Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

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BillyShears said:
There's no question mark for the decision makers at the club. He has never walked out on a contract and has a two year one ahead of him, which he requested and committed to. There's a reasonable explanation for why he hasn't used the new players as much as some would like (me included). Some people are so reactionary or so desperate to be edgy on the internet that they try really hard to be as myopic and narrow as possible in their thinking about Pep/City. We're going to be absolutely fine. A year from now this thread will be locked and the people who think Pep is finished/over the hill etc will be quiet.
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I hope you're right.
 
youngbob said:
Plays Ederson away at Bournemouth in the quarters. Drops him for the semi-final and the final.

Finally gets Nunes into good form, drops him for the FA Cup final.

Finally gets Gundogan into decent form, drops him for the final as well.

Finally works out a system that works with this set of players, completely changes it.

Decides we won't be needing De Bruyne in four weeks, but starts him in the final.

Spends £30m on Khusanov, plays him week in week out, suddenly drops him and can't get back in.

Finally gets a settled back four of Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, and O'Reilly, changes it for the final.

Finds out Kovacic is injured before the final and reacts by playing no defensive midfielders at all.

Starts Rico Lewis in the semi-final, Lewis scores, and Pep responds by cutting him out altogether.

Spends £60m on Marmoush, a centre-forward, and plays him everywhere except centre-forward.

Realises Doku is best as a late impact sub - puts him on at half-time and starts him in the next two games.

Freezes Grealish out but suddenly decides to play him in the semi-final, then drops him again for the final.

Spends £60m on a new CM, calls him a 'mini Rodri', and then never plays him - even when other DMs are injured.

Brings in Echeverri, leaves him out of every squad since his signing, suddenly chucks him on to rescue a cup final.


He's lost his massive mind.
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Every city fan knows that Pep is the greatest of all time and best we ever had. But like most things in life few are willing to stretch the benefit of doubt more than others.
But there are few questions that can’t be ignored.

Like the post I am replying too. These instances have baffled me. Why did he play certain players at certain times and ignored others clearly in the detrimental of the team.

What is his personal life like ?
Is he still okay to continue or the constant distance from Misses has finally taken it’s toll.

Txiki his close confidante is gone. Who is driving the transfers and how much is Pep involved. The absence of winter signings in the squad is weird.

Pep is a tortured genius. He puts his soul in his football like his mentor Cruyff. What happens if the inspiration dies somewhere.
There is a reason for longevity of managers such as Ferguson or Ancelloti. You don’t invest that much, you don’t burn that fast.

There is a reason Pep’s football is seen as the greatest.
 
Brewster's millions said:
So we’d miss out on the best player we’re targeting, and end up with an inferior player instead.

We’ve bought far too many players who aren’t top drawer in the past couple of years. We need to start buying the best again, and missing out on the CL would make that a lot harder to do.
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Glad someone else sees this...its a downward cycle otherwise and a lowering of standards -

Doku, Sav and Grealish from Mahrez, Sterling and Sane

Rodri - to - Phillips, Nunes, Kovacic

David Silva, KDB and Gundo to - MGW!!!!!! and Reijnders (who might actually be decent)

Kompany, Stones, Laporte - to - Dias

Walker to Rico Lewis and Nunes - some young Brazilan lad who no one has ever heard of!

All of those baring potentially one (Reijnders) is a lowering of quality in every sense of the word and every aspect
 
Brewster's millions said:
I’m not suggesting that we should put all our eggs in one basket, Wirtz may just not fancy leaving Germany, but it’s simply not true to suggest that missing on the CL wouldn’t make things more difficult for us.
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exactly - its arrogance to think that these players would just come anyway - No way Wirtz joins without CL football...absolutely not happening.
The likes of of MGW may do but thats cause he aint a top tier player
 
Brewster's millions said:
I’m not suggesting that we should put all our eggs in one basket, Wirtz may just not fancy leaving Germany, but it’s simply not true to suggest that missing on the CL wouldn’t make things more difficult for us.
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City won’t be interested in players who would be so fickle as to only be interested in signing a 5/6 year contract on the basis of CL football next season. Many clubs have signed top players without CL football too including City.
 
simon23 said:
Glad someone else sees this...its a downward cycle otherwise and a lowering of standards -

Doku, Sav and Grealish from Mahrez, Sterling and Sane

Rodri - to - Phillips, Nunes, Kovacic

David Silva, KDB and Gundo to - MGW!!!!!! and Reijnders (who might actually be decent)

Kompany, Stones, Laporte - to - Dias

Walker to Rico Lewis and Nunes - some young Brazilan lad who no one has ever heard of!

