Completely twisted the situation, his talent isn't in doubt, his fitness is. He's going to Brcelona because they are scratching round for bargains and want to hang on to Messi.He had the option to stay but decided to move on by all accounts.I still think Aguero has a good couple of years left in him.
Gutted he is going tbh, record goal scorer ,and Club legend literally told he has no future at a Club he has delivered so much for.
I am sure Aguero knows not one Blue wants this.
This is 100% on Pep.
Ironically not good enough for Pep, but still good enough for Pep true love Barcelona.
The formation and structure was a fundamental problem. Most fans called it when they saw the team and we looked unbalanced from the first minute. There was a gaping hole in front of our centre backs well before they scored there. In fact Chelsea missed a few opportunities to exploit that area before they did score. I agree that some of our players froze on the night but in my view this defeat was really down to Pep. To be fair I think the selection problem Pep did have was that Chelsea are very fast and neither Fern, Rodri, or Gundo is quick. So it is possible we may have lost anyway with Fern on the field but we will never know. I think we needed our Captain on the field from the start.This is a theory and a belief but it's being stated as though it's stone cold, incontrovertible fact. That you put our strongest eleven on the field, there's only one way they play and, of course, we win. There are numerous weaknesses in the theory, the most notable of which is that Pep shares everybody's view on what the best 11 is and there's some disturbing evidence that he doesn't. What everybody ignores is that this strongest eleven hasn't played together very often at all, and even in the CL QF and SF he seemed uncertain as to whether Cancelao or Zinchenko suited best or if Rodri should play in place of Ferna. Then there was the question of whether we should play a false 9 or not. His experiment with Torres as number 9 worked well at Newcastle but the final trial at Brighton was ruined by the worst referee in England. Then there was the problem of Chelsea's well organised lines of 4/5/6/7 and where Vity really needed the numbers. So selection was by no means as simple and straightforward as many think and the idea that there is one "strongest line up" for all occasions and that Pep overthinks borders on nonsense. The second weakness in the argument is that City played badly because they were playing in a formation they didn't understand and weren't familiar with. I reject this because what City did badly were the basics of control and passing. I think the evidence is clear that the occasion overwhelmed City, not the system. It is not the Pep way to throw players in without preparation, unable to say how they were to deal with something as obvious as a through ball. Our back four simply never played and this chaos was reflected up front where the final ball "didn't come", more often than not because there was no-one to receive it. No number 9 in the team and passing too cumbersome to get a false 9 in there with any support. Ferna came om eventually and made little or no difference and your assertion that had he started City would have been more relaxed and allowed the others to play really does require a leap of faith to believe. We conceded one goal and never looked like scoring one ourselves. We were beaten, we were well beaten and on Saturday night it was hard to see what would have changed that. But if you want to believe it was all because "Pep fucked up again" you cling to your illusions.
If he fucks off he's fucks off, our expectations will drop as the level of our team drops. We've all (well a lot of us anyway) been there and survived and enjoyed it in a different kind of way.Amazing the amount of bollox posted about Pep. He will be more gutted than anyone for this not to come off.
We’ve seen some of best football in the history of the English game since Pep arrived and were only too ready to call our genius manager.
We have become such an entitled bunch in recent years, it’d be good for SM et al to fuck off so some fans can get a reality check an experience another York away moment.
Apparently you can.He was never disrespected, the club gave him whatever he wanted, looked after him incredibly.
He was not fit for the best part of a year, you can't have a place in this team on sentiment, if you start doing that we are finished as a title winning club.
They had more than 1 chance mate. Both Werner and Pulisic had clear chances and on the day Tuchels gameplan worked whereas Pep's didn't.We need to still respect Chelsea, Tuchel got to a final with PSG last year and lost. He got Chelsea to two cup finals this year and indeed lost one but he knows how to get far in these competitions. I said it yesterday, Tuchel took a massive risk in taking off Mount etc with 20 minutes to go but he did it because they had a plan and he could settle on 1-0. There's no way we could of gone 1-0 up and settled.
Pep probably wasn't overthinking it, he looked at the last two games against them and probably thought it didn't work then so why now? We'd of probably stood a big chance with two defensive midfielders on to control the ball and at least then the holes would be closed and Chelsea would struggle to score but that isn't the Pep way.
