TJM won't last even a season in MB. in EB, he got free reins (at least initially) which he will not get there in MB. already there are talks of recruitment committee by ex-players who will be 'guiding' the coach in player selection. Anjan Mitra will not be there alright, but his functions will be taken over by Srinjay Bose, son of Tutu. Add to it cut money, quota players, etc, and the situation will not be in TJM's liking.
So another flop season for MB. Undoubtedly. Unless they plan to change the style of functioning.
Infact none of the foreign coaches, barring the exception of Eelco has been impressive. Haven't seen anything new from Ashley (those overhead long balls flying in frm midfield), Mike(PFC). Karim's tactics and match reading is exceptional - and I believe, if he had the current EB Team at his disposal, he wud hv been deadly. His only shortcoming is that he is not good at making a combination of dead ball situation and in creating third man moves. Eelco had changed the way United used to play.Short passes - creating and weaving the moves and again players falling back together - modern day football.
TJM's problem is he has a brilliant Plan A, but if it doesn't succeed, he doesn't have other plans to fall back upon. Is extremely arrogant.
Ashley Westwood has done more than meets the eye. Look at the foreigners for example. Fine, Sean Rooney and Johnny Menyongar were already I-League known but John Johnson and Curtis Osano were not, they were Westwood signings and who knows if they would have signed if not for him. At the same time, Westwood has managed to take a team full of "regular" Indian players and turn them into a potential league winning side. That is not bad what so ever.
Mike on the other hand... he has the resume but ya, his performances have not said anything. He has relied on youth and I have seen a bit of a difference in how Pune plays now compared to last season and he has also had a few crucial injuries (Anas right now) and some bad luck with foreigners. I am willing to give him some time to really establish himself at the club.
It is very interesting to read the comments about TJM's possible Mohun Bagan connection. Till he was coaching in India, everybody was praising him. Even if he didn't win I-League still he gave so many trophies to EB. If it is argued that he had a strong & set team, then this year also EB had a similar squad and on paper they should have walked away with all the trophies but that has not happened. Then.. what is the conclusion? The Coach does have a vital role to play just as the players, even if he apparently doesn't have a Plan B or Plan C. Every Coach has his own plan and that may not be picked up by common viewers otherwise he cann't survive. I dare say Karim is surely the best Foriegn Coach we have seen in I-League (TJM included). Any other Coach (Indian or Foriegner) would not have made this Mohun Bagan team comprising of so many unknown or little known players play the way they have so far. In India every team depends on Foriegner to score and Mohun Bagan has been duped by Odafa and that made the difference. I still recommend Karim should be retained for the next season with some fresh recruits as per his choice and firmly believe result will be different. But my gut feeling says TJm will be on Mohun Bagan bench and Karim will be on EB bench next year.
Of course Karim should be lauded for his work in MB, and he should be retained with much more say in team building. But the officials want Chamak/ dhamaka to turn people's attention from themselves. If it happens as you said @AKB, it would be good for Karim; he will get stability there.
Not sure abt Karim switching allegience to EB. I wud personally prefer him to stay put in Bagan. I can say for sure, if any of the coaches currently available in India, had been given this MB Team, he wud have run away from Kolkata first and posibbly coaching also! As I hv been reiterating this MB team shud be the core for the next year(barring Odafa, Yusa and Chizoba) and they shud make some smart purchase. Good Footballers are aplenty the world over,and India doesn't require 35plus rejects of Divn. I/II Europen players or even the big bodied African footballers. Infact at the price of Odafa, Bagan can get two utility players who wud be low profile/professional and wud not dupe the Team.
TJM started giving results to EB frm the second year and Karim,am sure, wud definitely give results in the 2nd year after he has a balanced team. However, with elections round the corner in Bagan this year, and some politicial bigwigs joining on the bandwagon in Bagan, am not too sure whether better sense wud prevail over Bagan's management!
We all know about the Dutta-Mitra-Basu legacy, but they are a bit rattled now. Your view regarding investment on foriegners is absolutely correct. About retaining the Coach I am pretty sure that even if Mohun Bagan wins the Derby on Saturday (whch I feel a bit too much to expect against a very balanced and good EB squad) Karim will still be shown the door on some pretext or the other. Anyway I expect Bagan boys to play their hearts out because they owe it to Karim, otherwise they would not have been playing for Mohun Bagan so regularly and with distinction.
Comments
It is very interesting to read the comments about TJM's possible Mohun Bagan connection. Till he was coaching in India, everybody was praising him. Even if he didn't win I-League still he gave so many trophies to EB. If it is argued that he had a strong & set team, then this year also EB had a similar squad and on paper they should have walked away with all the trophies but that has not happened. Then.. what is the conclusion? The Coach does have a vital role to play just as the players, even if he apparently doesn't have a Plan B or Plan C. Every Coach has his own plan and that may not be picked up by common viewers otherwise he cann't survive. I dare say Karim is surely the best Foriegn Coach we have seen in I-League (TJM included). Any other Coach (Indian or Foriegner) would not have made this Mohun Bagan team comprising of so many unknown or little known players play the way they have so far. In India every team depends on Foriegner to score and Mohun Bagan has been duped by Odafa and that made the difference. I still recommend Karim should be retained for the next season with some fresh recruits as per his choice and firmly believe result will be different. But my gut feeling says TJm will be on Mohun Bagan bench and Karim will be on EB bench next year.
Not correct my friend.. please check. But don't ask me the source to say so because I will not be able to reveal the source.
TJM started giving results to EB frm the second year and Karim,am sure, wud definitely give results in the 2nd year after he has a balanced team. However, with elections round the corner in Bagan this year, and some politicial bigwigs joining on the bandwagon in Bagan, am not too sure whether better sense wud prevail over Bagan's management!
You have hit the nail on its head Soccerlover
We all know about the Dutta-Mitra-Basu legacy, but they are a bit rattled now. Your view regarding investment on foriegners is absolutely correct. About retaining the Coach I am pretty sure that even if Mohun Bagan wins the Derby on Saturday (whch I feel a bit too much to expect against a very balanced and good EB squad) Karim will still be shown the door on some pretext or the other. Anyway I expect Bagan boys to play their hearts out because they owe it to Karim, otherwise they would not have been playing for Mohun Bagan so regularly and with distinction.