That has probably always been his approach even pre City. He likes to work with a key squad of 17-18 all of whom he can trust and interchange. His best team is nearly always the one he picks on the day so a number of permutations are possible. Effectively he may not believe he has a "best " eleven.Pep didn't even pick his strongest 11 for the very last game of last season in an FA cup final, and not any old final either, with a win it completed the never been done before domestic treble. Yet he went with Jesus over Aguero. And he didn't risk starting a coming back from injury KDB either till the 2nd half.
People saying "he should pick his best 11" week in week out couldn't have been watching us since he took over, as he simply doesn't do that, and he never will.
That has probably always been his approach even pre City. He likes to work with a key squad of 17-18 all of whom he can trust and interchange. His best team is nearly always the one he picks on the day so a number of permutations are possible. Effectively he may not believe he has a "best " eleven.
What I would say is, we have to defend deep for fewer minutes a game than any other team. Vinnie and Emeric/Vinnie and John/Emeric and John made defending look easy. But our two stand-outs aren't there - albeit one only temporarily, so yes, we need to work on our defending without losing our game plan of at least one CB looking for a pass to get us up the pitch.We overplay the Liverpool luck angle a bit much to be fair. Yes they got some breaks last season but so did we. They have been lucky with injuries but that didn't seem to effect them against Barcelona when they overturned a 3 goal deficit without 3 or 4 regulars. With respect to Norwich it is in the past now, improvements in the way we defend are needed and lets see if we can implement them. I'm afraid very few teams are going to go all out against us expect more of the same as of late with teams adopting a mixture of selective pressing,defending deep but looking for ways to break quickly and trying to expose us a set pieces. This is in a nutshell how Norwich played at the weekend and others may follow suit. Remember after two hugely successful seasons rival coaches will have spent a lot of time working us out the potential hole starting to emerge in our central defence will have encouraged them greatly.
You're right, Pep picks an eleven from 17 or 18 key players.That has probably always been his approach even pre City. He likes to work with a key squad of 17-18 all of whom he can trust and interchange. His best team is nearly always the one he picks on the day so a number of permutations are possible. Effectively he may not believe he has a "best " eleven.
Spot-on. Hindsight is a great thing but I was honestly surprised when I saw the team beforehand. There is just not enough pace in a middle three of Rodri, Gundogan and David Silva. We were slow in transition and ended up passing the ball sideways. They are all excellent players but it's not a good combination. That is probably the first time and last time we will try this. We needed Foden or Bernardo playing number 8 and 10 (Bernardo is fantastic in both these positions). Gundo is brilliant when we are protecting a lead. It was a very rare mistake by Pep.One of those days and apart from the obvious poor defending and lack of quality with the final ball, finishing etc., I think we needed more energy and dynamism in midfield. If we're not going to start KDB we needed Foden in or Berny switched inside
Stats don't lie.A lot of people focus on the finishing but I think this mostly means we take a lot of poor attempts, or at least attempts teams are perfectly happy to let us have.
It may be deliberate in a probabilistic sense to create uncertainty in defenses. And it’s probably necessary given what we face, and it has inarguably been brilliantly successful. but I do wonder if, in terms of the margins of perfection, we could be better about the use of space in the 18 yard box. (I realize how greedy and absurd that sounds.)
So kdb starting doesn't make the 11 stronger? I know that's difficult for you to grasp but it doesBecause we dont have a "strongest 11" anymore.
I know that is difficult for you to grasp but Pep has a squad and on any given game he will chose what he believes is the strongest 11.
Because it doesn't mirror your perception, does not make it wrong.
As already stated to another poster kdb starting always makes the 11 strongerYes, it is hindsight on your part.
Have you ever thought there are many factors that make "your strongest 11" for any game, not just names?