His wife left him as well.
'Pep' Guardiola sack watch
- Thread starter Classical Mechanic
- Start date
Are the divorce papers signed? No? No signature? Then no divorce. Thank you. That's what I thought.
I’m a little puzzled at some of their recruitment stratagem lately.
The old Pep would never would have signed the likes of Haaland and Donnarumma, just like he rejected Hart and Ibrahimovic.
It’s a very strange thing to see Pep taking Donnarumma, a player Enrique will not have due to the very values that Pep himself popularised.
I feel like he’s stopped caring, perhaps neither he or the club planned for him to stay for as long as he has and it’s all a bit in limbo for them at the moment.
The old Pep would never would have signed the likes of Haaland and Donnarumma, just like he rejected Hart and Ibrahimovic.
It’s a very strange thing to see Pep taking Donnarumma, a player Enrique will not have due to the very values that Pep himself popularised.
I feel like he’s stopped caring, perhaps neither he or the club planned for him to stay for as long as he has and it’s all a bit in limbo for them at the moment.
Yep, i thought the same recently. They've entered their 'expensive stars, hyped names, not worth their wage' zone. Their domination era is over.
He is leaving next summer.
The recruitment reflects it as it's clearly not Guardiola calling the shots any more. City are trying to sign players for the next 4 or 5 years at least knowing full well that it will be under a different manager.
The fact that you went there just shows how rattled United fans are by Pep's very existence.
The same will not be said of City and Pep, because this is sport, and no one will give a crap in 30 years about any 'allegations'. This is not the criminal destruction of the lives of dozens of children.
Donnarumma doesn't seem like a Pep keeper.
He said end of last season that City's patient passing and probing football wasn't working anymore as teams were becoming more physical and pressing them higher up the pitch and causing more turnovers.
He said they were going for a approach that involved getting the ball up the pitch quicker and using the fullbacks to push on and provide width.
Issue is when they lose the ball, there is acres of space in behind the fullbacks for the opposition to exploit.
Their recruitment is puzzling. Cherki doesnt have the off the ball work rate Guardiola desires. Haaland doesn't have the technical ability of a Guardiola preferred striker.
Squad wise:
Donnarumma is a quality keeper
Nouri and Gvardiol are great going forwards
Dias is a decent CB
Foden has been off form for a long while
Reijnders looks good and we all know how important Rodri is to them. Bernardo Silva is still an important player.
Haaland is obviously a goal machine.
Beyond that it's all about meh. No truly outstanding wingers. No truly outstanding CB.
They seem to be lacking something. The spark that KDB gave them. Maybe they should have signed Rodrygo from Madrid....
he chose Man City over her - bastard!
No. We aren't 'rattled by his existence'. We just don't like cheaters.
I think you'll find if Pep's record was clean and not full of cheating accusations, he'd have a lot more respect among United fans.
This is just not true. When Fergie was at his peak, the Liverpool fans routinely described him in the foulest, most abusive terms. There was no outward respect there whatsoever, despite the fact that Ferguson was obviously great.
Now you may think United fans are somehow better than Liverpool fans, but in my experience, football fans are pretty much the same. Especially when it comes to rivals. Madrid fans were fond of claiming that Messi was mentally deficient, FFS.
I've seen a lot of comments from Liverpool fans saying that despite how much they hated Ferguson, they still respected his achievements nonetheless. It also goes both ways - I dislike Klopp for obvious reasons, but I still have huge respect for what he achieved with that Liverpool side, and he won those trophies fair and square, annoying as it is.
And I never said that United fans are somehow better than Liverpool fans. Don't put words in my mouth.
Grealish 117m
Nunes 62m
Doku 60m
Mendy 57m
Phillips 49m
Khusanov 40m*
Torres 33m
Danilo 30m
Jury out on:
Marmoush 75m
Nico Gonzalez 60m
Jame Trafford 31m
Rayan Cherki 36m
Even if you disagree with one or two, it leaves you in the ballpark of 400-450m of signings that would absolutely be called flops at United, and another 200m of the bottom list of players who will have plenty to prove. Trafford already looks destined to become their latest English benchwarmer.
