alistair We probably played our best football of the PL era under him at first, but he was helped by us still having a quality team.
Even then we were never as attacking or high-pressing as Leeds have been under their recent managers. He plays the same 433 formation Leeds are used to but is fairly pragmatic.
We were a shit-show though after we reached the FA Cup final a year after his appointment - the team and the manager all seemed exhausted and he should have been sacked sooner than he actually was. He was maybe the only manager I can recall of the Pozzo era who was fired too late as opposed to perhaps prematurely.
It seems an odd appointment by Leeds tbh as he seemed to decline here and also struggled at Valencia. He doesn’t strike me as someone who based on his recent showings has the wherewithal to turn things around. I suppose lots of other managers didn’t want the job to avoid having a relegation on their CV, but Gracia already helped to send us down eventually anyway.
