Has Jose out-managed Pochettino and Klopp?

Another great mailbox. If you have anything to add, mail us at theeditor@football365.com

 

Money does make the world go round
In response to John Nicholson’s piece on spending your way out of trouble, I agree there are many approaches and it certainly helps if you can develop players into better players or even better bring youth players through, but sadly I think he is very wide of the mark in reality, as the facts do not support your view.

Look at the Premier League table each year from when it started (when football started of course) the club’s position on wages spent very regularly matches the position finished, as does transfer spend, with a slight variation in clubs spending more to try and recover ground such as Liverpool have done on a few occasions.

Across Europe the successful teams are those that spend the most. Bayern hoover up all the promising players in Germany and substantially spend more than their counterparts, they are perennially more successful.

Much has been said of Allegri to Arsenal and I can’t see why he would and I’m anAarsenal fan, but when they say Wenger has a bigger budget than he does, well he doesn’t. Allegri has the biggest budget in his league, hence why Juve keep winning. In the Premier League, Arsenal’s budget or perhaps to be more specific what they spend is around fourth, why we often finish around fourth.

In Spain the two giants have a disproportionate amount of the TV money, not to mention massively greater turnovers, which in turn mean they spend the most, they are by far the most successful clubs. They both smash transfer records regularly and people speaking of Barca’s demise, perhaps too soon, have said that those they brought in were not good enough and perhaps they too have not brought them on, either way there are reasonable murmurings they will splash a good deal of cash in the summer as will the other big hitters.

Of course there are anomalies, but the point is they are just that anomalies. Spend on fees and wages often translates to success, the facts entirely support this, not just in the Premier League but across Europe.
Stuart, Manchester (AFC happy from some fight and tactics for a change)

 

Do clubs care about the silverware?
I enjoyed John Nic’s piece this morning as ever – a couple of extra guitar/roadie related anecdotes wouldn’t have gone a miss, but good stuff.

The way I expected this situation to play out was broadly:

1) Increased competition within the EPL – the bully-boys can’t out-muscle the minnows so easily.. not every transfer within the EPL can be forced through, and there will be more competition for foreign signatures from clubs that can suddenly afford to bid. This all means that it will require more investment to maintain a position in the top four.

2) The importance of Champions League income decreases – (made up numbers but for example..) £30m for playing in the CL group phase looks much better when you’re getting £100m for your league position than when you’re getting £200m for your league position.

3) We get to see which clubs are in it for the cash and which are in it for the glory… Those clubs who were only ever in it for the cash may now have a more efficient way to pay dividends – is it still worth paying the money to get a top four finish? The competition have more to spend than they used to, and the prize pool is less enticing.. plus you’ve already got more money from your league position so you can already pay more dividends without needing to invest any further…

I’m not sure that this makes for a coherent argument, but I guess what I’m angling at is: John’s piece assumes that the purpose of the exercise is to win European silverware. I think that the purpose of the exercise is to ensure that the money goes in the right pockets.

Changing the prize-pool to diminish the importance of success in Europe is unlikely to result in increased success in Europe.
Dan (the weekend didn’t happen), Spurs

 

Consider people as well as money…
Jonny Nic’s piece on money playing a key factor in football and the success of the PL is relentlessly on topic. The level of investment in the sport is increasing, but I believe that there needs to be some more effective ratios in place to give a clearer view of how effective this investment is. I wonder how attributable spending £30m on a defender is to the financial and footballing success of a club? If we assume that Chelsea win the title, will they attribute that solely to the purchase of N’golo Kante for £30m? Throw in the winnings from that and the forecasted increased TV revenues from being ‘champions’ and a £30m investment might seem useful. Similarly, as a ‘Boro fan I am resigned to the fact that we are going straight back to the Championship. Considering the additional broadcasting and commercial revenues we’ve managed to bring in this year, plus the parachute payments that will be forecast, the level of investment seems bloody good. Financially, the club will be better off and surely we can re-invest that to give us a better chance in future.

While that has been a slightly elongated ramble to lead me to my original point, I think it’s still worth pointing out that, as fans, there is no consistently measured set of ratios against which we can all comfortably rely on to measure how effective money is put into our clubs. The point of my email is that the success of Premier League clubs in Europe being attributable to the level of investment is, as Jonny points out, so far removed. I think there are so many factors that play a part as well, but one that I consistently notice as failing to be recognised is the personal values of players.

