Capello: How good was he?

[Haddock]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...2010-david-james-lampard-ghost-goal-interview

New interview with the great man.

Nice to see that he treats David James with the respect he deserves

“I had Green and I had [Joe] Hart, just a kid. I asked the players. Hart or Calamity? ‘Calamity.’ I put Calamity in because of the players’ trust. John Terry and the defenders had more faith in James. Hart had played only once.”

Sid Lowe: Green also claimed Capello had fat-shamed the squad, telling three-quarters of them they were overweight. Also true, Capello concedes, spreading his hands. “They came like this. You explain, tell them what to do. They’re professionals. The problem is, they arrive at the end of the season. ‘We’re used to eating this, used to doing this, not used to that.’ It’s hard to change – especially if you don’t have leaders [among players] to guide them.”


And here's a video of his AC Milan schooling Cruyff. The greatest performance by a team in the Champions league final.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Solidified AC Milan when the squad got tired of Sacchi's intensity and slightly out-there training methods.

 

[Champagne Football]

He had all the best players in the world at Milan.
His methods were very Italian and worked very well in Italy, but not as effective elsewhere, similar to Ancelloti, Conte, Sarri, Trappatoni, etc.

 

[sp_107]

Ruled with ironfist and players didnt enjoy playing for him is what I can remember of him but he did well overall and remain in elite league of mangers.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

My favourite Capello memory would be him leading Roma to the Scudetto in 2000-2001. I think they sped out of the blocks and made an excellent start to the season, but things became nervy when they drew quite a lot of games during the 2nd half. Thankfully they got the job done though. From memory there was quite a lot of pressure on Roma to finally win the title that season, even though I don't think they'd realistically contended for it for quite a while.

They nearly defended the title the next season as well, as they, Inter and Juve were locked in an exciting 3 way title race, and all had a mathematical chance of winning it going on into the (very dramatic) final day of the season.

When it looked like Fergie would retire at the end of the 2000/2001, were the 3 managers in contention to replace him Capello, Hitzfeld and Sven?

 

[Lay]

His training methods were intense. Ronaldo once said he doesn’t run in games as that’s the only time he can rest

 

[Untd55]

He had all the best players in the world at Milan.
His methods were very Italian and worked very well in Italy, but not as effective elsewhere, similar to Ancelloti, Conte, Sarri, Trappatoni, etc.

He did well in Spain. He spent two seasons at Real Madrid (96-97 and 06-07), both times winning La Liga. He was also sacked both times at the end of those seasons.

100% league record is not bad.

 

[FrankDrebin]

My favourite Capello memory would be him leading Roma to the Scudetto in 2000-2001. I think they sped out of the blocks and made an excellent start to the season, but things became nervy when they drew quite a lot of games during the 2nd half. Thankfully they got the job done though. From memory there was quite a lot of pressure on Roma to finally win the title that season, even though I don't think they'd realistically contended for it for quite a while.

They nearly defended the title the next season as well, as they, Inter and Juve were locked in an exciting 3 way title race, and all had a mathematical chance of winning it going on into the (very dramatic) final day of the season.

When it looked like Fergie would retire at the end of the 2000/2001, were the 3 managers in contention to replace him Capello, Hitzfeld and Sven?

Yeah,I loved that AS Roma side. But beforehand I always had a fondness for Roman club.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

His training methods were intense. Ronaldo once said he doesn’t run in games as that’s the only time he can rest

Capello regularly asked Ronaldo during training, 'Aren't you ashamed of being so fat?'

Around that time Ronaldo used to say something along the lines of 'I get paid to score goals, if you also want to me run, pay me more money'.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

Yeah,I loved that AS Roma side. But beforehand I always had a fondness for Roman club.

