Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

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freshie said:
Perhaps if he didn't have to rely on dross like Doku every week we might not be in this position
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Doku is not that bad. And even if it is so, Pep had no one else but himself and his pal Txiki to blame. They pushed the deal. They could choose any winger (except Mbappé) from Ligue 1 with that price that summer.
 
applejuice said:
Doku is not that bad. And even if it is so, Pep had no one else but himself and his pal Txiki to blame. They pushed the deal. They could choose any winger (except Mbappé) from Ligue 1 with that price that summer.
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When I read things like Doku is not that bad and other similar things about other players I really think we have to try and look at it differently these days.

Yes Doku isn't that bad and can play at a certain level. No disrepsect to those other teams but he could be a stand out player at the likes of Wolves for instance. Maybe like Nunes was. But here at City we are chasing every trophy every season and to do that we really need elite players that can play to the highest standard for 2 or 3 games every week. They are not easy to find and its part of the reason the drop off has been so bad.

I don't believe the likes of Doku, Savi, Rico, Nunes, Phillips can do this every week and its exposed the likes of Akanji and Gvardiol a little more who can perform more consistently with better players around them. Throw in the ageing and tired players like Gundo, Bernardo, Walker and KDB and we end up with monotonous pedestrian performances.
 
Blue2112 said:
But here at City we are chasing every trophy every season and to do that we really need elite players that can play to the highest standard for 2 or 3 games every week. They are not easy to find and its part of the reason the drop off has been so bad.
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It is not realistic with the new FFP rule and the incoming wage cap. You have to accept some "okay" level players to fill in the squad and develop the players to better level yourself. Look at Liverpool's midfield. Some of the names were not anywhere near 1st choice when they transferred. It is the manager's job to design a system to get best out of the squad make it easy for squad fillers to contribute and not to expose their weakness. And it is the sporting director's job to bring in players who can compliment each other instead of getting players not fitting to play with each other. In my views they did a crap job in squad planning and should not be trusted onwards. It is baffling why the new director not in charge of this winter window.
 
applejuice said:
It is not realistic with the new FFP rule and the incoming wage cap. You have to accept some "okay" level players to fill in the squad and develop the players to better level yourself. Look at Liverpool's midfield. Some of the names were not anywhere near 1st choice when they transferred. It is the manager's job to design a system to get best out of the squad make it easy for squad fillers to contribute and not to expose their weakness. And it is the sporting director's job to bring in players who can compliment each other instead of getting players not fitting to play with each other. In my views they did a crap job in squad planning and should not be trusted onwards. It is baffling why the new director not in charge of this winter window.
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I do agree that we can't have or afford under the rules a full squad of superstars. I also agree they have done a crap job in squad planning. I think we have sat back and allowed the new sporting director time to get his feet under the table whilst Txikki spends a year saying farewell and emptying his office and its come back to bite us on the arse.

A player like Alvarez is infinitely better than Doku, Savi, Nunes, Rico and Phillips (I know they don't play the same position) but a place or a promise or a wage rise should have been given to him to make him stay. I don't buy this saying if players want to leave then they can leave. We offer enough early big contracts to other players to keep them from leaving. All the new buys at times have shown some good signs because at the end of the day they are averagely good players, maybe above average but they are not great players. And whilst we can't buy every world class player we should be buying very good or great players.

I look at Savi who shows some promise but looks scared of his own shadow and if he hasn't been told from day one or learnt from his first game that he needs to toughen up and get on with it then he will never learn. I've lost count of the times he's bottled out, feigned injury or just stopped running and threw his arms up. That's not good enough. One or two games ok but learn and learn quickly.

Doku reminds me of that gif of a horse playing with a balloon. Everton's 4 v 2 last week started out because he failed to control a ball. Neither of them along with others even attempt to jump and head the ball.

Rico never stops turning his back on a shot, he did it again v Everton and for the 3rd Feyenoord goal I thought he should have even attempted to go for a challenge with a header instead of standing on the goal line and letting the player have a free header at goal. It could have put him off enough to miss. These are real basics that are drummed into you as a kid. You don't need to be elite to do these.

