Who are the best managers in the world?

RooneyLegend

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I’d also give a shout out to Gasperini as one of the most innovative managers out there right now. Has had a bumpy career but has finally had a continuous run at a club that believes in his vision. In Atalanta he has been given time to shape the squad himself, and has been given the amount of time it takes for a squad to fully adapt to his tactics.

For him to really be considered a top-top manager, he needs to win a trophy. I think this is needed for him to really prove to bigger clubs that he is worth considering. Had a short spell at Juventus, but never had the required time and influence to perform. But the way he has made his team peform has not only impressed fans of uncompromising and exciting football, but has also won him admiration and respect from fellow managers and former players. Especially Pep has on several occasions stated his admiration and inspiration from Gasperini's Atalanta.

What he has achieved at Atalanta :

16/17 season (first season):
- Fourth place in the league, which secured EL qualification.
- In the two seasons before, Atalanta finished three points from relegation in the 14/15 season and midtable in the 15/16 season.

17/18 season:
- Finished at seventh place, which secured EL qualification.
- Qualified for the EL Group Stage, and topped the group without losing in a group containing Everton, Lyon and Apollon Limassol.
- Reached the semi-final in the Coppa Italia

18/19 season:
- Finished third in the league, which secured CL qualification.
- Scored most goals in the league.
- Reached the final in the Coppa Italia, but lost against Lazio.
- Failed to qualify for EL.

19/20 season:
- Currently at fourth place in the league and thereby in contention for a CL spot.
- Most goals scored in the league, and one of the most scoring teams in the top leagues of Europe. This season alone has won 7-0, 7-1, 5-0 and 5-0 in Serie A.
- Has progressed from the group stage in CL.

With a slight dip in the league in 17/18 season (still a very good season by the standard of a club like Atalanta), Gasperini has steadily made Atalanta a contender for CL and done it by playing very offensively and exciting. He has done it with a team full of players most of us had not heard of before he made them what they are now. The stand out players in his team are maybe known to most: Alejandro Gomes, Luis Muriel and Ilicic. But he has also made players such as Hateboer, De Roon, Freuler, Zapata, Pasalic and Gosens to perform at a high level consistently.
I love that man's work. His team are incredible to watch. Milan should be seriously considering him.
 

momo83

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And where does Chris Wilder fit into all this?!
Sadly. People will never rate him as elite until he wins the league.... sadly he’ll probably never do that with Sheffield Utd and even more sadly he’ll never get the chance with an English club that can. In Spain a guy like him would be managing the Barca / Real within 1-2 years.

I don’t watch Sheff Utd. Only when they played us. But what I liked about them was the versatility they showed in 1 match. Various styles of play could knock it long, could battle, and could play very attractive football.
 

Mr Parker

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Guardiola is one of the best managers in the world when hired by the best teams in the world but if you were the owners of Arsenal and needed to rebuild your team without a bottomless pit of cash would you hire Guardiola over Klopp, Pochettino, Conte or other managers that have proven themselves at mid table teams? I'm not saying Guardiola isn't good but there are areas of the game that he hasn't proven himself at like other top managers have.
 

Botim

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Ask yourself this: who would you want for United?

If it's part of a five year plan with somewhat limited funds: Nagelsmann or Klopp

If it's part of a three year plan with unlimited funds: Pep or Klopp

If it's the plan to challenge for the league next year (after spending big in the summer): Conte
 

JB7

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Incredible how much underrated Zidane's success is, and how much people overrate Pep's success just mostly because he plays better football than his successors, without underrating his achievements.
It's almost as if people totally forget that Guardiola only finished third in the Premier League in his first season before spending £200m on full backs alone.
 

Paul_Scholes18

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It is obviously hard to compare. Just like saying Ter Stegen is better than Suarez or the other way around.
Since managers can be good at different things and suited to different clubs.
In order to win CL with a strong side. Then I rate Klopp and Zidane highest now. Anchelotti used to be good in the past for that too.
To win big leagues with a strong side. Pep, Klopp, Allegri, Tuchels, Ten Haag(think he would be good, but little evidence)., Conte .
To win titles with a weaker/underdog side. Conte, Klopp, Simeone. Could add Ranieri, but he pretty much did it once.
Overall Klopp I would say, but it is hard to compare.