I was a fan as well. It had a good balance and I think Capello played 3-4-1-2 formation, with Samuel marshalling the defence, Candela and Cafu on the wings, Emerson and Tommasi in the centre, and Totti as the playmaker behind the strike-force Batistuta and Montella. The signing of Batistuta who people knew would guarantee goals, he scored 20 in the league that season, of course made a big difference (I had fond memories of seeing Batistuta banging in the goals for Fiorentina wearing that legendary Nintendo sponsored kits).

I didn't realise that's the last time a team outside the traditional big 3 of Juve, Milan and Inter has won the Scudetto.

 

[Champagne Football]

He did well in Spain. He spent two seasons at Real Madrid (96-97 and 06-07), both times winning La Liga. He was also sacked both times at the end of those seasons.

100% league record is not bad.

Terry Venebles, John Toshak, Van Gaal, Rafa Benitez, Ernesto Valverde have all won La Liga too, but for sure Capello was solid enough in Spain, but I don't think the Madrid fans ever really warmed to him and his style.

 

[Gio]

A top tier manager through the 1990s and 2000s when he was amongst the top handful of managers around. Probably arrived in the England job a little past his prime, particularly as the game was changing.

I'm glad he's ruled out a lot of the bollocks the English media reached for in 2010 when there was a big reality check for everyone. Although I'm not so sure about the physical condition point, Capello using a 4-4-2 as the rest of the world moved away from it was surely more influential in how they huffed and puffed their way through games. Both Algeria and Germany clearly benefited from the extra man in midfield and caused England problems they could not easily resolve.

 

[FrankDrebin]

I was a fan as well. It had a good balance and I think Capello played 3-4-1-2 formation, with Samuel marshalling the defence, Candela and Cafu on the wings, Emerson and Tommasi in the centre, and Totti as the playmaker behind the strike-force Batistuta and Montella. The signing of Batistuta who people knew would guarantee goals, he scored 20 in the league that season, of course made a big difference.

I didn't realise that's the last time a team outside the traditional big 3 of Juve, Milan and Inter has won the Scudetto.

Yep, great team.
Capello unfortunately left on poor terms,though.

Made me laugh that throughout his stay at the Roman club he would constantly complain about the fortune that Juve received in games,alot very debatable too. He got quite irate at times with his criticism for the Turin club.

So it was only obvious that he would ditch Roma and join Juve

If you cant beat them,join them as the saying goes.

 

[carvajal]

He was always one of my favorite coaches.
I remember being very sorry when he left the first time, after winning la liga 96-97. At that time everyone coming from Italy was very well considered, and after Valdano the fans wanted a "sergeant".

If I remember correctly, he came with Seedorf, Illgner, Panucci, Roberto Carlos,Mijatovic and Suker from Sevilla .
The second time he had lost his aura, and we played really bad, but we won it with a comeback so it is well remembered

 

[FrankDrebin]

The only 2 things I remember about Capello and his 2nd stint at the Bernabeu was his footballing style,which no one can be surprised about. It really was ponderous.

And his dropping of Beckham only to then comeback and acknowledge ,due to Beckham's performances in the cup games and odd sub appearances, that the Englishman was indeed a talented and a potential vital cog in his Madrid's sides search for success that season.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

Yep, great team.
Capello unfortunately left on poor terms,though.

Made me laugh that throughout his stay at the Roman club he would constantly complain about the fortune that Juve received in games,alot very debatable too. He got quite irate at times with his criticism for the Turin club.

So it was only obvious that he would ditch Roma and join Juve

If you cant beat them,join them as the saying goes.

Didn't he repeatedly tell the Italian media that he would never join Juve as well? Of course he's far from the only person in football history to say that he'd never join a certain club and then do so down the line. And hadn't he previously feuded bitterly with the Moggi family? That made the move even more crazy.

I think Roma saddled with quite a lot of debt when he made that move to Juve and were needing to sell key players, which probably helped him make up his mind to leave.

From memory, even though they are not counted in the history books for well documented reasons, the 2 title races between Juve and Milan in 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 were pretty thrilling, with Milan clearly playing the more attractive football, but Juve being more efficient and ruthless.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

I don't know a lot about Capello's first spell / season at Real Madrid.