Some of these players can point to some high moments or medals where they played a useful role for not more than 1 season. It has been a complete luxury to be able to spend and spend and spend like that on top of the successful signings that never had to be curtailed, when you consider his inherited side was the basis of some of his earlier success. (Fernandinho, de Bruyne, Sterling, Aguero, Silva, among others)
Of course the alternative view is to say these signings wont be called flops due to the success of his spell - to which I would reply, that even if you ignore the cheating that its been built on, he has had a supreme position that pretty much no other manager in the league has had or could get away with that level of spending on mediocrity or just above mediocrity. To inherit his core, be backed to that degree, and potentially leave a much worse team, is a big mark against him.
Nunes 62m
Doku 60m
Mendy 57m
Phillips 49m
Khusanov 40m*
Torres 33m
Danilo 30m
Jury out on:
Marmoush 75m
Nico Gonzalez 60m
Jame Trafford 31m
Rayan Cherki 36m
Even if you disagree with one or two, it leaves you in the ballpark of 400-450m of signings that would absolutely be called flops at United, and another 200m of the bottom list of players who will have plenty to prove. Trafford already looks destined to become their latest English benchwarmer.
Some of these players can point to some high moments or medals where they played a useful role for not more than 1 season. It has been a complete luxury to be able to spend and spend and spend like that on top of the successful signings that never had to be curtailed, when you consider his inherited side was the basis of some of his earlier success. (Fernandinho, de Bruyne, Sterling, Aguero, Silva, among others)
Of course the alternative view is to say these signings wont be called flops due to the success of his spell - to which I would reply, that even if you ignore the cheating that its been built on, he has had a supreme position that pretty much no other manager in the league has had or could get away with that level of spending on mediocrity or just above mediocrity. To inherit his core, be backed to that degree, and potentially leave a much worse team, is a big mark against him.
Which is worrying because the scousers have built a squad that’s ready to dominate for years.
Or they have just gone at breakneck speed to the to expensive, hyped up stars not worth there wage zone
This is giving me flashbacks to the Voldemort thread.
Spending 30m on Donnarumma after spending 31m on Trafford is pretty funny. He at least left it a year before replacing Claudio Bravo!
They also lack Walker’s ridiculous recovery pace. How many goals did he deny due to his pace alone? Quite a few I would think. Their high line is much more vulnerable now.
But yeah, they also lack the energy of a KDB or finesse in attack.
You could see last season looked one too much for Pep, yet here he still is.
City can surely see he's just gone a bit stale, and just looks bored with the whole thing nowadays.
City can surely see he's just gone a bit stale, and just looks bored with the whole thing nowadays.
Liverpool fans where? On here? Go to Liverpool boards and see what they say about him.
It's easy for you to respect Klopp because he never actually won that much. If he'd won 10 league titles or whatever, beating United to it every time, that hatred would soon be kindled.
On here, and loads of other places across the internet. I also work with a few Liverpool fans.
How can you predict what would make me hate Klopp? The reason I hate Pep as much as I do is entirely due to the cheating accusations, the way he's changed his tune about it (saying he'd walk away and then backtracking), and his smugness about the whole thing.
If his record was clean, sure I wouldn't like him but I'd respect his achievements, as credit where credit is due. But I can't respect anyone with a record as shady as Pep's.
His achievements are gargantuan in any case. Those are the facts. Obviously, you're free to feel about him whatever way you like.
Who would have guessed that a barca fan thinks cheating like feck should be ignored and waved away.
Pep's got contract until 2027 but not sure he'll be there for longer than this season. Given the players they signed recently, you'd think they're for new manager. Perhaps Pepijn Lijnders, former assistant coach for Klopp at Liverpool and now for Pep at City, could replace him. They're trying to play football more similar to Klopp's than Pep's so perhaps Pep is still around just to try and achieve something significant with it this year (doesn't seem likely that he will) and then finally leave in May.
Funny how poor City have been for their standards. Bad form started in late October 2024 as ten Hag got sacked. Basically EtH's spirit got into Pep.
Funny how poor City have been for their standards. Bad form started in late October 2024 as ten Hag got sacked. Basically EtH's spirit got into Pep.
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People slating Pep for his signings - that's not primarily on him. I'm sure he'll have some input in the decision making but I don't think City have handed him free reign over who they sign. That's other people's jobs. His comments on not wanting a big squad makes me think he doesn't have the largest say on signings, and certainly not the only day or final say.
