Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

[OrigamiNinja]

Many good points. For me, we have slowly been moving away from the 'tiki-taka' football that served us so well and towards a more open style. It makes games more open and creates more chances (unfortunately at both ends), but I'm just not convinced that the change sits well with Guardiola's principles. He cannot control the team if the team cannot control the ball. We end up doing more running, creating tiredness and injuries, and that then renders his small squad preference obsolete. For me, he needs to forget about trying to win with a different style and to return to his principles. That means better players but also better players who are fit for purpose.

Not that long ago, we could field a team where 7-9 players just did not give the ball away, and that then covered for players like de Bruyne, Foden, and Haaland. Nowadays, however, we might field only 2-3 players who can continually retain possession and the rest are much less reliable. The next signings will likely chart the direction of travel, but I know which way I'd like us to be headed.

Tiredness is huge. Clearly we have some players who are playing far too many minutes due to injuries. However, as you said, we can’t control games anymore, which means it’s a double whammy. Our games in recent seasons followed a very similar pattern…1st half of 70% possession, 60 mins in and the opposition are dead on their feet. Now, because we can’t keep the ball, it’s us that looks fucked.

Something has to give because the players we have available aren’t capable of executing Peps tactics. If our striker was 5’6” we wouldn’t play long ball.

 

[Akira]

His reaction to their first goal says it all. Letting one goal in gave Feyenoord the confidence to go at the team. The team just seems mentally frail at the minute.


Pep scratches his head alot. Even moreso when we are letting poor goals in. Think folks are reading too much into it.

 

[meeesh]

I'm not saying he will walk, but if he hadn't agreed the extension last week, would he be reconsidering his decision if nothing had yet been announced, that's the worry, apart from his head scratching scenario.

All as we need now is the 115 charges to stick, and we are doomed, but in the great mans words, we will be there, and we will all be so so happy.

 

[Mike N]

He had the cut on his nose before the match. He did an interview on Prime and it was there then.

The marks on his head will be a result of frustration, scratching, him being boiling hot and it looking a lot worse than it is. They’re probably not even there now.

If I didn’t have the small amount of hair I still have, I’m pretty sure my head would have looked the same at 10.30 last night!

 

[OrigamiNinja]

We've fell off a cliff the past 6 weeks. Brentford and Fulham at home were a real slog as well that could easily been draws. I hope a few posters are now waking up and realising this isn't a 2 or 3 player refresh. The entire spine of the team needs replacing/ reinforcing coupled with a RB. Pep will know this now and sentiment needs putting aside with a few current players.

As crazy as it sounds after winning 4-in-a-row, this is a huge refresh, arguably much bigger than at the end of 16/17. That’s why I said a few weeks ago, that Pep either really needed to commit (more than 12 month extension) or he should leave. Thankfully he opted for the former.

I look at the squad and there are huge question marks…

GK - We are fine. I know some aren’t happy with Eddie but there’s hardly a huge line of top replacements available.
RB - Walker is past it and Rico isn’t good enough.
CB - The talent is there but fitness records are atrocious. No other side rotates CBs and gives them as much rest as we do and yet they’re still always injured. Big question marks over Stones and Ake.
LB - We still don’t really have one. Gvardiol (last month aside) has been really good but is his long-term future there?
CDM - We had the best in the world but what Rodri do we get back after a year out? Kovacic is a fine back up to the best in the world but he isn’t good enough to be 1st choice every week.
CM - KDB is out of contract, wrong side of 30 and always injured. Do you give someone £300k pw at his age, when he only plays half a season every year? Gundo is finished. Rico isn’t good enough. Nunes isn’t good enough. I do have faith that Foden will return to form but much of that will probably depend on what he has around him.
LW - Grealish doesnt produce enough. Doku has something but unless he can add consistency and G/A to his game he won’t be the answer.
RW - Savinho is probably the one that I have most hope for. Needs to work on his decision-making but I do think there is a player who has the potential to make it here. Bernie is done.
FW - We have the best striker in the world but zero back up. He can’t play every game.

