Pretty much everyone in the soccer/football world has heard by now that Marcelo Bielsa sent staff to spy on the training sessions of all of Leeds United’s opponents, that he admitted as much in a press conference, and that he then unveiled a substantial amount of his opposition analysis on Derby County. He also revealed that as many as 20 other people work on opposition analysis at Leeds United, and they spent 360 hours analyzing old Derby matches. And this is where I think I can save them some time. In his own words, here are the key points that…
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Clubs
What does Manchester City’s win over Liverpool mean for the title race?
It was the biggest match of the season so far, at least at the top of the table: Liverpool, leading the Premier League by seven points, traveled to second-place Manchester City in hopes of ending the title race early. At least, that was the narrative coming from the media. Manchester City were narrowly victorious, but does this mean the title race is back on? Before the match, the bookies gave Liverpool roughly a 60-65% chance of winning the league, with Manchester City at about 30-35% and Tottenham around 5%. It’s worth pausing for a moment to consider what that meant….
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Stop sacking managers
Sacking managers is expensive – just ask the folks over at Manchester United, who have reportedly paid at least £12 million to be rid of José Mourinho. Now that the dust has cleared a bit, I want to make a somewhat unpopular point: sacking Mourinho was a mistake. Here’s why. Hiring a top manager in soccer is never easy for a big club. Once the executives think they know the person they want, they lose all their bargaining power. That’s because a top manager usually doesn’t mind too much where he coaches. Mourinho has been happy in Portugal, Italy, Spain, England… next he could go to…
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