Next Manager Watch

[myhartlane]

Mourinho and Conte were hardly cheap were they? This penny pinching line is a myth to some degree.

If we go for "top level" tested managers then the available list is incredibly short. Pretty much Poch or Nagelsmann. Would you say Celtic is top level? Feyenoord?

Besides the last couple of top level managers failed miserably. So maybe someone who hasn't necessarily been tested may work out better.

I agree. The ‘penny pinching’ accusation is a total myth and has no basis in fact. Quite clearly the most successful model for us in recent years has been getting a promising manager who has been given the space to build something. That was of course Poch and the mistake was not backing him when the strategy was obviously working. It seems to me that we need to try that approach once more. For me Kompany screams opportunity. I accept that Kane and Son won’t want to go on that journey again but perhaps it’s best for us all if we pocket the money and they move on a win stuff elsewhere.

 

[Hotspur33]

It's due to two reasons I believe:

• Per his wikipedia page, "In his third and final year, struggling for form and results, the manager switched to a 3–4–3 offense morphing into a 4–4–2 defensive shape, reminiscent of Antonio Conte's Premier League winners Chelsea more than Johan Cryuff's Dream Team, with Messi at the top of a midfield diamond, acting as chief play-maker, and Sergio Busquets, the sole holding defensive midfielder, responsible for breaking the first-line of opposition press.

The system favoured Neymar in particular, who played as a left forward, often cutting inside to link with lone striker Suárez, or to create an overload in the final-third sharing creative responsibilities with Messi. This change in formation was instrumental as they overcame 0–4, the biggest first-leg deficit in Champions League history, by defeating PSG 6–1 in the second-leg; however, the physical and tactical discipline required to sustain a 3–4–3 proved controversial."

• Many people liken his Barca side to having Messi, Neymar, and Suarez all during some incredible personal years. Yes we have Kane and Son for now, but I think many supporters are ready for some sort of rebuild and can he do/manage through that? Other than that, most have seen his Spain sides have 99.9% possession, yet fail to get the few goals to finish sides off.

I personally have not seen enough of his sides to have an opinion, but likely where the assumptions come from.

For me, the main issues are that he has almost* exclusively played/worked in Spain, he is used to life at ELITE clubs. Managing Spurs would be a big departure from what he is used to.
When he did that at Roma, seemingly it didn’t go well.
Also he has been out of club management for a while.
I’m sure he’d love to manage in the PL, but for me, he’s definitely better suited to Chelsea.

 

[Misfit]

The optimist in me hopes that after Wednesday things start to accelerate on the new coach front.

But then the optimist in me was brutally beaten to death by Spurs many decades ago.

 

[Johnny J]

Its a common opinion in barca that he made them 'ugly' but highly misleading. He moved Barca away from pire tiki taka and into something more practical that suited his players more, but it was still largely possession based "proactive" football. He did very well in barca tbh amd was much better at Roma than people give him credit for.

I also think he did a relatively good job at Spain. Spain biggest problem is the players are either too young or too old. You have high potential players and past it players, erratic results being a natural consequence of those players.

The main reason he got the sack after the world cup is a vocal part of the media hated him. Largely because of his unconventional approach to the press. And frankly untraditional practices, such as changing the kits to all red and doing live twitch interviews directly with fans bypassing traditional means of communication. Which in spain, symbolic things like these count for more than they should. He also wasnt liked by some for not calling Ramos up, which tbh was the correct call.

I also think his time at Roma, while not good wasnt a disaster as some might imagine. He played good stuff and Roma were in a difficult transitional place. But its hard to see his time there as anything other than a disappointment.

The reason I'm unsure about him is principally that the way he sets up his teams require players we simply don't have, and a lot of them. I think it would be hard for him to succeed here in the short term, or even mid term. He would have to be backed with a complete overhaul and overauls are generally poor way of rebuilding teams and normally end in disaster, although often with long term benefits. In other words. If he comes in and we try and build a team in his vision it will probably be whoever replaces him that will reap the rewards (not dissimilar from Ramos and Redknapp).

If we are thinking strategically, and if we want to move to a more possession style of football we need someone who can do that while also being able to deal with the current strengths and weaknesses of the team. And this probably will be a manger whose happy to have more of a workmanlike midfield, attacking players built on explosivity, like son, rather than creativity etc. You can add the missing attributes. But not over night.

Good post.

