Pep Guardiola - 2020/21 Performances

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FromPollockToSilva said:
I wish that applied to penalty kicks, for which we apparently have no strategy or policy whatsoever. Remember when Rodri just decided to take one and Pep seemed as surprised as anyone else? It's so odd. Surely our top handful of penalty takers should be designated and they should be getting coached on the opposition goalkeeper pre-game. Seems like a major oversight for a team that gets (and misses) as many penalties as we do
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Pep just needs to assign a penalty taker and stick to it like every other team. Stop letting the players decide who takes them.
 
eastmanc said:
Pep just needs to assign a penalty taker and stick to it like every other team. Stop letting the players decide who takes them.
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Or the players can decide in advance, if he wants to give them that responsibility, but not in the moment. When the XI walk out onto the pitch everyone should know who the penalty taker is, and the penalty taker should have been briefed on the keeper

Maybe you know that the goalkeeper has a very high save percentage against left footed takers, so you know going in De Bruyne will take any penalties over Mahrez for that game

I just find it hard to believe it’s left entirely to the whim of the players in the moment, especially because it clearly is not working for us
 
I thought Pep wanted to win the title vs Chelsea and therefore field a stronger team,
but I was wrong. Pep wasn't half arsed about it. He knew what he was doing.

I also thought it would be a factor to put Chelsea under pressure concerning top 4 and CL final confidence, but again I was wrong.

Wrong expectations, that's all. Feels shite.
 
Twice recently he’s put out a team with a seriously suspect left flank, just begging to be targeted.

It‘s obvious to anyone (including Pep) so one can only deduce he’s happy to risk sacrificing selected games in the wider interest. We’ve seen it many tImes in various guises now, including a couple of derby matches and a Cup SF.

Yes, one of the best ever managers ever but infuriating at times from a fan’s viewpoint.

If we win the PL and CL, of course, it will be forgotten and forgiven.
 
argyle said:
He rarely screws up. However when he does...

There's been a pattern now of losing the first game where we could have won the league. When we lost against Utd 3-2. Now this game.
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Or when we failed to do it in the first game in 2019 too?
 
Rotate 6/7 players = ordinary team. Maybe we should lower expectations? We are so used to dominating teams into submission but when the rotation is heavy we look very ordinary. Now and again we win a match but the majority of the team put in a shit performance and dropped points.

Pep can see it is shit. How is it possible to analyse the performance of Mendy? Right lads let’s review the Chelsea match.

Pep: Mendy are you still a footballer or have you went full donkey? Never mind can you move the cart? Ta.
 
wolviedinho said:
Rotate 6/7 players = ordinary team. Maybe we should lower expectations? We are so used to dominating teams into submission but when the rotation is heavy we look very ordinary. Now and again we win a match but the majority of the team put in a shit performance and dropped points.

Pep can see it is shit. How is it possible to analyse the performance of Mendy? Right lads let’s review the Chelsea match.

Pep: Mendy are you still a footballer or have you went full donkey? Never mind can you move the cart? Ta.
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To be fair to Mendy it’s Peps fault for keep picking him when it’s clear to everyone that he isn’t good enough for any premier league side, let alone ours.
 
I cannot say how much I appreciated hearing Sam Lee's post-match analysis on Pep following the Chelsea loss during the last Why Always Us? and apparently in his latest Athletic article.



Lee's the only journalist I hear who consistently reports thoughts that seem quite logical, and often cross my mind, yet I can barely recall other journalists raise when they come to their conclusions on Pep.

Conclusions I feel often COMPLETELY MISS THE BOAT, leaving these same journalists befuddled as to how Pep came to his decisions, and instead slate him off with discomforting ease. Someone with his success record. Someone who since joining City has managed a squad full of the highest quality talent, carefully selected with Txiki and managed by him to temper the usual accompaniment of massive ego that hurt him in the past (read: Ibrahimavic).

Who deserves credit for that? Not Pep. He's a chequebook manager with it easy. Anyone can win with that squad goes the cliche. No CL victory? Automatic failure.

No CL victory? Automatic failure. Criticised for failing his first season then win back 2 back titles one with 100 points, then drop off significantly whilst Liverpool win CL and the PL and are hailed even more unstoppable. What next? Start off the season poorly, in 8th, then recover and leave them all in the dust, win the title with weeks to spare, and take the side to the CL final? No worries, David Moyes is your manager of the year, or some other mid-table club. Put Pep in charge of a lesser club like Burnley. Otherwise not so impressive.

Player of the Year? Harry Kane, Fernandes or anyone but City, of course. I heard one journalist seem to go out of their way to avoid City players on a BT pod, whilst the other 2 did give KDB or Dias more of a shout, but Spurs are not even in the top 4.

What else could be happening here? Perhaps some due to bias against City and even for an English player, but perhaps due as well to bias against the focus of Pep: HIS DESIRE TO CREATE A STRUCTURED TEAM SYSTEM, that relies less on one individual (logical given the risk you face when one of your best is injured - see Mbappe or how we used to suffer when Kun or Komps or KDB previously were out) and how his rotation system EMPHASISES TEAM and less of the individual.

Why is it we do not hear massive peeps of "I want out now?" We know some players are unhappy, but Pep rewards hard work and resilience. He will always give you your chances to prove yourself and keep some players in the team longer than seems sensible, but that's called MAN MANAGEMENT. So many who've been dropped or I've thought were off, yet have stuck around and/or thrived after coming back from the dead to prove themselves following the chances Pep gives them by using the depth he has, rather than the same 11 over and over and over again.

I struggle to recall the vast majority of the "award winning journalists" demonstrating the capacity to step outside of their own viewpoint on MANY issues I can attest to observing regarding coverage of City.

Thank you Sam Lee for being one who can see what seems sensible and missing. In fact, in this episode Lee explained that what he is writing and saying is what the coaching staff would probably say and makes more sense than just saying oh he was wrong. We all know far less than Pep and none of us can say we do.

What I too frequently hear and read from other journalists is an attempt to promulgate their viewpoint without any reflection of how it could be flawed. Their own ego gets in the way, perhaps? Rafa Honigstein is one who I give credit as I've heard him try to argue with some of Pep's detractors whilst he struggled in the PL in his 1st season on occasion. Yet, SURPRISE he covered Pep closely whilst he was at Bayern so he spent the time and energy.

The rest? I'm not so sure.
 
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