Markus Babbel Sacked

I wonder if Babbel managed to watch the Jets vs WU game, you think he'd been feeling like he was wrong about the league quality or not?

I don't think he even watched our own games replays let alone that crap game after being fired. 

Jets to name Robinson as their coach 

46 minutes ago, mack said:

I wonder if Babbel managed to watch the Jets vs WU game, you think he'd been feeling like he was wrong about the league quality or not?

I'm sure he is, probably set up a VPN link from Germany especially to watch it, you can tell he is a big fan of the league

46 minutes ago, Burgerman said:

I don't think he even watched our own games replays let alone that crap game after being fired. 

Jets to name Robinson as their coach 

I'm not sure he watched our games live

Good for the Jets, they can sing "Here's to you Mr Robinson, McKinna loves you more than you will know..."

58 minutes ago, BoyFromTheWest said:

Duke said as much in the Fox Podcast with Hill and Garb - when asked what went wrong he said he didn't really know but it seemed like Marcus couldn't explain to them waht he wanted and expected in a way they could grasp and enact.  It was what it looked like - a gap between coach and players in terms of strategy and tactics.

The language barrier I’ll give you some points but not being able to communicate? Not being able to get his message across from what he wants from his players on the field?

If it was 1 game or a short period of time where he doesn’t have much time with the team, then it’s understandable. He has had ample time, lots of time preseason, 1 game a week & plenty of time on the training field to analyze problems & fix them before matches. Football & its tactics is a universal language, not being able to get through to the players comes across as too much of an excuse for me.

6 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

I'm sure he is, probably set up a VPN link from Germany especially to watch it, you can tell he is a big fan of the league

Babbel is still in Australia. He said he was staying until, I think, May.

JPdM said yesterday he had a coffee with him a couple of days ago. 

On 01/02/2020 at 7:24 PM, BoyFromTheWest said:

My points exactly - in other posts.  A League is technically low and anyone who argues this doesn't watch any other leagues, including SE Asia.  Japan and Korea are way above us, technically.  We play a more physical harder, grinding style.  HOw many times on these forums do we all shake our heads with wonder at the poor quality of passing...  Even SFC look seriously ordinary when taking on other teams in Asia.

I don't think Babbel could adjust to that - nor have several other players and coaches from more technical leagues.  Duke said as much in the Fox Podcast with Hill and Garb - when asked what went wrong he said he didn't really know but it seemed like Marcus couldn't explain to them waht he wanted and expected in a way they could grasp and enact.  It was what it looked like - a gap between coach and players in terms of strategy and tactics.

I don't think he came to grips with the other things you mention - nor the refereeing - it really is dire at points and VAR inexcusable.

Of course none of this excuses Babbel - his record didn't cut it for a whole lot of reasons.

Honda was the same but from a playing perspective. I think he was quite frustrated for the most part but was very diplomatic (language barrier probably came into play also) with how he expressed it. Up until he started getting injured, you could clearly the see the gulf in class when he played.

I don’t think you can blame language barrier, Babbel player multiple seasons in UK and speaks better english than most Australian journalists 

On 01/02/2020 at 7:24 PM, BoyFromTheWest said:

My points exactly - in other posts.  A League is technically low and anyone who argues this doesn't watch any other leagues, including SE Asia.  Japan and Korea are way above us, technically.  We play a more physical harder, grinding style.  HOw many times on these forums do we all shake our heads with wonder at the poor quality of passing...  Even SFC look seriously ordinary when taking on other teams in Asia.

I don't think Babbel could adjust to that - nor have several other players and coaches from more technical leagues.  Duke said as much in the Fox Podcast with Hill and Garb - when asked what went wrong he said he didn't really know but it seemed like Marcus couldn't explain to them waht he wanted and expected in a way they could grasp and enact.  It was what it looked like - a gap between coach and players in terms of strategy and tactics.

I don't think he came to grips with the other things you mention - nor the refereeing - it really is dire at points and VAR inexcusable.

Of course none of this excuses Babbel - his record didn't cut it for a whole lot of reasons.

Archie said something similar in the Wednesday podcast this one about Jim Magilton where the bloke would spend 2 hours explaining the tactics and profile of the opposition and By Archie's own admission he just fazed out. Where as Muscat and Hiddink would barely say anything so there is something to this theory.

