Epl 2015/2016

[OwlsFan]

Would you be happy with Klopp ? Looking at Wikipedia, he has been at two clubs and very successful at one and did ok at the other.

[DeLorean]

Kop flop Klopp gets chop

.... surely a headline too brilliant for him for him to be a success.

In all seriousness though he would seem a good fit. I'm a big Ancelotti fan but he has had money and superstars wherever he's been. Liverpool aren't shy in paying out big transfer fees but it seems to be wages where they can't really compete with Chelsea and the Manchester clubs in particular. Therefore they'll need to get more than the sum of their parts to really compete and he seems capable of doing that.

[KK77]

Would you be happy with Klopp ? Looking at Wikipedia, he has been at two clubs and very successful at one and did ok at the other.

Yes would be happy enough for him to have a go at it. In saying that I can't claim to have watched much of his spell in Germany but he seems to have great reports.

[OwlsFan]

Every time I hear Kloop being mentioned now, all I think of is the version of "Heil Hitler" by Captain Hans Geering in the comedy HALLO HALLO:

[OwlsFan]

So refreshing to see Leicester City lead the way proving (for the moment at least) that the medium sized clubs are not just cannon fodder for the bigger boys. I wonder who the people were at Wednesday who released Vardy. Almost as bad as Trevor Francis insisting that Eric Cantona play a trial match for Wednesday before they would sign him. He told Wednesday where they could stick their trial game and signed for Leeds! The rest, as they say, is history.

[Eminence Grise]

Chelsea decide there's one nut too many in the Christmas party nibbles and it's bye-bye Jose.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/34413864

[OwlsFan]

Wenger hasn't won a title in yonks or a Champions League and is still happily ensconced at Arsenal. Mourinho manager of the reigning champions and also won the CL with them and still in the CL: sacked. Gary Monk leads Swansea to their highest ever position last season. Bad run of results this season: sacked and like Mourinho had recently penned a new deal.

It's a funny old game.

[pineapple stu]

Mourinho didn't win the CL with Chelsea; di Matteo did.

Spectacular fall from grace for Chelsea though - either the sacking will be justified by a new manager turning things around, or there's bigger issues and we can have more fun in the new year.

[OwlsFan]

Football is a funny old game (wonder who said that?). Swansea appoint a former player with no managerial experience to manage them and he is the flavour of the year for, well, a year. Then things start to go badly and they sack him and appoint, well, a former player with no managerial experience.

[DeLorean]

I was listening to Alan Smith on Sky Sports News earlier discussing Arsenal and their title prospects. He was saying that their match against Stoke at the weekend was a game that they would have lost in the past, and that their new found 'grit' and 'resilience' is the mark of champions. I always thought a mark of champions would be finding a way to win these sort of games, instead of hanging on for a draw. Anyway, I wonder what Smith's view would have been in the aftermath of the 4-0 mauling by Southampton a full three weeks ago, not to mention failing to see out the final couple of minutes at Anfield last week. As far as I can see, Arsenal are the same as ever, but the demise/inconsistency of the other top clubs means they do have a decent shout of finishing top of the pile. I think that's more of a reflection on the league generally rather than Arsenal themselves tough, not that they'll mind too much if it happens.

[OwlsFan]

Arsenal have the usual yo yo season. They put a few decent results together and the media say it could be their season. They then have a string of bad results and the media suggests that it might be time for Wenger to go. They then have some good results and....etc etc.

[geysir]

Arsenal are just being Arsenal, except now they have a very decent goalkeeper in Cech.
And while Arsenal have only bought Cech, Man U and Man City have spent over a £100m each and still they lag behind Arsenal.
I see Jonjo Shelvey cost Newcastle £12m. Isn't his stock as a player similar to the time he joined Swansea in 2013 for £5m? x-y =0 where x = player development and y = (rumors + questions).
Allowing for the 10% sell on clause, the fee does reflect a boom inflation in transfer fees.

