There are some managers who can take seemingly ordinary players and make them play very well as a team. SAF comes to mind straightaway. So do Klopp, Tuchel, Simeone.
I believed that Pep didn't fit into this definition. He needs some specific conditions to do well. But when those conditions are met, I believed he could produce results like no other manager can. I doubted if Mourinho or Ancelotti could have ever achieved with that Barcelona team what Pep did, especially the latter is failing to rise to similar standards in Bayern right now.
What we're seeing at City seems to go against my belief. He had Txiki moulding the club the way he wanted to, long before he came in. He brought in ball playing CB and GK, he has some top talents in KDB, Aguero, Sterling, Silva, Fernando, Fernandinho, Iheanacho, Otamendi. An almost unlimitied transfer budget, the lure of CL, freedom of control over the squad (Hart, Toure), and yet he is clearly struggling in the league. The conditions have been seemingly met, yet neither the performances nor the results are there.
There still seems to be mismatch between his idea of football, and the players he has to execute it. They are not performing anywhere close to expectations, given the resources, players, expectations. With Mourinho, you can clearly see an improvement in United's play, a sense of progress. With City, it's looking worse than under Pellegrini.
So what's the problem? Is Guardiola overrated? Is it the City squad? Do they require more time to gel together? What's going wrong over there?
I believed that Pep didn't fit into this definition. He needs some specific conditions to do well. But when those conditions are met, I believed he could produce results like no other manager can. I doubted if Mourinho or Ancelotti could have ever achieved with that Barcelona team what Pep did, especially the latter is failing to rise to similar standards in Bayern right now.
What we're seeing at City seems to go against my belief. He had Txiki moulding the club the way he wanted to, long before he came in. He brought in ball playing CB and GK, he has some top talents in KDB, Aguero, Sterling, Silva, Fernando, Fernandinho, Iheanacho, Otamendi. An almost unlimitied transfer budget, the lure of CL, freedom of control over the squad (Hart, Toure), and yet he is clearly struggling in the league. The conditions have been seemingly met, yet neither the performances nor the results are there.
There still seems to be mismatch between his idea of football, and the players he has to execute it. They are not performing anywhere close to expectations, given the resources, players, expectations. With Mourinho, you can clearly see an improvement in United's play, a sense of progress. With City, it's looking worse than under Pellegrini.
So what's the problem? Is Guardiola overrated? Is it the City squad? Do they require more time to gel together? What's going wrong over there?
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