I think he’s in the mix for sure but I think I agree with Aussie that he didn’t necessarily win enough to be the very best.
He had probably the best team in the world at one point with Milan and they grossly underachieved in the Serie A. Think that’s his biggest stain in my eyes.
Obviously had some great teams around him and Juventus match fixing too but just think he fell short with his Milan league performances.
Also think he’s been on the wrong end of some sackings he didn’t deserve like Chelsea, first stint at Real Madrid
Sacchi was a revolutionary though. Lot of his ideas are used by some of the best coaches ever that followed him.
Sacchi’s Milan is probably in the top 5 greatest club sides to ever exist. He had the famous World Cup final defeat to his name and then his career never meant much after but at his peak he was a revolutionary
Looking at the teams hes managed and the length of time he’s managed them for, 7 league titles is fewer than a man of his evident talent should have, no doubt about it in my mind.
Didn’t you just use that as a stain on Ancelotti? Revolutionary or no.
I mean look at it Bielsa, he’s apparently a revolutionary as well but he’s the biggest thing he’s won is PL promotion.
Ancelotti has 18 major titles to his name in 5 different leagues, I feel like he’s being a bit underrated here. Maybe if he’d just stayed in Italy and won 10 league titles he’d be more venerated??
But then I think taking your talent to other leagues and performing there is just as impressive as dominating one league for decades.
Marcello Lippi (Juventus) and Mancini (Inter) pipped him to so many Scudettos in the 2000’s. 8 Years of Milan and only 1 title to show for it with a great team is a pretty poor rate.
I put Ancelotti in the top 10 coaches of all time, without a doubt in my eyes. But what Sacchi did is revolutionise football in a way someone like Bielsa could only dream of.
Imagine an Italian manager, in the era of the dead bolt ultra defensive formations - initiating a high press, very fluid and extremely tactically well drilled side that basically laid the foundations for many generations of coaches that followed him.
The Milan team he took over were not a super team, he made them one. He had to contend with Maradona’s Napoli at the time too and the work he left behind was picked up by Capello who effectively win multiple titles with Sacchi team.
His two European trophies and Serie A established Milan as a genuine footballing superpower. And he laid the groundwork for what became 20 years of Milan being a massively successful and relevant club
Carlo Ancelotti is a managerial great, without a doubt. But Sacchi is one of the few examples of a manager who’s work transcended trophies. He won many, but his work revolutionised European football. I’d say only Cruyff had a bigger impact on modern footballing tactics than Sacchi that’s how influential he was.
And this isn’t a Ragnick or Bielsa thing where they had good ideas but couldn’t implement them to great success. Sacchi genuinely was massively successful in 4 years at Milan
Milan should have had a lot more domestic title wins with the side they had. Great manager in Europe though and still great CV but not having him as my best ever.
I remember very well at the time when Sacchi took over Milano, he completely revolutionised the style of Italian football which was used to a more defensive style of play.
He made them a much more attacking force which led to a lot of other Italian managers trying to adopt the same tactics.
When you have managers such as Pep, Klopp and Mourinho citing Sacchi as a main influence in their own team’s style of play he is always going to be regarded as one of the top if the top manager’s of all time.
Yeah this it. Being able to have Italian football seen in such a positive light is his greatest achievement.
It’s so hard to even attempt that at that time and in the a truly great era he pushed against the grain.
Sacchi influence is dominating the top of the prem right now.
Klopp and Pep would both acknowledge that.
In terms of influence, coaching methods and success my top 3 managers in my lifetime would be in no particular order Arrigo Sacchi, Johan Cruyff and Alex Ferguson.
Rakitic scores on a fk 1-0 to Sevilla against Real Madrid. I guess they’re in the same position as OM vs PSG as they’re also 12 pts behind for the league title anyway
And 2-0, spurs reject Lamela. Real can’t handle the high press at all.
I mean probably but at the same time I don’t think there has ever been a club that fills the description of “game raising cunts” as well as Real Madrid in Europe so you never know
Tbh I think Sevilla have one win in their last 5 which is against relegation fodder Grenada and I think they fight to secure top 4 much more vigorously than Real are fighting to keep their 12 pt lead.
Still a few things are pretty interesting here, Camavinga from start, Vinicius making runs central a lot. Modric missed a pass once, lots of things going on actually
edit: wtf Rodrygo scored. Again. That’s two games in a row now.
Has this guy decided to start scoring now? Have they started threatening him with a loan to Bundesliga or something?
