Postecoglou & Lange (& Paratici) Watch

Knowing our luck, he'd pick Roma.

 

It was highly arrogant for anybody to assume he'd want to leave in any case, but yeah, winning a cup final surely seals it.

What reason, aside from a possibly leap in his personal wages alone, would he have to leave?

I'm so glad they won that cup, if anything it makes even more of a mockery of this Super League nonsense.

 

Personally I'd pick Bielsa. I don't see it happening though.

Levy really did make a complete mess out of the season, I had a hunch when nobody came in in the winter window that things might go bad, but I had no idea of the levels of crap that would ensue.

At this rate you may as well get Redknapp back in.

 

Zinedine Zidane has reportedly told Los Ladrones' players he's leaving at the end of the season

No

No, no, no

For the love for Charlotte, Levy, no

 

What catastrophes have been caused by Levy's managerial appointments? All I can see is a fairly continuous improvement in our results from 2005 onwards while the original Sky 4 were all simultaneously declining.

 

United have picked up...EL finalists and PL runners up this season plus semi finalists in Caribou Cup.
Top 4 last season plus semi finalists in EL and Caribou Cup.
Not where they were but suggests they are on an upward curve.

Liverpool have won the league, the CL and were CL runners up and PL runners up in the past 3 seasons and have qualified for the CL over the past 4 seasons and may well do that again this season.

Arsenal have crashed and burned.

Chelsea have reached the last two fa cup finals, the CL final won and the EL.

While United and Chelsea have not regained their dominance I'd say that they have stabilised on the pitch and have a very good base to build on.

I'd say that Liverpool improved until this season but, again have a good base to build on.

I'd say we have stagnated massively in the past 2 years and our team needs a new defence, serious improvement in midfield and (if kane leaves) a new striker.
That's without considering the new manager.

Leicester have had 3 good seasons (Champions, an FA Cup and 2 challenges for top 4... finishing above us 3 times in that time too) so would argue they are ahead of us on the pitch.

So that means United, Liverpool, Chelsea, City and Leicester are all ahead of us imo. Next season could well be another long slog

 

I'm not a drinking man, but if I were to start it'd be with a solid pint of whatever you're drinking that enables you to have such a positive perspective.

 

Realistically, it has to be said the real disasters have been caused by his DoF appointments: Comolli left us with a horribly imbalanced squad where little thought was put towards how the players would fit, while Baldini dramatically inflated the wage bill while making the squad bloated

The former required a couple of transfer windows to fix, the latter took a good three or four

 

It's not just drink! It's data. Look at the graph I posted a few days ago. It is actually true that since ENIC took over, our average league position has massively improved while that of each of the Sky four has got a bit worse. Given the disadvantage in funding we've had over that period that is pretty remarkable.
I also don't buy the argument that we've got a dud squad now. I don't think Mourinho got the best out of them but we are currently sixth. All of the Sky 4 have finished at or below that recently.
Personally I think we should sell Aurier, Doherty, Dier, Sissoko, Sanchez and Lamela and bring in a new goalkeeper, right back and centre back and keep Bale.
The squad will then be
Lloris, new GK, Hart, Whiteman
Foyth, new RB, Tanganga, new CB, Alderweireld, Rodon, Davies, Reguilon, Sessegnon
Skipp, Hojbjerg, Winks, Lo Celso, Dele, Ndombele
Lucas, Scarlett, Bale, Kane, Son, Bergwijn.
If funds allow we could buy another forward.

 

Would rather sell either Lo Celso or Ndombele before we sell Lamela personally.
Would also sell Davies as I think he has lost something since his injuries.
Agree with your other sales.

Unfortunately I think Kane is history and if Zandane leaves Madrid Bale may return.

 

Bin ‘em all, they’re all ****.

 

For me the out pile would be
* Sissoko
* Sanchez
* Gazzaniga
* one of Dier or Alderweireld
* one of Lamela or Lucas
* at least one of Aurier and Doherty
* any youth player who obviously won't make it (CCV, Sterling, Marsh, Tracey)

 

Love the subtle nuances you use

 

Part of my charm, mate.

 

Won’t sleep easy til:

Aurier, Dier, Toby, Sanchez, Sissoko, Winks, Ndombele, Lo Celso, Dele and Lamela are gone.

**** sake I’m gonna have a lot of **** nights sleep over the next two or so years. Especially when Levy probably hands about 4 of those new deals in the summer. Then tells the new manager they’ve gotta make do with a budget of £10m and are expected to finish top four whilst making Captain Crab our new captain.

 

Without a plan to which the manager/coach, DoF and chairman are all committed, we are buggered.

In recent seasons, we've abandoned the methodology that got us into the CL and close to competing for the title...to buy a load of crap players for massive transfer fees and capped it off by employing a manager wholly unsuited to the squad. We lost our way and Levy lost his ****ing head.

Unless everyone at the club is committed to the same vision, we will repeat the Mourinho experience...and by everyone, I really mean Levy. He needs to take the successful running of the football club as seriously as he takes minimising the wage bill and courting the Americans. FFS, employ a manager who can work to the club's ethos and recruit to their needs, rather than trying to pick up bargains that are cheap for a reason.

 

Getting a bit concerned that Mason might still be managing Spurs next season for these reasons, as well as being cheap.

 

Whilst I think that giving Mason an extended run would be likely to be a disaster - his failure to pick Rodon ahead of Dier is simply inexplicable. It would be better than getting in Allegri or Benitez...and probably likely to be better than most managers who have no PL experience (as player or manager).

 

Yes I agree there would be worst appointees than Mason and I'm strongly suspecting whoever is appointed, will be a bit of a disappointment. We need Levy to pull a rabbit out of the hat and surprise us, like he did with Redknapp, Jol and poch! Going for the "big" names hasn't worked for us.

But Mason is not the man.

 

Yeah I really don’t want Mason full time. Been delighted for him to have been given the chance as interim but that’s where it stops. Maybe 5-10 years from now who knows but certainly don’t want him as our permanent manager going into next season.

Having him in charge will basically be a split of Levy being a silent manager whilst also a place for Mason’s mates to get way too much game time. It’ll end horrifically, I’m certain of it.