For managers suited to smaller clubs with low budget it is hard and I don't follow the other leagues close enough to rate that.
Managers like Nuno, Wilder might be very good at that. Moyes was good at it back in the day too. Not really anymore.

In terms of putting down great foundations for the future that brings much more sucess after they got fired.
1 LVG, 2 Moyes, 3 OGS 4 Mourinho 5 Brendan Rodgers
 
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Ish

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I'd say it's very important to this debate. If you asked the question how has Pep done versus expectations for quality of team and money spent I'd say he has at times come up short and at most met expectations.

There is a little harshness to that in the sense why wouldn't he take the jobs of the best teams, but the nature of that means he has never proven himself as an outright brilliant manager.

If you ask another question of could many other managers have realised similar results with the tools at his disposal I'd be reasonably confident to say yes.

At Barca he had some of the greatest players ever to grace the game. Bayern is the equivalent of Celtic in terms of guaranteed success so achievement there is fairly irrelevant and even with the ability to scoop up all the best German talent at reasonable prices he was still unable to win the Champions League.

At City he took an already phenomenal squad and spent enough money that he could have made pretty much any team in the world compete for top honours even without the initial base! The fact he hasn't won the Champions League with them is inexcusable.

Even the domestic treble seems less impressive when you consider most other top teams in England have been going through some of their worst periods in recent times.

I'm sure others could point to reasons to give him more credit, but I'm not convinced.
Good post & all valid criticisms - albeit I don't agree with your "end rating/opinion" of Pep.

@MiracleInMadrid great mention as well.
 

SportingCP96

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Jorge Jesus gotta be in there somewhere.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Peps star is fading is it? Don't think so.
It’s absolutely not.

The one question mark over his head is his ability to grow a team across 5-8 years.

He’s quite clearly one of the greatest ever to work towards a 1-3 year peak. (Think of how differently he’d be viewed with a couple of servings of luck to see Bayern win a CL). But that constant evolution of a side has never happened at a club he’s managed.
 

roonster09

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I’d also give a shout out to Gasperini as one of the most innovative managers out there right now. Has had a bumpy career but has finally had a continuous run at a club that believes in his vision. In Atalanta he has been given time to shape the squad himself, and has been given the amount of time it takes for a squad to fully adapt to his tactics.

For him to really be considered a top-top manager, he needs to win a trophy. I think this is needed for him to really prove to bigger clubs that he is worth considering. Had a short spell at Juventus, but never had the required time and influence to perform. But the way he has made his team peform has not only impressed fans of uncompromising and exciting football, but has also won him admiration and respect from fellow managers and former players. Especially Pep has on several occasions stated his admiration and inspiration from Gasperini's Atalanta.

What he has achieved at Atalanta :

16/17 season (first season):
- Fourth place in the league, which secured EL qualification.
- In the two seasons before, Atalanta finished three points from relegation in the 14/15 season and midtable in the 15/16 season.

17/18 season:
- Finished at seventh place, which secured EL qualification.
- Qualified for the EL Group Stage, and topped the group without losing in a group containing Everton, Lyon and Apollon Limassol.
- Reached the semi-final in the Coppa Italia

18/19 season:
- Finished third in the league, which secured CL qualification.
- Scored most goals in the league.
- Reached the final in the Coppa Italia, but lost against Lazio.
- Failed to qualify for EL.

19/20 season:
- Currently at fourth place in the league and thereby in contention for a CL spot.
- Most goals scored in the league, and one of the most scoring teams in the top leagues of Europe. This season alone has won 7-0, 7-1, 5-0 and 5-0 in Serie A.
- Has progressed from the group stage in CL.