Antoine Griezmann is getting quite rightly cheesed off at the relentless questioning on whether he’ll leave Madrid for Manchester in the summer. If you remove the footballing factors, such as CL, do you think Antoine will be motivated by the culture and see England as a place to re-locate? Is he even keen on living in a city? Does he live close to Madrid at the moment? He might be loving the wonderful heat out in the suburbs of Madrid. Hell, he might be a true food fanatic that he’s chosen to place himself in a city that has some of the best dining options in the world.

I get these are tedious points, but I find the personal circumstances of players are rarely considered when discussing transfers. Maybe the footballing world is becoming more of a level playing field (sorry for the pun) from a financial perspective that clubs really need to consider what they are ‘offering’ to academy players and experienced players.
Phil, London

 

Jose > Klopp and Pochettino
No surprise to see Mediawatch put yet another negative spin on a United win (yeah I know lads, we’re still fifth).

It’s a narrative you have been running all season. No sane United supporter expected a title win this season but unbeaten since October, one trophy won, an excellent chance of another and a top four finish in our hands all the while managing a pretty brutal injury list isn’t all that bad. Compare and contrast to the endless fawning over Klopp and Pochettino, who will both end up potless (again). Not sure I quite buy the logic that Tottenham – ‘best starting Eleven in the league TM’ somehow ‘deserve’ a trophy either. What for?
Richard, Manchester

 

Is Klopp making progress at Liverpool?
After another frustrating afternoon at Anfield with only one shot on target, Liverpool did everything they could to not tighten their grip on top four. Now first of all congrats again to Palace for the third victory at Anfield in a row. Looking at that bench before the game was desperate to look at. As the game went on, you knew we needed to make a change, the fans knew it and Klopp knew it but deep down he also knew there wasn’t anyone there that could come on and change the game. All very well talking about talented kids the club has but pointless having them on the bench and even more pointless when you don’t use any of them. It’s a damning outlook as to where the squad is right now.

Granted we were missing three of our key players. Not including Sturridge as that guy must be a professional hospital patient at this stage. The squad is poor. That defence is shockingly bad and if Klopp starts again with at least three of the five from yesterday for next season then he might as well be shown the door. I’m amazed where we are in the table considering how awful the defence is and Utd should be wrapping up fourth by now. We are limping from game to game.

If Benteke had stayed another season, he would have been getting more game time, along with Allen and Sahko. For Klopp to not sign in January is naive at best. To fall at the final hurdle for top four will be his undoing and will deliver a psychological blow and one where they may not recover from for years to come. The next few games will decide whether we can sign the high-profile players Klopp wants or the players from the teams that have already beaten us this season.

Our defence is getting worse each season and getting worse under Klopp. That isn’t progress. That’s a sure sign we are regressing. Mourinho isn’t someone I personally like but by gosh that man wouldn’t tolerate the awful defending that we see with Liverpool under Klopp. I feel we have already blown top four and honestly what do you expect when you have a defence as horrendous as Liverpool’s. As Big Sam said yesterday ‘We all knew how bad Liverpool are at corners’. Oh dear.
Darragh (Are we really going to get mad over Sahko’s handshake game with Benteke?) Ireland

 

Liverpool don’t ‘deserve’ CL? What?
Who do you think you are, the arbiter of all that is holy in UEFA?

I’ll tell you who doesn’t deserve to play in the champions league, the team that finishes below a team with a ‘shoddy defence’ (two more conceded than Arsenal), the team that finishes below one with ‘no proper striker’ (most goals scored in the league), or the team that finishes below the team with u20s on the bench (despite Liverpool youth products selling for over £70m last two seasons).

If Liverpool are so appalling, why are they third? Why has the two Manchester teams who both signed players for £50m+ this year not excelled in the league?

And as for getting butts kicked in the Champions League, maybe Chelsea shouldn’t be allowed in after losing to Liverpool, United for failing to beat this team of imbeciles, or Arsenal for getting their butts kicked 3-1.