 

[greaves]

The optimist in me hopes that after Wednesday things start to accelerate on the new coach front.

But then the optimist in me was brutally beaten to death by Spurs many decades ago.

My optimism is in a Siberian prison camp with electrodes on its genitals.

 

[curlacious]

My optimism is in a Siberian prison camp with electrodes on its genitals.

Along with our next manager

 

[Ghost Hardware]

The other point about Enrique we should all keep in mind is that by all accounts he’s Paratici’s top pick. Now understandably that might end up causing some to be concerned, after all his track record of manager choices has been rather poor to say the least.

But what I would say is out of all the names I’ve read he’s suggested during his time here Enrique makes the most sense. Regardless of my personal feelings towards him he actually ticks an awful lot of box’s.

Most critically tho is that if we really want to change the way we do things and become more like a team such as BVB or Brighton then dismissing who our DoF wants isn’t the way to go about it. If we want to move forward as a club, especially one working on a limited budget, then it’s imperative that everyone is on the same page. And really the DoF should have a lot of say in regards to that page.

We really should be matching the manager to the vision not the vision to the manager.

Also in specific relation to Enrique, having our DoF actively wanting him would suggest to me he knows exactly what players would be required to get his system to work.

Now as I said, that doesn’t mean I want Enrique and after all we don’t even know if Paratici will be here next week let alone next season. But ether way, who our DoF wants should have significant bearing on who we appoint. It’s why I keep saying we should have addressed this issue first as it’s actually fundamentally important if we hope to change.

 

[LSUY]

The optimist in me hopes that after Wednesday things start to accelerate on the new coach front.

But then the optimist in me was brutally beaten to death by Spurs many decades ago.

My optimist has been missing ever since he tricked me into believing Gross would do for us what Wenger did for Arsenal

 

[npearl4spurs]

If we appoint Vincent Kompany, we must get behind him. And I mean get behind him by signing him on a 5 year deal. Letting quite a few players go and shaping the squad. Going out and getting the profile of players he wants. And using the academy. We are rotten and need a complete clean out and overhaul.

 

[dovahkiin]

 

[jpascavitz]

I know it's part of the media spin, but every single article makes it seem like our board meets up for hours every day and a few will say, "we want {insert name here}" while others shake their head in disagreement and it goes round and round.

 

[THOWIG]

My concern about Kompany, Slot or even Gallardo is we won’t give them time. We need to forget about champions league. Kane will be off and we need to accept our level and give the new coach time to build.

But we won’t.

 

[wrd]

I know it's part of the media spin, but every single article makes it seem like our board meets up for hours every day and a few will say, "we want {insert name here}" while others shake their head in disagreement and it goes round and round.

Yes.. media spin

 

[H-SF]

If De Zerbi, Slot, Enrique, Nagelsmann and Kompany is the list of 5 as suggested by Matt Law and Sami Mokbel, I genuinely don’t think we can go wrong. Just get one of them

 

[wrd]

My concern about Kompany, Slot or even Gallardo is we won’t give them time. We need to forget about champions league. Kane will be off and we need to accept our level and give the new coach time to build.

But we won’t.

I'm at this point with the Kane might leave debate now:

 

[easley91]

Still happy with the names constantly mentioned. I understand people want a resolution, but I'd rather we get the right person for the job.

 

[DiamondLites]

If we do go for Enrique, the board must be aware that we will require major investment in the squad. His philosophy is predicated on playing out from the back, and currently only Romero and Bentancur are at the required level at GK, CB and CM (Sarr as well if he ever plays)

If they hire Enrique and expect him to work with the squad he has then it will be an unmitigated disaster. Every manager will need to be backed to some degree, but Enrique more so looking at his ideals and the squad as currently constructed

 

[ntmac82]

Wouldn't pay much attention to a random report from Holland. Last I heard, he was certainly very interested so unless something has drastically changed, I struggle to see why his stance would have changed.

Not sure what's currently going on, haven't heard much recently. Interesting that Enrique is still being mentioned when he was one of the first two names I heard a good while back when I posted on here.

Hopefully he is the one

 

[SpursSince1980]

Wouldn't pay much attention to a random report from Holland. Last I heard, he was certainly very interested so unless something has drastically changed, I struggle to see why his stance would have changed.

He spoke to Levy? 🫤

 

[cjsimba]

Don’t want Enrique purely for the reason that I’ve bet on every other f*cker except him.