Eruditor:


They were the greatest duo in the world.

The best midfielders winning everything in sight.

The kind of revisionist nonsense I read here daily because Pep is involved.

Xavi and iniesta were always destined for greatness given their technical level and perception of space and ability to always make the right decisions. Guardiola was the catalyst that helped them reach a level that was close to their absolute best - a bit like Sacchi for a lot of the great players at Milan in the late '80s and early '90s. Xavi and Iniesta's ability was always there, but Guardiola added an extra dimension to their career in terms of crystallizing their ability by crafting perfect and complementary roles for both of them.

Unlimited22:

Lol

Fr tho FBS has been the most improved player in our squad this season, and he's been especially good since CHO returned to the team.



I still want him out tho, but if it was a direct choice between him and Pedro, Pedro can eff off.

I heard baptism works for only one year and after it, the effects wear off. Abeg let’s enjoy Willian for the time being.

Pedro and Barkley aren’t in my Chelsea team abeg.

popizaino:



The man City having the best squad in Europe becomes a mantra today only because pep guardiola is at the helm of affairs. Give that same man City to their favourite manager and you will hear all manners of excuses starting from Aguero is not his type of striker. He is too short t to connect with crosses from the wing. David silva can't track back to defend. Sané loves to have the ball at his feet he is not suitable for this kind of ball. Benardo silva isn't strong enough. The next team guardiola will be managing will be reference to as having the best team again.

Ours is to continue to debunk their fallacy, whether they choose to believe or not, is entirely their headache.

There are lot of clowns on this thread.Airmark is excusing SAF for winning twice in 26 years but wants to eat Guardiola raw for not winning with another team apart from Barca.Isn't that madness

Eruditor:


I am losing my patience with how dull you are.

You are using what that team achieved that season to argue how good they were before the season. Is everything okay upstairs?

Going into the final? Who managed them when they had to play qualifiers before getting into the UCL let alone finals?

Have you ever seen favorites playing qualifiers for the actual competition?

Xavi had over 35 assists that season? Who coached him into having 35 assists?

You don't see that you are making my argument for me.

That Kendrick guy is something else..Don't know whether he actually thinks before he types.lol

Adiwana:


Dude you are really sounding ridiculous.Only Aguero and Kevin De Bryune are the only two players in this current Man City squad quality wise that can make that team that I listed and you said Fergie couldn't field the same quality team as Pep?? Prime Berbatov that was EPL highest goal scorer didn't even make a champions league final squad list.Prime Tevez left because he was dropped from the champions league final against Barca.what are you talking about??

If you want to call some of those players unearthed gems from the academy,then what do you call the team Pep played with at Barca??Pique that i only saw once in a Man united shirt was playing in a champions league final.Dude assembled the greatest team ever seen in world football with academy players.

Again,Fergie had the resources.He was only a firm believer on not spending ridiculous amount of money on players.

academy players indeed.... You talk as if xavi iniesta Messi pique are just run of the mill players,dude barca won the lottery with those guys....imagine having greatest player alongside two GOAT midfielders coming up from your academy....pep of course did his best but don't act like he wasn't lucky to have that kind of quality players coming up at the same time... Any competent coach would have won the Champions league with those guys

kendrick93:
I'm not saying pep didn't do anything, of course he did well playing the kind of football and winning trophies but what I'm saying is he had a quality team,a solid base to build on.. A team that contains iniesta,puyol,abidal,alves,xavi,iniesta, henry,eto'o and a 23yr old Messi isn't a dud team.... They massively underperformed in previous seasons. The moment pep sold Ronaldinho who was at the time a bad influence and gave Messi the keys,half of his job was Already done...
My main gripe with you is you saying man united were favourites going into that final, they weren't....

Ronaldinho was deemed a bad influence because of his lifestyle off the field not because he was actually a bad one.Guardiola has always like having control over what his player does on and off the field.Why do you think he fell out with Ibrahimovic??

popizaino:



That you want to magnify that Barcelona of 2008/2009 more than how they were as at that time proves you are only doing so with the benefit of hindsight.


A team you all swore were going to get beaten by man united cus they had a weakling like pique leading the back line becomes the best team today cus guardiola exceeded your expectations with them.

A team with valdez as goalkeeper that you all love to belittle suddenly becomes the best team because pep guardiola won it all with them

A team with an unproductive Iniesta is the best team today cus they had a manager who believed in them to win it all

A team many predicted were going to suffer cus they had just lost their best player Ronaldinho is now the best team in the world.


A team that has not won league in two years in a farmer's league like laliga is better than a team on the course for a 3rd successful league triumph in a row.


