Is Guardiola an overrated manager?

Is Pep Guardiola really that good? Has he been a good investment so far for Bayern? His career as a manager has been successful, but will he be ever able to repeat what he has done at Barcelona?

First of all, let's put it this way. According to Forbes, the Catalan manager earns £14.8m a year at Bayern. His side are currently sitting 1st in Bundesliga and very likely to win the title.

Mauricio Pochettino earns £2m at Tottenham. The North London team are showing the best football since years and the Argentinian is considered the best Premier League manager by the likes of Alex Ferguson.

Maurizio Sarri, Napoli's coach, earns €0.8m. His side are currently 2nd and they have good chances of winning a title that supporters have been waiting for 26 years.

Comparing them just from the economic point of view, does Guardiola really worth seven times Pochettino and twenty times Sarri as a manager?

To be honest, it is unfair to think that managing Bayern or Spurs is the same job. For the Bavarian a season without successes is a failure, for Tottenham winning a domestic cup would be a great success. The pressure is different.

The salary, though, is too different. And, if we consider certain tactical choices made by Guardiola at Bayern, we could think he is not the best manager in the world at all.

The idea of making Bayern play like Barcelona has always been a feature of Guardiola's German spell. But Bayern have different players, nobody can replace Messi, for instance.

The Manchester City's manager-to-be has tried to find a player who could do what Busquets does at Barcelona. During the last season he played Lahm in that position. The result was something that made Massimo Marianella, an Italian journalist for Sky, say: "Bayern are still among the best in Europe despite Guardiola."

During this season he surprised again, for instance when Bernat, a left-back, played incredibly close to the strikers during the Champions League game against Juventus.

Guardiola seems too confident in his managerial abilities and perhaps he thinks he can develop his football philosophy without any limits, after his great achievements at Barcelona. Sometimes, though, his tactical choices seem to be less effective than the Catalan might think.

FC Barcelona and some bad jokes

What is the difference between a funny joke and taunting your opposition? Probably this difference is something unknown to the journalists of the Catalan media who published this image ahead of the Champions League clash.

Some members of the Catalan media are not new to this kind of "irony", used more in the domestic league, especially before and after the games between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Thanks to probably the best squad in the club's history, Barcelona supporters feel confident about UCL last 16 game against English side Arsenal.

Their last years' successes, both in La Liga and in the European competitions, though, do not help some supporters become more classy. 

We hope that Arsenal respond on the pitch and we will watch a great match.

Real Madrid struggles

Real Madrid celebrated Modric winner against Granada, but they are not doing well enough. Simple as that.

Have the team sensibly improved since Benitez sacking? Probably not. At least away from home they play a slow and sometimes boring football.

They do not play as a team, they often win only because of the talent of some players.

Zidane needs to turn this season around from the tactical point of view. They will certainly not win the title playing like they did in the last away games.

Liverpool eye Marseille`s goalkeeper

Liverpool are reportedly considering a January move for Marseille`s goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, despite the possibility of landing him for free in the summer.

After both Simon Mignolet and Adam Bogdan have come in for criticism for their performances, the Reds started negotiations for a new keeper.

The Belgian raised concerns about adapting to Liverpool`s style of play since Rodgers` reign. The ex-Sunderland has always struggled in the situations when the goalkeeper is supposed to come out.

Last summer move for Bogdan on a free transfer seemed a good one for Liverpool. When the Hungarian had to replace Mignolet, though, he failed to hold the pressure.

Klopp needs a solid keeper to count on, as well as to give stability to the defence. The French international, who is keen on leaving Marseille, might be a good fit.

Born in Zaire, he has won 21 caps for France national team. The establishment of Tottenham Hotspur`s Lloris as No 1 keeper, though, led Mandanda to be benched in most of the official games.

The 30-year-old goalkeeper has protected Marseille`s posts since 2008, when he left his former club Le Havre. Mandanda chose to remain in France, despite the rumours of interests shown by some European giants.

In the last months he has showed no intentions of renewing his contract with the French side. This led to rumours about his next future away from Marseille.

The French club, currently sitting 10^th in the Ligue 1, might sell the player for a small fee in January, instead of losing him when his contract expires in the summer.