Having Neymar, Mbappe and Messi in your squad doesn’t mean you have the best team it means you have an expensive forward line

They don’t have any particular quality in midfield. And they dominate in the French league anyway


The two strongest teams in Europe by squad are Manchester City and Bayern Munich. Bayern have dominated the Bundesliga for years not because they’ve always had the best coach but because they have the strongest team.


A good coach can make s difference and a bad coach can be a drag factor of course. I’ve already accepted that it’s possible for a good coach to get players who shouldn’t be in the top 4 in there with Eddie Howe, but this is more of an outlier than the best teams winning things.

The argument I’ve made this season is that if Guardiola was coaching Arsenal we’d be where we are now, and if Arteta was coaching city they would be where they are now. Guardiola isn’t a tactical genius, he’s capable of the same mistakes and over reliance on one way of playing that Arteta is.