When the Moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's
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Whether it be him, Emery, Zidane, RDZ, Nagelsmann or someone else I'm cool with it. Reckon we'll be in safe hands regardless.
The next man will surely be in a strong position, it'll take a pretty spectacular bottle job to fuck up with this group of players unless half of them decide to bugger off of course.
Not something I'm worried about, let's bring this title back to Liverpool, have a few to celebrate then worry.
The next man will surely be in a strong position, it'll take a pretty spectacular bottle job to fuck up with this group of players unless half of them decide to bugger off of course.
Not something I'm worried about, let's bring this title back to Liverpool, have a few to celebrate then worry.
On one hand FSG did get Klopp for us, on the other hand they also got Brendan Rodgers too...
Wasn't there a point when they interviewed Ancellotti and decided that what we needed was a build up and what he had envisioned was more of an add-on. Any chance Real go for Alonso and we Big Carlo comes to us to steady ship?
Wasn't there a point when they interviewed Ancellotti and decided that what we needed was a build up and what he had envisioned was more of an add-on. Any chance Real go for Alonso and we Big Carlo comes to us to steady ship?
Who would he be steadying the ship for, though?
Not to mention securing that first title for Sporting in 20 years breaking that Benfica/Porto dominance they had going on over those 2 decades.
Imagine if we didn't get the nailed on success that Alonso has demonstrated over his many years. I guess that's us fucked for generations.
Not too arsed about Alonso TBH. He always felt abit more galactico for me and I don't think he really take to us as much as many perceived him to be.
Back to this fella, I know nothing about him but after Klopp, anyone is a risk so I will trust the management to get it right as they had got it right with Klopp in the first place.
Back to this fella, I know nothing about him but after Klopp, anyone is a risk so I will trust the management to get it right as they had got it right with Klopp in the first place.
I really like Amorim. He’s one of the top young managers around and has proved that at both Braga and Sporting.
The fact that he is winning and his teams also puts up the best defensive numbers makes me think he can make the step up.
Very impressive the way players develop under him.
If not Alonso, then Amorim
The fact that he is winning and his teams also puts up the best defensive numbers makes me think he can make the step up.
Very impressive the way players develop under him.
If not Alonso, then Amorim
Unpopular opinion and he won't be available anyway but I'd be very happy with Simeone - the only manager since Rafa to break the Real/Barca dominance, consistently does well in Europe, has the passion, fight and charisma, his players love him and nobody wants to face his team
Obviously, the biggest counter argument is the type of football he's known for but he's shown he can adapt and switch it up in the past (Atletico play really good football this season like)
Obviously, the biggest counter argument is the type of football he's known for but he's shown he can adapt and switch it up in the past (Atletico play really good football this season like)
Besides Xabi, Amorim is the other name on my preferred list. He ticks a lot of boxes. (He would "know" Nunez and Diaz well too.)
Started following Amorim since 2022.
Other CL games
Hugo Lloris just prevented the goal of the season from Sporting’s Marcus Edwards.www.sixcrazyminutes.com
Other CL games
Hugo Lloris just prevented the goal of the season from Sporting’s Marcus Edwards.
Guided Sporting to 1st league title in 19 yrs inc. record 32-match unbeaten streak + some Portuguese League Cups while competing with financially stronger Benfica and Porto.
Developed/bringing the best out of players: Palhinha (rejoined after being on loan at Braga for 2 seasons), Nunes (signed for €500k & sold for €45m), Goncalves (23 goals in 32 league apps in his first season at the club, which happened to be the one they won their 1st title in 19 years), Porro (initially a loan move from Man City, signed for €8.5m & sold for €45m), Ugarte (signed for €6.5m & sold for €60m)
(notable) Debuts for: Mendes (sold for €38m), Inacio, Chermiti (sold for €12.5m after 22 1st team appearances)
View: https://twitter.com/DataMB_/status/1771850533629829556
Dated 2022:
View: https://twitter.com/JackPittBrooke/status/1493495360236498945
In the early weeks of the pandemic, one question dominated the sports bulletins of Portuguese newspapers and TV stations. Why and how had Sporting Lisbon, struggling financially, fourth in the table but 20 points off top spot, paid Braga €10 million to sign their coach Ruben Amorim? Only Andre Villas-Boas and Brendan Rodgers had been signed for a bigger fee across all of Europe.