What a ridiculous notion, the Champions League goes to whoever has the most points, not the most expensive bench or the top scorer or the best defence.
KC (even if I’ve bitten, some people are actually like this)

 

…I have only just read this morning’s mailbox and feel the need to point out to Andrew Chong; The teams against which Liverpool are struggling are not the upper echelon of the league. As stated time and again, Liverpool are magnificent against the best teams. Ergo; Liverpool would be way better suited to the Champions’ League than the Europa. Supposedly.
Dom Littleford

Ed’s weekend thoughts
* How was everyone’s weekend? I presented an award on Friday night, went to Crich Tramway Village, and saw my team pull off yet another fantastic victory. You can’t really call it a surprise, bearing in mind Crystal Palace had won on their last two visits to Anfield, combined with their current form, and Liverpool’s record against the lower sides. Something about finest derailers since Shimano again.

The Reds didn’t help their own cause, though. Philippe Coutinho’s free kick was their only shot on target. Just not good enough, really.

* Palace are by no means a great side, but they are doing a good impression of a couple of aspects of great sides of late – namely, going behind against teams and still getting something from the game, and coping without a key player. Mamadou Sakho was ineligible, and his place was taken by another former Liverpool player, Martin Kelly. This was far from ideal, but it is a testament to how much he has improved under Allardyce, and how much confidence Big Sam has in him.

Yohan Cabaye has also found a new turn of form in recent times, as Allardyce has encouraged him to roam forwards more than he was able to previously. This is also helped by the presence of a genuine midfield destroyer, Luka Milivojevic, behind Cabaye and Jason Puncheon.

* This wasn’t on MotD2 so I haven’t seen it, only heard it on the radio, but Christian Benteke was booked for simulation having made a meal out of minimal contact by a defender. Readers with longer memories may remember a time when Benteke played for Liverpool against Crystal Palace, made a meal out of minimal contact by a defender, and scored a last-second, match-winning penalty.

On the other hand, while the panel considered that Coutinho could have had a penalty, were one given, it would have been so soft you could have wiped your @r$e with it and called it Andrex.

* Benteke was marvellous, though. As a target man-type striker, there are few in the Premier League who can match his ability, but he’s also more than just a back-to-goal forward. He’s comfortable dribbling the ball too, which has created chances for his teammates.

* The Palace blogger HLTCO pointed out on Twitter that in Sam Allardyce’s first eight games, Palace took just four points; from the next eight games, they’ve had 19. This is exactly half the points they’ve earned all season, and now sit 12th, level on points with AFC Bournemouth, one behind Stoke City, and two behind Watford and Southampton (who have two games in hand). With the Eagles’ upward momentum, and the Potters and Hornets very much on the beach, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that they could finish in the top half.

That said, we’re still not completely out of the woods yet, as we still have to play Hotspur (h), Burnley (h), Manchester City (a), Hull City (h), Manchester United (a). However, there are plenty of opportunities to secure the couple of points we need to be absolutely certain.

* “I know it sounds silly but he could manage the England team…He’s got a lot of talent and I hope it’s not wasted at Swindon for too long.”

That’s what Harry Redknapp told Talksport on 11 November about Tim Sherwood. Well, if things weren’t bad enough for the Robins, they were relegated to the fourth tier on Saturday.

“You can’t say Villa were good. If that’s the best they can do, Steve [Bruce] has clearly got a lot of work to do.”

That’s what Harry Redknapp had to say about the team who had just defeated his Birmingham City side.

* Quite often when Manchester City have a big game, there are comments in the mailbox about the lack of comments from their fans. They do seem rather quieter than many teams of similar stature. However, it’s reassuring to know they have the same c##t contingent as every other club, judging by the vermin who crawled out of the woodwork on Twitter to call Amy Lawrence every name under the sun in response to a light-hearted observation on a frankly lame banner proclaiming the Citizens ‘the best team in the land and all the world’.
Ed Quoththeraven

 

Big-ups to Sam
I can’t believe there was no mention of Big Sam in the morning mailbox. The man has masterminded victories over Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool with a relegation-threatened team. Surely no one should begrudge him his smugness.

