Ancelotti is one of the most overrated managers around. People look at his 3 European Cups and say he's great but winning cups isn't the sole judge of what makes a great manager and comparable to the teams he's managed he's got one of the worst league winning records around, it's shocking. Looking at the teams he has taken over his record looks even worse.

Good spell at Milan, though still one league title is a pretty crap return.

Took over a great Chelsea team which under Hiddink had lost only a single game and were more than capable of winning the league, did well in his first season then took them backwards.

Took over at PSG when they were top of the league and about 100x richer than any other team in France, still managed to lose the league title in his first season before winning it the next, but that wasn't exactly hard.

Took over the most expensive squad ever assembled and a great team built by Mourinho who were more than capable of winning any of the top prizes, even though starting favourites still hasn't managed to win a league title.

He's a cup manager, a good cup manager no doubts but as mentioned has one of the worst league records ever comparable to the teams he's managed, with all three of his European cup wins he's never managed to back that up with a domestic league title in the same season like the great managers do.

Real were steamrolling everyone when Barcelona couldn't find their form. As soon as Suarez started playing well again, Real had no chance.

I know what you are saying. Real had several issues aside from Alonso - injuries, loss of form by key players etc, but I still think Alonso & De Gea would have won them a title or two this season.

I don't think the loss of Di Maria was that problematic.

I completely disagree. Ancelotti is a fantastic manager whose teams play beautiful football (pretty much the opposite of Mourinho). He is a brilliant tactician, he works well with stars (also a rare quality) and if winning European Cups was that easy, everyone would be doing it. The Champions League is every top team's priority. Winning Series A really isn't that important when you are winning the Champions League. The only really black mark on Ancelotti is the 2005 final in Istanbul.

Carlo is a bit like Rafa, both of more noted for their record in cups then their league records.

You hire either if you want to win a cup more than a league title.

Ancelotti to Bayern Munich pretty please... If there are no takers, we will gladly take him and "just" win the Champions League next season

I never said winning European cups was easy, but neither is winning FA Cups, there cups, lots of variables are involved and sorry but winning league titles is the bread and butter of every great club manager. Do we consider Di Matteo a better manager than Wenger or Klopp, no of course we don't.

Apart from at Inter Benitez has been at clubs where you wouldn't be expected to win the league (Chelsea were a mess when he took over) and I'm not saying he's better than Ancelotti but I don't think there is a huge difference in terms of how good they are or a massive difference between their records, neither are at the level of the great managers, your Mourinho's and Guardiola's of this world.

Sorry, but your last statement made me laugh (or cry as a Bayern fan). Ancelotti outsmarted Pep like a school kid last season. Their semi-final win over Bayern was tactical masterclass and Pep was completely caught off guard. Let's not even talk about Pep's "tactics" against Barcelona this season...

Mourinho's teams are so horrifically ugly that I would pick Ancelotti over him any day of the week! Plus, Mourinho can't manage "big" clubs.

Ancelotti's teams play beautifully and neither Pep nor Jose can match that.

You seem to be forgetting Pep arguably was the coach of the greatest side people have seen.

I haven't forgotten, which is why I only said Mourinho's teams were ugly. Pep's Bayern isn't ugly either, but tactically he was completely outclassed by Ancelotti.

Maybe so but it happens. Ancelotti was outclassed by Mourinho when he was Chelsea manager and Inter beat them. Its football and at times a coach will outwit his opponent. Part of the game.

Can you or anyone please explain to me the tactical genius Pep displayed against Barcelona this year (in both legs)? Fool me once... etc

He was outdone by some Messi magic, Bayern were the better team in the second half until Messi turned it on, this with Bayern missing some of their best players. Some times you just have to step back and say you have witnessed a bit of genius.

He started out wrong but changed it soon enough. It was hardly a case of being hugely tactically outsmarted over both legs.

Right... 3 defenders against Messi, Suarez and Neymar. That makes sense - each can hold one of them And it's not like Pep changed his tactics in the second leg. Sorry, but if I could forgive his tactical naïveté against Ancelotti's Real last year, the games against Barcelona cannot be defended. If he was surprised that Messi, Suarez and Neymar would play well, then he has no place at the head of Bayern Munich.

There was a reason he went 3 at the back. He didn't just decide to try something for the sake of it.

When Marcelo Bielsa managed Bilbao he went 3 at the back v Pep's front 3 of Messi, Villa and Pedro. Guardiola described that as his toughest game as it allowed Bilbao to squeeze Barca and match them man to man not allowing Barca to play out.