Some teams are our worst nightmare because they play in a way where we need to massively change how we play. That team was Liverpool a couple of years ago and this year it's Chelsea. Unfortunately it's just been total pot luck that we always seem to end up playing these teams at the worst possible time. If Chelsea had cocked up and been beaten by Madrid like they were beaten by Villa last week then we'd probably be European champions now.
I don't think the selection or anything mattered that much because we play how we play, they had 1 chance and scored it, we had a few and didn't, end of really.
He will forever be at the top of the City pantheon of players but this last season was never gonna be a great bargaining chip, and if he turned down a City offer 'cos he deemed it to be a 'pittance' then the decision not to take it is Sergio's. I can't think that any offer would be 'derisory' considering that he does have a couple of seasons left, barring any long term injuries, but those injuries seem to be happening with some frequency. And if we get, say, a young twenty-odd year old blond bombshell of a player then he would look and think his game time would be severely limited.Completely twisted the situation, his talent isn't in doubt, his fitness is. He's going to Brcelona because they are scratching round for bargains and want to hang on to Messi.He had the option to stay but decided to move on by all accounts.
2 1/2 months before the next game, its still on the first chapterIs this the longest post-match thread ?
Rumours, one confirmed statement from Laporte,Worrying number of rumours floating about re: unsettled players.
Me too. I am still angry so must wait.Not watched a single second of coverage from the final. Not one interview, nothing. It’s still too painful. Anybody else?
You post some fantastic stuff, but this is a complete and utter load of drivel I’m afraid."we all know what our strongest lineup & formation was..." is the last refuge of those who don't like the result and decide to take it out on the manager. You aren't, and no-one on this thread is in any way qualified to sit in judgement on Pep. The sad fact is that it doesn't matter who had started on Saturday night would have made little difference, whether it had been Ferna or Rodri or both. I'm afraid that from the very first minutes it was evident that the occasion was simply too big and that the team were leaden legged and too slow in thought and execution so that basic ball control was missing, passes were misplaced and we hardly won a single second ball. Ferna actually made no difference when he came on and Chelsea continued to cause havoc with simple through balls straight down the middle. This was because Stones showed an uncertainty and nerviness not seen all season, Dias showed he is a long way from being Vinnie on the biggest of occasions and Zinchenko had a turbulent evening, most notably when failing to follow Havertz. Ferna is a great player and leader but he isn't a miracle worker. Nor does he solve the problem we had up front where we did have our "strongest line up". Jesus and Aguero made little impact basically because we had no idea what we were doing. Sterling got nothing out of James and his touch was heavy and passing poor and Mahrez was kept wide so that he never posed any problems for Chilwell. Rarely did we get into their area and even more rarely did we have anyone in there to take advantage if we had. The problem on Saturday night was that no-one on that field performed anything like up to standard, nowhere near, and the idea that Ferna or Rodri would have turned that onto a winning performance is quite frankly a massive delusion. In my opinion those lads were not ready to carry the weight of the almost Messianic belief that these were the lads who were going to lead City out of the desert after a ten year journey to the paradise of champions league glory and they choked. This is one we can put down to experience. And my consolation is that next year "our best line up" will be a little different but much more experienced and there'll be no mistake.
If they are unsettled after winning 2 trophies especially the epl then by all means they can fuck offWorrying number of rumours floating about re: unsettled players.
They'll get a statue instead
Mate, my concern started weeks before.Some very good points and pep did get it wrong but he is not the only reason we lost the final. Far too much blame is placed at his feet. He can’t influence the game once the players cross the line. If peps mistake were so obvious why did none of the players stand up and be counted? Why did they not win more 50/50 tackles. Chelsea looked fitter and hungrier. It was men against boys and the players shrunk into their shells. The chavs did to us what we did to PSG.
I agree , none of them turned up ,Come on it’s not all down to the DM. We have played Chelsea 2 games before the final with a DM and still lost. The more time to reflect the more I blame the players. No matter the formation or tactics they did not do enough individually to win. The mental collapse is what worries me. Every now and again the players go missing.
never wanna see anything about it again tbhNot watched a single second of coverage from the final. Not one interview, nothing. It’s still too painful. Anybody else?