Possible candidate for Babbel's replacement 

Quote

“People ask me sometimes ‘How about the Premier League?’ and I say ‘Well actually I’d like to go to Australia’,” the 56-year-old Valverde said at the Bilbao International Football Summit on Thursday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-spain-valverde-idUKKBN2072QO?taid=5e45bc7a035a2400014b537a&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

1 hour ago, SBW said:

Possible candidate for Babbel's replacement 

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-spain-valverde-idUKKBN2072QO?taid=5e45bc7a035a2400014b537a&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

Sounds like it would end well. “Ex-Barcelona coach can’t understand why A-League players can’t pass from here to there under pressure....”

Shop local. 

We would be mad if an opportunity came up like this & didn’t at least throw our hat in the ring. The key here would be to make sure we hire the right assistant, as Babbel has showed it can work against you.

8 hours ago, VedranRozic said:

Sounds like it would end well. “Ex-Barcelona coach can’t understand why A-League players can’t pass from here to there under pressure....”

Funnily enough, he is not really that type of manager. Very conservative manager, made Barca very hard to beat & didn’t score many goals. He moved them away from the formation & style that Pep Barca’s made famous. His biggest issue was spectacular collapses against Roma & Liverpool but if collapses against teams in the late stages of champions league is his biggest problem, then I don’t think it is as much of an issue.

On 03/02/2020 at 10:34 AM, StringerBellend said:

Someone mentioned “but what about the oil money”

He seems to want to take on another experience & live in another country. I don’t think it will all come down to money.

I get it, but after Babbel (and the generally poor record of foreign coaches in Australia) it’s not tenable. I am also convinced he really meant Austria.

I would rather spend the money on players

42 minutes ago, VedranRozic said:

I get it, but after Babbel (and the generally poor record of foreign coaches in Australia) it’s not tenable. I am also convinced he really meant Austria.

I would rather spend the money on players

Old mate has chipped in with a few thoughts.

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/babbel-warns-valverde-of-a-league-perils-in-stinging-critique

Markus Babbel has warned ex-Barcelona kingpin Ernesto Valverde of the pitfalls of the A-League, as the Spaniard surprisingly contemplates bringing his clipboard to Australia in a journey into the unknown.

Having exited Western Sydney Wanderers three weeks ago after a fruitless 18-month stint, the German offered Valverde - should he care to take note - several stinging insights into nose-diving “quality of the competition”, its over-reliance on recycled “soft” journeymen and the physical “deficits” of A-League players.

The players he encountered, added Babbel, are a far cry “in terms of mentality” from stars like Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Lucas Neill and Brett Emerton, whom he faced during his Premier League playing days at Liverpool.

He also bemoaned the conundrum of trying to shoe-horn ill-prepared youngsters into A-League line-ups.

“If Ernesto Valverde decides he would like to come and coach in Australia, then I would say it’s fantastic for the league,” Babbel told The World Game.

“But I’m not sure about it in the sense that he was always working with top-class players, and whether he could bring the way he wants to play to Australia.

“I can’t say for a coach like Valverde if it is right or wrong ... everybody has to decide for themselves.

“The point is that it is not so easy because, yes you have talent here but you don’t have so many talents here.

“You have to work very hard with the young ones to bring them up to the level. That was the biggest surprise I noticed here.”

Valverde, 56, shocked the audience at Thursday’s Bilbao International Football Summit when he said: “People ask me sometimes ‘How about the Premier League?' and I say 'Well actually I'd like to go to Australia'.”

Sacked by Barcelona last month after winning two La Liga titles, Valverde added: “A career in football does not last forever and sometimes you think you have to take the opportunity to live in strange places.”

Babbel felt a similar wonder lust, and while he has “no regrets” he has plenty of sage observations to pass along.

“For me, when I was playing against Brett Emerton, Lucas Neill, Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, they had a different mentality to the guys now,” he pointed out.

“When I came to Australia I was thinking maybe tactically not so good, maybe technically not so good but I believed they would be strong fellas who would give everything they had.

“But this was not the truth - maybe things have changed here in Australia. This was a big surprise to me.

“Yes, they are technically quite good and tactically they are alright but physically they have so many deficits.

“You have to make so many hours working on the physical side to get them stronger so they can play 90 minutes.

“Even now at the Wanderers there are a couple players who can’t play a full game. For me, this is madness.”

