Pep Guardiola - 2025/26

Good to see Pep can be pragmatic and play in a different way to get a result. I wonder what all the doubters on here will criticise him for next.... parking the bus.
 
Speaks to recruitment that we have to revert to the antithesis of Pep Ball now? Don't have the players anymore.

Listen objectively it's a good performance... Yet it's the exact thing we mocked Arsenal for the last few years? Its how many complained how bottom half table teams would play at Etihad and "show no ambition" as we struggled to break them down.

Feel weird in that I'm happy Pep is adapting to what he has available but this direction will take some getting used to. 30% possession with 11 men on pitch is not something I thought id see in the Pep era.

Good week overall though.. take 7 points from 3 games if offered at start.
 
We did something like this at Atleti in 2022. And it worked.

This time it didn't. Playing low blocks like this are a zero sum game. If you concede, it didn't work. If you don't, then it did. I'm not going to say he did anything really wrong here, as it was a single defensive slip up that cost us 2 points.

I don't think this is something we're looking to do regularly, but he clearly felt the situation called for it.
 
Withnail said:
Good to see Pep can be pragmatic and play in a different way to get a result. I wonder what all the doubters on here will criticise him for next.... parking the bus.
Click to expand...
Was glad to see him do it because if he hadn’t i think we’d have got well beat again. Think he went a bit too extreme with subbing Haaland especially. Without brain dead defending at the end though we’d have got a great 3 points. Still a decent point.

What it does show though is that even the manager now accepts we’re not as good as the top 2. So shows up the poor recruitment since the treble. Not like we’ve not spent enough money. We’re not Notts Forest.
 
Don Karleone said:
We're not up to speed yet and had a day less to recover. It's a great result.
Click to expand...
This all day long. We still need a couple of games to get up to speed. Good result as we are still in pre season mode. Arsenal had a full pre season and played five friendlies, we played once, It's makes a big difference.
 
He’s managing a very average squad so difficult to expect the city of years gone by. Our recruitment has been shocking for years.
 
jamielowndes said:
We did something like this at Atleti in 2022. And it worked.

This time it didn't. Playing low blocks like this are a zero sum game. If you concede, it didn't work. If you don't, then it did. I'm not going to say he did anything really wrong here, as it was a single defensive slip up that cost us 2 points.

I don't think this is something we're looking to do regularly, but he clearly felt the situation called for it.
Click to expand...
It worked to a certain extent, we got a really good point.
 
Craig said:
Was glad to see him do it because if he hadn’t i think we’d have got well beat again. Think he went a bit too extreme with subbing Haaland especially. Without brain dead defending at the end though we’d have got a great 3 points. Still a decent point.

What it does show though is that even the manager now accepts we’re not as good as the top 2. So shows up the poor recruitment since the treble. Not like we’ve not spent enough money. We’re not Notts Forest.
Click to expand...
Obviously both the Dippers and Arsenal are currently stronger than us, but I'm confident we will be stronger in the second half of the season as the new players gel and understand how the team plays. Injuries to Marmoush and Cherki have not helped.
 
eastmanc said:
This all day long. We still need a couple of games to get up to speed. Good result as we are still in pre season mode. Arsenal had a full pre season and played five friendlies, we played once, It's makes a big difference.
Click to expand...

Still have some very decent players to come back as well. Did it without Marmoush and Cherki
 
Withnail said:
Obviously both the Dippers and Arsenal are currently stronger than us, but I'm confident we will be stronger in the second half of the season as the new players gel and understand how the team plays. Injuries to Marmoush and Cherki have not helped.
Click to expand...


Beat me to it, but you're right. We'll come good.
 
Craig said:
Was glad to see him do it because if he hadn’t i think we’d have got well beat again. Think he went a bit too extreme with subbing Haaland especially. Without brain dead defending at the end though we’d have got a great 3 points. Still a decent point.

What it does show though is that even the manager now accepts we’re not as good as the top 2. So shows up the poor recruitment since the treble. Not like we’ve not spent enough money. We’re not Notts Forest.
Click to expand...
It’s shit that it’s come to this but I’d rather Pep realises this and adapts accordingly. I’d rather that than the stubbornness of last season, where he just ploughed on regardless as we watched us get dismantled in the same fashion every week.
 
The league won't be won by that result today. But it could be won by the togetherness and belief in one another which was gained from it.

Its not how I want us to play but I hope that the positives we gain from it will help us build Peps City Mk2
 
eastmanc said:
This all day long. We still need a couple of games to get up to speed. Good result as we are still in pre season mode. Arsenal had a full pre season and played five friendlies, we played once, It's makes a big difference.
Click to expand...
Not having that if we went there on 2 months things would be any different. Is Bernado going to have legs by then or is Rjeinders going to become a combative player? Poor recruitment is the reason we had to play like this. Don’t blame Pep for doing it but don’t think we’re unfit.
 
Pointless doing counter factuals, of course, but one can’t help wonder if the substitutions on Thursday against Napoli were optimal. It was blindingly obvious we’d field the same starting eleven, so Haaland should have been off the moment the second went in, yet he played another unnecessary 15 minutes.
 
Craig said:
So shows up the poor recruitment since the treble.
Click to expand...

We're a team in transition with many new players and some key players coming back from injury. It's not rocket science.

Only if we make no progress in the spring or next season can one say the recruitment has been poor.

I'd say signing Donna, Gvardiol, Doku, Reijnders, Cherki, Marmoush, Khusa has been good business. The jury is out about other signings. Remember some thought signing Rodri was bad business 2 years after he arrived.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top