Now beat Tottenham on Wednesday and I’ll personally rename him Allardicci. I have no ulterior motive, I promise.
Franklin, CFC, Lagos

 

What about Woj?
‘A new goalkeeper should be high on the agenda this summer, even if only to provide proper competition’ – 16 Conclusions

I think I know just the man for the job. He’s currently playing for the team sitting second in Serie A, has conceded just 27 goals in 32 games this season and has kept 14 clean sheets along the way. He has successfully fought off competition from the current Brazil number 1 to remain first choice for his club, he’s tall, athletic, has great reflexes and is adept at sweeping up behind his defence and playing the ball out from the back. At 27 he’s just coming into the prime of his career as a goalkeeper and he’s already played over 100 times in the Premier League.

And the best part? Arsenal wouldn’t even have to pay for him because they already own him. Yes, I’m talking about Szczesny.

I watch Roma every week and will happily admit to being pleasantly surprised by how well Szczesny has done this season. He’s really only behind Donnarumma and Buffon in Serie A, and those two are superhuman so it’s hard to hold that against him. He’s eradicated the mistakes that used to cost his teams goals and has developed into a really consistent, reliable goalkeeper.

It might sound ridiculous at first, but stop and think about it. A goalkeeper playing for a strong side in one of the top European leagues with Premier League experience, a style of play that suits Arsenal and a desire to prove himself at the club where he grew up. And he’s free. Seems like a no-brainer to me…
Tom Brooks

 

Worried about De Bruyne at Man City
A few thoughts on my beloved Man City. I can’t think of any other club that could hire the ‘best manager in the world’ and have an unlimited budget and still end up with a trophy-less season. Never change Many City – please. This is one of the reasons that City fans savour every single moment of success and every trophy as if it could be the last. Because it really could be!! It doesn’t half make it exciting and far more enjoyable than the predictability of steamrollering every team each week. Although I may be in the minority in saying this!

I think some fundamental changes are needed for next season and I already get the impression Pep has lost patience with Sterling’s inconsistency and has a clear view on who will cut it and not next season. Regarding acquisition a right winger in the form of Kinglsey Coman would provide perfect balance to Sane. I don’t think he needs to fiddle with his striking options. Jesus, Aguero and Nacho are more than sufficient. He needs to take the pressure off Silva – perhaps a move for Iniesta or Turan? Finally I’m concerned by KDB. He’s still playing some great football but I sense he’s not happy with where he is playing. I fully expected him to walk away with the PFA Player of the Year award this season and he’s simply not hit those heights. I worry he’s not happy under Pep.

Finally for all the doom and gloom of yesterday how wonderful to see Kompany play 120 minutes of high intensity football. I thought I may never see him play 90 mins again let alone 120 mins.
Banjo, Prague

 

Oh we are…
‘this is a player who has endured more false dawns than a Vicar of Dibley impressionist convention’.

I hope you’re proud of yourself, F365.
RQT (MUFC)

 

You went too far, Stelling…
On Saturday afternoon, Jeff Stelling went on a rant about the current state of affairs of Hartlepool United.
He went as far as to call for the manager Dave Jones to be removed/quit.

He then threw his toys out of the pram and said he would quit himself as honorary President of the club if it helped. These are his actual quotes:

“It’s not personal Dave, but for God’s sake, for the good of the club go now. “Walk now. It’s 13 points from 51 this is not your level of football. “[Pam Duxbury, the chairman, Gary Coxall, if he won’t walk then sack him …. do it today.”

Lo and behold, Dave Jones has quit today.

Am I alone in thinking this is disgraceful and a total lack of respect?

Now I don’t doubt for one minute that Stelling is a died in the wool Hartlepool fan, but this in my mind was beyond the pale.

Stelling is the host of Banterfest 2017 Soccer Saturday, a programme that I used to enjoy but now find full of uninformed imbeciles, with Stelling no better now.

The Merson/Thompson Marco Silva rant was their Jumping the Shark moment.

Imagine Gary Lineker went on MOTD on Saturday night and demanded the removal of Leicester’s manager.

The host is there to be impartial, to move things along, and to ask questions of the ‘experts’ to give more knowledge to the viewer, and to introduce the ad breaks.

Stelling is moving into Tim ‘Affecting the Game’ Lovejoy territory, and thinking he is the story. It went viral as the kids probably still say, and that was all fuel to Stelling’s ego fire. Look how this was reported in Twitter after a quick Google search.

He is part of the problem while making out he is above it all. He encourages the likes of Merson and Thompson without challenging them. It’s not the first time, he made sarky comment about Villa recently and his ‘jokes’ are becoming more snide.

