₦airaland Forum

MoR2:
if you had mentioned the impossible to us getting Kante and benching Casemiro I would understand

but Thiago and Casemiro play different roles in midfield. Thiago has a similar role to Modric (whom I believe can still start for us for 2 more seasons). why Modric? fatigue, injury and we don't have someone who does for us what he does and that's dangerous going forward (considering Modric's age and last's seasons League impact)

Miremoses1:
well, according to a spanish sports specialist, if Lope should get thiago, then he will play inbetween kross and modric.
If you don't know, thiago is a versatile midfielder.

LordAdamX:
As for me, I've said it once and I'd say it again; I'd give Lope the support he needs between now and the first 3 months of the season. After that, his performance and actions will determine how much support he receives.

So if he wants to chase non-Spanish players by getting and fielding a Spanish-heavy side; they better get results and perform great; else his head will be on the chopping block.

IMHO, if Thiago is coming, then it shouldn't be as a starter but as a squad player. Often partnering Kovacic and Ceballos in our CdR and not very important league games so as to give Modric and Kroos much rest for the tough League games and UCL.

I'd be patient and see what happens.

-Lord

MoR2:
I believe the point of him wanting to leave Bayern in the first place is to be a starter

Miremoses1:
you don't need prove, just wait until la liga season starts.

hopefulLandlord:
You mean those saying he favours Spanish players are making things up?

LordAdamX:
Go read about Lope's transfers at Porto.

-Lord

hopefulLandlord:
Seen but concluding he favours Spanish players from his signing them is really stretching it, don't you think? he coached most of these Spanish players from U19 to U20 to U21 so signing players he knows well and has just worked with that would understand his tactic well doesn't mean he's favouring them just like Jose Mourinho signed some Porto players when he came to Chelski and it took the board not allowing him sign even more

A more sensible approach would've been checking from Porto fans if he kept using underperforming Spanish players instead of better players from other countries

LordAdamX:
You want to check?

Dude was chased away from Porto. The boardroom and fanbase viewed him as a virus that had to be ejected.

It wasn't some buys, majority of his buys were Spanish. He signed seven Spanish players within the first summer of his appointment.

Reason I'm giving him the benefit of doubt is that he is a new Madrid coach and that counts for something. He deserves some time to settle in and get to work without all the bickering. Even if he sticks to his Porto ways, I'd cut him some slack if it proves successful. If it doesn't, I'd give him flak.

Every coach does what he thinks is best and all are held accountable for their decisions. Lope will be no different.

-Lord

hopefulLandlord:
That he was fired or seen as a virus doesn't mean one should conclude he favours Spanish players unless Porto fans said he kept playing underperforming Spanish players over players from other countries

LordAdamX:
You asked for "source of this talk about Lopetegui favouring Spanish players"; I gave it to you.

How you want to interpret it is your prerogative.

You don't sign 7 Spanish players in one summer, and then talk about playing underperforming Spanish players over players from other countries. He made the team Spanish heavy, which essentially means there wasn't as many non-Spanish performing alternatives, since they either left or simply weren't in his plans.

The point is that the fear that he'd favor Spanish players is real. Whether he'd have the guts to be adamant about it in Madrid is anyone's guess. He was given the largest budget in Porto's history and he bought seven Spanish players. He didn't buy them to keep them on the bench perpetually.

-Lord

hopefulLandlord:
My question was prompted by people saying he'll bench Modrić for Thiago or play Ceballos/Llorente over Casimiro

How do you mean "Spanish Heavy"? That he signed 7 Spanish players doesn't automatically make the team "Spanish Heavy". a simple Wikipedia check of their team showed he had 7 Spanish players, 7 Brazilian players (He signed 3 of them), 6 Portuguese players (signed 2) in the 25 man squad

It seems most people just made the conclusion about his favouring Spanish players did so based on incomplete information

Like I said, a more sensible approach would be asking Porto fans who watched their team week in week out if he was playing underperforming Spanish players over players from other countries or kept falling out with non Spanish players. without this, conclusions such as yours are simply not logical and well informed

LordAdamX:
Are you kidding me?

What was the Porto team like before he came in, and what was it like after he was appointed?

Porto is one of the Os Três Grandes, yet he signed 7 Spanish players (in one summer) and 2 Portuguese players (over two summers). That's the equivalent of a Portuguese coach of Madrid or Barca signing 7 Portuguese players and 2 Spanish players. Do you think Marca, AS, et al and the Spanish media would take kindly to that?

Oh I'm not getting into this with you. I've said you can interpret it however you want. What about that is hard to understand.

The precedence is there if you want to look. If you want to bury your head in the sand and pretend he was booted out of Porto for being such a great performer; that's your prerogative.