The difference with Enrique's side is when they are pressed high are they are not so reluctant to play more direct which against a team playing a very high line man to man can be advantageous. Guardiola after 15 mins at the Camp Nou saw that and changed things.

The 1st leg was very even and 1 player changed the game. The scoreline didn't tell the picture of the game.

People get far too caught up in tactics and whenever a team loses people look the manager and his tactical nous. Sometimes you have to look at the players and what they can do and Barcelona had Messi who could produce pieces of magic from nothing.

Barcelona could beat Juve 3-0 in the final. It wouldn't mean the Juve Manager tactically has no clue.

Real won it last year, Barca are hot favourites this year. If your only major failure is caused by teams of that quality you're not doing much wrong. In two seasons he's won the league twice and taken them to the semi finals twice. Bayern haven't in my life time been a side that has won the CL on a regular basis, they should be happy to have such an excellent young manager with a proven track record and great potential.

I'd p*ss my pants with joy if he followed LVG at United.

Yeah three at the back for about 15 minutes until he changed it when it wasn't working. After that Bayern looked fairly comfortable until Messi turned it on.

They also won the second leg.

How exactly did Ancelotti do at Camp Nou this season? Considering Ancelotti was at the helm for the biggest bottle job in European Cup final history it seems a little rich to pick on a couple of games to highlight your point. Remind me who was at the helm of a club who suffered the largest first leg deficit overhaul in history at the hands of Deportivo?

Good post and seconded about pant pissing.

I disagree. Pep played against Barcelona the way Brazil played against Germany. It is absolutely not the way to play against sides who will attack, attack, attack. And yes, Messi played great, but you would expect him to when there was only Boateng holding him. I think Pep was completely wrong and tactics matter in football A LOT.


Please take him now. Winning the Bundesliga is not a major achievement for Bayern I'm afraid. Jupp Heynckes' Bayern did not need changing. Being second rate to Real and Barca is not good enough for Bayern Munich. I don't think Pep gets that.

Are you saying Bayern's second leg game against Barca was a great success? Barcelona stopped playing in the second half almost completely and the first half was awful. When exactly did Bayern look equal to Barcelona over those two legs? Barcelona could have scored 5,6 against them in the first half at home alone. And then Bayern went chasing the away goal, which was just wrong in every way. How about Bayern's awesome success against Dortmund in the domestic cup this season? Pep is not good enough and I hope he leaves NOW (as do most Bayern fans).

And Ancelotti's Real didn't do well this season, but as I have said before their problems were not managerial in my view.

Bayern Munich clearly believed it did need changing as they got rid of Heynckes and appointed someone with a totally different philosophy of how his team should play. The idea that Guardiola was going to go to Bayern and just keep things as they were was crazy. That would of been the easy thing to do.

I think Bayern would be better off letting Pep build a team in his own image and replace the older players from Heynckes team with his own.

I do find it quite funny that when Heynckes team lost a CL final @ home to Chelsea and failed to win a Bundesliga title for 2 years when Dortmund won b2b titles things needed to be changed. The memories are short.

Heynckes' Bayern played the best football I have seen in my lifetime. He was also very 'normal' which is almost unheard of for a coach. Pep should take his philosophy to a different club. It is not working at Bayern. He is not a good fit.

So basically you just want to pick at a few games to make your point while completely disregarding the same with Ancelotti?

Ancelotti = two of the biggest collapses in European history, what a show of tactical genius.

The same tactical mastermind that lost both legs to United in 2011 and just got dumped out by Juventus this year, great tactical display that was.

Yet he still managed to lose a CL final @ home to Chelsea and allowed Dortmund to win two titles B2B. By your metric that wouldn't of been good enough and he would of deserved the sack.

As has been mentioned by others you cant just pinpoint a few games to determine the tactical ability of a coach and determine he doesn't know what his doing.

That Brazil vs Germany game really can't be held in comparison to anything else. That was like tranquilizing a bear before sending it out on a tightrope.

The Bayern Heynckes inherited from LVG was a complete mess. He had to start again and he took them to the CL final one year and won it another. The Bayern Pep inherited from Heynckes was in perfect order.

You keep saying I only pinpoint games, but what exactly has Pep done at Bayern which proves that he is good? I just don't get it. He won the Bundeslinga, but even if I managed Bayern they would probably at least challenge for the Bundesliga title. Everything he has changed from the Heynckes era has not been good.