average shot distance in the league during Poch's time here - in possession our plan was essentially to rely on the individual brilliance of Kane/Eriksen/Dele/Son - these players would try the spectacular in terms of shooting and passing, and if it didn't pay off we would just go and get the ball back by pressing and try again. Real battering ram stuff.
This obviously was successful enough for the time - we scored 85 goals in 16/17 - and it's pretty similar to what most sides were doing back then, but pep and klopp demonstrated that if you want to regularly hit 90 points you have to have a better idea for breaking down all those low blocks you face than "give it kane". Our goal total drops by almost 20 by the time you get to 18/19, and it was again trending downwards in 19/20 when the wheels really start to come off.
A lot of people will chalk this drop off solely to a lack of investment in the squad and whilst that obviously was a massive hindrance, I think if you watch a poch side play in comparison to these more modern coaches you'll see that there's also just a less refined element to what is happening in possession.
It was no surprise to me that you saw Chelsea struggle so much with low blocks this season - again there are personnel problems there, but I think Poch also shoulders a lot of responsibility for these issues. It's why I didn't want him back at spurs last summer. 5 years is a long time in football, and it does feel to me that Poch has fallen behind the times a bit. Compared to Howe, who spent his time away from the game watching training sessions and trying to improve himself as a coach, Poch arrived back in England with all the same ideas.
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Great post and interesting read.
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Tel was bought for €30m a year before Tuchel joined and getting some game time before, not sure you can say Tuchel has done much there tbh.
Didn’t Hoeness a day before the CL semi complain about Tuchel use of kids? Obviously Hoeness is mental for saying such a thing publicly but I’m sure he is a point.
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Yeah, great post that
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 11 minutes ago
Tel was bought for €30m a year before Tuchel joined and getting some game time before, not sure you can say Tuchel has done much there tbh.
Didn’t Hoeness a day before the CL semi complain about Tuchel use of kids? Obviously Hoeness is mental for saying such a thing publicly but I’m sure he is a point.
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As I said originally, I can't claim to have watched Tuchel's career that closely, so what I'm saying isn't that I dispute he's bad with kids, but rather I haven't seen enough evidence to convince me this is a weakness. And Hoeness is a giant tеsticle.
My uninformed view at this point is basically:
Tuchel = greater tactical creativity, more chance he comes up with a solution that moulds the squad into something coherent. Has created teams that seem pretty mentally strong, but there are question marks about his interpersonal qualities.
Pochettino = strong at motivation and building a culture. As was discussed when we last considered hiring him (and as reflected in Christopher's excellent post above) there is a question about whether he's really a great tactician or was he just an early adopted of a postional style which has gradually lost its competitive advantage?
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 1 hour, 57 minutes ago
comment by Diafol Coch 77 🏴 (U2462)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 2 minutes ago
The one thing I give him, his Chelsea side gave City a good go every time I watched him faced them. Us on the other hand, we have become a training ground game for city. Embarrassing and painful watch over the years.
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Id like to see any manager give City a go with only Lindelof at LB and Evans at CB a go.
With his options of the bench including 5 academy players, Eriksen and Antony
Thought we gave City as good a go as we could at the Etihad tbh. Held on until the 80th minute.
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As crazy as it sounds if just one decision had gone our way that day we could have won.
The foul on Rashford and potential penalty on Garnacho could have gone the other way on a different day. Hopefully that day is Saturday.
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Same at OT, their penalty was a joke.
But again, we had a midfield of McTominay and Eriksen, a defence including Evans and Lindelof.
No manager is beating city with that lineup.
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But Crystal Palace went there and gave them a good go with a back four of Mitchell, Guehi, Andersen, J Ward and Clyne. Excuses, excuses, excuses. The United way now.
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
comment by kinsang (U3346)
posted 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
comment by Szoboss (U6997)
posted 1 minute ago
Before I make my point, I'd caveat by saying I think Chelsea getting rid of Poch (if that's what happened) was utterly daft given the team was finally showing signs of real promise.
