Great stuff Grace. I think I'm in the minority who aren't surprised at the impact Ange has had so quickly. As a Chelsea fan and whilst I'm happy with Poch, when the CFC job was still up in the air I was a bit of a lone voice on Twitter suggesting he was worth a look. I benefit from living in God's own country so possibly saw a bit more of Celtic than most - but, given the transfer pool in which they fish, his Celtic side were genuinely good and his ability to develop players to play his way is spot on. My slightly bold prediction is he will win a trophy at Spurs before Arteta wins another one.
I think Ange's side was better, though some of the same players, especially key players (Macgregor, Maeda, Furuhashi) are the same (but hitting/about to hit the age curve) so there's not *that* much difference. It's a little hard to tell as Rangers are quite poor (again) so Celtic are going to win the league by mid March I'd imagine (notwithstanding the result of the previous Old Firm game)
I've not watched a lot of them but I did watch the home game in the CL v Leipzig and I was very impressed. I guess my overall point is that winning the SPL and playing freewheeling football is much less impressive when Brendan Rodgers (a manager who got Leicester relegated) does it.
Good article. Regarding Maddison, I thought at the time the money Spurs paid for him was about right, but I was surprised Leicester couldn’t get more for him given the fees for equal or worse players like Mount. Like you, I’m surprised he’s been able to adapt his game the way he has so far.
On Kane, I’m not actually surprised Spurs are doing better without him. I think it was Michael Cox who pointed out that teams tend to do better when these “talisman” types leave since the team is no longer beholden to one guy who’s probably past his prime. The primary example was Totti at Roma, which seems a reasonable comp. I’m not saying the post Kane era will be better than the peak Kane era, but it should be better than the late Kane era
Great stuff Grace. I think I'm in the minority who aren't surprised at the impact Ange has had so quickly. As a Chelsea fan and whilst I'm happy with Poch, when the CFC job was still up in the air I was a bit of a lone voice on Twitter suggesting he was worth a look. I benefit from living in God's own country so possibly saw a bit more of Celtic than most - but, given the transfer pool in which they fish, his Celtic side were genuinely good and his ability to develop players to play his way is spot on. My slightly bold prediction is he will win a trophy at Spurs before Arteta wins another one.
How does Ange's Celtic team compare to Brendan Rodgers this season?
I think Ange's side was better, though some of the same players, especially key players (Macgregor, Maeda, Furuhashi) are the same (but hitting/about to hit the age curve) so there's not *that* much difference. It's a little hard to tell as Rangers are quite poor (again) so Celtic are going to win the league by mid March I'd imagine (notwithstanding the result of the previous Old Firm game)
I've not watched a lot of them but I did watch the home game in the CL v Leipzig and I was very impressed. I guess my overall point is that winning the SPL and playing freewheeling football is much less impressive when Brendan Rodgers (a manager who got Leicester relegated) does it.
Good article. Regarding Maddison, I thought at the time the money Spurs paid for him was about right, but I was surprised Leicester couldn’t get more for him given the fees for equal or worse players like Mount. Like you, I’m surprised he’s been able to adapt his game the way he has so far.
On Kane, I’m not actually surprised Spurs are doing better without him. I think it was Michael Cox who pointed out that teams tend to do better when these “talisman” types leave since the team is no longer beholden to one guy who’s probably past his prime. The primary example was Totti at Roma, which seems a reasonable comp. I’m not saying the post Kane era will be better than the peak Kane era, but it should be better than the late Kane era
would be good to see a follow up article