Yeah I wasn’t sure how to word it, didn’t mean he was shit or anything.

Yeah, Le Tissier had a lot of ability but was incredibly lazy and had no motivation.

At Southampton he could get away with it because his level of skill was far above the normal for the club, had he moved elsewhere he might have been shown up for what he was.

Joelinton for a while too. Record signing and played like utter shit until he changed position.

Remy Cabella, Mbemba, Duff, Yanga-Mbiwa… To be honest most signings Newcastle made between probably ‘03 - ‘21!

However he also did it in an era of much worse defending and tactical play. The fitness argument works both ways too as most defenders back in the day were bumbling oafs who were tall and stuck the boot in.

These discussions are always invariably pointless. The game has changed so much that it’s impossible to tell how players from previous eras would adapt.

It’s very rare that there are any true ‘managers’ in football these days. Almost all are head coaches (even if not in name), so they, with the help of their team, handle training focuses, tactics and pick the team. They handle the football side of it.

They will generally have a say in transfers, as much as they work with the recruitment team to identify weak areas and may ask for specific players to be signed, but it’s very rare that they’d have anything to do with the actual financial side of it. It’s not like the Football Manager games where it’s your choice to bid a certain amount or get into contract details.