With a slight dip in the league in 17/18 season (still a very good season by the standard of a club like Atalanta), Gasperini has steadily made Atalanta a contender for CL and done it by playing very offensively and exciting. He has done it with a team full of players most of us had not heard of before he made them what they are now. The stand out players in his team are maybe known to most: Alejandro Gomes, Luis Muriel and Ilicic. But he has also made players such as Hateboer, De Roon, Freuler, Zapata, Pasalic and Gosens to perform at a high level consistently.
Good shout, i wasn't fan of his as he looked completely out of depth at Inter and looked like he had no idea why he was hired but the work he has done at Atalanta is just brilliant. One of the best teams to watch in Serie A and Europe, they are just relentless in their attacks.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Jurgen Klopp for me. It doesn't really matter who plays in his team. Whether its Salah or Shaqiri, Mane or Lallana, Firmino or Origi, Matip or Lovren, Alisson or whats-their 2nd keepers-name-again..... it still functions the way it should. The only thing now is to see how he deals with Van Dijk being out.

Pep still needs a few star players to get his team ticking.
Huh? Klopp has the best CB in the world, two of the best full backs, three of the best forwards. I’m still undecided on Allison but he’s absolutely top 5. He’s got 5 £100m+ players and the most valuable fullbacks in the world.

He has far more world class players than Pep right now.

ALL top managers and teams can manage single player losses.
 

simplyared

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Klopp obviously comes to mind. Having said that his fellow countryman at PSG is definately worth a shout. Imagine if we got him what the Utd - Liverpool games would be like. You'd be entertained just watching the touchline for the 90 mins. Tuchel definately an interesting character. He's got charisma and attitude both of which we are lacking right now!
 

Focusmate

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Pep essentially needs everything to be set up perfectly or I am very skeptical.
plays great football and when he has comfortably the best team it can be sensational.
Could he build a team from a struggling position though?
Inherited arguably greatest ever team coming through at Barca and did very well but with the strongest ever team in world football.
Took on comfortably the strongest team in Germany and was par at best.
Took on City that was being built for his arrival for some time and then spent a fortune more. Again did very well when comfortably the best team but really on paper they are still at least as strong on paper as Liverpool hence strong favs for the premier league until Liverpool opened up a massive gap.
Amazing at times but am convinced he needs not only the best team but comfortably the best.
Could Pep build Liverpool like Klopp has from a 8th place team or win a European cup with Porto like Mourinho? I doubt he will ever try.
 
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AshRK

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Hate to admit it but right now Klopp but having said that I would still have Pep managing my team over Klopp.
 

Focusmate

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If we are talking about right now then Klopp has to be right there. Had to build the team from average position and while spending, has done it well without needing Pep levels of cash.
Im starting to change my mind on Zidane too. He was insanely lucky to get those 3 champions leagues and because the domestic form was getting worse I wasnt convinced but this year he has started to build a new team and helped by Barca being weaker, they are looking good for the title. Also they are 16-1 for the champions league which is a crazy price.
 

carvajal

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In general, I would say Zidane and Klopp. Pep is lacking something else lately in the Champions League.
However I had a conversation with some friends a few weeks ago, about Deportivo, bottom of the table in Segunda and completely sunk.
We imagined what we would do if we could bring any coach, to straighten the ship immediately. Knowing that our decision is our last bullet to avoid relegation.
We agree on Conte and Valverde.
 

Andersonson

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No need to rank from 1-10 because it will all change Next season when the results are different.

But Pep, Klopp, Conte, Simone , Zidane , Mourinho are all world class managers
 

Denis' cuff

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Not that it would happen but if Pep came to OT now, I wouldn’t be confident of him lifting us out of our current state. Klopp would.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Klopp easy.

Guardiola is good but he needs the best players in the world and a bottomless pit of cash to be successful. Klopp improves players.

It's got to be Nagelsmann for us next. Makes too much sense
He'd be our Klopp. Would be a great appointment. Won't happen under Ed though, it's way too good a move for Ed to make.
 

RightSaidFredTheRed

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Rijkaard who is a CL winning manager had the same players plus a few more and got nowhere close to achieving what Pep did at Barca. City coaches have had blank checques for a decade and didn't achieve what he has. The only club this statement is true is at Bayern.
In 2008-09 when Guardiola arrived, Madrid had a 31 year old Raul and a young 21 year old Higuan as their top scorers with 24 a piece. 32 year old Nistelrooy was the next highest scorer with 10.

If you look also at the rest of the squad, you'll see Madrid were in a period of transistion.

