http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/169597,socceroos-line-up-le-guen.aspx

Verbeek has lost one, drawn one at the World Cup.

It's not just a matter of that, but the fact that our options are limited. There aren't many managers with a better record willing to come to Australia. So when someone like Le Guen is a possibility, why would you write him off?

To be fair, Verbeek is playing with a better team against worse opposition.

He inherited a title-winning squad. All he did was maintain momentum and never did anything in Europe on the back of that.

PSG were so pleased with that cup win they didn't offer him a new contract...

He also has a history of clashing badly with his players and/or his board and creating bitter disharmony.

He is not what we need.

EDIT: Oh and Verbeek has won one, drawn two, lost two at the World Cup. Le Guen - two losses and they haven't even played their hardest game yet.

Edited by Kevin Airs: 22/6/2010 01:52:13 AM

That's probably true but the fact is he has actually won something of note unlike Verbeek. So I'd hardly say Verbeek had a better record than Le Guen

I could've won 3 league titles in a row with Lyon in 02-05.

Le Guen won 3 French League titles at Lyon in a row from 2002-2005 as well as 3 Champions Trophies in a row with Lyon from 2002-2004.

Also won a French League Cup with PSG in 07-08.

Verbeek has won nothing of note really during a managerial career spanning 29 years from 1981-2010.

Even Verbeek's record was better than Le Guen.

He better be worth the 24 million he'll be getting for 4 years then.

so just because hes better than our last, fairly lackluster manager, we should be satisfied?

Edited by Dogsdogsdogs: 22/6/2010 01:19:33 AM

Edited by Dogsdogsdogs: 22/6/2010 01:23:39 AM

Better than Verbeek's record. Definitely better than Cocu's record. Far better than the record of any domestic based coaches.

Most of the other names being thrown about on here are either completely unrealistic or of an embarrassingly low standard.

I mean, it's not like we've got options coming out our ears. Verbeek was our third choice last time around. We'll probably end up having to go with our third choice this time around too. If our third choice is Le Guen, it's not all bad.

Done average to well to poor at domestic level, below average at continental level and humiliated at international level.

No thanks.

Mostly because he's done well with players that aren't particularly technically gifted?

I don't believe it for a second.

Le Guen's done nothing as a manager to earn the job and I really can't see us suddenly abandoning the Dutch system.

Adopting it was always playing the long game - the full benefits will take years to come through and we will stick with it, at junior and youth level at the very least.

We can probably afford not to have a Dutch coach until after the next WC campaign when those Dutch-trained youngsters come through, but I just doubt we will.

If our next coach isn't Dutch, he will at least be schooled in the Dutch system. (The only other alternative I envisage is a switch to a Spanish style for the senior team, but that really doesn't suit our current players...)

Paul Le Guen is not the answer. I can't even imagine why he would be in the frame.

Hiring Cocu would honestly be like betting on North Korea to win the WC.

He's never managed at club level let alone international level and for him to be mentioned as a frontrunner last week shows that we might just be a little to desperate to go Dutch.

Cocu doesn't have much of a history coaching, it would be a massive gamble to hire him.

Good point, that was Mike Cockerill's conclusion.

Le Guen, on the plus side, He's a young coach( 46 y.o ), played at Nantes & Paris St Germain & France ( they used to be better than currently ), coached Lyon to 3 or 4 French Championships & in the Champions League, turned down coaching jobs at Benfica & Lazio.

On the negative side - coached Rangers in Scotland for short time - left after a dispute.
Coaches Cameroon - 1st side eliminated from World Cup 2010.

Still, he sounds like a good candidate, as long as I am not personally paying his wages, which I am not( better than Graham Arnold ).




Edited by Damo Baresi: 22/6/2010 12:12:13 AM

Could be a nice fit.

the money they're offering would make whoever took up the position the second highest paid coach in the world - after reading his coaching experience i dont think hes worthy.

I wouldn't be unhappy with him, certainly, as you say, light years ahead of Verbeek (but then again, my gran could do a better job than Verbeek) - but I really am doubtful that he'd be the best option available. We need a guy that's going to stay for all four years of his contract and build towards 2014 with everything else beforehand used as preparation for that.

You should do the maths again. Lowy never said he was the head coach of one of the teams. Phillip Cocu was mentioned as being a front runner the other day and he's an assistant to Can Marwijk. I'm not sure but he might be dutch;)

Le Guen is years ahead of Verbeek. Definitely not the worst option out there. And given that our options are probably pretty limited, he probably IS the best available, Scouse. He's won titles and knows his stuff. Cameroon may be the first team out of the cup, but they're not that strong a team anyway.

Le Guen favourite for Aussie job
Jun 21, 2010 12:33 PM | By Sapa-AFP
Frenchman Paul Le Guen is favourite to succeed Pim Verbeek as the next coach of the Australian team, reports said.

Cameroon's coach Paul Le Guen of France reacts during a 2010 World Cup Group E match against Denmark at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria.
Photograph by: BRIAN SNYDER
Credit: REUTERS
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Le Guen is coaching Cameroon at the World Cup in South Africa and Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy has confirmed the new Australian national coach would soon be finalised.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Le Guen, 46, the former coach of Paris Saint-Germain and Glasgow Rangers, was the front-runner and if appointed would end a run of Dutch coaches in charge of the national team.