If our CBs can’t stay fit and KDB leaves, I reckon we need a £300m spend this summer. Some will probably think I am being overly negative with some of my player assessments but if we are talking about title challenges, that’s where I am at.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Pep is a tactical genius but he isn’t infallible. We all remember his 1st season here. He set his stall out to how he wanted us to play and quickly realised that he didn’t have the players to do it. He didn’t change his philosophy/tactics and his 1st season was a real slog. I feel like we are there again, the problem this time is, he has overseen the decline in the squad, he hasn’t inherited this like he did in 16/17.

We are consistently signing players who are worse than we already have. You don’t maintain/improve standards by doing this. In some cases it’s difficult/nigh on impossible…how do you replace a VK or a David Silva? However, it’s not just these legends.

We have gone from Sane to Sterling to Jack on the LW. Mahrez to half the squad on the RW. Walker/Cancelo to Rico at RB. We tried to improve the midfield with Philips and Nunes. It’s not rocket science that if you keep buying inferior players, whilst your best players simultaneously grow older, a decline occurs.

Pep either needs to change his theory (very unlikely) or he needs to demand that we cease shopping in the reduced aisle, because most of this current crop are either not up to it, or past it.

we will have real difficulty buying quality in the winter transfer window. Who is available? Who would want to come given the uncertainty?

 

[Goldust]

As crazy as it sounds after winning 4-in-a-row, this is a huge refresh, arguably much bigger than at the end of 16/17. That’s why I said a few weeks ago, that Pep either really needed to commit (more than 12 month extension) or he should leave. Thankfully he opted for the former.

I look at the squad and there are huge question marks…

GK - We are fine. I know some aren’t happy with Eddie but there’s hardly a huge line of top replacements available.
RB - Walker is past it and Rico isn’t good enough.
CB - The talent is there but fitness records are atrocious. No other side rotates CBs and gives them as much rest as we do and yet they’re still always injured. Big question marks over Stones and Ake.
LB - We still don’t really have one. Gvardiol (last month aside) has been really good but is his long-term future there?
CDM - We had the best in the world but what Rodri do we get back after a year out? Kovacic is a fine back up to the best in the world but he isn’t good enough to be 1st choice every week.
CM - KDB is out of contract, wrong side of 30 and always injured. Do you give someone £300k pw at his age, when he only plays half a season every year? Gundo is finished. Rico isn’t good enough. Nunes isn’t good enough. I do have faith that Foden will return to form but much of that will probably depend on what he has around him.
LW - Grealish doesnt produce enough. Doku has something but unless he can add consistency and G/A to his game he won’t be the answer.
RW - Savinho is probably the one that I have most hope for. Needs to work on his decision-making but I do think there is a player who has the potential to make it here. Bernie is done.
FW - We have the best striker in the world but zero back up. He can’t play every game.

If our CBs can’t stay fit and KDB leaves, I reckon we need a £300m spend this summer. Some will probably think I am being overly negative with some of my player assessments but if we are talking about title challenges, that’s where I am at.

A lot of sense spoken.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Making three changes with nearly half an hour to go was wrong.

Making all 3 changes at the same time was even worse.

 

[waspish]

Making all 3 changes at the same time was even worse.

Pep was thinking of the players he subbed injury wise we can't afford them to get injured but in this situation maybe pep should of kept them on to at least the 85th min

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Pep was thinking of the players he subbed injury wise we can't afford them to get injured but in this situation maybe pep should of kept them on to at least the 85th min

If he'd have just 'dribbled' them in over 10 mins we'd have been more solid is the point i'm making.

It's fair to say though Pep & 99% of us thought the game was over but, wholesale changes in one go are always a no-no for me.

 

[sh249]

Many good points. For me, we have slowly been moving away from the 'tiki-taka' football that served us so well and towards a more open style. It makes games more open and creates more chances (unfortunately at both ends), but I'm just not convinced that the change sits well with Guardiola's principles. He cannot control the team if the team cannot control the ball. We end up doing more running, creating tiredness and injuries, and that then renders his small squad preference obsolete. For me, he needs to forget about trying to win with a different style and to return to his principles. That means better players but also better players who are fit for purpose.