On the other hand, in 07-08 Barca were well underway in their reconstruction before Pep had even been made the manager. In came Henry, Yaya Toure and Abidal as notable incomings.

Messi had been in the team for 4 years, but from the age of 16 and his goals were 1,8,17 then 16. Now you might credit Guardiola for Messi hitting 38, 47,53 and 73 in his following 4 years, or you could say Messi had reached maturity.

Take into account Henry who Rijkaard brought in got 26 goals and Eto'o 36. Even Xavi and Bojan got 10. Again you could credit Guardiola, but the truth is he had an embarrassment of riches and were against a transitioning Madrid.

Guardiola also got significant reinforcements in his first summer which quite reasonably may have had very little to do with him....including Kieta, Pique, Alves, Hleb.

Busquets was promoted from Barca B so maybe he can take some credit for that. In 08-09 he also promoted Pedro who turned out to be very good so maybe credit also due there.

Madrid in 11-12 still arguably in transition managed to take the title and Barca only won the domestic cup and thats still with Messi scoring 73 goals in total that season.

City won the title in 11-12 and 13-14 and were 2nd in 12-13 and 14-15 so to say the blank cheques achieved nothing is very incorrect.

They had a relatively poor year in 4th in 15-16 which is when Pep arrived. In his first season he got 3rd despite bringing in Gundugan, Nolito, Zinchenko, Sane, Stones, Bravi, Jesus and Moreno. Only outgoings were Demichelis for free, Richard Wright retiring. Dzeko out for £10.8m and Jovetic for £12.2m. A net spend of £144.2m which is still argubaly half what it would be if buying those players now, so Guardiola also had the benefit of a major boost before prices rapidly increased again.

Take into account he inherited Aguero, Sterling, Silva, Toure, Kompany, Zabaleta, Fernando, Kolarov, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Otamendi, Iheanancho. Many of those costing fortunes.

In 17-18 he also spent another £200m net.

The spend was unprecedented and on top of an incredible base.
 

adexkola

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Not that it would happen but if Pep came to OT now, I wouldn’t be confident of him lifting us out of our current state. Klopp would.
Of course he could. Even if you think he's a checkbook manager, given the amounts we've splunked on absolute garbage, at the very least he'd make better decisions in that space. That's not even considering how in his subpar seasons at City, there is a distinctive pattern of play and tactical nuance.
 

Focusmate

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Of course he could. Even if you think he's a checkbook manager, given the amounts we've splunked on absolute garbage, at the very least he'd make better decisions in that space. That's not even considering how in his subpar seasons at City, there is a distinctive pattern of play and tactical nuance.
How do you know this? He has never taken on a team from anywhere near the position United are currently in. Look at the City side he inherited, it was pretty much the best in the country before his spending, it had just underperformed the previous year.
 

adexkola

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How do you know this? He has never taken on a team from anywhere near the position United are currently in. Look at the City side he inherited, it was pretty much the best in the country before his spending, it had just underperformed the previous year.
Because it's common sense?

If you think someone who many experts (not including armchair fans in this definition) deem as a brilliant tactical mind, would struggle in coaching basic concepts to a group of talented players, then I mean let's agree to disagree?

But I can't imagine any competent club in Europe thinking... Yeah he can't improve us at all unless he spends money, let's hire Big Sam instead. What? :houllier:
 

RightSaidFredTheRed

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Because it's common sense?

If you think someone who many experts (not including armchair fans in this definition) deem as a brilliant tactical mind, would struggle in coaching basic concepts to a group of talented players, then I mean let's agree to disagree?

But I can't imagine any competent club in Europe thinking... Yeah he can't improve us at all unless he spends money, let's hire Big Sam instead. What? :houllier:
For any club in 17-20th in the Prem I'd back big Sam over Guardiola all day long! The man is a master of relegation battles.
 

adexkola

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For any club in 17-20th in the Prem I'd back big Sam over Guardiola all day long! The man is a master of relegation battles.
That is fair, he (Big Sam) has proven his mettle in this regards. But for any club with more elite aspirations, I struggle to think of a scenario where even with the same resources, Guardiola wouldn't be the better choice.

This is not even me arguing about whether he's the best manager in the world. You can think he falls behind miracle workers like Klopp and Ranieri... But basic team organization, proactive football...
 