Although not confirming that the former French international Le Guen was at the top of the list, Lowy told the newspaper: "Let me say this. Is the coach coming from the 31 countries that are here (in South Africa)? Yes."

Apart from Bert van Marwijk coaching the Netherlands, the Herald asked the FFA chief if the new coach would be Dutch:"Are there any Dutch coaches here? I don't know if there are.

"We have many irons in the fire. I think we have a wishlist rather than a shortlist."

The Herald said Verbeek's replacement could be in charge for Australia's first post-World Cup outing, a friendly in Slovenia in August, although Lowy insisted the FFA would not be rushed.

"It needs to be a very deliberate process. If we make the wrong decision, it could affect us for a long time," he said.

Le Guen is the second-youngest coach at the World Cup and since taking over a struggling Cameroon team that was riven by internal conflict he ironed out the issues and brought in promising young players.

Cameroon qualified for South Africa 2010 in the final qualifying match but cannot qualify for the second round here after losing their first two matches.

"It would be good to find a coach with enough experience to bring the youngsters through, the players we need for the next World Cup," Lowy said.

Lowy said he would prefer the new coach lived in Australia, rather than be based overseas, as has been the case with both Verbeek and his predecessor, Guus Hiddink.

"It's very important the new coach fits into the Australian scene, understands the mentality, understands the country and gets to know the players that are coming through," he said.

"We would like the coach to spend more time in Australia. That's preferable, definitely, but it's not a deal-breaker.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sport/soccer/article512951.ece/Le-Guen-favourite-for-Aussie-job

1998–2001 Stade Rennais
2002–2005 Olympique Lyonnais
2006–2007 Rangers
2007–2009 Paris Saint-Germain
2009–     Cameroon


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Guen

Le Guen would be okay, not the best option out there but reasonable. Haven't we learned from our mistakes, though? Can't we get the best available?

Enough going Dutch for Socceroos
MICHAEL COCKERILL
June 22, 2010

ALL the indications are Australia's passionate embrace of the Dutch philosophy is over. Not completely, for the two most important coaching positions apart from being boss of the national team remain in the hands of Dutchmen. Hans Berger is technical director, Jan Versleijen is head coach of the pyramid of the development system, the AIS. So orange is still a primary colour in the footballing landscape, and will be for a few years to come.

But in signalling that the next Socceroos coach will come from somewhere else, Frank Lowy has finally confirmed that the five-year love affair is over. Pim Verbeek is leaving, possibly by the time the full-time whistle blows against Serbia in Nelspruit on Wednesday night, and Frenchman Paul Le Guen has emerged as his likely replacement.

The next boss, Lowy confided, was coaching one of the other 31 teams at the World Cup. Do the maths, and the only other Dutchman here in South Africa is the man in charge of the Dutch team, Bert van Marwijk, and he is not going anywhere. So after five years of being wedded to one doctrine, the Socceroos are finally going to get an injection of fresh ideas. Aurelio Vidmar will get to test them first-hand, for the former Australia midfielder has already been appointed to replace Graham Arnold as the assistant. Like Arnold, Vidmar played in the Netherlands. And witnessing his tactical approach at Adelaide United, it's clear there's a strong Dutch influence.

But, like the players, Vidmar will now see those ideas challenged, and examined, and that's a good thing. The Dutch coaches who have come to Australia since 2005 are not the problem, in isolation. But as a collective, they have overwhelmed the game, from top to bottom. So much so, 4-3-3 has been mandated as the system of choice for elite players from the age of 12. The repercussions of that aren't known, and probably won't be evident for another four or five years. But the question is an obvious one. Why put all your eggs in one basket?

For years, it was the so-called ''Pommy Mafia'' who controlled football's development and coaching pathway. Now it's simply been replaced by another one-dimensional approach. That does no one any favours. Out of creative tension great things happen. Lowy knows that as well as anyone. His love-hate relationship with former CEO John O'Neill helped generate the most successful period in the game's chequered history - something he often privately admits.

If it is to be Le Guen, then we can only hope the philosophical exchange between the Frenchman and his Dutch colleagues, and between the Frenchman and his Australian assistant, will be equally frank and honest. There is no reason, absolutely none at all, to fear the different cultures can't co-exist. If the game is to mature, and more specifically the Socceroos are to mature, then variety is crucial. There has been no better illustration of that than when Verbeek, inexplicably, unveiled a Plan B in the opening game of the World Cup. The players weren't ready, and the result was an embarrassment. Only when Verbeek went back to Plan A against Ghana did the Socceroos redeem themselves. The team couldn't adapt.

Modern players should be able to seamlessly switch from one strategy to another, as long as they have been trained, and prepared, for it. Verbeek has committed the cardinal sin of picking a World Cup squad based on one system. If the players don't fit the system, they're not here. Which explains the absence of players such as Nicky Carle, Joel Griffiths and Nathan Burns - all potential game-breakers in certain circumstances.

It's too late now to change things, but let's hope that in future the players are picked because they're good enough, not because they're compliant enough. That's what a melting pot of ideas achieves. Coaches see different things in different players. For the past five years, they have all been looking for the same thing. That's not the fault of the ''Dutch mafia'', because it's what they're trained to do. But the era has run its course, and Lowy has been smart enough to see it.

http://www.theage.com.au/world-cup-2010/world-cup-news/enough-going-dutch-for-socceroos-20100621-ysd2.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Guen




Edited by Damo Baresi: 21/6/2010 11:55:43 PM