Next Manager Watch

[bceej]

They were excellent on the counter because of the front 3 but they were still highly possession based.

14/15
La Liga 65.3% (ranked 1st)
CL 58.6% (ranked 2nd)

15/16
La Liga 62.9% (ranked 1st)
CL 64.8% (ranked 2nd)

16/17
La Liga 62.1% (ranked 1st)
CL 60.5% (ranked 2nd)

Top of the possession charts every year in La Liga and only behind Bayern every season in the CL.

Now I want to be a team who dominate and have more of the ball and Liverpool prove you can do this AND also be an excellent counter attacking team too.

My fear with Enrique though is that without Messi, Neymar etc we would end up with sterile, boring possession rather than really high tempo and quick attacking play.

You’d hope he’d understand the importance of coaching this for us if he has been aware of us at all over the past few years.

 

[Albertbarich]

They were excellent on the counter because of the front 3 but they were still highly possession based.

14/15
La Liga 65.3% (ranked 1st)
CL 58.6% (ranked 2nd)

15/16
La Liga 62.9% (ranked 1st)
CL 64.8% (ranked 2nd)

16/17
La Liga 62.1% (ranked 1st)
CL 60.5% (ranked 2nd)

Top of the possession charts every year in La Liga and only behind Bayern every season in the CL.

Now I want to be a team who dominate and have more of the ball and Liverpool prove you can do this AND also be an excellent counter attacking team too.

My fear with Enrique though is that without Messi, Neymar etc we would end up with sterile, boring possession rather than really high tempo and quick attacking play.

If he gets our front three back on form then he wouldn't be far off.

 

[BigVic]

If he gets our front three back on form then he wouldn't be far off.

Have they been on form before then?

 

[Albertbarich]

Have they been on form before then?

Sons worst season in my memory by quite a way, they were excellent as a trio last season were they not?

Or are you making a joke that's gone over my head?

 

[TPdYID]

After tossing (ohh matron!) and turning, i'm now fully on-board the Gallardo train. Choo-chooo.

 

[Styopa]

Well at some point he’ll need to get out from under the wing of a head coach and have a proper go himself somewhere.

There’s only so much more he can learn working under other people.

I agree, but at 31, he's still very young and younger or roughly contemporaneous in age to several of our players. So even if he takes another 5 or 6 years to develop, he would still be among the youngest head coaches ever to manage in the League.

I also think whether he must manage another club first to prove himself is an open question. Of course, hiring him without any previous managerial experience would be risky, but it was a risk Arsenal took with Arteta.

In a few years, we should be willing to consider him even if he has not managed another club.

 

[Styopa]

After tossing (ohh matron!) and turning, i'm now fully on-board the Gallardo train. Choo-chooo.

@Ghost Hardware has definitely convinced me.

However, given some of our recent appointments, I am bracing myself for disappointment.

 

[Japhet]

Not sure how there can be any confidence in this till the issue with Paratici is resolved and/or his replacement.

That is a tricky situation for sure. Imo, hiring the right DoF is absolutely crucial to our development, and as such, that's my big concern with Poch, i.e., would he accept a DoF or would he want complete control like he did before.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

@Ghost Hardware has definitely convinced me.

However, given some of our recent appointments, I am bracing myself for disappointment.

Glad to hear it! Yeah I agree, I have very little faith in Levy at this point. But I’m just holding on to the hope that because he was on our list on 2021 he will be again now.

 

[GetSpurredOn]

From what I’ve read, few reports and bits of tactical analysis, I’m also very much onboard the Gallardo train, purely because I want us to do something fresh and innovative rather than keep treading the same path of managerial appointments. So taking a manager who hasn’t already done the rounds in Europe but clearly has a pedigree for intense front foot football and a track record of developing players within, it seems ideal. He has principles, wouldnt leave River mid contract, worked out till his contact end, and yet still has the confidence to say he won’t rush to take over a club mid season, he wants to start with a proper pre season you assume to embed his ethos properly from the foundations up, rather than in dribs and drabs between games. Somehow I just can’t see it happening though.

So to the more likely alternatives. Whilst Enrique doesn’t leap out at me as the ideal option, he does appear to becoming a front runner, and I can see how it may look good visually, ex Barca, international experience, successful player and also won trophies as a manager, and yet more progressive footballing principles than Jose/Nuno/Conte, he’s not my first choice but I wouldn’t be wholly against his appointment.
Poch, well the romantic notion of him returning does appeal in the sense he does have a real affinity with the club, but has he learnt how to better utilise his squad, and how to manage player development of those not quite in the first team picture yet. Can he work with a DoF to boost the squad with pragmatic signings with potential rather than being rigid in his targets.

 

[YB123]

They were excellent on the counter because of the front 3 but they were still highly possession based.

14/15
La Liga 65.3% (ranked 1st)
CL 58.6% (ranked 2nd)

15/16
La Liga 62.9% (ranked 1st)
CL 64.8% (ranked 2nd)

16/17
La Liga 62.1% (ranked 1st)
CL 60.5% (ranked 2nd)

Top of the possession charts every year in La Liga and only behind Bayern every season in the CL.

Now I want to be a team who dominate and have more of the ball and Liverpool prove you can do this AND also be an excellent counter attacking team too.

My fear with Enrique though is that without Messi, Neymar etc we would end up with sterile, boring possession rather than really high tempo and quick attacking play.

This was definitely the case at the world cup. Played against low blocks and it was tedious sideways passing going nowhere. But he was playing with a false nine as they had no real outlet.