I know that this programme is probably aimed at the S*n readers, of which I am not, but I won’t be watching anymore.

I’ll leave the last word to Jones himself

“I’m fighting for my life, how about a bit of support Jeff, rather than the rubbish you are giving out?”

I am probably madder than I should be about this, but then again I probably shouldn’t have opened that second bottle of red last night.
DC, BAC

 

A break in Hungary
To offer a break from what I imagine will be a lot of emails regarding the weekend’s FA Cup games (and Liverpool’s failings) I thought I’d write in regarding a recent holiday where I took in some local football (plus someone said no one talks about European football in the mailbox this morning!)

Myself and a couple of friends were in Budapest for a few days, and decided we would look into the prospect of catching a Hungarian top-flight game. We were there Monday to Friday, so weren’t too hopeful, but our collective love of all kinds of football was enough to at least look into it. As luck would have it, there were two midweek games in Budapest that week, with one of them being a Budapest derby, Vasas vs. Ujpest, an enthralling prospect, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Having not purchased tickets prior to the game, we decided our best bet would be to get up to the ground about an hour early, to ensure that were any spares going, that we could pick them up. We travelled to Ujpest in the far north of the city on the metro (where both teams were based), and I was already noticing the lack of fellow supporters en route. “We’re really early,” a mate proclaimed, and given that kick off was 6pm, we reassured ourselves that other fans would probably be coming later, straight from work, or that they wouldn’t be travelling from the city centre like three overly enthusiastic tourists, anyway.

Having arrived at our metro stop, the first thing I noticed is that the ground was in a fairly desolate area, and that any hopes of a pre-game pint were quickly out the window, unless one of the mechanics garages were selling booze as a secondary, and not particularly ethical, business idea. We arrived at where Google Maps informed us the ground should be, and thought it must be behind the large building site (not uncommon in Budapest), before eventually realising that our pessimism was not misplaced, the now former Illovszky Stadium was the building site. The only thing still standing was a club shop in a porter cabin (that was closed), and a large leisure centre, brandishing the club’s colours. Some investigating and kind English-speaking Hungarians in the leisure centre helped us locate where the match was being played, which was about as far as it could have been from our position, and still be classed as Budapest.

A trip back along the metro to the other end of the line to the south east of the city, with a brisk long walk through more bleak areas of Budapest eventually got us to the ground, 15 minutes late and sweating buckets. We paid £3.75(!) each to get in and sat with maybe a thousand fairly reserved by my expectations Vasas fans and watched a heavily wind-influenced cracker that finished 3-2 to Ujpest. Total travel time to get to the game was about two hours, taking in areas the Budapest tourist board would not want you to see. The Bozsik stadium where the game was played, home of fellow Budapest residents FC Honved, was akin to a non-league ground in this country and was maybe about a quarter full. Half time was spent drinking a pint in what felt like a disused village hall kitchen. It was incredible, given this was the top flight.

It’s this kind of thing that keeps me in love with football, when ticket prices at top clubs are unaffordable for the vast majority of people. A game for £3.75 in a stadium that is open to the elements, in a bleak area of a beautiful city is a careful reminder that football isn’t just about the wealthy elite. If anyone else has similar tales of games in foreign lands that were less than smooth, I’d love to hear them.
Mike (AVFC), London
P.S. We also tried to check out the Ferenc Puskas Stadium two days later, also a demolished building site.

 

RIP Rajtoral
Sorry to mail in about such a sad subject, but over the weekend the Czech international midfielder František Rajtoral was found hanged in his apartment in Turkey. He was only 31, and had had a fine career, mainly with Viktoria Plzeň, but also having a spell at Hanover before moving to Turkey with Gaziantepspor. His teammates always described him as a happy-go-lucky figure, and Gaziantepspor president Ibrahim Kizil is quoted as saying “he didn’t seem to have any problem. I really don’t know why he did such a thing”. Alas, it seems we never will.

The signs were there, however. While at Baník Ostrava, he was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, and missed a large part of Viktoria’s 2014 campaign due to personal problems. What the final circumstances were that drove him to end his life can only be speculated upon, but it once again just goes to highlight the importance of mental health care in sport.

Čau, Franto.
David (Zbrojovka & Coventry City) Szmidt, Brno, Czech Rep