It was March 5, 2020, and Amorim was 35 years old. He had only been a top-flight coach for 10 weeks and on top of all of that, Amorim is a die-hard Benfica fan, as well as a former player for Sporting’s city rivals.
If it was a big risk for the club, it was an even bigger one for Amorim himself. He was leaving a stable situation at Braga, where he was still getting settled, and moving to one of the league’s most chaotic clubs. Sporting are known as a “coaches’ cemetery” in Portugal (Amorim was to be their fourth permanent manager in less than two years) and many people close to Amorim urged him not to take it.
Two years on, all those questions have vanished.
These days, nobody would question the lengths Sporting went to to get Amorim. In fact, it looks like one of the best decisions taken by a Portuguese club in recent years.
And Amorim already looks like the best Portuguese manager of his generation.
Tonight (Tuesday), his team host Manchester City in the first leg of a Champions League last-16 tie at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. That alone is a success. This is only the second time in their history that Sporting have reached the knockout stages since the competition was rebranded to the Champions League. And they did so by finishing ahead of Borussia Dortmund in Group C, recording a famous 3-1 win over Erling Haaland and company in Lisbon in November.
Even more important than that is what Amorim has done in domestic football.
As well as winning three Tacas de Liga (the Portuguese equivalent of the League Cup), he delivered the title last season. It was Sporting’s first championship for 19 years. If they retain it this year — they are six points behind Porto after Friday’s 2-2 draw between the two sides in Porto — it would be their first time retaining the league since 1954.
Speak to those who know Amorim about how he has managed to turn Portuguese football on its head and they all point to one thing: his personality. He has always been charismatic, a natural leader, and someone who team-mates and colleagues wanted to follow.
That was the driving force behind his playing career, when he was a solid, dependable central midfielder who could also fill in at right-back. He was in the Benfica academy as a boy but, having been released, started his professional career at another Lisbon club, Belenenses, where he spent four years in the first team. In 2008, Amorim returned to Benfica — the club of his heart — who were managed at the time by Quique Sanchez Flores.
The next season, when Jorge Jesus replaced the future Watford manager, Benfica won the title. Amorim was part of a remarkable team (David Luiz, Fabio Coentrao, Javi Garcia, Ramires, Pablo Aimar, Angel di Maria, Javier Saviola formed quite the core), although he was never inhibited by training with these more famous and talented players. His leadership and performances earned him a place in the Portugal squad at the 2010 World Cup.
Amorim won two more Portuguese titles with Benfica, started for them in the 2014 Europa League final (a loss to Sevilla on penalties), and played at the 2014 World Cup too. But a bad knee injury ended his playing career in his homeland, and after a brief loan in Qatar, he retired aged just 32.
But even if he was a good player rather than a great one, Amorim left an impression on team-mates. They say that he was the “joker of the dressing room”, always talking, always entertaining them, and getting his ideas across.
It felt inevitable that a player like that would go into coaching and Amorim shone on the High Performance Football Coaching course at the Faculty of Human Kinetics at the University of Lisbon.
His first job came soon after, at third-tier Casa Pia for the start of the 2018-19 season. Amorim hit the ground running there, impressing with the intensity of his training sessions. But with Casa Pia at the top of their league, Amorim’s work did not go unnoticed, nor did the fact that he was coaching without the required licences to do so. Casa Pia were fined and threatened with a points deduction, Ruben quit, but the team he left behind still won promotion at the end of the season.
The next step after Casa Pia was to take charge of a B team, and there was plenty of interest. Most prominently of all were Benfica, the club Amorim supported and where he enjoyed the best part of his playing career. Many people expected Amorim to take on the job of Benfica B coach from the start of the 2019-20 season. Just six months before Bruno Lage, now coach of Wolves, had been promoted from Benfica B to the first team there. The pathway was clear.
But after meetings with the club, Amorim decided to say no. Benfica have always been a political club, with then-president Luis Filipe Vieira looming over everything there. This job was not as powerful as the one Amorim wanted. He did not want to have to pick anyone else’s players. He wanted to coach the team in his own way, with personal responsibility for their results.
So, in September 2019, Amorim took over Braga’s B team instead. He won seven of his first eight games there. And in December 2019, when Braga sacked first-team coach Ricardo Sa Pinto, with the team stuck in eighth, they turned straight to Amorim, for his first job in top-flight management.