Not that long ago, we could field a team where 7-9 players just did not give the ball away, and that then covered for players like de Bruyne, Foden, and Haaland. Nowadays, however, we might field only 2-3 players who can continually retain possession and the rest are much less reliable. The next signings will likely chart the direction of travel, but I know which way I'd like us to be headed.

This is pretty much how I see it. Seems that, post-treble, Pep has decided to torch the two main principles that brought us those successes - a proper, tight, compact defensive structure, and the emphasis on controlling the ball (and the game) through the likes of Gundogan, Grealish, Bernardo, Rodri, Stones …
Signs were there at the start of last season with the signings - a chaos-type winger in Doku and two midfielders in Nunes and Kovacic whose main strengths are their ability to run with the ball, rather than to pass and control. And with the switch to using at least one high and wide fullback, which hasn‘t ever really worked in all Pep‘s time with us.
Sure he has his reasons and that there‘s a theory behind it. And maybe it will click at some point and elevate us again. But very hard to see at the moment.

 

[Roachy]

As crazy as it sounds after winning 4-in-a-row, this is a huge refresh, arguably much bigger than at the end of 16/17. That’s why I said a few weeks ago, that Pep either really needed to commit (more than 12 month extension) or he should leave. Thankfully he opted for the former.

I look at the squad and there are huge question marks…

GK - We are fine. I know some aren’t happy with Eddie but there’s hardly a huge line of top replacements available.
RB - Walker is past it and Rico isn’t good enough.
CB - The talent is there but fitness records are atrocious. No other side rotates CBs and gives them as much rest as we do and yet they’re still always injured. Big question marks over Stones and Ake.
LB - We still don’t really have one. Gvardiol (last month aside) has been really good but is his long-term future there?
CDM - We had the best in the world but what Rodri do we get back after a year out? Kovacic is a fine back up to the best in the world but he isn’t good enough to be 1st choice every week.
CM - KDB is out of contract, wrong side of 30 and always injured. Do you give someone £300k pw at his age, when he only plays half a season every year? Gundo is finished. Rico isn’t good enough. Nunes isn’t good enough. I do have faith that Foden will return to form but much of that will probably depend on what he has around him.
LW - Grealish doesnt produce enough. Doku has something but unless he can add consistency and G/A to his game he won’t be the answer.
RW - Savinho is probably the one that I have most hope for. Needs to work on his decision-making but I do think there is a player who has the potential to make it here. Bernie is done.
FW - We have the best striker in the world but zero back up. He can’t play every game.

If our CBs can’t stay fit and KDB leaves, I reckon we need a £300m spend this summer. Some will probably think I am being overly negative with some of my player assessments but if we are talking about title challenges, that’s where I am at.

Good synopsis and probably worth putting in the squad planning thread so we don't derail this one, lol. For me:

RB
Rodri cover in some form
CM
AM
Supporting striker

Sounds a lot but I think we're nearing that stage.

 

[Tevez City]

Is Mancini still available ?

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

Got tired, got sloppy and couple lads just soft in tackles. More positives in the first 70 though.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Is there a fourteen day cooling off period in that new contract or have we got him by the shorts?

 

[robbieh]

As crazy as it sounds after winning 4-in-a-row, this is a huge refresh, arguably much bigger than at the end of 16/17. That’s why I said a few weeks ago, that Pep either really needed to commit (more than 12 month extension) or he should leave. Thankfully he opted for the former.