Babbel also highlighted the issue of Australians returning from Europe, after struggling to make the grade there, well short of match fitness.

“For me; it’s very simple,” he added. “if you are an Australian player with the talent the biggest dream is to go to Europe

“But 60 or 70 per cent of them fail there. They’re not playing and are not even sometimes in the squad ... not playing for maybe one or two years because they are not good enough.

“So they are coming back for sometimes a better wage because they have to be good because they’ve been in Europe.

“But the issue is these players are sometimes soft because there isn’t the competition here.

“Next year Macarthur is coming into the league and they have to look to mainly Australian guys because you’re only allowed five foreigners.

“So where do you get these players?

“The problem is you can’t bring the good players back - only the ones who’ve failed (or are past their best for Europe and Asia).“

Babbel sympathizes with the plight of youngsters making the jump to A-League level.

“Here it’s very difficult to win the league with young guys in the team, so it’s very hard for them to get minutes into their legs,” he said.

“Normally Australia should be a perfect league for young players but the step from the U21s the first team is too big.

“At WSW the young guys played in NPL 2, where the quality is not the best.

“It’s a big jump from there to the A-League. At Wanderers, we were one of the teams to bring young players in but then you can be struggling to qualify for playoffs.”

The churn of players seemingly unwilling to scrap for first-team spots is another bugbear for Babbel.

“We had players who at the age at 22 have already had four clubs - but they are soft,” he added.

“They move on to another club, where maybe it’s easier and they get better money. This is also is madness.

“They never bite and say ‘I have to take my elbows out and fight for my spot’.

“They know if they don’t fight for a place they can go onto to the next club where they’ve been promised regular football.

“There are examples of this across the league, and for me it’s the wrong way.

“The quality has dropped in the competition. Sydney FC are the only team that consistently shows quality.

“Even Melbourne Victory were far better last year than this year.”

The bottom line is Babbel failed as manager.

Now there is some truth in what he is saying but surely he didn't come in to the job blind without researching the background of the league. It would be ironic to say the least if we make the playoffs with his assistant as manager. 

Perhaps we should buy him a mirror as a parting gift.

7 minutes ago, sonar said:

The bottom line is Babbel failed as manager.

Now there is some truth in what he is saying but surely he didn't come in to the job blind without researching the background of the league. It would be ironic to say the least if we make the playoffs with his assistant as manager. 

Perhaps we should buy him a mirror as a parting gift.

PS, We know that the league isn't the best quality but he should of been aware of this fact before he took the big $'s.

Everything Babel said there is 100% spot on and it makes people in Australian football very uncomfortable hearing the brutal truth...

5 minutes ago, hughsey said:

Everything Babel said there is 100% spot on and it makes people in Australian football very uncomfortable hearing the brutal truth...

This isn't a critcism of what you wrote but as manager/coach what did he do or implement to change it.?

Babbel isn't blameless in his own demise.

As said before. The A league is still in its infancy and facing major issues. Some of what Babbel said is true.

It is up to people like Babbel to come over here and try and improve what it is, accept it has a long way to go but work with it and help develop. It takes a certain kind of person to do that but i think Babbel wasn't prepared for that. This is where the local v international argument comes in.

Babbel may speak some truth but he is also starting to sound like a whinging bitch....

Time for him to shut the **** up for a while.

16 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

As said before. The A league is still in its infancy and facing major issues. Some of what Babbel said is true.

It is up to people like Babbel to come over here and try and improve what it is, accept it has a long way to go but work with it and help develop. It takes a certain kind of person to do that but i think Babbel wasn't prepared for that. This is where the local v international argument comes in.

Babbel may speak some truth but he is also starting to sound like a whinging bitch....

Time for him to shut the **** up for a while.

If he’d achieved something here with us, then he’d be in a position to talk

as it is (despite being largely right) he just comes across as making excuses and a bit of a tit

I do believe Babble had the right intentions. He came here and showed passion on the field (and was sent off) , he spoke the truth about some players and was told off, he spoke the truth about the referee and was fined and told to shut up. From then on you could see that he gave up. 

Does it hurt to hear him say that stuff....yes, but is it true? I would also say yes

2 hours ago, sonar said:

This isn't a critcism of what you wrote but as manager/coach what did he do or implement to change it.?

Babbel isn't blameless in his own demise.