I think when he went there for the second time, Calderon was desperate to sign Kaka from Milan as a 'statement of intent' after being elected as president. But Capello told him that they should sign Mahamadou Diarra from Lyon instead. Diarra was clearly one of the best midfielders in the world at the time, and in 2005/2006 he had continued play excellently for Lyon even after they sold Essien to Chelsea, and I think he was pretty pivotal for Real Madrid and considered to be the 'lungs of the team', as they won the title in 2007 and then again under Schuster in 2008.

 

[Demyanenko_square_jaw]

He was one of the top tier of managers during the 90s and 00s. Great for defensive and workhorse setups and especially effective at that in Italy. The first time at Real Madrid showed he could adapt to a more attacking style and league and imo didn't deserve to be sacked.

By the mid-00s i'd say he was more set in his ways and negative, though i remember the England job starting really well with those demolitions of Croatia.

His biggest weakness tactically was that most of his teams had not much creativity in midfield and what was there often looked like the product of the individual talents rather than a well coached attacking system. That became apparent even during his 90s peak at milan as Rijkaard and Donadoni left/declined, he seemed to think Albertini was enough to carry central organising and creating duties on his own. imo he blatantly wasn't capable for that and it lead to a much more defensive team that often struggled to control midfield and tended to rely on moment of briliance/poaching precision or set-pieces for goals rather than well structured attacks which was a key difference with Van Gaal's Ajax. The idea of creating a partnership of Albertini and Boban(who was actually the superior by a decent margin on the ball, but not as good defensively so usually a sub) or build a formation to properly utilise Savicevic between the lines and let him link up easier with midfield didn't really occur to him.

Of course Milan had such a good squad that he won most of the time anyway, but i don't think that post-Rijkaard he got the most out of that squad.

 

[Haddock]

He was one of the top tier of managers during the 90s and 00s. Great for defensive and workhorse setups and especially effective at that in Italy. The first time at Real Madrid showed he could adapt to a more attacking style and league and imo didn't deserve to be sacked.

By the mid-00s i'd say he was more set in his ways and negative, though i remember the England job starting really well with those demolitions of Croatia.

His biggest weakness tactically was that most of his teams had not much creativity in midfield and what was there often looked like the product of the individual talents rather than a well coached attacking system. That became apparent even during his 90s peak at milan as Rijkaard and Donadoni left/declined, he seemed to think Albertini was enough to carry central organising and creating duties on his own. imo he blatantly wasn't capable for that and it lead to a much more defensive team that often struggled to control midfield and tended to rely on moment of briliance/poaching precision or set-pieces for goals rather than well structured attacks which was a key difference with Van Gaal's Ajax. The idea of creating a partnership of Albertini and Boban(who was actually the superior by a decent margin on the ball, but not as good defensively so usually a sub) or build a formation to properly utilise Savicevic between the lines and let him link up easier with midfield didn't really occur to him.

Of course Milan had such a good squad that he won most of the time anyway, but i don't think that post-Rijkaard he got the most out of that squad.

This is a really well thought out post.

One thing in Capello's favour is his ability to suppress his ego and admit a mistake. There was an episode with Montella but I also recall the time he binned Beckham at Madrid because he perceived him as insufficiently committed only to discover the opposite was true but then he put him in the squad and Beckham was fantastic and Madrid won the title.

 

[Josh 76]

Capello was the Mourhino of the 90s.
Win at all costs...
boring football....
Found out in the end.

 

[thepolice123]

I don't know a lot about Capello's first spell / season at Real Madrid.

I think when he went there for the second time, Calderon was desperate to sign Kaka from Milan as a 'statement of intent' after being elected as president. But Capello told him that they should sign Mahamadou Diarra from Lyon instead. Diarra was clearly one of the best midfielders in the world at the time, and in 2005/2006 he had continued play excellently for Lyon even after they sold Essien to Chelsea, and I think he was pretty pivotal for Real Madrid and considered to be the 'lungs of the team', as they won the title in 2007 and then again under Schuster in 2008.

