Pep is a great coach, surely one of the best in modern times but the reason people call him overrated is because of how his fans just think he is some messiah of football. Truth is without the crazy money he has spent which by the way he is number 1 on the amount spent for a manager since 2008, he would not have achieved this much which begs a question whether he is really a genius. He has been badly found out this season and the only way he can bounce back is by spending another 200m. Not every manager get that privilege.
Pep's spending is insane (£941m and counting at City)
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And yet you’ve quoted me twice saying he’s a great coach.
Get a grip of yourself.
It’s inarguable that he’s had a hell of a helping hand.
Considering the high quality players he inherited in addition to his spend, he really is chequebook Guardiola.
Absolutely. This was his real genius. Sometimes he spent, sometimes he didn’t. Sometimes he had the best team, sometimes he didn’t. No matter the era or the opponent, he guaranteed you would compete and he would evolve and rebuild while still competing at the top of the table. He was incredible. Managers that come in and have 2-3 good years before burning out just don’t compare to his greatness.
He created what many consider the best team ever playing the kind of football that other teams tried to emulate, whoever does that will be regarded as a genius (be it Pep or anyone else) and rightfully so. He put himself in a position where only clubs who had big money could hire him after what he achieved at Barcelona, offcourse he was only going to go upwards from there on. But a time will come where he wouldn't be so in demand also, but as for now we all know that every club will still be willing to hire him tomorrow despite the fact that he hasn't won the champion's league since he left Barca, because they want their club to play the kind of expansive football he makes his teams play.
It's not always about how much you spend, but also how you spend it, and that goes for anything in life. Every top 3/4 club in the best league have the privilege of spending 200m if they wish to, whether they chose to is another thing and also how they spend it is what will matter. But how about we wait first and see how much City and other clubs will spend before speculating...
He didn't exactly miss out on much else is my point..... compared to only 2 CL's, he's won what 8 Leagues? and 5 Prime Domestic Cups....talk about missing the point and overexaggerating for no reason. But cool.
As for that Chelsea game, its hard to blame Pep for that, how many chances did Barca miss again? And Chelsea had like 4 shots over 2 games and scored on 3?
Felt like they were blessed by the Gods.
Needs to spend £500m more on defenders.
1b spending incoming
I can't understand how there is never talk about him being sacked... the press seems to love him too much for that.
Maybe they say he isn't backed by the board, he should be given more money to buy Messi.
Maybe they say he isn't backed by the board, he should be given more money to buy Messi.
Now Koulibaly for 70 million
Who do you think they need, with money as no object?
The fact they have spent such obscene amounts and still can't get anywhere near European success is hilarious.
Crack on, he will be a disaster.Now Koulibaly for 70 million
they got Ake... what else could they need?
I think money being no object is the reason they find themselves in this position every year. They throw crazy money at all sorts of defenders and think that'll automatically sort the issues. In reality they need to look at their tactics, there's a reason Pep gets destroyed on the counter against any half decent team. Any defender would look like a clown with these tactics.
Do you think Barcelona and City loss are related? That at the highest levels, the era of Cruyff/Pep Ball is finished?
In isolation those are different types of losses, Bayern were running a very high press while Lyon was more of a traditional counter attacking win. But yeah, those are related in terms of both Barca and City only knowing one way of playing football. Possession. Barca anno 2011 was a freak team. That midfield trio and Messi would run circles around you and you couldn't stop them no matter what you did. They would kill you with possession. Pep and Barca are both struggling to come to terms with the fact that that was a unique team. You can't replicate that. There's definitely still room for tiki taka but tiki taka alone won't win you the big trophies. You need something more than that.
Posted this in the United CL dark horse thread a couple of weeks ago, relevant for City tonight: "Playing on the counter is often frowned upon but having a high class counter attacking game in your locker has almost always been a recipe for success in Europe. If you don't have that counter attacking game you'll eventually come unstuck. Sooner or later you'll face an opponent who know how to counter, expose your defence and knock you out of the competition."
Pep's selection was incredibly stupid tonight. He actually picked a counter attacking side but then ended up with 72 % possession. If you're going to pick such a defensive minded team you simply have to concede possession or else you won't have enough attack minded players on the pitch to create sufficient amount of chances against compact defences.
Barcelona have abandoned Pep's possession a long time ago, it left them with Tito Villanova. Barcelona's current problems are simply that they are not a team, they don't press correctly, there is no patterns in their passing and positioning, they are a collection of players, that is rarely on the same page. Under Enrique they were a team, they were a lot more direct than under Guardiola-Villanova but were still structured and looked like a team.
I agree that they are extremely confused in terms of identity right now.
Thats why when they are under extreme pressure like last night, they reverted to their PepBall DNA, trying to pass from GK and tiki taka through Munich midfield, and they failed miserably.
The first critical decision of the new sporting director is to decide what style of football will be competitive enough to win in 2 or 3 years. And from evidence of past few years, it seems that that days of possession domination tik tok won’t cut it anymore.
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Will be at least ten years since the so called best has been in a CL final despite unlimited budgets and circumventing ffp at City and managing bayern.
Does little to dispel the idea that while he's a top manager, peak Messi was what made barca great
Does little to dispel the idea that while he's a top manager, peak Messi was what made barca great
Weirdest thing is Pep's spending money on some Arsenal-esque players now. Rodri, Ake, Torres... It's possible City will start games with this XI next season:
Ederson
Cancelo - Fernandinho - Ake - Mendy
Bernardo - Rodri - Gundogan
Mahrez - Jesus - Torres
That genuinely looks like a 4th PL / Last-16 CL team and nothing more.
Ederson
Cancelo - Fernandinho - Ake - Mendy
Bernardo - Rodri - Gundogan
Mahrez - Jesus - Torres
That genuinely looks like a 4th PL / Last-16 CL team and nothing more.
Find it really funny how city like to show some moral ground by saying we won't spend more than 60 odd million on one player.
As a back up team.
They will probably end up buying a striker as Jesus hasn’t really stepped up when required.
Sacked? After finishing 2nd miles above us and atrophy? Following two leagues in a row and a number of other cups.I can't understand how there is never talk about him being sacked... the press seems to love him too much for that.
Maybe they say he isn't backed by the board, he should be given more money to buy Messi.
Maybe that's why there's no sack talk?
Over a billion spent since his last CL win, despite walking into 2 jobs where his team was already the strongest in the league on paper by quite some distance.
what does it have to do how many points above us did they finished? do you really believe he has achieved what he was hired to do at city?
if you want to look it that way, in this season, he lost the title months in advance (I guess they aim for the title not finishing above us) and lost in the champions far from mounting a challenge.
do you honestly don't think there wouldn't be talk of sacking if there was other manager over there? I mean, the press "sack" manager for much less than that...
Ya'll just mad because he revolutionized football in the PL.
expect another 2-300m spend this window
He's cursed in the Champions League post Barca. He should just return to Barca and lead them back to their old glory days. Messi would be happy and so does everyone.
It’s not finished. The arrogance to never adapt to your opponents is. That’s why Pep has failed time and time again recently.
Thing is he tried to adapt last night, went full Mourinho for no reason.
Dont think finishing above United is a pre season goal these days
That is a core foundational attribute of CruffBall
No I don't think any club in England are sacking a manager who has won 2 titles in 3 years and come 2nd in the other, while hoovering domestic cups up. No chance.
It's silliness from the sort of people who call him a "fraud"
Which should be to our absolute shame.
Time to buy a new defence for half a billion.
Just how much money have Pep spent on defenders(and CDMs) at City?
They are still rubbish in defense.
They are still rubbish in defense.