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Nine, yes they’re big clubs and yes there’s an expectation but it is that that’s causing these boards to act irrationally and continually make big money buys. Chelsea have been fortunate to find top top managers over the last decades to deliver success and they now look to be running out of them. Man Utd have obviously lost Ferguson. Don’t doubt the wage bills are similar at these clubs, but Liverpool clearly targeted the manager first, wage bill later, and this has obviously built up more over recent years. Arsenal have been spending bigger money in recent seasons but have still been underachieving. Which points to a problem with strategy. And it’s deeper than just getting the manager right. (You said recently Chelsea’s problems lie deeper than Sarri).
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Problem is, if you’re a manager at a club like Man Utd, Chelsea or Arsenal, those clubs have had a very high wage bill and have had for a long time. So the expectation is pretty much going to be immediate, whether fair or not because this is the strategy that such clubs have now – wage bill is the ultimate dictator of success, not the manager. Hence Mourinho was quickly under pressure with his poor start this season, Sarri has been under pressure, and even Emery – although this is his first season – it could be argued that he should have got more out of the side than he has been – particularly recently. People will say that the likes of these clubs have spent their money badly on some players. But this is creating a vicious circle – big clubs feel like they need to spend big on players to achieve success as part of their strategy mentioned above, so they do so giving them lucrative contracts but this in turn puts the pressure on the manager *not* the player. So it is the boards of the clubs that are creating the very conditions that are arguably hampering their success. The only logical outcome out of all this is that surely this strategy of prioritising wage bill over the manager now has to change. But rationality has never seemed to register high on a board’s strategy.
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When was the last time a top 4 contender actually won a game? Can’t quite remember.
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GJ, Fergie’s remark that Inzaghi was “born offside” always tickled me.
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One thing about Leicester is that they have a go, and Pep doesn’t like sides that play his own game against him.
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If City were to drop points tomorrow, what do Liverpool do next week? Rest players? In a CL Semi final? At the Nou Camp? Can’t quite see it.
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Keita looking a lot more settled. If only he’d been able to settle quicker…
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What undoubtedly exacerbates the problem is that as soon as a foreign club knows a rich club in the premier league wants their player, they put a premium on top because they know they can afford it, and that keeps putting the price up for everyone else further divorcing the top clubs from the rest because there’s more rich clubs around now. And it injects even more money into the game.
All this helped to obliterate the strategy of more traditional managers like Wenger who liked to bring in rough diamonds and develop them. With the increased money and competition around, this made his strategy almost redundant overnight as everyone chased the money and whilst Wenger had his faults, I always sympathised with him over this.
But something that I’ve called for is better agent representation for the players. Some agents are real scourges on the game. If you take a player like Eriksen for example – he stayed at Ajax for that bit longer when he could have moved earlier (and cashed himself in) because he had the wisdom to realise he wasn’t quite ready yet and still needed to develop. And he’s said recently that he’s open to extending his contract with Spurs. He’s everything you want in the modern professional – not chasing big bucks but looking at what is best for his football development. If all players acted as such without a lot of these agents then they’d have the courage to resist signing for top clubs if they didn’t yet feel ready in their development. Agents should not have the incentive to make more money when pushing their clients to move. That surely has to change? And it would also help money and careers being wasted.
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Some stat about the similarity of the similar costs to the players used on both sides last night…
? – The cost of @ManCity's players used tonight – £441m
? – The cost of @ManUtd's players used tonight – £427mRoy Keane says his former club have "slackened off" on and off the pitch in recent years and fallen behind their rivals…
? – https://t.co/h8IlNQKl7S pic.twitter.com/3CRSgcx3kt
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 24, 2019
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It’s been a bit of a Prost Senna battle this season between Liverpool and City. City akin to Senna are/were supremely talented and are hard to catch once they’re in the lead, though they were/are still prone to wobbles and nobody is perfect.
Liverpool have been the more careful like Prost, racking up lots of points but just not quite as ruthlessly.
There are pros and cons with each and those two drivers clearly showed the different kinds of champion you can have. One, a bold ruthless one. The other, a strong but more careful opportunistic one, waiting for just one mistake.
Fascinating to see such a contrasting battle play out this season – this has been the real winner this year.
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Bar the top 2 sides, the standard in the league has been dire this season.
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Ed, think he’s probably been demoralised with what’s been happening around him.
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If City do win the league, at the end of the day – the points system – 3 for a win, 1 for a draw has always favoured bold sides. City have been bolder this season.
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Foden would be another good call.
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City just starting to settle now.
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Arsenal having another mare. Got to be the worst race for the top 4 in memory.
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Solskjaer to substitute himself at the end and score the winner. You heard it here first.
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Up until the recent Wolves games, Brighton had conceded 10 goals in their last 3 games. You can see what Chris Hughtons priority now is.
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They’d probably have the CL almost wrapped up by now…if they hadn’t made that announcement. They were one of few sides in this battle that had some fight in them.
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