Pep's contract situation | 2 year extension confirmed! (pg1817)

Burtonblue said:
People are forgetting we are playing in exceptional circumstances.
No preseason
No strikers since start of the season
No crowds
Theses factors are heavily influencing our play
One thing I’m certain of is that Pep has not lost his ability or his appetite to manage us.
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It’s no coincidence the teams struggling to hit their stride are those that either played European football in September and / or are playing now, teams with squads of international players.
Those that look to have started well, Villa, Leeds, Everton didn’t and aren’t. As we get into winter the seasons slog will start to slow them too. Which is why I expect a long hard sesason with injuries for all teams and a low points total winning it, low 80s. We’ll be there or there abouts.
Anyone expecting a season of free flowing football and domination from any team are ignoring the realities of this season, and the fact for some players that thrive on big game / crowd pressure the surreal playing in empty stadiums will take the edge off some players.
 
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blueparrot said:
It’s no coincidence the teams struggling to hit their stride are those that either played European football in September and / or are playing now, teams with squads of international players.
Those that look to have started well, Villa, Leeds, Everton didn’t and aren’t. As we get into winter the seasons slog will start to slow them too. Which is why I expect a long hard sesason with injuries for all teams and a low points total winning it, low 80s. We’ll be there or there abouts.
Anyone expecting a season of free flowing football and domination from any team are ignoring the realities of this season, and the fact for some players that thrive on big game / crowd pressure the surreal playing in empty stadiums will take the edge of some players.
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But it’s all Pep’s fault......
 
I miss the ruthless Pep, pick players on form and not on years of experience.
When Bernardo and Sterling on great form he kept Mahrez and Sane on the bench. Aguero was kept out when he wasn't doing what he's supposed to do. Gundogan kept his place in the greatest ever finish to season.
Why's Torres/Foden not starting ahead of Mahrez now ? No idea. May be he's lost that ruthlessness.
 
BillyShears said:
I don't remember ever being as angry about a performance under Pep as I was at the full time whistle on Saturday. Even Lyon didn't infuriate me the way Saturday did. An appalling performance on almost every level.
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I still am, it’s really grating on me that performance yesterday and it’s Pep I’m mad at the most. There was zero passion at all yesterday until foden came on and the players just looked bereft of ideas and utterly flat across the board. Pep played the same team for the first time in something like 3 years and that was after a similar performance on weds night. Why? Surely you keep the same side if you play well and if you don’t play well you reward the players who come on and change the game like foden and Torres did on weds night. But no, he kept the same players in that were flat and poor against Porto and got the same performance.
 
Pablo1 said:
It wasn’t as bad a performance as some are making out. Individuals had appalling games. Sterling and Mahrez being the two stand outs, but overall it was exactly the way I expected it to go because the last couple of months have been very similar.
Slow, pedestrian passes that occasionally lead to a chance that is inevitably squandered.
Everything about us at the moment has a lethargic feel, from defence to attack, and as a spectacle it’s become a bit boring. Controlling the game is all well and good as long as your patience is rewarded every now and then. It’s not happening for us and it can get annoying as fuck.
I’d say we were average as opposed to appalling but average isn’t anywhere near good enough for a team of our quality, even with the injuries we have.
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You're right in that all of this is relative. Me saying appalling is relative to knowing how good all of those players can be individually and collectively. My worry isn't the tempo, because ultimately we can't expect players to be running on 100% the way 2020 has been.

However on the flip side, precisely because we can't expect players to be at 100% we need Pep as a coach to be at 100%. He seems as miles off as the players are. I mean what possible explanation could there be for picking the same XI Wed/Sat when he has been bemoaning players fitness himself in every press conference? I don't see a SINGLE good reason for doing that. Yet he did it. For me that's the tip of the iceberg when it comes to decision making too. There are countless decisions he is making which are both counterintuitive and also seem to be counterproductive.
 
The messaging is all wrong. Pep not yet committed, plays Garcia and Mahrez who don’t want to be here. What kind of message does that send to the other players. Even if you put them wanting to be away to one side, their performances don’t even merit playing. As I say messaging all wrong, we should be playing players who want to be here. But it all starts from the top.
 
