Man City 1-0 Chelsea - Saturday 15th January, 2022

[Mel81x+]

Pep is an elite coach and the best part of it all was that his time managing Barcelona B was very fortuitous. He coached the likes of Iniesta, Messi, Xavi, Busquets and while that may seem like some to allude to the fact that he had the best lets also not forget that he managed that team to go on and do something quite special in Spain and the world. In a way he was also very instrumental in building a core of that Spain squad that went on to achieve most of what it did considering they have Iniesta, Busquets and Xavi in the midfield. In the later part of his career he went onto Bayern and now City but that first spell at Barcelona really set the standards he wanted to achieve with everywhere else he went. Sure, he may not win the CL and that's his own undoing as has been the case everytime they get to the knockout stages but hes the kind of guy that will get the best out of a team wit the way he plays his football and he's earned the right to ask for the amounts and the assurance he has.

Let's also not forget who his mentor was and how much of an influence that gentleman has on the world of football and Dutch football and football at Barcelona as well. 

[Spike]

3 hours ago, LFCMadLad said:

Probably because Pep cherry picked all of Klopps best players, season after season. 

Come on, Klopp worked miracles at Dortmund. Pep did what was expected except he couldn't win the Champions League. 

Klopp has.

He bought one player from Dortmund and that was Gotze. I don’t think you know anything about German football at the time

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, Spike said:

He bought one player from Dortmund and that was Gotze. I don’t think you know anything about German football at the time

One would say it's......embarrassing... 

[Spike]

Just now, Stan said:

One would say it's......embarrassing... 

Not only that but Bayern weren’t as dominate then. The Bayern domination happened after Dortmund’s back to back. They were winning only every other year, and Dortmund were well run and scouted. It wasn’t a miracle it was hard work and just deserved because they had elite players. 

I don’t think Bayern had really stepped into big spending territory at this point. I could be wrong but that happened under Heynckes. 12/13 Dortmund still had a fantastic team, most of them winners from the previous two seasons, and Marco Reus and Gundogan as well, but they were crushed by Bayern that year. That is why people would always talk about Klopp burnout

[Spike]

1 hour ago, Whiskey said:

Always makes me laugh, Guardiola is the best manager on the planet to everyone apart from Liverpool fans who would quite literally shag their Grandmother to avoid saying a bad word about Klopp.

bUt pEp OnlY mAnAGeD bIG tEaMS!!

Liverpool and Dortmund aren’t big teams apparently. It’s a dig at poor ol’ Mainz as well. Tsk, tsk.

[LFCMike]

51 minutes ago, Spike said:

He bought one player from Dortmund and that was Gotze. I don’t think you know anything about German football at the time

Lewandowski?

[Spike]

29 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

Lewandowski?

Left for free. 

[LFCMike]

8 minutes ago, Spike said:

Left for free. 

They still signed him from Dortmund while Klopp was there

[Spike]

4 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

They still signed him from Dortmund while Klopp was there

It is a completely different dynamic and I said ‘bought’ 

[LFCMike]

Just now, Spike said:

It is a completely different dynamic and I said ‘bought’ 

Splitting hairs

[Spike]

3 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

Splitting hairs

Hardly. To say the bosman transfer and buying a player is splitting hairs is a gross understatement 

[LFCMike]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

Hardly. To say the bosman transfer and buying a player is splitting hairs is a gross understatement 

He still lost another player to their biggest rivals. The fact it was a free transfer put Klopp at much bigger disadvantage.

[Rick]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

Hardly. To say the bosman transfer and buying a player is splitting hairs is a gross understatement 

Lewandowski didn’t sign a new contract with Dortmund because he wanted Munich. You are definitely splitting hairs on that one. 
 

I’ve not once said that Pep isn’t brilliant or elite, I just don’t think he’s the best ever. 

[Spike]

Just now, LFCMike said:

He still lost another player to their biggest rivals. The fact it was a free transfer put Klopp at much bigger disadvantage.

 

1 minute ago, Rick said:

Lewandowski didn’t sign a new contract with Dortmund because he wanted Munich. You are definitely splitting hairs on that one. 
 

I’ve not once said that Pep isn’t brilliant or elite, I just don’t think he’s the best ever. 

It was their own fault for not keeping a player and letting him leave for free, it is a fundamentally different movement of labour.

 

[LFCMike]

3 minutes ago, Spike said:

 

It was their own fault for not keeping a player and letting him leave for free, it is a fundamentally different movement of labour.