 

[zonbon32]

This was definitely the case at the world cup. Played against low blocks and it was tedious sideways passing going nowhere. But he was playing with a false nine as they had no real outlet.

Agree. Kane, Sonny and Kulu have all shown to be proficient goalscorers so potential is there for it to be very potent if given time. It's some of the donkeys playing behind them that will be the downfall.

 

[spursfan77]

I think waiting until Paraticis future is sorted is the sensible thing.

Yep. We don’t have much choice either way do we. Sounds like that could be the end of this month or if not it will be the beginning of June. If it’s the latter and he has to go then, it is cutting it a bit fine. Realistically though I doubt we will have a new chap in the dugout until July anyway.

 

[snakehipsspurs]

What sort of players would we need to bring in to cater for an Enrique system?

I don’t think we need that many to get us there. Wingers wise, we’re already set because Gil will come back in the fold if he’s here and suspect he’ll want Danjuma to stay as a technical option.

Fullbacks wise, our current crop (including Udogie and the return of Reguilon) are perfect for his aggressive, overlapping style.

Defence, I think a technical LCB and young backup option are needed. If Enrique comes in no doubt in my mind we’ll move for Pau Torres. He rates him highly.

A new ball playing GK is needed. Again, David Raya is a player he knows from the Spanish NT and seems available.

And as for CM, think he will want a creative player who could either play in a 3 or push up to number 10 in a 4-2-3-1. If we’re backing him, Dani Olmo is the ideal option. But likely an Alex Scott for this role.

So 3/4 players in key spots and we could easily transition to a high-pressing, quick possession 4-3-3 team in his mould.

 

[USAYID]

The flipside of that is that the bigger brand name managers come at a higher cost, and a higher payout when they are inevitably sacked. Santini, Ramos, Mourinho and now potentially Conte - the highest profile managers Levy has appointed, all out the door within 18 months of joining.

Santini left on his own - no payout. If Conte leaves in the summer, there will also be no payout.

The real cost is the disruption it causes and having to start over (except for Santini --> Jol who was already here).

 

[The Lilywhites]

Heard Kompanys name on the radio this morn. Cascarino mentioned him and i thought a poss good shout.

 

[Styopa]

Think this is 100% true. Jose in particular was Levy catching his white whale and saying "look how big we've become - we got JOSE MOURINHO!!!"

Question is surely this approach has diminishing returns if the club never actually achieves anything. And on a branding/marketing/reputation front you simply can't get bigger than Mourinho so every subsequent manager will be a step down from him.

I think at this point, however you look at it, the best thing for the club on all fronts would be a manager that suits the club and has the potential to achieve long term success, regardless of their reputation and standing. Hopefully after Jose and Conte, Levy has realised that too.

Levy has always acted this way, though. He has always tried to recruit big-name managers. As our profile has risen, so has the profile of the managers Levy has been able to appoint. But even Santini, Ramos and AVB fit this pattern.

Jol and Redknapp were atypical appointments made in somewhat desperate circumstances.

Pochettino's appointment was a rare exception.

 

[Harrier]

Glad to hear it! Yeah I agree, I have very little faith in Levy at this point. But I’m just holding on to the hope that because he was on our list on 2021 he will be again now.

I REALLY want Poch, but warming to the idea of Gallardo or Enrique.

JUST SOMEONE THAT PLAYS ATTACKING FOOTBALL PLEASE!!!!

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

But, as I mentioned a few posts above, you could also say that Enrique may only suit the Spanish league as the only time he’s ever managed outside of La Liga was a failure. Furthermore he has never actually played outside of Spain. In the same way one might question Gallardo tactically adapting to the PL I think you could also just as easily question Enrique, there are plenty of managers whose tactics only suit the league they themselves developed in. After all La Liga has a very different pace, style and ethos to PL. His time as manager of Spain doesn’t really do anything to alleviate such concerns as he’s still working with players that also developed in the Spanish system.

For me I don’t see Enrique as a more of an obvious choice than Gallardo. He might be a bigger name but his pedigree comes from winning at Barca who had the best front three in the world at the time and he was at a club he knew back to front both as a player and from managing their youth team. As much as he altered the existing tactics to a more direct style it was still based in possession football, his teams still averaged 60% + in the three seasons he was in charge.

Also another question regarding him is his ability to build a project. The longest period he stayed at a club was at Barca and his third season he very evidently looked to have run out of ideas resulting in him over relying on his front three. This also wasn’t helped by poor transfers which is why a good DoF would be imperative. He even cited mental fatigue when talking about his last season after he left. This is a clear area Gallardo comes out on top because he very successfully built and rebuilt a project at River over a number of years that consistently challenged in multiple competitions.

But that doesn’t mean to say I think Enrique will be unable to adapt or will fail if he came here. He may well come in and fit perfectly, and as I’ve said I’m not completely against him. I’m just saying that I don’t think looking at his career as a manager there is any reason to think he will necessarily adapt any easier then Gallardo or any other foreign based manager and I think it would be risky to appoint him primarily based on his success at Barca.

Agree with most of your points here. I just think Enrique will be seen as lower risk due to being the bigger name and history of winning trophies in Europe. Even his national team experience will count in his favour.

Whereas as impressive as Gallardo has been in Argentina he only has experience of managing in one league.

I personally would be happy with either but I feel the club is more likely to go for the safer option in Enrique.

 

[yido_number1]

Bloke had just won 5 trophies with Sevilla in two years including back-to-back UEFA Cups; stock had never been higher.

He got Levy'd. Berbs and Keane out for Frazer and Pav. Last spurs manager to win anything. Imagine if levy hadnt screwed him over.