I look at the squad and there are huge question marks…

GK - We are fine. I know some aren’t happy with Eddie but there’s hardly a huge line of top replacements available.
RB - Walker is past it and Rico isn’t good enough.
CB - The talent is there but fitness records are atrocious. No other side rotates CBs and gives them as much rest as we do and yet they’re still always injured. Big question marks over Stones and Ake.
LB - We still don’t really have one. Gvardiol (last month aside) has been really good but is his long-term future there?
CDM - We had the best in the world but what Rodri do we get back after a year out? Kovacic is a fine back up to the best in the world but he isn’t good enough to be 1st choice every week.
CM - KDB is out of contract, wrong side of 30 and always injured. Do you give someone £300k pw at his age, when he only plays half a season every year? Gundo is finished. Rico isn’t good enough. Nunes isn’t good enough. I do have faith that Foden will return to form but much of that will probably depend on what he has around him.
LW - Grealish doesnt produce enough. Doku has something but unless he can add consistency and G/A to his game he won’t be the answer.
RW - Savinho is probably the one that I have most hope for. Needs to work on his decision-making but I do think there is a player who has the potential to make it here. Bernie is done.
FW - We have the best striker in the world but zero back up. He can’t play every game.

If our CBs can’t stay fit and KDB leaves, I reckon we need a £300m spend this summer. Some will probably think I am being overly negative with some of my player assessments but if we are talking about title challenges, that’s where I am at.

Don't disagree with your analysis but it's depressing.
Needing 6 new first teamers suggests disastrous lack of planning since we win the treble.
So getting rid of the players you suggest leaves us with these. We can just about put out a first XI.

Ederson
Akanji Dias Gvardiol Ake
Rodri
Foden Kovacic
Savinho Haaland Doku

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Is Mancini still available ?

Henry? Shed his mortal coil thirty years ago! We could play Moon River instead of Blue Moon considering the flood of fuckin' goals we're letting in!

 

[RayCTID]

How about Terry Mancini?

 

[mancity111]

As crazy as it sounds after winning 4-in-a-row, this is a huge refresh, arguably much bigger than at the end of 16/17. That’s why I said a few weeks ago, that Pep either really needed to commit (more than 12 month extension) or he should leave. Thankfully he opted for the former.

I look at the squad and there are huge question marks…

GK - We are fine. I know some aren’t happy with Eddie but there’s hardly a huge line of top replacements available.
RB - Walker is past it and Rico isn’t good enough.
CB - The talent is there but fitness records are atrocious. No other side rotates CBs and gives them as much rest as we do and yet they’re still always injured. Big question marks over Stones and Ake.
LB - We still don’t really have one. Gvardiol (last month aside) has been really good but is his long-term future there?
CDM - We had the best in the world but what Rodri do we get back after a year out? Kovacic is a fine back up to the best in the world but he isn’t good enough to be 1st choice every week.
CM - KDB is out of contract, wrong side of 30 and always injured. Do you give someone £300k pw at his age, when he only plays half a season every year? Gundo is finished. Rico isn’t good enough. Nunes isn’t good enough. I do have faith that Foden will return to form but much of that will probably depend on what he has around him.
LW - Grealish doesnt produce enough. Doku has something but unless he can add consistency and G/A to his game he won’t be the answer.
RW - Savinho is probably the one that I have most hope for. Needs to work on his decision-making but I do think there is a player who has the potential to make it here. Bernie is done.
FW - We have the best striker in the world but zero back up. He can’t play every game.

If our CBs can’t stay fit and KDB leaves, I reckon we need a £300m spend this summer. Some will probably think I am being overly negative with some of my player assessments but if we are talking about title challenges, that’s where I am at.

No question we now need a major overhaul , getting the most out of their bodies over a relatively long period of time eventually takes it toll and it can happen much quicker than you would think should occur.

Haaland aside we have no world class player that can stay fit long enough under 28 and our 30 plus players are very near the end of their tether at the top level now and more injured than not as you allude to.

It will get worse before it gets better but I am confident that even if we are not in Europe next season we will start the resurgence and will continue to be a force to be reckoned with.

 

[69FACUPfinal]

No question we now need a major overhaul , getting the most out of their bodies over a relatively long period of time eventually takes it toll and it can happen much quicker than you would think should occur.

Haaland aside we have no world class player that can stay fit long enough under 28 and our 30 plus players are very near the end of their tether at the top level now and more injured than not as you allude to.

It will get worse before it gets better but I am confident that even if we are not in Europe next season we will start the resurgence and will continue to be a force to be reckoned with.

I'm probably in a minority here and players would hate it, but a season out of Europe would give them a rest and also time to regroup and bed in new players.