I remember this.

He was a solid player and a hot prospect but he wasn't one of the best midfielders in the world. We also needed a DM at that point and was heavily linked with him. I was desperate for us to sign him. In the end, Carrick turned out to be the better option for us.

 

[Trezeguet17]

He came to Real in the mid 90s for one season, won the league and got fired.
He came to Real again in the mid 00s for one season, won the league and got fired.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

I remember this.

He was a solid player and a hot prospect but he wasn't one of the best midfielders in the world. We also needed a DM at that point and was heavily linked with him. I was desperate for us to sign him. In the end, Carrick turned out to be the better option for us.

To be honest, I thought he was much better than that at the time, I genuinely thought he was among the top defensive midfielders in the world.

By that stage he had already impressed for Mali at the 2002 African Cup of Nations (after also shining at the U20 World Cup in 1999), and looked excellent for Lyon 3 seasons in a row in the Champions League. In Lyon's 2006 quarter-final defeat against Milan, I thought he was probably the best player on the pitch. When Lyon played Utd in the group stage the previous season, Fergie was more impressed with him than with Essien.

He was excellent in 2004/2005 under Le Guen after they had sold Edmilson to Barcelona, and then he was arguably even more impressive in 2005/2006 under Houllier, after they had sold to Essien to Chelsea, to extent that they didn't miss Essien at all. I thought that Lyon had a real shot of winning the tournament in 2004/2005, but of course there was chain reaction, in which Milan should have beaten Liverpool in the final, PSV should have beaten Milan in the semis (they were by far the better team over the 2 legs), and Lyon should have beaten PSV in the quarters but were incredibly wasteful.

He was heavily linked with Real, United and Milan during the back end of the season and they all knew how strong he was in his position, but of course Lyon's president Aulas was famously tough to negotiate with at the time.

I think with United signing Carrick, and Real signing Diarra, all parties basically won and were better off. Carrick was of course excellent for Utd, and Diarra was excellent for Real and was influential for them during their 2007 and 2008 title wins. Capello was desperate for Calderon to complete that signing when he joined. Then his injury in 2008/2009 de-railed his career massively.

 

[carvajal]

He came to Real in the mid 90s for one season, won the league and got fired.
He came to Real again in the mid 00s for one season, won the league and got fired.

he wasn´t fired the first time, decided to go back to Milan

 

[thepolice123]

To be honest, I thought he was much better than that at the time, I genuinely thought he was among the top defensive midfielders in the world.

By that stage he had already impressed for Mali at the 2002 African Cup of Nations (after also shining at the U20 World Cup in 1999), and looked excellent for Lyon 3 seasons in a row in the Champions League. In Lyon's 2006 quarter-final defeat against Milan, I thought he was probably the best player on the pitch. When Lyon played Utd in the group stage the previous season, Fergie was more impressed with him than with Essien.

He was excellent in 2004/2005 under Le Guen after they had sold Edmilson to Barcelona, and then he was arguably even more impressive in 2005/2006 under Houllier, after they had sold to Essien to Chelsea, to extent that they didn't miss Essien at all. I thought that Lyon had a real shot of winning the tournament in 2004/2005, but of course there was chain reaction, in which Milan should have beaten Liverpool in the final, PSV should have beaten Milan in the semis (they were by far the better team over the 2 legs), and Lyon should have beaten PSV in the quarters but were incredibly wasteful.

He was heavily linked with Real, United and Milan during the back end of the season and they all knew how strong he was in his position, but of course Lyon's president Aulas was famously tough to negotiate with at the time.

I think with United signing Carrick, and Real signing Diarra, all parties basically won and were better off. Carrick was of course excellent for Utd, and Diarra was excellent for Real and was influential for them during their 2007 and 2008 title wins. Capello was desperate for Calderon to complete that signing when he joined. Then his injury in 2008/2009 de-railed his career massively.