A Barcelona team that last won the ucl two years ago is better than a man united team that previously won the ucl going unbeaten in two years.


Well I want to believe you but this facts are making me to have a second thought.

unproductive indeed lol...even at iniesta's peak,you wouldn't judge based on his goals and assists so I have no idea about what you're referencing there.....
Xavi was voted as la Liga best midfielder in 2005 so don't act like it was pep who brought him up..dude even dominated at euros 2008 and was named best player of that tournament......like I said give any coach a xavi, a young iniesta and a 22yr old Messi alongside possibly the best RB of his genaration(alves),any competent coach will win trophies.....
Would they dominate the ball like pep did,maybe No but there are many ways to kill a bird...

Adiwana:


Ronaldinho was deemed a bad influence because of his lifestyle off the field not because he was actually a bad one.Guardiola has always like having control over what his player does on and off the field.Why do you think he fell out with Ibrahimovic??

bad influence on the dressing room too. Pep thought he had too much influence,also they were worried about how negative he would have influenced a young Messi then

kendrick93:
academy players indeed.... You talk as if xavi iniesta Messi pique are just run of the mill players,dude barca won the lottery with those guys....imagine having greatest player alongside two GOAT midfielders coming up from your academy....pep of course did his best but don't act like he wasn't lucky to have that kind of quality players coming up at the same time... Any competent coach would have won the Champions league with those guys

Which lottery?? Where were this two players before he took over?? Where were there the previous season before he took over that team??Were they GOAT midfileders before he took over??Who gave Iniesta his debut??Why didnt Rijkaard win with those two??Didnt he have them.What then happened after Pep left the club.How many times did the two win it after he left??He's lucky cause he won it with them but other coaches that had same players didn't win it because they were not so lucky.Dude log off.You have had too much internet

kendrick93:
bad influence on the dressing room too. Pep thought he had too much influence,also they were worried about how negative he would have influenced a young Messi then

Pep kicked him out mainly because of his lifestyle outside the field and his showboating inside the field.While the influence on Messi off the field could be one of the reasons,that was not the main reason cause Ronaldinho had already taken Messi under his wings and had postively influenced him greatly on the field.So the whole negative influence was an excuse to kick him out especially since Rijkaard had already complained of his behaviour.

His main reason was he knew he couldn't control Ronaldinho.Its not coincidence that he had same relationship with Eto'o then Ibra and they all say the same thing about him.Ibra has complained on Pep dictating the kind of cars his players drove.He also said that Xavi,Messi and Co didn't complain about all those stuffs but him being who he is couldn't take that kind of stuff.That his lifestyle off the pitch has never impacted that of his on the field

kendrick93:
unproductive indeed lol...even at iniesta's peak,you wouldn't judge based on his goals and assists so I have no idea about what you're referencing there.....
Xavi was voted as la Liga best midfielder in 2005 so don't act like it was pep who brought him up..dude even dominated at euros 2008 and was named best player of that tournament......like I said give any coach a xavi, a young iniesta and a 22yr old Messi alongside possibly the best RB of his genaration(alves),any competent coach will win trophies.....
Would they dominate the ball like pep did,maybe No but there are many ways to kill a bird...

Give any coach a Lionel Messi in 2010 playing alongside Aguero, Tevez, higuain, mascherano, and the world cup would be residing in Buenos Aires.

Xavi won laliga best midfielder in 2005 but in 2008 the board wanted him out of the team to bayern Munich says much of how valuable he was as at then.

Another hindsight filled theory is your take on dání Alves.
You wouldn't have chosen sagnol of bayern Munich ahead of Alves in 2008 even though the later became a tug of war btw Chelsea and Barcelona then.

raumdeuter:


Porto was the biggest club in Portugal, Inter at the time Mourinho joined had won 3 titles in a row in Italy. They are what Juventus is currently

leave this jokers..

I remember inter won five titles or so in row.. and they are telling us inter is a low side .


Are these students of the citadel really alright??

spillo1:

When was the last time inter and Porto won champions league before Mourinho came?

when was the last time Chelsea won the champions League before mourinho came

popizaino:


Give any coach a Lionel Messi in 2010 playing alongside Aguero, Tevez, higuain, mascherano, and the world cup would be residing in Buenos Aires.

Xavi won laliga best midfielder in 2005 but in 2008 the board wanted him out of the team to bayern Munich says much of how valuable he was as at then.

Another hindsight filled theory is your take on dání Alves.
You wouldn't have chosen sagnol of bayern Munich ahead of Alves in 2008 even though the later became a tug of war btw Chelsea and Barcelona then.

