Hell win the league this season, you can all quote me on this.
'Pep' Guardiola sack watch
- Thread starter Classical Mechanic
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Is he joining Bayern in January?
PSG will stump up the cash and the vastly superior squad that he needs to produce his 30 month flourish and there is little to no risk of him not doing some doubles.
He can stand on the touch line flabbergasted at how his 1 billion Euro juggernaut can demolish Brest 7-0 and he can lap up the salivating plaudits for the number of passes he serves up in a single half.
I would say a year out, with that move already decided and the prep beginning a good 18 months beforehand just to make sure everything is in place for him to succeed.
He can stand on the touch line flabbergasted at how his 1 billion Euro juggernaut can demolish Brest 7-0 and he can lap up the salivating plaudits for the number of passes he serves up in a single half.
I would say a year out, with that move already decided and the prep beginning a good 18 months beforehand just to make sure everything is in place for him to succeed.
The way I see it he's a top manager but what he achieved with Barcelona was a collective achievement from the whole institution; it didn't come just to him or the players. He still deserves credit for having a particular vision but that vision and his formation as a manager is also a product from Barcelona.
It was never going to be easy to transfer that culture, vision and way of playing to English football in Manchester City but I do believe he could have done better with Manchester City's resources.
Such a shame after spending 1 billion in defenders
Only you lot will think so so confidently.
The type of emotions Pep brings out in some people is very funny to witness, especially whenever his team doesn't win. Going to so many levels to discredit his achievements talking about "he lucked out" or "he shouldn't get as much credit for what he did at Barcelona" (concerning this aspect, i see some people rewriting history a lot about Barça having 4-5 of the world's best players when Pep took over, i wonder who thoses players were though), etc hahaha...
There's a reason why a lot of other great coaches and great players consider him to be one of the best ever also, but i guess they don't know what they're talking about though right?
There's a reason why a lot of other great coaches and great players consider him to be one of the best ever also, but i guess they don't know what they're talking about though right?
Still think they'll win the league this season. Win the game in hand and they're 2 points off the top, with Liverpool having VVD out I'm gonna say City are favourites.
Once their new defenders settle and Aguero gets up to speed they'll go on a run.
Once their new defenders settle and Aguero gets up to speed they'll go on a run.
I dunno, they just look like a team that’s come to the end of its cycle to me, still have talented players but too much goes through Sterling imo.
De Bruyne is still massive for them obviously, another injury to him and I see them struggling to get into league winning form.
I feel like they've not really started yet this season a bit like a few PL teams. De Bruyne and Sterling are out of form and Aguero and B.Silva are just coming back, I'd expect in the coming weeks all 4 will get upto speed making them a completely different team. The more Dias plays the stronger they'll get at the back as well.
If they can't win it this year with Liverpools problems at the back then serious questions need to be asked imo.
This thread is running in circles, 95% people here simply repost their previous posts. This is Pep's 5th season at City and players don't react the same way they did before. This happens. Always. Sooner or later. In modern football, most teams change their manager every 2 or 3 years but that doesn't make him 'Fraudiola' or something.
His failings on youth development must be disappointing to the City hierarchy. The infrastructure on the Academy set ups was done with Pep in mind for a later date. He could then do what he did at Barca & bring through a new generation. As it is there's only Stockport Messi that's a semi-regular. Sancho has gone & Garcia look's to be joining him.
2 titles in 5 years, if he fails, and nowhere in Europe in an era when elite sides regularly get to semi finals, finals, is a failure.
People say Cup final is a lottery but its becoming less and less so in 2 legged ties. Its almost always the better side going through
Exactly. The tradition of a manager being a one-man institution is long gone. Heck, even the success of Barcelona back then was institutional. The man has always credited his team with the CL successes. I do wonder if modern players are simply unable to stay motivated - psychologically or in terms of team cohesion - beyond 2 or 3 years of the same regime. Is fresh managerial blood a requirement nowadays, even if it doesn't involve tactical/coaching innovation? Or are certain coaches so demanding of their players that even the best players get worn down? On the flip side, wasn't Ancelotti hounded out of Bayern for not being as demanding or educational as Pep?
