There's obviously going to be some detail in regard to individual players. Neither you, nor I, know whether Neco's form is a a consequence of a training program and coaching, to develop him, just being picked, or a complex combination of factors. It's almost always the latter.
I was addressing the broader point, which was that MGW and Neco himself would almost certainly not be here but for a specific vision of the coach (they were very much his picks), and the incredible work done turning a complete bunch of novices at the level into a side that established itself as a top flight one. This seems to be hugely misunderstood or forgotten. I happened to be listening to the radio this morning when talk was of Leicester, and their coming chances. The crispy respondent (Steve Claridge I think) said (broady, from memory) "You need seven or eight players established who can play in the premier league, and leicester have that. It's then how you add to that as to whether you can be competitive. You can't build a complete new side and stay up."
The second miracle of cooper was exactly that. Do I believe that Nuno could have achieved that, with those players? I do not. Most decent managers/coaches wouldn't even try. Lopetegui bolted and ran from wolves. It was not a trivial thing. Looking at individual cases 'good now, not used then' does not take into account the external factors...injury, the training required to take a player from not physically ready, to stronger and fitter. A benchmark then, and a benchmark now, may not be comparing apples with apples. I look at the physical conditioning transformation that Mangala showed. Profound.
Some coaches take the pieces, and push them around and use them in the right spots, and that's their skillset. Nothing wrong with it. You 'aint appointing a Mourinho if you want to buy speculative players and develop them, part for profit, part for getting a cheap player at this level. Just not that sort of a coach. Not a criticism, just a reflection of the reality.
