Strike

I like everything I'm reading too but his experience is only one season and that's not even in the top league.

I agree. The one CB in his prime who is 25+ and a leader is not Tosin from Fulham. Another signing will be needed. It's crazy - the kind of turnover we have seen at CB - a part of the pitch that ideally needs to be the most stable

Newcastle have also offered him a contract. Between us and them now. I was thinking one CB would be enough to replace Thiago and Chalobah. There is Fofana, Disasi, Colwill, Badiashile, Gilchrist and we have Reece and Cucu able to play in central defense roles

Granted we can't get a top manager - Alonso, Pep, Klopp - or anyone in the next tier - Emery, Enrique, Nagelsmann, Inzaghi - but there were plenty to go for - De Zerbi, Amorim, Flick. Can't believe the shortlist they've drawn up.

Definitely. Winning the Championship with Leicester - That is like Rodgers winning the Scottish League. He was massively helped by the fact that he had players too good for the league - Vardy, Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall. Even with those players, Leicester almost bottled their huge lead. I don't think we can draw conclusions about his tactical preparation based on this season and the owners (once again) are falling for the next shiny item in the market. I really hope Enzo turns out to be a decent coach but it will be more down to luck than judgment if that's the case. This is a crazy crazy gamble if true.

I don't think so when they've literally let a manager go telling him Shields, Winstanely etc are leading the transfers.

I mean Poch left less than a week ago and we aren't even in June yet. They took several weeks to hire Poch so this one might take till the end of this week at least.

I hope De Zerbi is still in the process. Plenty of experience - Shakhtar, Brighton. Known for obsessive team set-up, coaching patterns of plays. If anything, it has to be between Maresca and him.

Makes zero sense that Thomas Frank, who has only played counter-attacking football at Brentford, is being considered alongside a possession-hungry, Pep student like Maresca. We have to suspend any kind of logic and accept the owners' process? Circus is the word to describe this.

Please no Tuchel

I would love Eze here for the midfield. I fear Pep and City will be in for Eze after Paqueta's spot-fixing charges.

Clearlake in 2022 considered Potter, Amorim for the manager role. In 2023, they considered Poch, Kompany and Postecoglu. Now they're considering McKenna, Maresca and Frank. They are making up the rules as they go along.

Jose with this squad is a disaster waiting to happen. Avoid at all costs. He could probably man-manage some of these youngsters to run into walls for him. But tactically, his ideas are ancient. Team will stop pressing high and very soon, 1-2 players will be singled out in press conferences with imaginary concepts like 'lack of balls'. He sold De Bruyne and Salah when he was supposedly a good manager.

That's a big leap. I don't think people purely working out profit would go out and buy two 100 million mids that lot of other clubs wanted too. And they've said their plan is eventually to build a 100 point team and not continue to keep this like a Dortmund-style young footballer project. I'm not arguing about their competence. But I don't buy that they're here to profit alone.

None of them being considered. Surprising because I think De Zerbi for example could be a good coach to get in but Clearlake have said they’re looking for a coach and not a tough character to work with.

A squad assembled by Xavi himself no ?

And even if there was a manager who should be given more control, it certainly isn’t Poch.

I don’t think there’s an argument to be made that they don’t care. they’ve spent on the club without an idea of the money coming back. They obviously do care. Question is if they’re competent

No, I watched a few games in Barcelona this year. Two teenagers were his best players - Cubarsi and Yamal. None of the senior signings were playing too well in the games I watched. He's not got them playing good, control football either. Either they are in control but aren't able to string attacks together or there were many basketball matches. I'd stay clear of Xavi and go for a coach who's more meticulous in preparing teams for games.

I doubt this is true because Ornstein, Matt Law, Romano or any of the ones who get things right sometimes - Kinsella, Simon Johnson, Ben Jacobs etc have been quiet about this.

this was debunked. Amorim links have gone cold since those interviews. Perhaps something is off there. He's trying to repair relationship with Sporting now