Dani Alves who was a beast at Seville na u dey talk compare with sagnol?
It seems like you don't who Dani was at sevilla...dude was a monster at sevilla,thier best player by miles,he used to dominate games from right back which is why barca were drooling all over him....

lordfalcao:
leave this jokers..

I remember inter won five titles or so in row.. and they are telling us inter is a low side .


Are these students of the citadel really alright??

juventus are eight straight times Seria champions...that inter is no where comparable to what juventus are right now in Seria a...
You also have to factor that juventus were relegated and their two title were handed to intermilan.

raumdeuter:


Porto was the biggest club in Portugal, Inter at the time Mourinho joined had won 3 titles in a row in Italy. They are what Juventus is currently

juventus are eight straight times Seria champions...that inter is no where comparable to what juventus are right now in Seria a...
You also have to factor that juventus were relegated and their two title were handed to intermilan.

spillo1:

At inter Milan..... First champions league in 44yrs delivered by Mourinho

At Porto ........First champions league in 17yrs delivered by Mourinho.

Not like Guardiola that Barca won the Champions league just 3yrs before he came in.

mourinho at Chelsea, 0 champions League delivery

kendrick93:
juventus are eight straight times Seria champions...that inter is no where comparable to what juventus are right now in Seria a...
You also have to factor that juventus were relegated and their two title were handed to intermilan.

before mourinho came to inter. Inter was the strongest team in Italy..

Mancini had 3 league titles
Mourinho had 2 league titles

Find another lie

crazy news about errol spence.
I hope this boy's career is not ending like this

kendrick93:
I'm not saying pep didn't do anything, of course he did well playing the kind of football and winning trophies but what I'm saying is he had a quality team,a solid base to build on.. A team that contains iniesta,puyol,abidal,alves,xavi,iniesta, henry,eto'o and a 23yr old Messi isn't a dud team.... They massively underperformed in previous seasons. The moment pep sold Ronaldinho who was at the time a bad influence and gave Messi the keys,half of his job was Already done...
My main gripe with you is you saying man united were favourites going into that final, they weren't....

Where was that quality when the same Barcelona finished 2 seasons in a row trophyless and 18points behind league winner

kendrick93:
academy players indeed.... You talk as if xavi iniesta Messi pique are just run of the mill players,dude barca won the lottery with those guys....imagine having greatest player alongside two GOAT midfielders coming up from your academy....pep of course did his best but don't act like he wasn't lucky to have that kind of quality players coming up at the same time... Any competent coach would have won the Champions league with those guys

Do you know Barcelona was about to ship out Xavi for being poor in midfield before Guardiola begged him to stay?
Who was Pique before Pep?
Who was Busquets?
Where were all these great players when they finished trophyless twice

kendrick93:
unproductive indeed lol...even at iniesta's peak,you wouldn't judge based on his goals and assists so I have no idea about what you're referencing there.....
Xavi was voted as la Liga best midfielder in 2005 so don't act like it was pep who brought him up..dude even dominated at euros 2008 and was named best player of that tournament......like I said give any coach a xavi, a young iniesta and a 22yr old Messi alongside possibly the best RB of his genaration(alves),any competent coach will win trophies.....
Would they dominate the ball like pep did,maybe No but there are many ways to kill a bird...

This same Xavi you are raving about was the one who said this

"Rijkaard did not believe in me. He wanted our game to be based on a superior physical level. He believed that it was the only way to be at the same level as the top clubs in Europe," Xavi told French newspaper L'Equipe.

"Four or five years ago, I was [deemed] terrible and useless. I was Barca's cancer! A player 1,70m tall was simply impossible."
https://www.espn.com/soccer/news/story/_/id/1051576/xavi:-frank-rijkaard-made-me-barca's-

They gave Rijkaard the Barcelona coach Xavi and he named him the useless player of Barcelona. Now we are seeing revisionism all over

kendrick93:

juventus are eight straight times Seria champions...that inter is no where comparable to what juventus are right now in Seria a...
You also have to factor that juventus were relegated and their two title were handed to intermilan.

Before Mourinho joined Inter, they were the domineering force in Italy winning Serie A back to back just like Juventus is doing these days

lordfalcao:
mourinho at Chelsea, 0 champions League delivery

Mourinho have won it at 2 different clubs. At inter first champions league in 44yrs and at Porto first in 17yrs. You might think Pep is better but don't ever disrespect Mourinho. His not a fraud like Pep. He should do what Mourinho did at inter/Porto and klopp at Dortmund.

raumdeuter:


Before Mourinho joined Inter, they were the domineering force in Italy winning Serie A back to back just like Juventus is doing these days

Before Mourinho joined inter they have never won the Champions league in 44yrs nor a treble. He delivered like a champ.

spillo1:

Before Mourinho joined inter they have never won the Champions league in 44yrs nor a treble. He delivered like a champ.