Extra hour sleep for most would probably be an extra hour turmoil for Pep.
He is a perfectionist and at the moment doesn't seem to be able to do right for wrong, if we are hurting ( football is not meant to hurt and if it does find something else to do) then he must be beside himself.
As previous posters have said, these are strange time's.
Last night we watched Mulan the Disney film and only drink I had was tea - on a Saturday night with an extra hour in bed, strange time's indeed.
 
Pablo1 said:
It wasn’t as bad a performance as some are making out. Individuals had appalling games. Sterling and Mahrez being the two stand outs, but overall it was exactly the way I expected it to go because the last couple of months have been very similar.
Slow, pedestrian passes that occasionally lead to a chance that is inevitably squandered.
Everything about us at the moment has a lethargic feel, from defence to attack, and as a spectacle it’s become a bit boring. Controlling the game is all well and good as long as your patience is rewarded every now and then. It’s not happening for us and it can get annoying as fuck.
I’d say we were average as opposed to appalling but average isn’t anywhere near good enough for a team of our quality, even with the injuries we have.
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100% agree with above, yesterday was certainly not the worst performance I have seen recently. Average sums it up perfectly imo, defensively overall we were OK, albeit Cancelo as we all know is not a left back and his defensive qualities are very questionable.

The attacking side of our game are where the main problems are at present. This slow build up play with little movement from the players apart from Sterling is not effective certainly against a packed defence. We need the energy and direct approach of Foden and Torres who both offer movement off the ball and the sooner Mahrez is dropped the better.
 
BillyShears said:
You're right in that all of this is relative. Me saying appalling is relative to knowing how good all of those players can be individually and collectively. My worry isn't the tempo, because ultimately we can't expect players to be running on 100% the way 2020 has been.

However on the flip side, precisely because we can't expect players to be at 100% we need Pep as a coach to be at 100%. He seems as miles off as the players are. I mean what possible explanation could there be for picking the same XI Wed/Sat when he has been bemoaning players fitness himself in every press conference? I don't see a SINGLE good reason for doing that. Yet he did it. For me that's the tip of the iceberg when it comes to decision making too. There are countless decisions he is making which are both counterintuitive and also seem to be counterproductive.
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He also bemoans no longer being allowed 5 subs yet doesn’t even use the 3 he does have properly.
 
BillyShears said:
You're right in that all of this is relative. Me saying appalling is relative to knowing how good all of those players can be individually and collectively. My worry isn't the tempo, because ultimately we can't expect players to be running on 100% the way 2020 has been.

However on the flip side, precisely because we can't expect players to be at 100% we need Pep as a coach to be at 100%. He seems as miles off as the players are. I mean what possible explanation could there be for picking the same XI Wed/Sat when he has been bemoaning players fitness himself in every press conference? I don't see a SINGLE good reason for doing that. Yet he did it. For me that's the tip of the iceberg when it comes to decision making too. There are countless decisions he is making which are both counterintuitive and also seem to be counterproductive.
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Yep we have Delap Palmer and Doyle who are top players and wouldn’t be out of place against most teams in premier!

Why not start Foden on the right Ferran on the left Delap up top Doyle Silva gundogan in midfield W has so many options but as usual he picks the experience players! This is where he needs a far better not an arse licker as a number two.
 
Tricky_Trev said:
He also bemoans no longer being allowed 5 subs yet doesn’t even use the 3 he does have properly.
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I can't remember seeing a manager so paralysed by their own decisions as Pep is at times. If you are going to mix and match teams as often as he does, then you MUST have a plan for when things don't work. Lyon is a fantastic example of a game in which 20 minutes in (just like Saturday) the XI on the pitch were done. They had literally run out of ideas and the pattern of anaemic football was set.

For any manager to just sit there and repeatedly watch that without changing the shape of the game, especially a top manager, is criminal.
 
