Which top 6 manager has had the best / worst season?

[Hoops]

It seems like for all the hot air and press attention all the top 6 managers have had a relatively successful year. Wenger and Mourinho seem to have escaped catastrophe at the very last.

Which begs the question who has had the best / worst season?

Guardiola has gotten away under the press radar. To finish 3rd and potless after spending best part of 250m last year is not a great return. Surely he should be getting both barrels from the press?

 

[spursfan77]

Guardiola or klopp

Both had bad transfer windows.

Both had bad results but maybe Liverpool's were worse.

I came in here wanting to type Guardiola but now I'm thinking klopp. No, it's Guardiola. He spent loads and hasn't lived up to his reputation.

 

[SugarRay]

It's Pep, easily.

Klopp hasn't exactly torn up any trees but then again, he doesn't have Pep's resources.

 

[Hoops]

I think Klopp has done really well to get Liverpool in the CL.

 

[spursfan77]

I think Klopp has done really well to get Liverpool in the CL.

Weren't they meant to be winning the league in December though???

 

[SugarRay]

Weren't they meant to be winning the league in December though???

No European distraction either

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Mourinho and Wenger.

I don't give a shit what tin pots Mourinho has won, thats a team that has spent 450m in three years to end up 6th, playing mostly tedious pragmatic safety first football, is a fucking mockery of three shams. Close behind is Wenger, his team don't even have the kudos trophy for playing the most attractive football anymore, skanked a cup but 5th place with his resources and experience is piss poor.

Guardiola's season has been a bit of a mess, but it's his first season in England (unlike Mourinho who should be hitting the ground running with his experience of this league and squad) and although they spent money last summer, he still inherited a squad where many of it's established players were ageing, and ill suited to his ethos but managed to finish 3rd a long way ahead of ManU and Arsenal. He gets a mulligan from me.

 

[Saoirse]

Poch and Conte obviously not contenders for this.

Mourinho: You want to give it to him. He's spent huge money, played dull football and been poor in the league. But to his credit, he came up with a plan (win the Europa) pretty early on in the run-in, stuck to it and succeeded. I don't like it, but it's not an absolute failure.

Wenger: The obvious answer a couple of months back, he changed his formation to something he's not tried in 20 years and very, very nearly rescued their season. Great winning run at the end, only stopped by us, and a cup win to boot. Honestly very unlucky to only finish 5th with that points total, the criticism of him is more due to successive years of relative regression than this being a particularly poor one.

Klopp: Got Liverpool into the Champions League, but second half of the season was poor as they dropped well away from the title race. Was also helped by not having any European football. That being said, I think he has the weakest squad of the lot to work with.

Guardiola: Started brilliantly, was shown up in successive games at Celtic Park and White Hart Lane, and never recovered or adapted. His stubbornness didn't result in a totally disastrous season and may yet pay off in years to come as he continues to shape his squad and adapt players to his tactics - it his only his first season which tends to be difficult - but the performance this season in isolation was well below expectations.

If I was gonna rank them best to worst:

1. Poch
2. Conte
3. Mourinho
4. Wenger
5. Klopp
6. Guardiola

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

I think Klopp has done really well to get Liverpool in the CL.

I thought they were Chelsea's only rival to the title at Christmas...pretty fortunate to hold onto to 4th with the benefit of no European football...

 

[Danners9]

If I was gonna rank them best to worst:

1. Poch
2. Conte
3. Mourinho
4. Wenger
5. Klopp
6. Guardiola

This is probably how i'd rank them, too. Maybe swapping Wenger and Klopp around.

Spurs overachieved in the league, and you'd imagine qualifying for the CL was the goal - which was achieved with a record points total, golden boot winner, unbeaten at home and an overall great record. Shame about the cups but the league was probably the focus.
Chelsea's title winning team from 2yrs ago got back on track, so that is in line with expectations.
Mourinho missed out on CL through the league, which must have been the goal, but achieved it through the cups - and won the League Cup as a bonus.
Arsenal's goal would be (as it always is) to qualify for the CL, and they didn't do that. The FA Cup is nice, all fans want to win trophies, but still means they play Thursday nights, which is a drop in stature and income for them.
Liverpool qualified for the CL, despite dropping points in home games you'd expect them to win. Still a work in progress.
Guardiola and City underachieved considering the expense and expectation.

 

[Lilbaz]

Conte best.

Wenger worst. When a majority of fans want you out it has to be tough.

 

[Saoirse]

Conte best.

Wenger worst. When a majority of fans want you out it has to be tough.

If we were judging by fans' opinions then Fergie would've got the chop before he had a chance to win anything at United. It's probably not a very good metric to be honest.

 

[nailsy]

I'd say Conte just about gets the best manager nod as he almost won the double. There's no doubt in my mind that Chelsea were helped by not being in Europe, but he's adapted to the league brilliantly and if it wasn't for us they would have strolled to the title.
Poch is a very close second. We've been the best side for most of the season, but we had a poor European campaign.

The bottom two have to be....

