Pep's rebuilding job. Pep's City Mk II

The most telling thing about John Stones and Pep was a Champions League Press conference last season, Pep told the assembled press that good old Johnny had bigger balls than all the people in the room put together, what did Johnny do as a favour, lost his head, form and fitness and made the comments of his manager sound like the ramblings of a mad man.

To be fair he also said Kolarov was one of the best centre-halves he had seen...
 
Don't you think other coaches might have spotted that and setup to prevent it ?
I sound like a right patronising bellend here but don't you think other coaches might have spotted that and setup to prevent it over the course of the previous two seasons, when nearly half our goals came from very similar patterns of play, it wasn't exactly a fucking surprise tactic was it.
 
Txiki will know if pep is staying or leaving now
If he is leaving next year they will be planning a successor
Don’t forget this is peps dream job
He has a team above him in place that will do whatever he wants and support him 100%
He won’t get that elsewhere in Italy Spain or Germany without the politics
Since when? If he actually said that it must've been a very recent revelation.
 
Several months ago we had Leroy, playing with inverted wingers was the alternative option, not the one and only option.

No one has said forget everything else, I'm not disputing other factors have played a part but tactically if you can't see a stark contrast in the way we attack currently then there's absolutely no point in continuing the discussion. How frequently have you seen us previously under Pep trying to float crosses in from 20-30 yards from the dead ball line? This season it happens every attack because we run out of ideas. How frequently have you seen us break away, run in behind a fullback, low cross and tap one in at the back post? This season it hardly ever happens, the previous two seasons it was our trademark goal.
Spot-on. We have been slow and predictable all season. The high cross tactic is bizarre for us. Even David Silva did a couple of mindless high crosses at the weekend. Last season Bernardo played mostly at number 8 and Sterling played on the right or left. Sane tended to come off the bench when teams were shattered and late in matches we destroyed teams with two orthodox wingers. This season our lack of pace, especially on the left with a crocked Mendy or slow Angelino has stopped us getting to the byeline to play hard and low crosses so we have resorted to punting the ball in the air. What I can't understand is why Pep has not varied things? KDB can play number 10 brilliantly and Bernardo is great at 8 with Sterling and Mahrez on either sides.
 
I'm probably alone in this, but I really think it's time for Pep to evolve the team again and change the shape and system. The principles of pressing can remain but maybe it's time to use a two striker system, or even three at the back with Walker as a CB to defend the counter.

Ederson
Walker Fernandinho Otamendi
Cancelo Rodri Foden Mendy
KDB
Sterling Aguero
 
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The board just need to decide whether they want more seasons like the previous two, or are happy with growing CFG and winning the odd cup or title every few seasons.

If it's the former, and I sincerely hope it is, then we need to splash some serious funds on the very best players available during the summer.

If they're already satisfied and just looking at the commercials/CFG/womens team/EDS as a profit-making tool, etc then it'll be more cheap shit signings like Angelino and goodbye Centurion seasons. I really, really hope that's not the case. We should be aiming to dominate, not letting the scouse cheats have an easy ride or letting var and ffp beat us.
 

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