Who do you think is the better manager?

Ange had a bad record in Europe with us but think Rodgers is being re-invented a bit on the back of last season when the format changed in Europe.

We have a long list of awful results in europe under Rodgers too.

 

The most frustrating thing for me under Ange in his CL campaign wasn’t down to him, we made so many chances, an incredible amount, and missed almost all of them. Maeda had about 5 of them, Kyogo the same. And thats down to the players that, but it laid good foundations Rodgers built on.

On the last point, I think Ange’s lack of pragmatism at Spurs has clouded the perception about him here. Remember his first season, there was a spell we just didn’t have the squad, 3 strikers that we had were injured, down to bare bones and he dragged it out, in any manner possible. It wasn’t full flow all out, it was just get the win anyway we can shut up shop. It was stingy defensively and reliant on the one or two guys that werent injured we knew could produce to drag out the win at the other end, Tam Rogic and Abada.


He had pragmatic approaches at us at times. And he built a base for Rodgers to kick on again in the Champions League.

Funny thing is, we always aimed the pragmatic etc etc stuff at Rodgers, his first stint and the scuddings in Europe, and then this season against Dortmund, last season Atletico Madrid away… I didn’t think BR had it in him. But after Dortmund? He majorly showed a side I thought he didn’t have.

Atalanta the highlight but even down to ones we complained about like in Zagreb. And I maintain that game, that’s a game we usually come away wondering how the * we lost after chasing it, we were a bit too pragmatic that game, the opposite direction than what we usually do. But thats lessons at that level to build upon.

 

Aye devils advocate I think our top 5 biggest beatings in Europe might be all Rodgers. Maybe a sneak Bratislava at 5 under WGS

6-1 Barca, 6-0 Atletico, 7-1 PSG, 7-1 Dortmund… was there a 6-0 Barca as well? Was that Rodgers? Infact Lennon, Forster was in goals I think.

edit: Googled it

4 Rodgers and 1 Lennon

 

Rodgers for the success he took us on and impacted the club massively in stepping forward.

Ange for his style, character and eye for a player.

 

When Rodgers gives us an even better run in Europe this up and coming season while winning the league this question well not be needed this time next year.

 

Brendan is the better manager.

I like Ange and his style more.

 

Ange's football was a lot more exciting, and he was more likeable.

Rodgers is a better manager, much better imo.

 

Ange was terrible in Europe, a decent showing against AZ and 30 minutes against Real Madrid don't negate that, it was, by far, his biggest issue with us.

Even during the 2023/2024 season, Rodgers got double the points over Ange, who couldn't beat an abysmal Shaktar Doneskt team over two games, and they missed an absolute sitter to win the game at Parkhead.

The approach Rodgers took this season in the CL was a breath of fresh air. It got us a very valuable point away to Leipzig and it gave Bayern a game over two legs.

 

This season was Rodgers 5th crack at europe with us though. In a more favourable format.

His previous 4 in the old format were not really any better than Ange.

Id say both have generally been poor in Europe with us

 

Did he sign plenty of duds? I can remember him being listed out all his signings and he had a pretty remarkable hit rate in comparison to other managers


Can’t put it down to one good summer, when three of the biggest examples you’ve said there is Hatate, Maeda and Matt O’Riley, signed after that summer in the January window.

 

Rodgers for me and I have to be honest... I don't even think it's close.

As men? Ange, by a country mile. * love the man. Hope he gets another great move after leaving Spurs. He will rightfully be in their history books and half of their fans are * raging about that. Don't get me wrong, I've really liked what I've seen from Brendan since he came back. He's not afraid to call out the players or the SMSM this time around and he certainly doesn't mind putting out little flyers that shows he's not happy with the progress being made when it comes to transfers or potential transfers. He seems far happier as well, like he went away and realised what he had here. I still think he will sign a new deal if he gets properly backed to the extent he wants. Even still though, I just loved everything about Ange for some reason. I remember that horrible period after we won the treble and we knew he was going. Was it a week before he was announced by Tottenham? * felt like a month. I was up all night checking my phone for news because I knew if anything was going to break first, it would come from Australia. I don't think I have ever been so devastated to see a manager go. It was actually affecting my life, as sad as it sounds.

But aye, as managers. It's Rodgers and by some distance. He's a better manager technically, I think he's a far better coach and I do think he's a bit closer to the players, which many prefer. Players are wimps these days, man. They don't want a manager they're scared to talk to. The majority of them want an arm round the shoulder, a cuddle and a pick me up. I think Rodgers is far more suited to the new way of football than Ange. Rodgers is also far more flexible. Ange will never change, one of the reasons why we loved him. As a manager though, it's suicide. You need to be far more pragmatic than that and Rodgers has definitely showed that more.

I hate these sort of questions, though(not a dig at the OP) because I love them both and I think when you actually sit down and analyse everything about them as managers, Rodgers wins by quite some distance. That being said, I preferred watching the Heavy Metal football that Ange did play. It was very Klopp like, actually. The 0-3 defeat by Real Madrid is genuinely one of my favourite ever matches because I don't think there was a single soul that left that match early, all so they could applaud the players off the pitch after an incredible display against the best team in the world. Class memories, man.

But aye, Rodgers all day long.

 

Yes, he signed a lot of duds.

However, he essentially rebuilt us in his first two transfer windows. He signed 17 players in his first two windows and I would say that only 6 of them could be considered *(Ideguchi, Scales, Shaw, McCarthy, Urgohide, Kenny). However, he signed(Jota, CCV, Kyogo, Starfelt, Juranovic, GG, Abada, O'Riley, Maeda, Hatate, Hart) which is incredible business, really.

His final two windows were very disappointing, though. Not including the Jota/CCV/Maeda signings as they were made permanent, we signed another 10 players and only two of them(Johnston and Mooy) could be considered successful. He also signed(Bernabei, Oh, Haksabanovic, Abildgaard, Iwata, Kobayashi, Seigrist and Jenz)... he also should get a doing for allowing Jenz to leave, who I thought was pretty decent to replace him with Kobayashi so he gets a double down on that one.

So really, he signed 27 players over the course of his 4 windows and you would say he has a less than 50% hit rate. 13 good signings and 14 not so good.

 

From what I saw of Spurs last season - Ange did adapt. Certainly in Europe. The games I watched them against Frankfurt and Man Utd anyway. He wasnt playing swash buckling all out attack football. It was actually pretty cagey stuff he was playing. So not totally convinced by the idea that he cant change.

At Celtic, he made the mistake of thinking that domestic form would translate into Europe and he was caught out. But Rodgers also did this in his first sting especially and took his own wallopings. Given Rodgers already had experience of the Champions League when he came to Celtic, Id say if we cutting slack its prob Ange that deserves more of it seeing as he was new to football in Europe completely when he came here. 4 seasons later he has a European trophy on his CV (which granted came with a team of superior players to what we have here, but which Id argue he won playing a differnt style of approach)