[DeLorean]

It probably reflects Newcastle's desperation as much as anything, although Swansea are pretty desperate themselves. He did have an excellent debut, the best I've seen him by a mile.

This was pretty much his last (non)action for Swansea, when they were losing their F.A. Cup match in injury time!

[geysir]

That's hilarious.
(first time viewer)

I hadn't thought about the desperation stakes, interesting that Swansea would sell a decent player to their relegation rivals.

[SkStu]

In fairness, most people who watched the game and then watched the clip posted by DeL above noted that he was the only Swansea player who did anything that game and burst his ****** running up and down the pitch so was just wrecked that late in the game.

Most observers would say that much of what Swansea have done well over the last few years has involved Shelvey so a bump in his value is not too unusual.

He's a bang average player though in the grand scheme of things - crazy money!

[Charlie Darwin]

Arsenal are just being Arsenal, except now they have a very decent goalkeeper in Cech.
And while Arsenal have only bought Cech, Man U and Man City have spent over a £100m each and still they lag behind Arsenal.
I see Jonjo Shelvey cost Newcastle £12m. Isn't his stock as a player similar to the time he joined Swansea in 2013 for £5m? x-y =0 where x = player development and y = (rumors + questions).
Allowing for the 10% sell on clause, the fee does reflect a boom inflation in transfer fees.

Inflated by Newcastle's desperation I'd say. Tiote looks to be off and he hasn't seemed right for a couple of years, so they went after probably the one player who'd sign for them. Swansea did well consider they wanted rid of him and probably would have accepted half that.

[DeLorean]

In fairness, most people who watched the game and then watched the clip posted by DeL above noted that he was the only Swansea player who did anything that game and burst his ****** running up and down the pitch so was just wrecked that late in the game.

I only saw the last twenty minutes or so myself. Still, no excuse for not chasing the ball a couple of feet away in the situation they were in. He seemed to be walking freely enough once he took his little breather.

[geysir]

I see that the English Independent has reported that Mourinho sent in a lengthy essay extolling his virtues to Man U.
True or not is besides the point, the report just happens to tick all the narcissist believability factors that make up Mourinho.

[DeLorean]

You wouldn't put anything past him but his agent did say the story is absurd, so I guess that it probably is. Not that Mourinho and respect are related in any way, but I don't think he'd draw that on himself with Van Gaal still there. I think Manchester United are deluding themselves a little with this notion that Mourinho isn't classy enough to manage them though, he's certainly not classy but then neither was Ferguson. Throw a 'Sir' before somebody's name and suddenly they're seen as whiter than white!

That said, I'm not sure Mourinho is a great fit at this point in time. His stock has fallen a little, the success once heavily outweighed the baggage, but they're getting closer all the time. Clubs haven't exactly fallen apart without him either, Chelsea and Real Madrid both winning trophies aplenty, including a Champions League each, after he left.

United's major problem at the moment anyway is their complete absence of attacking spark, they're relatively well organised otherwise. Mourinho's major strength has been making teams incredibly difficult to beat. It would be interesting, but perhaps risky, to see how he'd get on with the other side of the game as his main challenge. I think Ancelotti would have been the ideal appointment but obviously that ship has sailed for now.

[geysir]

The story is not absurd (agent's description) because it has a number of believable factors, there are people who would believe that Mourinho has messianic delusions and would think himself to be the savior of Man U. The unbelievable bit (imo) would be to have put an unsolicited letter of application down in writing and risk ridicule. Ridicule on that level would be the thing that would give him restless nights. And football leaks would have a copy on line by now, courtesy of a deep throat who goes by the pseudonym 'comb-over'.
Now Mourinho has to endure a level of ridicule without having done the deed, the narcissist's path is a thorny one. That could also explain why he has difficulty to rescue a situation which has dive bombed, eg as outlined in Arbeloa's interview, his players have betrayed him, they make him look bad by their attitude on the pitch, whereas Ferguson was a ruthless dictator but one who put the ethos of club first and foremost and one who could pick his team off the floor.