Someone gets a chance to boost a squad with the largest budget in the clubs history and he buys mostly Spanish players, then fails to win any silverware and in your "logical and well-informed" mind; there is no Spanish favoritism there? Why on God's Green Earth did he buy mostly Spanish players to build his squad if he had no intention of using them to win trophies? Or is it when he buys only Spanish players that your "logical and well informed" mind will see the connection that everyone and their grandma is talking about?

Thankfully, Perez is in charge of transfers (never thought I'd see the day when I have to type that) and the media will tear him a new one if he displays flagrant favoritism that doesn't get results.

People have every reason to believe that a coach who when given a blank check made 7 Spanish signings in one season and 2 Portuguese signings over two seasons at a top 3 Portuguese club has nepotist tendencies. Zidane had it with Benzema. We saw it, complained, begrudgingly accepted it; as long as it worked to a certain extent.

If you want to find Porto fans to ask; go to their forums and run a poll or travel to Portugal. Those who are skeptic of J Lo have their reasons. Not agreeing with them does not mean you should sound so elitist. The irony is that you are more illogical than they are.

-Lord

hopefulLandlord:
It amazes me how you bring irrelevant things into this eg how he was fired like that somehow buttresses the point you're trying to make even though it has nothing to do with it

BTW, who's sounding elitist? does asking for good evidence mean sounding elitist? How many Porto fan's said he was favouring Spanish players?

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/400n7l/porto_have_sacked_manager_julen_lopetegui/ that's a reddit thread of when he was sacked and no Porto fan there talked about him favouring Spanish players, neither did they do that in any post match thread of theirs that I checked
But real Madrid fans apparently know more than Porto fans themselves even though they probably never watched any single Porto game during Lope's stint

Anyways, suit yourself

You mean those saying he favours Spanish players are making things up?

LordAdamX:
Good evidence?

That evidence is good enough to the average person. If it isn't to you that you had to ask this:



Then it's amazing how you don't pinch yourself and realize how that fits the textbook definition of "sounding elitist."

You're simply saying reasonable evidence is not "good" enough for you. To which I said, that's your opinion, but it's good enough for others.

Then you bring a Reddit link that suggests that Lope had so many issues that his Spanish bias was the last of Porto's fan base concerns. A Porto fan even said it was a sad day for "other than Porto's fans".

Seriously, the genesis of this all is that you think a very clear evidence is not good enough as admittance of Lope's Spanish bias/favoritism. Fair enough, there are still those who think the earth is flat; and want to actually see it themselves from space that it is indeed round. But please that is your opinion and just that. Those who think the evidence is good enough are not illogical.

Instead, it is illogical to think that a Spanish coach who buys mostly Spanish players does not have Spanish bias.

-Lord

hopefulLandlord:
SIGNING SPANISH PLAYERS =/= FAVOURING SPANISH PLAYERS!!!

Miremoses1:
Egypt disgracing africa

LordAdamX:
Very sad. Not that they had much of a chance, but I fancied them to put a better showing.

-Lord

LordAdamX:
SIGNING THREE TIMES AS MANY SPANISH PLAYERS AS PORTUGUESE PLAYERS AS A SPANISH COACH IN AN OS TRES GRANDES TEAM IN ONE SUMMER = SPANISH BIAS!!!

Clearly you haven't been reading (or have troubles comprehending) what I've been writing.

-Lord

hopefulLandlord:
You seem to be arguing 2 different things, does he prefer Spanish players? yes! does he favour them? we need proof for that!

His signing them means he prefers them, using them in place of better players from other countries would mean he favours them! You are arguing for the former while I'm asking for proof from those that claim the latter's

Mourinho signed 4 Portuguese players out of 7 signings in his first season at Chelsea, that shows a preference but those players had to fight for their place like everyone else and had to keep proving they deserved their spot, that means he didn't "favour" them.

If you still don't understand by now, you probably never will

LordAdamX:
The line between prefer and favor is very thin. Very very thin.

1. There have many times when coaches use a preferred player, in the name of having more faith in him, when it was clear the coach had to try someone else.

2. So you can't say a coach who "prefers" Spanish players did not at anytime favor any of his preferred players. It is statistically impossible, as coaches are NEVER ALWAYS 100% objective in their selections. BIAS is often at play, however minute. Lope is not a robot. He is a coach and a human being.

3. The bottom line is that since he prefers Spanish players, the chance that he would favor Spanish players (whether intentional or not) is statistically higher than coaches who do not have such preference. And that's the reason why some fear he'd put certain players over others.

4. And my point is that you cannot say people who have such skepticism are "illogical" and that their skepticism is "based on incomplete information".

5. You keep mentioning Mourinho. But today Mourinho has gone from preferring Portuguese players to preferring physical players with phenomenal work rate. And he sure as hell shows his preference in his selection. Whoever watches Manchester United play today would hardly believe that same Mourinho was the assistant coach to Louis Van Gaal at Barcelona.

-Lord

Miremoses1:
God!! That goal from quaresma

LordAdamX:
Finally, someone other than CR7 steps up.
-Lord