From idiots. You hear racism from idiots quite a lot too, does that mean you listen to them and feel you have to construct rational arguments against them?
When there are many, yes.
In the words of me, "Winning is everything".
People watch sports because they're entertaining. Do you give a **** that the Packers won the Super Bowl a few months ago? Probably not, because you probably think American football is boring.
I'm an American, and there's a reason I stopped watching American sports and started watching soccer. It's because it's the only sport that is beautiful. Now I could turn on the TV and watch the fastest guys cross it to the tallest guys winning through good tactics and defense, but I'd rather not. That's why I usually watch La Liga or the Argentine League as opposed to Serie A or the Prem. So when these two types of football come head to head, I know who I'll root for. That's why I always root against the Italian national team, and why I'm always about to throw something at the TV when the US national team is playing. That's one reason why I was furious when Bob Bradley was given another 4 year contract.
What are you saying about Stoke? They're less deserving of praise than Blackpool? Why can Stoke not afford to play tippy tappy football and Blackpool can? Or for that matter, Madrid? All Stoke are competing for is mid-table, Madrid are competing for cups.
I said I'd rather root for stoke. If you'll press me, than yes, depending on your point of view, they deserve less praise than Blackpool because Blackpool entertains people more.
Madrid is a whole different club. I expect a club like Madrid to do more than play like Stoke. I want to see something great.
Why would you expect that of Inter and not Madrid? You're not making any sense. Madrid just spent 100s of millions to win a cup, first and foremost. Once that has been done, then they can worry about pretty patterns.
Because that's how Italians play football. That's not how Real Madrid plays football or how Valdano envisioned this set of Galacticos. They spent 100's of millions to create the greatest show on earth, not grind out victories by playing defense. I'd rather they play with pretty patterns first, and keep on trying to win.
1) your criteria is not the world standard
True but I wanted to offer my criteria so people would understand where I'm coming from. We can't really evaluate these guys without providing some sort of framework to evaluate them by. I thought people could maybe offer their own criteria and we could perhaps have a discussion about that. Once we agree on how to evaluate a manager, then it will be much easier.
2) united winning their CL's wasnt an upset, United winning leagues isnt particularly an upset. yet SAF is rightly lauded for his success, and so to is Jose, he doesnt need to stick around at a club, everywhere he goes he brings success, usually where it wasnt before.
You're right, but SAF won at Aberdeen. He also took ManU from being a big club to being the biggest club in the world, and he did it without a Russian billionaire. Most importantly, SAF has proven he can get consistent success in one place. He can build a club for the long-term, and keep winning there by finding great young players, bringing them through the ranks, and making wise decisions in the transfer market. Mourinho comes in to a place with a great team, spends a lot of money, and wins the trophies they're supposed to win. If Mourinho goes to Liverpool and turns them into the best team in the Prem, I'll eat my words and come out and say I was wrong about him.
3) Real madrid are only content with less possession against barca, as are pretty much any team who face them.
Less possession is OK, 20% possession and the inability to move the ball out of your own half is not OK. I'm sorry, but RM has played uglier the past two matches than I've seen them play in a while. It worked, but as for the reasons stated above, I'm disappointed.
4) so what that arsene made a profit in transfers, how does that make him a great manager on its own merit?
Because he has done something that Jose hasn't proven he could do. Wenger does great things for his club. He keeps them financially sound and can jump through all of these hoops and still win. If you can consistently put out a good team on the football field while being that great in the transfer market, I think that's the sign of a good manager. Many would agree. If Mourinho ever again puts himself in a place where he doesn't have a lot of funds yet still wins (Liverpool, perhaps) than he'd prove himself in a new way and I'd definitely respect him more. I'm not criticizing him for not doing so, I'm just stating my opinion as to why he hasn't proven himself to be on SAF's or Wenger's level yet.
5) just because you don't like his football or his approach doesnt mean you can take away from his achievements, he is a great manager who brings success whereever he goes.
I'm not taking away from his achievements, I'm just putting them into context. Obviously his resume is amazing, but so is Pep, and we're not all going crazy about how amazing Pep is as a manager. There's more to it than simply trophies. People look at Jose's trophy list as proof he's the best ever or will be the best ever, I just don't look at it that way. I have a set few criteria for what I think makes a great manager, and SAF and Wenger and Hiddink for me are the three best in the game. For all I know, he's better than all three of them. But he hasn't proved that to me yet.
I'm done on this subject to be frank, you seem determined in your judgement to downplay him virtually every level
I've been clear on what I think makes a good manager, as clear as anyone here (I'm the only one who has offered criteria). If Jose goes out and proves himself according to those criteria, I'll change my mind about him. I'm not saying conclusively that he's no good, I'm simply stating why in my eyes he hasn't proven himself to be in the top 3 in the world, much less the best of all time. Maybe he is, maybe he's the greatest of all time, but I've already told you what I think makes a great manager, and I'm not sure about him yet because he hasn't proven himself in all of these ways for me. Neither has Pep. Which is why even though Pep's resume is as good as any young manager's in history, I don't go around praising Pep like crazy. Because like Mourinho, Pep hasn't yet proven himself to me. Maybe one of them is the best of all time, I don't know yet. If one of them proves it in my eyes, I'll be the first to praise him for it.