“Here at Braga, Ruben Amorim’s impact was tremendous,” says Paulo Meneses, their head of recruitment. “First on the B team and then on the first team. His personality, the way he works, made us think that we could be in the presence of a top coach.”
The first challenge for any new manager in any job is to convince his players that his ideas are right. This is how the manager generates “buy-in” and how, over time, their own ideas become those of the players too. This skill is maybe the most important in management.
Amorim has it in bucketloads.
Also important to him is the ability to give clear and simple instructions that make sense to his players. Some coaches might overcomplicate the game but Amorim would rather give simple instructions that are fully understood than complex instructions that are half-grasped.
“Ruben is a coach that brings everyone together,” says Meneses. “From the players, administration, staff, everyone ‘buys into’ your idea. This is key to creating a winning mindset. He has a very strong personality but, at the same time, it does not fracture the group. With his strong leadership, he manages to unite and aggregate. He is very smart in human relationships and communication. These are Ruben’s strengths as a coach.”
Another source who knows Amorim well says the same: “His superpower is not the 3-4-3, it is communication. With the media, the fans and the players.”
Even now, his players at Sporting watch his press conferences intently to see what he has to say.
Ultimately, Amorim lasted even less time as Braga first-team coach than he did in charge of Braga B. He was appointed on December 23, 2019, and left for Sporting on March 4. But even in those 10 weeks, he showed why he was the most exciting young coach in Portugal.
Amorim coached Braga for only nine league games. He won eight of them and drew the other. Under him, Braga beat Porto 2-1 away, Sporting 1-0 at home and Benfica 1-0 away. On top of that, in the Taca de Liga, Braga beat Sporting 2-1 in the semi-finals and Porto 1-0 in the final. Five games against “Big Three” opposition, five wins, all within a four-week period. And Braga’s first trophy in four years to show for it.
Yes, the sample size is small, and yes, many new managers get a bounce when they begin. But this must still be one of the most remarkable short-team improvements any recent managerial appointment has produced.
So when Sporting sacked Silas, six months into his tenure, they had a decision to make. They could go for another one of the same old names. Or they could take an expensive gamble on the upwardly-mobile Amorim before Benfica or Porto did the same thing. All they had to do was pay the €10 million release clause (£8.4 million in today’s money).
Eyebrows were raised across Portugal when Sporting spent the money, wondering how a club with all their problems could justify such a move.
The answer was emphatic, but not instant.
Amorim’s first game as Sporting coach was a 2-0 home win against Desportivo das Aves, their last game before the enforced COVID-19 stoppage. This was their last game for three months, and some people used that time to ask why the club had spent all this money on a Benfica fan who had only been a top-flight manager for two months.
When football returned in June 2020, Sporting went on a seven-game unbeaten run, pushing up to third, but defeats at Porto and Benfica in their last three games saw them finish fourth. But that spell did give Amorim the chance to try out some of the young players — Nuno Mendes, Joelson Fernandes, Matheus Nunes, Eduardo Quaresma, Tiago Tomas — to see how they would cope. Amorim has always been happy to bet on young players, as long as they believe in his ideas and work hard in training, and that has turned out to be the backbone of his success. And even if some of the players needed convincing about his methods and GPS tracking, Amorim won them round.
The summer that followed also gave Sporting the chance to add more quality: right wing-back Pedro Porro in on loan from Manchester City, former Real Madrid and Real Betis back-up keeper Antonio Adan and former Wolves youngster Pedro Goncalves. One-time West Ham United midfielder Joao Mario joined on loan from Inter Milan a few months into the season.
Even with these new additions, the squad was still not on the level of Porto and Benfica. But it was enough for Amorim to work with. He knew how to bind them all behind his ideas: a rigorously well-organised 3-4-3, which presses high and barely concedes any chances at the back.
The same leadership and charisma that inspired such commitment from the Braga players worked just as well even in the more challenging dressing room of a bigger club.
“His playing style is clearly pragmatic,” says Meneses. “He is a studious coach, with a great capacity for work and a lot of intuition. In addition, he is a born leader, with great communication skills, both internally and externally. He is contagious with his will to win and with the conviction that only with hard work from everyone is this possible. Group work is really a crucial point of Ruben Amorim’s philosophy.”