 

He had his own shortcomings definitely, but what he is saying needs to be viewed independently of his own record. He is not the first foreigner to make these comments and probably won’t be the last.

The way the media have reported his comments and gotten all salty is just excusing the fact that these issues are continually being ignored in Australian football and becoming worse. 

The truth hurts. We can either keep ignoring it and get bitchy in how we reply to these comments or we can take them on the chin and improve.

11 minutes ago, tardotz said:

I do believe Babble had the right intentions. He came here and showed passion on the field (and was sent off) , he spoke the truth about some players and was told off, he spoke the truth about the referee and was fined and told to shut up. From then on you could see that he gave up. 

Does it hurt to hear him say that stuff....yes, but is it true? I would also say yes

It’s totally true, unfortunately he isn’t really saying it from a position of strength 

he’s not the first to say some of this stuff and it’s met with the same defensiveness from Australian football 

Leroy George unloaded as he left too amongst others 

2 hours ago, sonar said:

This isn't a critcism of what you wrote but as manager/coach what did he do or implement to change it.?

Babbel isn't blameless in his own demise.

 

He's deflecting blame again.

Nothing much he said there explains why he could not put together a competitive squad in this league, whilst others can.

39 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

As said before. The A league is still in its infancy and facing major issues. Some of what Babbel said is true.

It is up to people like Babbel to come over here and try and improve what it is, accept it has a long way to go but work with it and help develop. It takes a certain kind of person to do that but i think Babbel wasn't prepared for that. This is where the local v international argument comes in.

Babbel may speak some truth but he is also starting to sound like a whinging bitch....

Time for him to shut the **** up for a while.

Agree with this. Go see the country...or whatever it is he's doing til he leaves, and ....do as Smoggy suggests.

2 minutes ago, hughsey said:

The truth hurts. We can either keep ignoring it and get bitchy in how we reply to these comments or we can take them on the chin and improve.

.....and that was the question I asked,did he do anything via WSW to change the poor quality.?

Now,he isn't responsible for the lack of quality in the A League,that's an issue for coaches of junior players and senior Aus players to answer, but he was in a position to do something with the squad he had. The results say he failed.

Without knowing what his training regime was we're just speculating or making assumptions. Did he pull players aside and say look,I feel you are lacking in this area and here is some things we'll work on in extra sessions to improve it ?

44 minutes ago, sonar said:

.....and that was the question I asked,did he do anything via WSW to change the poor quality.?

Now,he isn't responsible for the lack of quality in the A League,that's an issue for coaches of junior players and senior Aus players to answer, but he was in a position to do something with the squad he had. The results say he failed.

Without knowing what his training regime was we're just speculating or making assumptions. Did he pull players aside and say look,I feel you are lacking in this area and here is some things we'll work on in extra sessions to improve it ?

We will never know whether he did or not but it doesn’t change the fact that as a collective, Australian football needs to be doing better rather than singling out individuals. His criticisms of the aleague are systemic issues that have been brewing for years now. Full scale change is needed to improve and everyone involved is responsible imo

13 minutes ago, hughsey said:

We will never know whether he did or not but it doesn’t change the fact that as a collective, Australian football needs to be doing better rather than singling out individuals. His criticisms of the aleague are systemic issues that have been brewing for years now. Full scale change is needed to improve and everyone involved is responsible imo

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/inconsistent-wanderers-and-wasteful-jets-share-spoils-at-bankwest-20200215-p54165.html

did Vince Rungari come home early from work one afternoon to find Marcus in bed with his Mrs? 
 

9 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

did Vince Rungari come home early from work one afternoon to find Marcus in bed with his Mrs?

Lol he didn't like what Babble had to say. 

According to him we look so much better under JP and still unbeaten..... against the only two teams below us.

Just now, tardotz said:

Lol he didn't like what Babble had to say. 

According to him we look so much better under JP and still unbeaten..... against the only two teams below us.

 

Yep this is what passes for football analysis in this country (and he’s supposed to be one of the better ones) 

We have played 11th and 10th and only just got away with a draw in the second one, and one the first one in part due to cox a player we signed in the last days of Babel 

Vince we played decent football for the odd 10 min under Babel too, nothing has miraculously changed 

not to defend Babel or write JP off yet (the guy who was there the whole way through the Babel era)

but he’s watching different games to me if he thinks that much has changed 

if we had gone on with the first 15 minutes in this game and stuffed them but we didn’t