Wenger. Arsenal have been beatable all season. Or up until the last six weeks anyway. The uncertainty about his future has been a distraction for most of the season, but I've got to give him some credit for getting his team playing again despite the awful atmosphere that surrounds them these days.

Pep is the worst by far. They finished third but haven't been in the title race since Christmas. He's spent millions but most of his signings have been flops. Sane and Jesus look like great signings though. I'm sure they'll be better next season, but he'll probably spend at least £150m to improve them.

 

[Lilbaz]

If we were judging by fans' opinions then Fergie would've got the chop before he had a chance to win anything at United. It's probably not a very good metric to be honest.

That means that no opinion in this thread has any value as they are all from fans.

 

[mpickard2087]

I don't think Guardiola has been awful, they started and ended well and looked much more stable. This season has been one of transition, they spent money but mostly bought in a lot of young potential (I'll include Stones in this) to a squad that has no balance and a lot of over the hill players. Where he did do badly was the two established signings - Gundogan ok they were a bit unlucky with but he's a sicknote, and Bravo has been rubbish (and I forgot Nolito... 'nuff said on that one). I think Pep has realised he probably wasn't ruthless enough this season and is having a mega clear out and fixing positions like full back. This coming season he will be under real pressure to perform.

Personally, if we're just going on League performance, I think Mourinho hasn't had a great season at all. Yes you can say he gave up towards the end and put all his eggs in one basket but it suited him as they were struggling. They went unbeaten for months but weren't winning games, and he's played such negative football that he's getting away with at the moment due to the cup wins. I think if that continues then the fans will turn on him quickly. It's pretty embarrassing to see Man Utd resorting to such tactics.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

It's either disingenuous or crass stupidity of Mourinho to claim they were not interested in the league, and I firmly believe it was the former because I don't think he's that mind glowingly stupid. They were a kick away from going out of the Europa a couple of times against Celta.

He kept playing most of his best players in the league throughout and playing to grind out points until he was actually mathematically ruled out. If he really didn't care about the league for those last few games why constantly risk key players and try to bus park out results, he could have just played a load of kids for the last month and a half and told them enjoy themselves.

Bullshit. He tried to do what he always does, grind games, and he just failed and painted it as "I don't care".

 

[nailsy]

It's either disingenuous or crass stupidity of Mourinho to claim they were not interested in the league, and I firmly believe it was the former because I don't think he's that mind glowingly stupid. They were a kick away from going out of the Europa a couple of times against Celta.

He kept playing most of his best players in the league throughout and playing to grind out points until he was actually mathematically ruled out. If he really didn't care about the league for those last few games why constantly risk key players and try to bus park out results, he could have just played a load of kids for the last month and a half and told them enjoy themselves.

Bullshit. He tried to do what he always does, grind games, and he just failed and painted it as "I don't care".

The only one he really gave up on was the final match against Palace. Fair enough that they had a few injuries towards the end of the season, but he could have strengthened his squad last summer instead of paying a ridiculous fee for Pogba.

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

Wenger was the least successful.

Unlike Pep (and Mourinho) he didn't have the excuse of it being his first season. Sadly perhaps, winning the FA Cup, whilst nice for supporters, really does nothing to disguise the fact that Arsenal had their worst season for 20 years at a time when everyone was saying that the PL was in a bit of a mess; Leicester obviously couldn't maintain their winning form, Tottenham had blown their chance and wouldn't repeat their strong form of the previous season, both Manchester clubs were in new hands, Chelsea, also under a new manager unfamiliar with the PL were trying to clamber back from a 10th place finish and Liverpool were, well, Liverpool.

If ever there was a season when a strong and stable (!) club like Arsenal, having spent big in the summer on a new defender and DM to solve their "only" weaknesses should have dominated the league, this was it. Instead of which, what happened? A weak wet fart at best.

 

[rossdapep]

I thought they were Chelsea's only rival to the title at Christmas...pretty fortunate to hold onto to 4th with the benefit of no European football...

I agree with that. I remember people saying Redknapp didn't deserve to be sacked because getting 4th was a great return. Yet you had to remember this was a team who were closer to the title than 5th before the run-in and from the position we were in and the players we had then you can only really say it was a poor return. Despite Arsenal's god awful form from January - April and United's other attentions, Liverpool left it until the last day despite being in a great position. The only difference is Chelsea won the Champions League to consign us to no CL footy.

 

[Krule]

Conte as best with Poch a very close second...title winning manager who had the foresight to change things around after losing 3-0 to Arsenal and the rest is history.....third is Mourinho (two trophies)...fourth is Wenger (FA Cup)....fifth is Klopp (CPL spot) and finally Guardiola who's reputation demanded more than just a CPL place and third spot (15pts behind winners).
To be fair that is a huge testament to Poch regarding his development of the squad and the manner in which he has created such a positive team spirit and mentality. No longer do I watch the team go behind and think 'game over'....now I have belief and confidence that they could still win the match. Swansea was a wonderful example 0-1 down with minutes left and we win 1-3. To still attack and score a third goal sent a clear message to all the other teams watching....no longer do we give up or stop trying.