Two things stand out about Sporting last season. The first is their defence. Marshalled by the 31-year-old Liverpool and Sunderland old boy Sebastian Coates, they conceded only 20 goals all season. It was, according to TheAnalyst.com, the best defence in Europe, permitting an average of 0.73 expected goals against (xGA) per game.
The other is how good Sporting were in the final minutes of games, scoring in stoppage time in nine of their league games, winning themselves nine extra points in the process. Amorim had instilled such remarkable belief into the players that they were always convinced they could win.
Perhaps the most important win of all came on April 25. Sporting had drawn three of their last four games and felt Porto breathing down their necks. They went away to an in-form Braga and, after 18 minutes, had Goncalo Inacio sent off. But they dug in and then, with nine minutes left, Matheus Nunes’ goal won them the game.
Three more victories after that won Sporting the title, to go with their Taca da Liga trophy from earlier in the season. It was their first championship since 2001-02, back when they had Mario Jardel, Hugo Viana and a young Ricardo Quaresma.
After a generation of Porto and Benfica domination, it felt like a transformative moment in Portuguese football.
Of course, the football food chain being what it is, Sporting could not keep all of their players last summer. Nuno Mendes was sold to Paris Saint-Germain, while Joao Mario moved across town to Benfica. But Sporting’s level this year has not dropped too much. They are battling Porto foe the title, are in the middle of a successful Champions League campaign, and have retained the Taca da Liga (Amorim’s third in a row).
Whatever happens against Manchester City today and at the Etihad on March 9, there will be questions about what Amorim will do next.
He has been mentioned in connection with the Manchester United and Tottenham jobs in the past, although for now, he wants to stay put and keep winning with Sporting.
When he does leave, his next move will be up the game’s pecking order.
“Ruben is destined to join a top club in the ‘Big Five’ leagues,” says Meneses. “It will have to be an ambitious project. He is an extremely ambitious coach. There will be nothing to excite him other than the ambition to win big trophies.
“Due to the leadership he demonstrates and the quality with which he works, I have no doubt that he will be an unavoidable name in European football in the coming years.”
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Since his appointment four years ago, Sporting (324) have won 10 points more than Benfica (314) and only trail Porto’s total (331) by seven. They have averaged 2.38 points per game during Amorim’s 136-game spell as head coach; in the 136 league games prior to his arrival, they’d averaged 2.13, which was below both Benfica (2.51) and Porto (2.42) in the same period.
While a lot of their build-up play comes centrally, Sporting’s strength is picking the right time to feed the ball into wide areas and cause damage with their pace and creativity in the front three.
In terms of how wide Amorim’s Sporting side play this season, they are one of the most centrally focused teams in possession across the league. Looking at their absolute width – a metric that measures the maximum distance a team gets from the centre of the pitch per sequence – only Rio Ave (24.5m) and Farense (24.6m) rely less on possession in the wide areas of the pitch than Sporting do (24.7m). In comparison, Porto (26.0m) and Benfica (25.5m) are the two widest teams in the league this season.
Despite this, only Braga (212) have created more chances from the left and right thirds of the opposition half than Sporting (202) in 2023-24, with just 26.5% of their chances created originating in the middle third of the pitch – much lower than Benfica (35.8%) and Porto (34.8%).
Much of their build-up is reliant on their three defenders carrying the ball upfield. Of all defenders to have played at least 1,000 minutes of league action in Portugal this season, three of Sporting’s four senior central defensive options of Gonçalo Inácio (22.1), Matheus Reis (19.7) and Ousmane Diomande (19.1) are all rank inside the top five for carries per 90, while Inácio (137.6m) and Reis (136.2m) are the top two for average carry progress per 90 in the competition, with Diomande (106.5m) in eighth.
Amorim not only requires his back three to be able to carry the ball up the pitch and advance possession into the attacking half, but they are also guaranteed to see a lot of the ball. Including Sebastián Coates – their fourth central defensive option in the back three – all four players feature in the top 10 for touches per 90 and successful passes per 90 across all players to have played at least 1,000 minutes this season.
They lead the league for the number of direct attacks (57) – the number of open-play sequences that start just inside the team’s own half and have at least 50% of movement towards the opposition’s goal and ends in a shot or a touch in the opposition box. This is already eight more than in the entirety of last season (49 – 10th highest in the league) with the arrival of a player like Gyökeres playing a big role in this shift.
