How long mourinho will be the icon of TE?

[pele]

Stop. Stop. Stop. Pep Guiardiola has been the manager at already succesful clubs and became succesful with them. Thats easy. Mauricio Pochettino should be the face.

He is young, smart, and a genius tactician. He has been at clubs that have little to moderate success and turn them into threats. Tottenham is now a well-respected force in European football now. Before that he turned southampton from a relegation team into a top 10 team in the EPL. Before that he led Espanyol to successful seasons even drawing with Barcelona and Real Madrid with his kind of trash squad. He is what being a manager is about.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Is he a genius though? He played a high press system with parallel lines in the mould of Bielsa. He has no plan B. If opposing teams break his press, he loses. If he plays without Eriksen, who creates havoc by playing the half spaces, his team loses attacking threat. At Southamptom, he inherited Koeman's pressing team. At Spurs, he inherited Redknapp and Villa Boas' pressing team.

Not saying he is not a good manager (he obviously is), but he still has a long way to go before we can place him on the same level as Mourinho, Guardiola and Klopp, managers who revolutionize modern football tactics.

[TheWhiteKirby]

Yeah but I'm just more impressed by the grit of Pochettino. I mean, look at Mourinho- he just got sacked from Man U. He has Paul Pogba and a slew of other big names at his disposal but he got sacked because he couldn't bring out their best. Pochettino brings out the best in players, players you wouldn't expect to do much at all. In fact, Tottenham is the best team he has had in his career and they aren't like the gods that are at Man City, Man U, Chelsea and yet they compete neck and neck with those teams ever since he took the reigns. Mind you, he took the reigns with not as nearly as much quality that it has now and still finished top 5 consistently. He is what this game is about- taking a team you are given and making something great out of it. Developing players, the fanbase, and the ground. Exactly what this game consists of. He would be the perfect face for the game if you ask me.

And he may have not revolutionized tactics (yet, even though in my opinion his 2015 formation that saw eric dier and mousa dembele in a caddy corner position to easily cross-link passes and spark transition from defense to attack was genius and I hate he abandoned this formation) but he has made all european clubs look at their Youth Players with more confidence and opportunity. That is revolutionary on its own in some ways.

PS- I used his 2015 formation up until 2 season ago on Top 11 and I have won the league 8/10 times and kept many clean sheets and scored at least 80 goals a season. It works and it's hard to counter.

[pele]

Yeah but I'm just more impressed by the grit of Pochettino. I mean, look at Mourinho- he just got sacked from Man U. He has Paul Pogba and a slew of other big names at his disposal but he got sacked because he couldn't bring out their best. Pochettino brings out the best in players, players you wouldn't expect to do much at all. In fact, Tottenham is the best team he has had in his career and they aren't like the gods that are at Man City, Man U, Chelsea and yet they compete neck and neck with those teams ever since he took the reigns. Mind you, he took the reigns with not as nearly as much quality that it has now and still finished top 5 consistently. He is what this game is about- taking a team you are given and making something great out of it. Developing players, the fanbase, and the ground. Exactly what this game consists of. He would be the perfect face for the game if you ask me.

And he may have not revolutionized tactics (yet, even though in my opinion his 2015 formation that saw eric dier and mousa dembele in a caddy corner position to easily cross-link passes and spark transition from defense to attack was genius and I hate he abandoned this formation) but he has made all european clubs look at their Youth Players with more confidence and opportunity. That is revolutionary on its own in some ways.

PS- I used his 2015 formation up until 2 season ago on Top 11 and I have won the league 8/10 times and kept many clean sheets and scored at least 80 goals a season. It works and it's hard to counter.

As I've said, Poch is a good manager. However, you can make a similar argument for another of Marcelo Bielsa's disciples, Diego Simeone, who has achieved more with an even smaller budget at Atletico (prior to Wanda Corp's recent takeover). In fact, I forgot about Rafa Benitez, whose Valencia side is the only other side other than Atletico to break the Real Madrid and Barcelona's strangehold in La Liga. Benitez even popularized the 4-2-3-1 in the late 90s and early 00s which served as the basis of Spanish tactics over the past decade. Or what about Leonardo Jardim, whose expansive brand of attacking football using the old 4-4-2 and wide wingers took Monaco's youngsters to the Ligue 1 title over PSG and almost to the brink of European success? These guys, alongside Poch, are all really good managers.

However, Mourinho, Guardiola and Klopp are on another level; they redefined modern football. There are literally books written about them and their tactics. Mourinho almost killed off 4-4-2 and his defensive tactics is now copied almost everywhere. Guardiola pressing, possession and six-second recovery rule served us with some of the best attacking teams and most dominant in recent memory. Klopp's gegenpressing, lightning transitions and hunting in packs can elevate weaker teams to the level of far superior ones. In years to come, these three will be treated with the same kind of reverence we do now for Arrigo Sacchi, Rinus Michels, Valery Lobanovskyi, Johann Cruyff, etc.