All of those baring potentially one (Reijnders) is a lowering of quality in every sense of the word and every aspect
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When Mahrez and Sterling were here they got absolute pelters. FFS Mahrez and Raz's finishing were regular posts.
Rodri is still here. Of course, he began as Plodri and not fit to lace Fernandinho's boots.
David Silva and KDB became great players while they were here. In fact, people spoke of Silva being too lightweight and KDB being a Chelsea reject until they became absolute PL legends.
Lewis is 20 with years of development ahead of him. When Kyle was 20 he had just finished a loan to Northampton Town and made 2 appearances in the league for Sheffield United.
Dias is a FWA Footballer of the Year, Manchester City Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season and the UEFA Champions League Defender of the Season in 2021.

These unfathomable readings make no sense and completely obscure reality. It reads that every player we signed was the finished article when they arrived and every player we are about to sign will not improve. It is, frankly, utterly false.
 
Pep has had a dreadful, dreadful season. Made every problem worse all year. He's earned this year, but if the pain continues into next season I think its fair to ask questions. You don't want to get into the wenger situation, where we feel unable to criticise a clearly declining legend of the club and you get a slow slide down. The squad is a mess now, I think, and pep is becoming more obtuse in giving untrusted players a chance. I'm not sure he's suited to a rebuild in his current state, and wont just play bernardo over a reijnders or MGW.

he certainly doesnt seem enthusiastic about the january signins.
 
BillyShears said:
City won’t be interested in players who would be so fickle as to only be interested in signing a 5/6 year contract on the basis of CL football next season. Many clubs have signed top players without CL football too including City.
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No CL means a significant reduction in revenue and for some players it could be decisive if they’re torn between which club to join. No doubt we’ve signed a few players in recent years who placed a good deal of weight on playing in the CL every year when making their decisions.

Even if we’re only out of it for a season, the financial impact will inevitably influence our transfer plans. We’ve had CL football for 14 years now, is it not, so it’s a long time since we’ve had to deal with that problem.

To be frank, I’m not sure these sort of Panglossian posts you keep coming up with about losing finals, missing out on the CL and our top transfer targets help you with your broader argument about Pep.
 
K-Bo said:
Pep has had a dreadful, dreadful season. Made every problem worse all year. He's earned this year, but if the pain continues into next season I think its fair to ask questions. You don't want to get into the wenger situation, where we feel unable to criticise a clearly declining legend of the club and you get a slow slide down. The squad is a mess now, I think, and pep is becoming more obtuse in giving untrusted players a chance. I'm not sure he's suited to a rebuild in his current state, and wont just play bernardo over a reijnders or MGW.

he certainly doesnt seem enthusiastic about the january signins.
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He plays Marmoush constantly. Khusanov came in when there were no alternatives. He played well and I am looking forward to seeing him again, but he showed some vulnerability in possession and, like all 20 year-olds, he has some development ahead of him. Reis is 18. All will get their chance next season. Regarding untrusted players, I can only assume you mean Echeverri, one of the highest rated young players in world football who has been training with the first team for 2 months. It was a surprise to see him on the pitch but he looked great in his short cameo.
 
Brewster's millions said:
No CL means a significant reduction in revenue and for some players it could be decisive if they’re torn between which club to join. No doubt we’ve signed a few players in recent years who placed a good deal of weight on playing in the CL every year when making their decisions.

