Recent content by merc1976

Well what would you do with Mourinho or Conte or Rafa ? He called out things as it was. The problem was never Ragnick. What happened to all the managers in last 10 years. Everyone had flaws right except ETH who will also fall to the same fanbase hysteria. When Ragnick was appointed there were...

Ragnick is a good manager. Way way better resume than ETH currently has. He is even more experienced in building structures to make a club successful. The very fact that he failed at this club should be a stark warning. The fact that LVG and Mourinho weren’t able to replicate their form in the...

You are absolutely right in the assessment. ETH may turn out to be a good coach and criticism at this point is baseless. Comparison to klopp and pep is also uncalled for as there is a massive gulf. When Klopp and Guardiola came in they were already world class coaches. ETH may fail to live upto...

It’s not a comparison as the 2 “teams” are in different phases. Ajax has a defined philosophy and players trained into that over years right from academy. The pitfall of such comparison is that you prioritise individuality over team. The team last year on a person to person comparison was even...

Erikson was a Ajax youth product and was there 5 years, Martinez is Ajax, Malacia is from similar system at feyenoord. I am not using that as a stick.What it means is there is a pattern and FDJ or antony would be another name to that. That pattern of recruitment would lead to a certain playing...

Agreed. I do think ETH has a philosophy and pattern of play. Whether he has the personnel to execute such a plan is something unknown. I don’t think he has the team yet. He definitely will not have it in this season. Martinez in isolation as a player in defense is reasonable but in a team where...

A world class player to me is someone whho is a top 5 in their position. The players do not match up. KDB is far ahead of bruno or keita, world class period. Thiago is world class. Fabinho is world class. Silva and Henderson are better than anyone else in current midfield for united. Erikson...

It absolutely naive to even think you can dominate possession if you cannot press and retrieve possession. I don’t want to sound patronising but football is based on strategic principles. Not wishful thinking or fancy dribbles nor on blind faith. If you need to dominate possession then you need...

more than player power it’s the expectations which result in departures. Players as a whole want to win trophies - If you are not a mid table team. If manager is unable to fulfill the expectations of the best players then they will leave unless convinced by a large salary. ETH is rebuilding but...

Football is a game of time and space. The higher you defend or press to compress the space in front of you, the faster you need to react to defend counters. That is universally true. From all signs looks like ETH will defend high. If so, he will need defenders with certain characteristics. They...