You remember how at the last World Cup, every team Mick Jagger supported lost? Guess who he was supporting last night
Del Bosque I've criticized too and yet I think the challenge he faced was harder than Low did, namely mixing an increasingly divergent talent base between AM vs Barcelona styles. Anyway, I've criticized Low plenty through multiple tourneys so no point in repeating myself to the boredom of everyone here but in short I think he tinkered far too much, as a result letting weaker opposition (albeit still very strong) like Italy dictate who he used rather than in reverse, and has let personal preference interfere with best XI through the years whether its Podolski over Reus, Gotze/Howedes over others, etc. You'd like to attribute Germany quality split between talent and coach more to latter than I do, and given small sample sizes of tournaments and inability for control tests make it impossible to know for sure.
two points, Reus was out of the team on his own and Howedes has been good with the NT, you'd have to be dogmatic to say the contrary. Squad construction does not always imply taking the best players but simply the ones who will work better as a team. I can't hate a guy who calls up a player because he scored the deciding goal in the WC final, that's quite a testament. That said it's not even split, I think in general it's 70% players, 30% coach. And Low fulfilled his task very well. Let's see if the guy that comes harder lives up to his legacy.
Reus in 2012. Howedes was the lightning rod of criticism all last tournament and much of this as fullback.
I see. From what little I've seen of Howedes, he made a crucial tackle in the France game. 2 years ago in Brazil 2014, I thought he played well as makeshift LB. I'm wondering if there isn't a plethora of defensive talents in Bundesliga (or Germany's disposal) for Lowe to pick from. I find it hard to believe. Or maybe Lowe has a very particular quality he looks for in players.
Right. Clarity in his vision and pragmatism to back his intellectualism... All features so rare in managers these days.
And to no surprise, two more years at least of gross antics and griping by me "Excited as ever to carry on working with these players" - #Löw looks ahead to Russia 2018: https://t.co/3IyU03G5ut pic.twitter.com/OdUFKmgopc— germanfootball_dfb (@DFB_Team_EN) July 12, 2016
-Speaks English -Of foreign nationality -Has experience in youth football -Has experience dealing with outside pressure (soccer moms) -Has experience coaching outside of Korea -Reasonably familiar with Korean culture KFA, what are you waiting for?
On rumors of allardyce becoming English manager, I generally agree with all of this: As the Euros showed, most international managers are not all that. Allardyce is pragmatic, good tactically + more sophisticated than thought— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) July 12, 2016 ...but watching Big Sam explode on English fail would be great entertainment.
I don't disagree with any of that on principle, but same was said about Hodgson. Flopped at Liverpool but before and after he did quite well with more pragmatic sides (Fulham and WBA). http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/05/01/england-appoint-roy-hodgson/ (Though tbf it could be argued that Hodgson failed after abandoning his principles – eschewing structure in favor of playing too many attackers at WC 14, throwing on strikers with no team strategy against Iceland) Although it appears Italy are going similar route, appointing Ventura (former Torino manager)...
Ventura is not there to win, rather was appointed to develope young player (is very good at this) from the current and former under 21 squad such as Romagnoli, Rugani, Benassi, Berardi, Bernardeschi. I would be dissapointed in him only if he sticks with the same players in the Conte's era. And one last thing...Ventura is miles away from the english fail. Its not even a competition.
I'd really not call fulham under hodgson (don't recall WBA run) "pragmatic"... resource constrained and scrappy yes, but different from Big Sam's defense, set pieces and long ball. And really those three aspects have shown over the past several tourneys to be all you need, rather than complicated aspirational tactics.
When did I say Ventura is/will be a failure? I brought him up because he's only been in charge of smaller sides, not much different than Hodgson or Allardyce.