Much of the beauty of the 2023-24 Sporting side is that they can mix up their style of attack, though. They also lead the league for build-up attacks (76) – the number of open-play sequences containing 10+ passes and either end in a shot or have at least one touch in the box – while they also lead the league for average open-play possession time per sequence (10.8 seconds); one second lower than their league-high average in 2022-23, however (11.8).
Their four league games against Porto, Benfica and Braga (twice) this season have seen them have less possession than their opponents every time but were able to utilise their pace in attack with fast breaks. Across the two matches versus Porto and Benfica, they attempted five shots from fast breaks, which has contributed 20% of their seasonal tally.
With the pace of Edwards and Gyökeres in attack, this shows that Amorim can mix up his team’s style based on the opponent put in front of them. Both forwards are in the top six players in the Portuguese top flight for shot involvements following a ball carry this season, with Gyökeres (36) in third and Edwards sixth (32).
It seems very unlikely that Amorim will move before the season’s end, even if the Chelsea job was to become available. With Sporting leading the league and potentially winning a second title in four years, the Portuguese coach could become the first man to win more than one league title at the club since Englishman Randolph Galloway in the early 1950s.
While José Mourinho went to England and succeeded, more Portuguese coaches have failed – André Villas-Boas and Bruno Lage both arrived in the Premier League having won the Portuguese top-flight.
Based on the job he’s done to transform Sporting, this feels different, though. Amorim could just be the new ‘Special One’.
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Everyone who knows Amorim and his journey well, from former colleagues to Portuguese football experts, cite his unique tactics and motivational speeches. But above all, they talk about his personality.
'The best word to describe Ruben is genuine,' says one former colleague who asked to remain anonymous as he works for another club. 'He values relationships, makes everyone in the building feel heard from the team captain to office staff - it creates a winning mentality.
'He is loud but never aggressive or rude. He is a leader and makes everyone feel like they are working with him, not below him. But his best (trait) is communicating, making everyone feel united and trusted.'
There is a social media page dedicated as a countdown to Amorim's next press conference. Like his idol Jose Mourinho, Amorim thinks that matches do not start when the two teams walk on to the pitch but instead in his news briefings, when he is assertive with his words.
Some have described him as a 'master trash-talker' to try to get one up on his opposite number the day before games, but players are said to tune in and hang on his every word. His words might wind up rivals but they inspire Sporting's stars.
'He's a brilliant communicator,' says Tom Kundert, a Portuguese football expert who has written two books and runs the website PortuGOAL. 'He's very open in press conferences, happy to respond to all questions - even the stupid ones - with an informative answer.
'And he also retains a remarkably jovial demeanour, even when the pressure is on. He's one of these coaches who fosters a superb spirit among the whole squad, and that is no doubt the fruit of his communicative approach.
'In five years as a coach, I cannot remember him ever criticising any of his players in public and I cannot recall one news story of an unhappy player. When things do go wrong for Sporting, which has not happened much under Amorim, he shifts all the focus on himself.
'He will say things like, "We lost because Sporting have a coach who is still inexperienced and is learning the trade and who got it wrong today". Overall, he has a very affable personality and generally does a great job at swerving any controversies or spats with rival managers.'
Sources in Lisbon have suggested Amorim loves life at Sporting and the offer would have to be 'perfect' to tempt him to move abroad, after already holding talks with Tottenham when Antonio Conte departed in spring 2023.
'I've seen many coaches move to other leagues and not be happier,' he said in an interview with Diario de Noticias last summer. 'I want to value what I have. I've had contacts with other clubs, Sporting knows, but I always wanted to stay because I like being here.
'If I ever have to leave here, either because I was pushed out with white handkerchiefs, or because I went to another club, it will happen. But being here doing my part, I won't be opening the door and leaving it ajar, because I think Sporting deserves respect.'
Interestingly, Amorim's management career got off to a significant false start. After a playing career that involved a decade at Benfica and 14 Portugal caps, he began his second life of coaching at lower-league Lisbon club Casa Pia.
But Amorim did not have the necessary coaching badges so was briefly suspended from management and forced to resign. Casa Pia were docked six points, though they still gained promotion that season, a testament to the foundations laid by their rookie, unlicenced coach.
People close to Amorim suggest that he was furious at that and nearly gave up the gig altogether, but quickly calmed down and set in motion a trail of events that has led him to becoming one of Europe's most wanted, via Braga's B team and then their senior side.