BillyShears said:
I can't remember seeing a manager so paralysed by their own decisions as Pep is at times. If you are going to mix and match teams as often as he does, then you MUST have a plan for when things don't work. Lyon is a fantastic example of a game in which 20 minutes in (just like Saturday) the XI on the pitch were done. They had literally run out of ideas and the pattern of anaemic football was set.

For any manager to just sit there and repeatedly watch that without changing the shape of the game, especially a top manager, is criminal.
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It’s becoming a more accepted opinion now but honestly Pep is done at City, it’s over. There were a few comments in some player interviews last season, one by KDB, where reading between the lines you could tell the feeling of bemusement at Pep’s decisions is firmly rooted within the players too. And once that sets in, times up I’m afraid. I love him, but not so blindly that I can’t see when it’s time for change. Signing a 1 year extension won’t alter our course, it would only extend it.
 
Tricky_Trev said:
It’s becoming a more accepted opinion now but honestly Pep is done at City, it’s over. There were a few comments in some player interviews last season, one by KDB, where reading between the lines you could tell the feeling of bemusement at Pep’s decisions is firmly rooted within the players too. And once that sets in, times up I’m afraid. I love him, but not so blindly that I can’t see when it’s time for change. Signing a 1 year extension won’t alter our course, it would only extend it.
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I don't think I'm ready to call time on Pep's City career but the signs are really bad right now. Something needs to change, but I'm not going to hold my breath it will.

Judging by the feeling right across the internet amongst Blues, it definitely looks like there are a lot of people who feel that Pep is underperforming as much as the players are and that uncertainty around his future isn't helping anyone.

I understand those people who think Pep is the best manager about, I feel the same. But five years into his tenure I'm also prepared to accept that managerial cycles can just come to an end. There's no shame in Pep/City deciding they both need a fresh start next season.

The beautiful thing about football is that there's always the next game, the next season, the next manager. Hope is always around the corner.
 
BillyShears said:
I don't think I'm ready to call time on Pep's City career but the signs are really bad right now. Something needs to change, but I'm not going to hold my breath it will.

Judging by the feeling right across the internet amongst Blues, it definitely looks like there are a lot of people who feel that Pep is underperforming as much as the players are and that uncertainty around his future isn't helping anyone.

I understand those people who think Pep is the best manager about, I feel the same. But five years into his tenure I'm also prepared to accept that managerial cycles can just come to an end. There's no shame in Pep/City deciding they both need a fresh start next season.

The beautiful thing about football is that there's always the next game, the next season, the next manager. Hope is always around the corner.
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...puts razor blades back in the cabinet. Phew
 
Love how people say with such certainty that ‘Pep is done’
You’ve got no fucking idea what’s going on behind the scenes and pretending you do from titbits from the media and what some players nat have said after a defeat doesn’t quite cut it.
Also the tired cliched claim that he doesn’t care anymore or run out of ideas is laughable. He’s forgotten more about the game than the majority on here - including me.
If he goes, he goes and we will move on, but this narrative setting in that he’s a busted flush is embarrassing to read.
 
I would love him to sign again. He has produced the best football I have ever witnessed at my club and smashed records. We are a handful of games into the new season with a huge amount of illness and injury to contend with, in unique times. To witness the level of criticism of him and the direct targeting of players by a handful of posters makes me ashamed.
 
To be fair to the team we've had zero preparation time for games seeing as we're playing every three days, the teams that have started well ie Everton, Villa, Leeds are in a nice position where they have a week gap to prepare.
 
oldius said:
I would love him to sign again. He has produced the best football I have ever witnessed at my club and smashed records. We are a handful of games into the new season with a huge amount of illness and injury to contend with, in unique times. To witness the level of criticism of him and the direct targeting of players by a handful of posters makes me ashamed.
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I understand what you are saying 100%.

But can you explain him playing the same inefective team yesterday as v Porto, and the two lads that came on against Porto and changed the game weren't given a start yesterday ?
Torres never even getting a sub spot even though Sterling and Mahrez were terrible.
It's inexplicable imo.
 
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