Guardiola was struggling a lot in the early months of the 2020/2021 season. And the 2019/2020 season hadn't been so hot either. We know what happened after the bad first months of the 2020/2021 season. Guardiola has won 4 PL titles in a row, 6 in 7 seasons. His last season was the first in which City didn't win the PL since 2019/2020, five years ago! Guardiola has more than enough credit to have a down period.
Ferguson was extremely questioned for three seasons in a row, from 2003/2004 to 2005/2006. People said that his cycle was over and that he didn't have the energy anymore. Such as in the article below.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
Sir Alex Ferguson's brilliance famously knocked Liverpool off their perch. Now his incompetence is doing the same to Manchester United. How did it come to this, wonders Rob Smyth
Mon 31 Jul 2006 13.01 BST
Ferguson was extremely questioned for three seasons in a row, from 2003/2004 to 2005/2006. People said that his cycle was over and that he didn't have the energy anymore. Such as in the article below.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
Shredding his legacy at every turn
Rob SmythSir Alex Ferguson's brilliance famously knocked Liverpool off their perch. Now his incompetence is doing the same to Manchester United. How did it come to this, wonders Rob Smyth
Mon 31 Jul 2006 13.01 BST
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“…his incompetence…”
Finishing third a couple of times while rebuilding his team, that’s not incompetence that’s Rob Smyth bring a fanny, like much of the media who saw a slight downturn and decided to stick the boot into their old foe Ferguson.
Sorry @FlamengoFan your point is quite correct that article had me distracted.
Finishing third a couple of times while rebuilding his team, that’s not incompetence that’s Rob Smyth bring a fanny, like much of the media who saw a slight downturn and decided to stick the boot into their old foe Ferguson.
Sorry @FlamengoFan your point is quite correct that article had me distracted.
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ETH is available now if they want to sack Pep.
One bald fraud to another.
If you seriously think the two are even remotely comparable...
They are. They're almost identical! ETH just needs a bigger budget and he'll have that team playing like prime Barcelona. City is the perfect club for him now that Leverkusen let him go!
True, he won FA cup and League cup with Antony, Casemiro etc. Imagine, if he had Messi / De Bruyne / David Silva
It's mad that, looking back. When that was written we'd just finished second and won the league cup! That's how high standards were for us back then.
True but they played better in that period than few few games of this season and better than last season. City in 2019/20 scored 102 goals and conceded only 35 (only 2 more than Liverpool). Granted they only won 81 points but think they were supposed to win more looking at xG and xP data (I realise some people don't really rate those kind of stats) while Liverpool overachieved their xPoints - it's incredible but they won 25 points more than they were supposed to.
My point is: yeah City had an off-season in 2019/20 and struggled in first few months of 2020/21 but did not look ordinary like they have in many games over last 10 months or so. Rodri is back so that could change a bit (even though they lost at Brighton with him) but we'll see if they can get back on top. To me signings they've made this year suggest they're changing their style of play and not sure Pep will be around for longer than this season.
Edit: just read that article you posted
amazing how wrong that guy was. He was right about the Glazers but everything else... 31 July 2006 is date of that article. From that point on until his retirement, Fergie won 5 titles in 7 seasons, while losing the title in 2010 for 1 point and in 2012 on GD. One CL won + 2 finals. I'm bit younger and first title I remember was in 2008/09, but I can imagine that the one we won in 2007 was probably most enjoyable for Ferguson but also so many fans given the struggles we had in mid 2000s. 2003 probably as well after whole retirement plan Ferguson had season earlier etc.
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Arrigo Sacchi said that intense pressing with the same set of players cant be sustained for mode than 2-3 seasons. We saw that with his Barcelona side just after he left. It was inevitable there would be a drop off at City at somepoint. Its been said a few times by various people in the sport that Guardiola's training is very intense mentally and 2-3 years of it can take its toll and players drop off mentally.
Its was probably fergies biggest strength, the ability to rebuild his team while still competing for trophies and move players on at the right time. Though he got that wrong on occasion.
That article, holy shit, talk about ageing badly. Won the next three league titles back to back.Everybody was so adamant he's not a 'Pep keeper' as Pep tapped him up all summer
I do wonder if we'll see Pep change things up, he invented playing out from the back and football but now everyone is doing it and he wants to create football 2.0
Everybody was so adamant he's not a 'Pep keeper' as Pep tapped him up all summer
We will see when he plays... Pep also called Nunes one of the best footballers before signing him.