I still think City will win the league. It won't be the centurions vintage, but I think he will win it with a couple games to spare.
The only way this will change, is if he gets a horror injury crisis (something akin to Laporte and Dias, or KDB, Bernardo, and Foden being injured at the same time for a month or two).
The only way this will change, is if he gets a horror injury crisis (something akin to Laporte and Dias, or KDB, Bernardo, and Foden being injured at the same time for a month or two).
He brought Pique back and played him when he was still inexperienced.
He also dropped Yaya (who was still at his peak) and Henry (who wasn't but just come off a season where he heavily contributed to the treble) and promoted Busquets and Pedro in their places, you don't see many do that especially in clubs with such demands to win.
5 or 4 years? And don't the other competitions won count for anything?
Cups always require a certain luck and no, the best teams don't always qualify, especially with the away goal rule.
He wasnt brought in to win them, plus his massive squad should be winning them most of the time since cups have turned into the rotation cups and they have a 1b squad.
Theres luck and theres going out in the same rounds in the same fashion, every season. Theres no luck about it. Why arent Bayern, Madrid, Barca, Liverpool, Juve etc going out to teams tiers below them every year? Why are the top sides reaching multiple finals in quick succession or reaching semi after semi every year?
Its always City with the upsets, always them in the wrong end of luck even though their defending goes to shit every year.
He also inherited Messi who was always destined for greatness. Inherited Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Thuram, Abidal, Deco, Zambrotta, Marquez, G.Milito.
Due to the fact he still had a lot of top players in the squad, and relatively small competition for the title, he could afford to bring through La Masia youngsters. Especially the likes of Busquets and Pedro, who along with Pique and Messi were all destined to be top players regardless of Pep. He inherited the best Barca youth team in their history.
It’s not like he was the lead factor in La Masia being so good them few years. It’s not like when SAF was the main reason the CO92 was so good as a youth team.
Pep landed in the right place at the right time, then moved to Bayern the best team in Germany by a mile off the back of a treble season and failed to make them better. Bayern hired him for the CL and he failed.
City he had them playing pretty average when he first arrived, and only when he was allowed to spend over £300m did they start to perform in record breaking fashion. Not to mention he inherited peak Aguero, Toure, Kompany, Silva, Fernandinho and KDB was coming to his peak. He was brought in for the CL and after all that spend and quality already there, has failed again.
Yes he has won the league everywhere he has been but each team was cherry picked and had either the best team or had bucket loads of money to spend.
How do you know what he was brought in to win, is what he's supposed to win specified in his contract? Don't Chelsea, United and Liverpool have squads good enough to win those cups too? He was also brought in to give the team a defined and attractive style of football and everyone (even a blind man) can see that he's done that and despite not winning the CL, they've been considered as equals (not talking about history) in comparison to the teams you listed.
Saying his teams go out in the same fashion is purely false, some have been his fault due to tactical changes he probably shouldn't have made, sometimes it's been purely indivual errors that led to their defeats, and then there's also been the away goal rules.
His Bayern team got to the semi finals 3 consecutive times, so i don't get what your point is listing all those clubs. Especially given that in the past 5 years, only two of those clubs reached the semi finals more than twice. You added Juv to that list also, but didn't they lose to Ajax (being completely outplayed for that matter) and Lyon?
Nailed on to be the next PSG manager.
Winning leagues and domestic cups with Bayern and City is hardly groundbreaking stuff. They were doing exactly that before he arrived, and either have been or will be doing exactly that after he leaves.
He lives off his achievements with Barcelona, for which he really hit the jackpot in terms of the team he inherited.
Juve I reckon.
Don't see it. Momentum is a big thing in football. Livepool have it and City don't. When you have it, teams have a belief that is hard to otherwise attain and not so great players perform better than you'd think possible and the opposite is true for when you don't. Liverpool despite VvD injury will win the league imo. They are mentally have the mindset of champions and that gives them the consistency you need. City look a stale team right now. The defense has been weak for much longer than just a few games (like Liverpool s), and I think even in attack or at least in knowing how to win games that are level and can go either way, they've lost the magic. In 17/18 Sterling puts away the one on one against WH. Liverpool manage to win that game.
given what hes spent and the fact that his key players were already there, and with liverpool now without their best player, he really should be coasting it this season.