Mourinho won with the biggest teams in Portugal and Italy. the dominating teams of that time.

Why not win with a team like Chelsea who have never won before or with a team like Man Utd and Madrid who have won before

Pep won with Barcelona who had finished trophyless back to back

raumdeuter:

Mourinho won with the biggest teams in Portugal and Italy. the dominating teams of that time.

Why not win with a team like Chelsea who have never won before or with a team like Man Utd and Madrid who have won before

Pep won with Barcelona who had finished trophyless back to back

He has done it at 2 different clubs with different set of players. He did it like a boss.

Where were Barca in the league when Frank Rijkaard took over? Didn't they finish 6th the previous season. In fact they hadn't finished higher than 4th for the 3 previous seasons and were trophyless. He then took them to 2nd, 1st, 1st and won the Champions league. Yet he's not much cop is he? When you consider what the club had achieved in the years prior to each managers arrival, suddenly Pep doesn't even look any better than Rijkaard.

spillo1:

He has done it at 2 different clubs with different set of players. He did it like a boss.

Where were Barca in the league when Frank Rijkaard took over? Didn't they finish 6th the previous season. In fact they hadn't finished higher than 4th for the 3 previous seasons and were trophyless. He then took them to 2nd, 1st, 1st and won the Champions league. Yet he's not much cop is he? When you consider what the club had achieved in the years prior to each managers arrival, suddenly Pep doesn't even look any better than Rijkaard.

Before Pep Barcelona were trophyless back to back Pep joined and first season he won 6 trophies
Show us any other coach in history that has turned a trophyless team to sextuple winners within 18months
The same Barcelona that wasnt good enough to make top 2, was now the greatest team of all time
If you ask people the best team of the past 20yrs in Europe, most will tell you Peps Barcelona. That is the effect of Pep
Club owners now want their teams to play like Pep. Coaches want to play like Pep. How many teams have you seen saying they want to play cowardly like Mourinho?
Peps ex clubs all still want him back, How many of Mourinhos former clubs want him back?

The place that Mourinho is good enough for is coaching with the mouth at Bein and SKy studios where he joined other legendary mouth coaches like Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Thierry Henry to coach with mouth

Where is Rijkaards career after Barcelona?
Where is peps career after Barcelona

Rijkaard after Barcelona could only get jobs at Galatasaray and Saudi where he was sacked.

If Pep declare himself available today and shows interest in your club, your current coach will start begging

nihilistjnr:
crazy news about errol spence.
I hope this boy's career is not ending like this

This kind of news saddens and frustrates me.

Speeding in a tiny car without seat belt.

At this stage his career is the least of his concerns, he has to be healthy and whole first.

raumdeuter:


Before Pep Barcelona were trophyless back to back Pep joined and first season he won 6 trophies
Show us any other coach in history that has turned a trophyless team to sextuple winners within 18months
The same Barcelona that wasnt good enough to make top 2, was now the greatest team of all time
If you ask people the best team of the past 20yrs in Europe, most will tell you Peps Barcelona. That is the effect of Pep
Club owners now want their teams to play like Pep. Coaches want to play like Pep. How many teams have you seen saying they want to play cowardly like Mourinho?
Peps ex clubs all still want him back, How many of Mourinhos former clubs want him back?

The place that Mourinho is good enough for is coaching with the mouth at Bein and SKy studios where he joined other legendary mouth coaches like Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Thierry Henry to coach with mouth

All these are Epistles. Tell us the team Rijkaard inherited and when last they won any trophy? If an average coach like Rijkaard could win both the Champions league and 2 league titles in his first 3 seasons at the Barca after many trophyless seasons nothing pep did is worth any shitttt. He also took the best team in germany if not the world that won a 34league championship with 25points gap and treble winners to get disgraced in the Champions league. He should do like Klopp and Mourinho by winning with inferior squads.

Adiwana:


There are lot of clowns on this thread.Airmark is excusing SAF for winning twice in 26 years but wants to eat Guardiola raw for not winning with another team apart from Barca.Isn't that madness

After winning 2 UCLs in 4 seasons with a team, left for 2 big teams and in 6 seasons you couldn't make UCL final once. Questions must be asked by sane minds.

Many said Mou is washed-up, what should we say happened to your Fraudiola? What's his excuse for losing to Monaco, Spurs in Ucl? He is the most overrated club coach in the world. Put him in this present Chelsea team, we will be battling relegation.