El Clásico. Barcelona vs Real Madrid (21 Apr). KO 7pm BST.

[Özim]

They hadn't had a billionaire for years before him either.
They'd already bought their way to 2nd before he got there. He pushed them on but most of the work was done before he arrived.
Don't get me wrong, he's a great manager. Let's see him win the league with a team like Spurs who haven't done so for yonks and don't have a billionaire backer though.

Ranieri was around when Abrahmovic arrived, in addition Chelsea spent loads with Vialli and Gullit.

He didn't spend huge amounts at Inter either, he just bought the right players and made them play for each other.

[Cripps_orig]

Rafas "fuck-oos"

[Özim]

In Portugal - Porto were and are giants.
Chelsea - do I need to explain that to you? Really?
Inter - again resource laden
RM - it is them or Barca

He is a good manager - no doubt, he wouldn't get those jobs otherwise, but by god, you can bet your ass that when you are watching a shite game where he is involved (there are many) he'll usually come out on top.

If you don't give a fuck how ugly and how sick the methods are to win, he's your man.

Porto won the CL, they were giants in Europe.

Chelsea had gone I don't know how long before winning a title.

Inter hadn't won the CL in yonks and once again he delivered, easy to say they were resource laden, fact is no other manager could deliver what he did.

I'd rather have someone who will do what it takes to win than to have a manager who is indifferent about it.

I don't find the football Real play bad at all, in fact it's rather good to watch.....in addition they are successful, Inter were good to watch too IMO.

[Letters]

Chelsea were nowhere near the title though, he made them winners and dominated the league...he's really the only guy who's been able to outdo Ferguson consistently.

Barca were the best around and arguably one of the best teams ever, to beat them is about as good as it gets to be honest.

Consistently? He was only there 3 years. They won the league twice, the 3rd of those years ManYoo won it again and Mourinho got sacked.

As for Real, they finished 3 points off Barca with 96 points (the 3rd placed team got 71 points) the season before he got there. He's hardly transformed them from also-rans to champions, they were already very close to Barca before he got there.

[Syn]

Look at the quality of teams post 2006 WC, it's bad, just about every big team quality wise has gotten worse. The level players after the 2006 WC it's nowhere near the level of players from the 1998 to 2006 World Cups.

I think that's garbage. There's no way to conclusively prove either view but whilst we all hate the money involved these days, the standard of football has only got higher. In terms of footballing technique, this Barca team are widely regarded to be the best ever. And whilst we can quibble over whether they actually are, it takes some doing to beat them over a 38 game season.

I always believe in the saying 'the league table never lies'. This season, I think it will have lied. Barcelona are better than Real Madrid. It takes a great manager to pull that off IMO.

[Cripps_orig]

I'd rather have someone who will do what it takes to win than to have a manager who is indifferent about it.

I don't find the football Real play bad at all, in fact it's rather good to watch.....in addition they are successful, Inter were good to watch too IMO.

Real have just broken the goal scoring record in spain in one season

And they have scored 5+ countless times this season

Ridiculous to say they play shit football

Hes WUMming

[Cripps_orig]

Barcelona are better than Real Madrid.

They really arent

League table never lies after all

[Letters]

He didn't spend huge amounts at Inter either, he just bought the right players and made them play for each other.

He spent about €60m Euros in his first summer with them.

[Joker]

Consistently? He was only there 3 years. They won the league twice, the 3rd of those years ManYoo won it again and Mourinho got sacked.

As for Real, they finished 3 points off Barca with 96 points (the 3rd placed team got 71 points) the season before he got there. He's hardly transformed them from also-rans to champions, they were already very close to Barca before he got there.

But there is no manager in the world who could take someone like Tottenham and make them into Championship winning material in a short space of time. The manager in football is important of course, but they can't do miracles without the resources in hand. You have to have a decent base of players with which you can work with. Wenger had that as well, when we won the double in 97-98, so it's not as if he turned our fortunes around singlehandedly.

[Cripps_orig]

He spent about €60m Euros in his first summer with them.

Mancini spent a lot more and did f all in the CL

Mourinho comes in and they do the reble