They won the premier league (the most competitive league in the world) with 100 points though and they were the first to do so, and they weren't playing the type of expansive football they play with him before he arrived.
If he hit the Jackpot with Barca due to the team he inherited, then why is his Barça team considered the best ever by most? Were they playing at the level he made them play? And didn't they end the season 19 points behind Madrid the season before he arrived?
Why cant we do that
That same team finished 18 points behind Madrid the season before, had to offer them a guard of honour before a clasico and force Barca board to offer money to other teams to take points of Madrid!
The prodigious talents Busquets and Pedro who were playing in the third division with Pep just the season before? Pedro hasn't reached half the level he showed in the years 2008-2011 since he left Barca. Barca have brought on many youth players after Pep left, and hardly any of them have had an comparable impact which Busquets has had (who is also arguably a very special player TBH).
There are lots of Bayern fans on this forum and some of them were pining for his return before the start of last season. Bayern has had many top managers over the years, and yet Pep is still highly regarded there for his impact in his short tenure of 3 years over there.
Pretty sure he did a good job imprinting his style on City in his very first season. I remember G Nev commenting on a Bayern vs City match from 2013 (I think?) and saying City's football was light years behind Bayern's, and yet one year after Guardiola was brought in (and a big summer spends for all those years) they were performing at a similarly high level and went on to get an unprecedented 100 points in the highly competitive English league! Sure, the core of his team was brought in before his arrival, but those guys had never shown the level of performances as a team which they managed in 2017-19.
Yes, he has spent an obscene amount of money in his managerial career of 12 years, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he has a big impact on the football culture this millennia. Not sure what's the problem with maximizing the changes of success by picking the best squad or spending bucketloads of money is? Football is dominated by big money and the top managers are also generally the biggest spenders. The 10 highest spending managers in the world since the year 2000
Pochettino with a net spend of 50M took bottle job Spurs to CL final. Journeyman Ranieri won the EPL with relegation favourites Leicester. Are these two better managers than Guardiola in your view? Would you take Ranier over Pep for the United job? Both of them didn't pick those teams from the goodness of their hearts, those were just the best possible teams who made them an offer when they were looking for a new opportunity.
Let’s be fair, winning the title with by far the richest club in the league, who had already been regularly winning titles and trophies beforehand, isn’t a massive achievement in the grand scheme of things. He got them playing well yes, but another manager will probably come in after him, spend a ton of money and do something similar. That’s how it’s going to be until the Abu Dhabi gravy train dries up.
And why was his Barca so good? Messi, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets to name a few.
It's hardly a crisis is it? After all, they beat Porto in the Chmp Lge only a few days ago. I expect they'll get into gear soon.
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Poor Pep.
I really can't enjoy City's slump given they're the only ones who can challenge the scousers
I thought VVD getting injured handing City the incentive would be the perfect slice of luck Pep needed but then they go and drop points to West Ham and Liverpool go and win
I thought VVD getting injured handing City the incentive would be the perfect slice of luck Pep needed but then they go and drop points to West Ham and Liverpool go and win
Must have been why they were scraping around looking for free transfers like Messi.
They're of course not in any kind of crisis. They had a poor start in the league but which big team didn't anyway ?
Yes I agree.
But I expect they'll hit the ground running at some point. They have a squad that is deeper than Liverpool's, and that should prove the difference.
i believe thats checkmate
I feel sorry for him. How is he supposed to win anything when he's only been able to spend £3bn in 4 years
They could have sold Garcia to Barcelona but blocked it at the last hour and they were trying to flog Zinchenko off too or sold Angelino to RB but chose to loan out again instead. There were no need for them, they could have generated the money if they 'couldn't afford' another striker.
Injuries have really blighted them this season and last. With the departures of Sane and Dilva, they also seem to lack directness and struggle to break down a low block if KDB isn't playing.