However, for much of the season Chelsea have looked really disorganised and in some games, slightly disinterested frankly. The turnaround at the end probably made it an ok season (just about) but when was the last time Poch had a great season?
It was probably 2018/19 when he took Spurs to the CL Final. That was 5 years ago now. To still be linked to a club the size of Man Utd when your last great season was 5 years ago is pretty remarkable.
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I guess to have had a great season at PSG, he would have had to win the CL, which was probably never happening, and it was his first season at Chelsea, so hard to have a great season in your first one.
But pretty much all the same names come out and are linked to all the big jobs, regardless of how they have done in recent years.
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I agree PSG is slightly unusual in that only CL would be a great season. But he was there for 18 months; first 6 months they lost the league - ok that isn't entirely on him. Poch's only full year he did win the league but went out of the French Cup to Nice in R16 and went out of the CL to RM in R16. Then sacked.
As an 18 month period it's probably not even what PSG would consider average.
Personally I think Poch is still dining out on what was a very good Spurs team and has done little since to suggest he should get another huge job.
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
He is the only manager to fail to get a tune out of Messi.
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
comment by Luka Brasi (U22178)
posted 2 minutes ago
He is the only manager to fail to get a tune out of Messi.
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Thank God we don't have a player in our ranks even close to 3rd Tier Messi.
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
comment by Christopher (U20930)
posted 1 hour, 20 minutes ago
Poch was a forerunner for the modern era of the PL. He arrived during SAFs last season and peaked during Pep's first season, arguably being the best coach in the league during these awkward middle years that many would consider to be one of the weakest periods in PL history. He was a pioneer for the emphasis on pressing that we are now seeing across the league.
However, imo poch went the way of a lot of pioneers - unable to keep up with a movement he helped create. it's no coincidence imo that his success at spurs started to decline following that peak in Pep's first season - once Pep and Klopp finished reconstructing their squads you saw what modern football was actually going to look like moving forward. in 2019 Klopp and Pep are battling out with 98 and 97 point finishes. Meanwhile, Poch is doing a straight up bad job in 2019 - he doesn't have a single away win in the league.
Poch was very ahead of his time when it came to pressing, but Pep and Klopp surpassed him by being much more disciplined and rigorous in terms of what their sides did with the ball. Spurs regularly had close to furthest average shot distance in the league during Poch's time here - in possession our plan was essentially to rely on the individual brilliance of Kane/Eriksen/Dele/Son - these players would try the spectacular in terms of shooting and passing, and if it didn't pay off we would just go and get the ball back by pressing and try again. Real battering ram stuff.
This obviously was successful enough for the time - we scored 85 goals in 16/17 - and it's pretty similar to what most sides were doing back then, but pep and klopp demonstrated that if you want to regularly hit 90 points you have to have a better idea for breaking down all those low blocks you face than "give it kane". Our goal total drops by almost 20 by the time you get to 18/19, and it was again trending downwards in 19/20 when the wheels really start to come off.
A lot of people will chalk this drop off solely to a lack of investment in the squad and whilst that obviously was a massive hindrance, I think if you watch a poch side play in comparison to these more modern coaches you'll see that there's also just a less refined element to what is happening in possession.
It was no surprise to me that you saw Chelsea struggle so much with low blocks this season - again there are personnel problems there, but I think Poch also shoulders a lot of responsibility for these issues. It's why I didn't want him back at spurs last summer. 5 years is a long time in football, and it does feel to me that Poch has fallen behind the times a bit. Compared to Howe, who spent his time away from the game watching training sessions and trying to improve himself as a coach, Poch arrived back in England with all the same ideas.
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This
posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Russian
Fair enough, like I said I don't think either one is ideal but I do think having someone in with very good man management skills is vital right now. And while tactically he might not be where we need he's still a level or 2 above someone like Ole.