Fair enough seems like you followed him more than I did. I remember we were in for Marcos Senna who was another excellent DM but Diarra was my top choice at that time.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

Fair enough seems like you followed him more than I did. I remember we were in for Marcos Senna who was another excellent DM but Diarra was my top choice at that time.

I guess at least Carrick cost noticeably less (certainly in that transfer climate) than Diarra would have done. At that time, Levy was probably not as difficult to negotiate with (he became more difficult in later years) as Aulas was.

I get many, many football predictions wrong (the vast majority of them), but I remember arguing with my brother that Carrick would be an excellent signing for Utd, although I was quite a big fan of him during his time at West Ham and Tottenham, and I was happy that I was right there.

On the subject of Senna, I personally think that he deserved the Euro 2008 player of the tournament award ahead of Xavi, although that is highly subjective and Spain's win was a big collective effort. He was excellent at that tournament.

 

[FootballHQ]

Calamity James. He was still better than Green in 2010 (as was Joe Hart).

Really interesting interview. Thought Capello would change mindset of England but it didn't really happen. Some good points he made though about average age of squad and lack of young players coming through (likes of Wilshere and Phil Jones were only making first premier league games that season). Rooney certainly wasn't right during the WC considering he'd just had his best domestic scoring season.

Forgot he managed Russia in 2014 and that didn't go much better. One of the great club managers in last 30 years anyway.

 

[FootballHQ]

Capello was the Mourhino of the 90s.
Win at all costs...
boring football....
Found out in the end.

I was just about to say that, Mourinho's career seems to be going in same style. Will probably manage Portugal or another national team after he leaves Spurs.

 

[FootballHQ]

To be honest, I thought he was much better than that at the time, I genuinely thought he was among the top defensive midfielders in the world.

By that stage he had already impressed for Mali at the 2002 African Cup of Nations (after also shining at the U20 World Cup in 1999), and looked excellent for Lyon 3 seasons in a row in the Champions League. In Lyon's 2006 quarter-final defeat against Milan, I thought he was probably the best player on the pitch. When Lyon played Utd in the group stage the previous season, Fergie was more impressed with him than with Essien.

He was excellent in 2004/2005 under Le Guen after they had sold Edmilson to Barcelona, and then he was arguably even more impressive in 2005/2006 under Houllier, after they had sold to Essien to Chelsea, to extent that they didn't miss Essien at all. I thought that Lyon had a real shot of winning the tournament in 2004/2005, but of course there was chain reaction, in which Milan should have beaten Liverpool in the final, PSV should have beaten Milan in the semis (they were by far the better team over the 2 legs), and Lyon should have beaten PSV in the quarters but were incredibly wasteful.

He was heavily linked with Real, United and Milan during the back end of the season and they all knew how strong he was in his position, but of course Lyon's president Aulas was famously tough to negotiate with at the time.

I think with United signing Carrick, and Real signing Diarra, all parties basically won and were better off. Carrick was of course excellent for Utd, and Diarra was excellent for Real and was influential for them during their 2007 and 2008 title wins. Capello was desperate for Calderon to complete that signing when he joined. Then his injury in 2008/2009 de-railed his career massively.

Didn't he end up at Fulham?

There was also a Diarra who was at Liverpool and Bayern Munich and didn't play much at either then was France captain a few years later.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

Didn't he end up at Fulham?

There was also a Diarra who was at Liverpool and Bayern Munich and didn't play much at either then was France captain a few years later.

Yes that's right. I might be wrong, but I think he came in during the back end of the 2011/2012 season, played very well, but then suffered another lengthy injury early on into the next season and never really recovered from that.

That was Alou Diarra, although I don't think he made any first team appearances for either Bayern or Liverpool. Unfortunately Gerard Houllier at the time had a habit of crowning every young French player as the next Zidane, Henry, Vieira etc. I think his career took off when he went to Bordeaux in 2007.