Amorim's greatest achievement in management was leading Sporting to their first league title in 19 years in 2021 and the club are on course for another triumph this season, one point clear of bitter rivals Benfica with a game in hand, and seven clear of Porto.
'He proved the doubters wrong by making Sporting a recognisable force again,' says Zach Lowy, a European football expert. 'They had been also-rans for the entire century, so to end the Porto and Benfica duopoly and win their first title in 19 years, it's massive.'
The 39-year-old has seen plenty of star players depart Sporting during his time there - including Manchester City's Matheus Nunes, Fulham's Joao Palhinha and Tottenham's Pedro Porro - but has constantly rebuilt a winning team.
Amorim deploys a 3-4-3 system and is said to be stubborn - in a good way - about his tactical approach, never moving away from what he views as the right way to play football. 'He is married to the 3-4-3,' adds Kundert.
'It is interesting that it is viewed by some as a somewhat defensive formation, with the wing-backs often sitting back to form a five-man defence, and in the title-winning season Sporting's triumph was certainly built on a watertight defence.
'It has slight nuances in the attacking third, but he will never abdicate from the three-at-the-back system. The wing-backs are often extremely attack-minded, especially Pedro Porro on the right who was a fundamental part of Sporting's offensive game plan under Amorim.
'But it can also be an extremely offensive system, as has been the case this season. Sporting have scored goals galore this season - more than 100 so far - and in the league they have netted more goals at this stage of the season than any Sporting team going back 50 years.'
Wherever he goes, Amorim would likely demand his coaching team follows. One, 29-year-old Carlos Fernandes, is described as 'the Mourinho to Amorim's Bobby Robson'. After winning the title, he was winged by all of his staffing team in his post-match press conference.
Amorim is definitely admired by Liverpool, alongside Roberto De Zerbi. First, though, there is a title to be won at Sporting, with a Lisbon derby next weekend. He might not be as outspoken as Mourinho, but it feels like the Special One 2.0 is heading for Europe's elite.
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Amorim speaking English
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"This job was not as powerful as the one Amorim wanted. He did not want to have to pick anyone else’s players. He wanted to coach the team in his own way, with personal responsibility for their results."
Combine this with Edwards becoming king of LFC. How long before they fall out?
Combine this with Edwards becoming king of LFC. How long before they fall out?
Hughes is the new Edwards in that regard. Edwards sits above him. The club will be smart enough to avoid the days of a manger and the scouting team not aligning on transfer targets. FSG have lived and breathed that mistake before.
The context was regarding the job offer of the Benfica B job:
Benfica have always been a political club, with then-president Luis Filipe Vieira looming over everything there. This job was not as powerful as the one Amorim wanted. He did not want to have to pick anyone else’s players. He wanted to coach the team in his own way, with personal responsibility for their results.
The "powerful" was in reference to being told who to pick. Vieira was arrested in 2021 and charges against him included "crimes of breach of trust, qualified fraud, forgery, tax fraud and [money] laundering. Moving to Braga B, getting the Braga job and then the one at Sporting proved his judgement/career choices right, so far.
(Haven’t heard him whined about losing players year in year out at Sporting either.)
Oh shit I didn't know that. No wonder he's stayed there for ages
I did not know much about him, but after reading up in the last week the more I think it will be Amorim. The motivational aspect, big personality, high pressing, cheap, smart signings, player development, ability to adapt when players leave, and fight against wealthier clubs. It ticks a lot of boxes for a Klopp replacement. He's also got a few more years under his belt at Xabi, and has had one mixed season (4th with no silverware), before bouncing back, which will be advantageous.
His recruitment likely require a tactical shift to 343, but we have the players to adapt and the attacking trio would likely thrive in the increased space his build up play allows. The bigger issue for me is the tactical set up would need altering throughout the youth teams, which could be a messier business. It's part of tbe game, though. We cannot only hire a mangers who only play the 4-3-3. The game changes and evolves and the club will have to embrace that.
His recruitment likely require a tactical shift to 343, but we have the players to adapt and the attacking trio would likely thrive in the increased space his build up play allows. The bigger issue for me is the tactical set up would need altering throughout the youth teams, which could be a messier business. It's part of tbe game, though. We cannot only hire a mangers who only play the 4-3-3. The game changes and evolves and the club will have to embrace that.
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