I've watched City go through years of desperate football and desperate off field management. We are a diferent beast now and I'm confident we will sort it soon enough. Hopefully they will have learnt from their mistakes. The club has been un the up and these are mistakes to be fair they have not made since the takeover.
 
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kaz7 said:
I dont understand , does he rate kids that have trained with us for years and knows they are not the solution at the moment ? Of course he does . He has said from when he joined us that he wont play the kids in bad moments as it is not fair on them and they will only learn negative things
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If that’s true, then he’s set up a up a squad with very little built in contingency. Was he expecting the season to be a breeze?
 
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What we know for the fact is that Pep won't stay for another 8 years. He was asked if he could manage City for another 500 games, and he replied with a sarcastic laugh that it won't happen.
 
Blue2112 said:
When I read things like Doku is not that bad and other similar things about other players I really think we have to try and look at it differently these days.

Yes Doku isn't that bad and can play at a certain level. No disrepsect to those other teams but he could be a stand out player at the likes of Wolves for instance. Maybe like Nunes was. But here at City we are chasing every trophy every season and to do that we really need elite players that can play to the highest standard for 2 or 3 games every week. They are not easy to find and its part of the reason the drop off has been so bad.

I don't believe the likes of Doku, Savi, Rico, Nunes, Phillips can do this every week and its exposed the likes of Akanji and Gvardiol a little more who can perform more consistently with better players around them. Throw in the ageing and tired players like Gundo, Bernardo, Walker and KDB and we end up with monotonous pedestrian performances.
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Nunes was never a standout player at Wolves - Doku is light years ahead of him and has wasy more potential. Of them all, it is Nunes who mystifies me the most - was bang average at Wolves and he has always had fairly mediocre stats
 
applejuice said:
It is not realistic with the new FFP rule and the incoming wage cap. You have to accept some "okay" level players to fill in the squad and develop the players to better level yourself. Look at Liverpool's midfield. Some of the names were not anywhere near 1st choice when they transferred. It is the manager's job to design a system to get best out of the squad make it easy for squad fillers to contribute and not to expose their weakness. And it is the sporting director's job to bring in players who can compliment each other instead of getting players not fitting to play with each other. In my views they did a crap job in squad planning and should not be trusted onwards. It is baffling why the new director not in charge of this winter window.
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I agree largely with your post. The dippers are a good example. If we polled Blues, few of their players would be on our wanted list, even if they were available, yet they have run us close for years and are pissing it this season.Their system suits them just as ours has suited us during the good years.

However, we are on the point of losing élite players who made us tick, such as KdB, Gundo and Bernardo. Other influential players have gone or are finished, such as Mahrez, Walker and Stones.

It’s essential we bring in two or three of that calibre otherwise we won’t get back anywhere near to what we were. With those in place, some of these others getting pelters should be able to flourish.
 
Scoobz3 said:
Nunes was never a standout player at Wolves - Doku is light years ahead of him and has wasy more potential. Of them all, it is Nunes who mystifies me the most - was bang average at Wolves and he has always had fairly mediocre stats
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To be honest I did think that about Nunes at Wolves but as I never really watch other teams apart from City I just presumed he must have been performing to a higher level. I do like Aït-Nouri whenever I see him for Wolves.
 


This video came out on November 18th and over a month later nothing has changed.
 
As much as it feels like a shit show at the moment just remember our season doesn't end until the end of July.
All the injuries will slowly improve and for plenty of players it will be a seven month season while other clubs will be gassed.
Yes I do believe the injuries are genuine I also think they are being given time to get back to a decent level.
Pep I think would happily take a 4th in the league in exchange for the new format club world cup.
 
Paul1970 said:
Problem is not everyone thinks the sun shines out if peps arse and he can do no wrong . Pep has made a lot of mistakes this season with squad selection and his reluctance to give the younger squad members a chance to shine which is all good when we are tearing it up in league and battering teams but atm we provably the worst team in the league and these players which he picks week in week out are basically playing rubbish but he likes of mcatee Reilly etc must be absolute shit if they can’t even get a nod or even cone on. Sorry but pep takes the accolades for being great but he must also be called out as he isn’t god .
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They are not playing because they are not good enough to help us out , accept it and stop fucking moaning !!
 
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