Even if we’re only out of it for a season, the financial impact will inevitably influence our transfer plans. We’ve had CL football for 14 years now, is it not, so it’s a long time since we’ve had to deal with that problem.

To be frank, I’m not sure these sort of Panglossian posts you keep coming up with about losing finals, missing out on the CL and our top transfer targets help you with your broader argument about Pep.
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The CWC is worth €96m to us which is more than the money from the CL. Having both is the ideal and it may well still happen.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
I hope you're right.
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He might need to ditch part of his favoured blueprint to do so though. There’s a lot of very good managers in this league now, with organised defenders and quick counterattacking forwards, and our backwards and sideways routine looked almost as busted a flush yesterday as it did at Southampton last week. Palace were quite happy for us to eschew crosses in favour of recycling the ball to Akanji and Dias.

We need a huge overhaul in the summer. A keeper, two bullocking full backs, a back up for Rodri (assuming Pep’s reservations over Gonzalez continue), an attacking central midfielder who can play right up on the edge of the opposition penalty area, and a winger down the right with a decent scoring record and who doesn’t collapse like a fanny every time he’s touched.

Pep’s rightly got a huge amount of credit in the bank, but he’s been as culpable as everyone else this season. Need him back to his very best for the next campaign
 
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oldius said:
The CWC is worth €96m to us which is more than the money from the CL. Having both is the ideal and it may well still happen.
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Hopefully it will still happen, but our revenue and transfer options would still be materially impacted by missing out on the CL, regardless of the CWC.
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
He might need to ditch part of his favoured blueprint to do so though. There’s a lot of very good managers in this league now, with organised defenders and quick counterattacking forwards, and our backwards and sideways routine looked almost as busted a flush yesterday as it did at Southampton last week. Palace were quite happy for us to eschew crosses in favour of recycling the ball to Akanji and Dias.

We need a huge overhaul in the summer. A keeper, two bullocking full backs, a back up for Rodri (assuming Pep’s reservations over Gonzalez continue), an attacking central midfielder who can play right up on the edge of the opposition penalty area, and a winger down the right with a decent scoring record and who doesn’t collapse like a fanny every time he’s touched.

Pep’s rightly got a huge amount of credit in the bank, but he’s been as culpable as everyone else this season. Need him back to his very best for the next campaign
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That’s going to cost a lot of money.

It is 100% needed though!
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
There was an example late in the game, maybe in added time, where we won the ball in our half, with Palace players spread out. Akanji brought the ball forward and it was screaming for a quick forward pass. But he stopped and passed the ball sideways to KDB who, instead of being ahead of Akanji and central, was level with him on the touchline. Once that happened, Palace had the few seconds they needed to get back into position and the opportunity for a quick break was lost.
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Happens all the time this. Whenever we are opening up the opposition we check back inside and play a sideways or backwards pass. Let them re-organise and then the procession of passing it around the 18 yard box until we give it away again and get caught on the break.

One thing that irks me is the inaccuracy of the passing. Whenever we are getting on the front foot and looking like there's a bit of momentum a pass than needs to be a couple of yards ahead of a player is often languishing a yard behind him. The chance has gone, they stop their run to receive the ball and so begins the frustration of the turn of events mentioned in the first paragraph.
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
He might need to ditch part of his favoured blueprint to do so though. There’s a lot of very good managers in this league now, with organised defenders and quick counterattacking forwards, and our backwards and sideways routine looked almost as busted a flush yesterday as it did at Southampton last week. Palace were quite happy for us to eschew crosses in favour of recycling the ball to Akanji and Dias.

We need a huge overhaul in the summer. A keeper, two bullocking full backs, a back up for Rodri (assuming Pep’s reservations over Gonzalez continue), an attacking central midfielder who can play right up on the edge of the opposition penalty area, and a winger down the right with a decent scoring record and who doesn’t collapse like a fanny every time he’s touched.

Pep’s rightly got a huge amount of credit in the bank, but he’s been as culpable as everyone else this season. Need him back to his very best for the next campaign
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Your post is bang on the money, what worries me is there are a lot of variables in there, too many in fact.
 
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