DJ_21

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1.klopp 2.guardiola 3.Zidane

there are a lot of talented managers out there, some who are performing miracles at lower teams such as nagelsmann for Leipzig and Gasperini for Atlanta. What does anyone think of Lucien favre from Dortmund? I believe he’s a really good manager and his teams play attractive football.
 

Amadaeus

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Klopp just edge Pochettino for number 1, but Pochettino is an unknown because he hasn’t been given the opportunity to spend big money like the supposedly world top two managers in Pep and Klopp. Give Pochettino a warchest and he will become number 1 manager similar to the way Klopp became number 1.

4. Conte
5. Simione
6. Rodgers
7. Bielsa
8. Nagelsman
9. Zidane
10. Mourinho
 

Focusmate

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Because it's common sense?

If you think someone who many experts (not including armchair fans in this definition) deem as a brilliant tactical mind, would struggle in coaching basic concepts to a group of talented players, then I mean let's agree to disagree?

But I can't imagine any competent club in Europe thinking... Yeah he can't improve us at all unless he spends money, let's hire Big Sam instead. What? :houllier:
Im sure he could coach the current team and get them playing a certain style in line with his philosophy but ultimately fir him to be successful winning the title for example, he would need much much better players IMO. I just feel he needs by far the best team for the way his teams play, and when another team is on a par he would come 2nd to them more often than not.
 

Castia

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Zidane hasn't managed Madrid for 9 years and he is the one who won that one league title. He has also faced a stronger competition in Barcelona and Atletico than Guardiola faced with Bayern and in the PL he only really has an other strong opponent since last season.

So if it came down to it you would have Zidane over Pep? not a chance for me.
 

JPRouve

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So if it came down to it you would have Zidane over Pep? not a chance for me.
I wouldn't care, either would do. It's like asking if I would take prime Ronaldo or prime Messi, it's more a matter of taste than it is about who is going to perform better. Among all managers my preference would be Klopp though.
 

Castia

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Pretty sure previous managers at City and Bayern won that too. Actually previous manager at Bayern won CL too. And that didn't happen at Liverpool before Klopp and in Madrid pre Zidane who completely transformed those teams, and I don't mean just posession stats wise.

Looking unbeatable and playing best football doesn't neccesarily make you the best manager in the world, ask Arsene Wenger, or even Pep from this year.
Wenger went years without winning anything though where it’s a rare feat if Pep goes a year without a trophy.
 

Chipper

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I guess I like proven track record/trophies in the bank.

I see these as the elite: Klopp, Guardiola, Conte, Allegri, Mourinho, Simeone, Zidane, Ancelotti
 

JDoe

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Im sure he could coach the current team and get them playing a certain style in line with his philosophy but ultimately fir him to be successful winning the title for example, he would need much much better players IMO. I just feel he needs by far the best team for the way his teams play, and when another team is on a par he would come 2nd to them more often than not.
I think the original argument was about if Pep would have gotten you on a competitive (not necessarily dominant) state instead of the current one you are in and I'm pretty sure that given the resources since Mou was appointed, he'd most likely have. You've spent a lot of money and Pep is probably one of the safest bet there is in that case. He'd not have you on current City's level, who invested even more on an already very good squad, but probably a safe top 4 club I'd like to think.
 

adexkola

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I'd agree with this. Pep is probably one of the "safest" bets there is when given vast amounts of money. Not sure he'd have made you constant title contenders with the spending when Mou arrived, but the squad would unquestionably have gotten in a better state than currently.

Over the last decade though, I'm inclined to rank them as follows:

1. Klopp
2-5. Pep/Simeone/Conte/Zidane
6.

I think the original argument was about if Pep would have gotten you on a competitive (not necessarily dominant) state instead of the current one you are in and I'm pretty sure that given the resources since Mou was appointed, he'd most likely have. You've spent a lot of money and Pep is probably one of the safest bet there is in that case. He'd not have you on current City's level, who invested even more on an already very good squad, but probably a safe top 4 club I'd like to think.
The last decade as in past 2 months?

How does Klopp rank above Zidane, based on the past 10 years?