 

I'll bow out of this one because you're just being a pedantic cunt

[Spike]

2 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

I'll bow out of this one because you're just being a pedantic cunt

piss off, just because it doesn’t fit your narrative doesn’t mean a fucking free transfer and selling a player are the same thing

[LFCMike]

3 minutes ago, Spike said:

piss off, just because it doesn’t fit your narrative doesn’t mean a fucking free transfer and selling a player are the same thing

@LFCMadLadwill be able to correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think his point was whether a transfer fee was paid by Bayern for one of Dortmund's players or not.

 

[Spike]

1 minute ago, LFCMike said:

@LFCMadLadwill be able to correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think his point was whether a transfer fee was paid by Bayern for one of Dortmund's players or not.

 

Surprised you didn’t call me a cunt again for no reason

[Rick]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

Surprised you didn’t call me a cunt again for no reason

U r bein a cunt tho 

[LFCMike]

2 minutes ago, Spike said:

Surprised you didn’t call me a cunt again for no reason

I will leave it now. In a bit 

[Spike]

Ah fuck you guys what is even the point discussing anything on here, ya try to be nice and civil but still get insulted for no reason

[Stan]

10 minutes ago, Rick said:

U r bein a cunt tho 

No he isn't though. 

Statement was that 'Pep cherry picked Dortmund's players every season'

Bayern didn't buy Lewandowski. 

Lewandowski wanted to leave for Munich. And did so on a free .

 

They are fundamentally different. Considering Liverpool fans like to think they spend well (and they do), it's ironic they think a free transfer and buying a player is the same. @Spikemakes good points but Liverpool fans get ridiculously defensive about Klopp, like unhealthily so. 

[Rick]

Didn’t think I needed to add an emoji to my last post to make it clear it was tongue in cheek. I even used text speak for god sake

How hard is it to understand though that whether or not Munich paid for Lewandowski or not, him going to them directly from Dortmund….weakens Dortmund. And if you lot are going to try and pretend that there wouldn’t have been some approach from Munich to Lewandowski at some point then you’re very naive. Dortmund were very competitive while he was still there, yet he fucked off to their biggest rivals because they have more resources and in turn, an advantage in the domestic competitions. 

[Spike]

1 minute ago, Rick said:

Didn’t think I needed to add an emoji to my last post to make it clear it was tongue in cheek. I even used text speak for god sake

How hard is it to understand though that whether or not Munich paid for Lewandowski or not, him going to them directly from Dortmund….weakens Dortmund. And if you lot are going to try and pretend that there wouldn’t have been some approach from Munich to Lewandowski at some point then you’re very naive. Dortmund were very competitive while he was still there, yet he fucked off to their biggest rivals because they have more resources and in turn, an advantage in the domestic competitions. 

Nobody has said otherwise, that isn’t the point. The point being is that the free transfer was a complete failure from Dortmund, and they would have known, so why didn’t they sell him earlier? or offer him a  contract earlier? why did they wait till his last season? Dortmund agreeing to sell Gotze and failing with handling Lewandowski’s contract are too wildly different scenarios, they end up with the roughly same result but two clubs making a deal is different to a player leaving on their own volition.

[Stan]

11 minutes ago, Rick said:

Didn’t think I needed to add an emoji to my last post to make it clear it was tongue in cheek. I even used text speak for god sake

How hard is it to understand though that whether or not Munich paid for Lewandowski or not, him going to them directly from Dortmund….weakens Dortmund. And if you lot are going to try and pretend that there wouldn’t have been some approach from Munich to Lewandowski at some point then you’re very naive. Dortmund were very competitive while he was still there, yet he fucked off to their biggest rivals because they have more resources and in turn, an advantage in the domestic competitions. 

Regardless of that, Pep didn't cherry pick him? 

If the player wants to go to the bigger club, and runs down his contract to do so, then that isn't selling the player to them? 

Maybe Bayern would have put a bid in for him, that doesn't change what actually happened though. 

Main point is though that Bayern or Pep didn't cherry pick players 'every season' as was suggested. Gotze and Lewandowski even if you do include him. Two players...? 

 

By the way, before any absolute bellend suggests its a pro-Pep/anti-Klopp thing, a) they can fuck off and b) they can fuck off some more after that. I don't want this to be an assumption that I don't rate Klopp. That'd be naive to think that as he's quite clearly one of the most talented managers around. But please do forgive anyone who tries to argue a point that isn't true...