Pep Guardiola - 2025/26

alexmcity said:
Since we still are in transition, we are likely to have a bad game or two before Christmas, and Pep's critics will come out swinging.
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Wrote this 4 days before Villa.

Another bad game vs Bournemouth or Liverpool and the forum will be drowned in negativity.

We'll come good eventually. This squad has great potential. Pep and the new players will need another 1-2 months to work things out. Of course, much depends on Rodri's availability. If he is back to full fitness in January and we are not many points off the top, we can compete.

In tough games away from home, we need both Rodri and Gonzalez, maybe Khusa at RB as well, in order to have all of Foden, Cherki and Doku behind Haaland.

My ideal team for big games:

Donna

Khusa
Dias
Gvardiol
O'Reilly (or Ait-Nouri if he hits form)

Rodri
Gonzalez

Cherki
Foden
Doku

Haaland
 
alexmcity said:
Wrote this 4 days before Villa.

Another bad game vs Bournemouth or Liverpool and the forum will be drowned in negativity.

We'll come good eventually. This squad has great potential. Pep and the new players will need another 1-2 months to work things out. Of course, much depends on Rodri's availability. If he is back to full fitness in January and we are not many points off the top, we can compete.

In tough games away from home, we need both Rodri and Gonzalez, maybe Khusa at RB as well, in order to have all of Foden, Cherki and Doku behind Haaland.

My ideal team for big games:

Donna

Khusa
Dias
Gvardiol
O'Reilly (or Ait-Nouri if he hits form)

Rodri
Gonzalez

Cherki
Foden
Doku

Haaland
Click to expand...
I still think there will be an announcement into the new year that Pep and the club are parting way and a new manager is coming in who that is god only knows. The whole club just needs a refresh even when we win the style of play is brutal to watch,the club struggling to sell tickets and transfers have been horrendous. We are going backwards at a rate of knots and I get the belief that we are in transition. That transition started last January and not one transfer has any excitement that will put bums on seats not one transfer has a set of bollox on in them to pull this squad back to where it was bar the keeper. Pep ain’t stupid he knows this he’s always said managers are judged on results. He’s the one that stuck by the old guard too long he’s the one that wants small squads with a lot of injury problems.
Pep will see out the season like Klopp and fingers crossed he’ll get us over the line for a top 4 finish
 
alexmcity said:
Wrote this 4 days before Villa.

Another bad game vs Bournemouth or Liverpool and the forum will be drowned in negativity.

We'll come good eventually. This squad has great potential. Pep and the new players will need another 1-2 months to work things out. Of course, much depends on Rodri's availability. If he is back to full fitness in January and we are not many points off the top, we can compete.

In tough games away from home, we need both Rodri and Gonzalez, maybe Khusa at RB as well, in order to have all of Foden, Cherki and Doku behind Haaland.

My ideal team for big games:

Donna

Khusa
Dias
Gvardiol
O'Reilly (or Ait-Nouri if he hits form)

Rodri
Gonzalez

Cherki
Foden
Doku

Haaland
Click to expand...

Exactly the XI I see us relying on come the business end of the season aswell. To be honest we need a fit Rodri next to Gonzalez more than anything, if we can do that most weeks then for me we are back to having the clear best midfield in the League which was always true throughout our years of dominance.
 
alexmcity said:
Wrote this 4 days before Villa.

Another bad game vs Bournemouth or Liverpool and the forum will be drowned in negativity.

We'll come good eventually. This squad has great potential. Pep and the new players will need another 1-2 months to work things out. Of course, much depends on Rodri's availability. If he is back to full fitness in January and we are not many points off the top, we can compete.

In tough games away from home, we need both Rodri and Gonzalez, maybe Khusa at RB as well, in order to have all of Foden, Cherki and Doku behind Haaland.

My ideal team for big games:

Donna

Khusa
Dias
Gvardiol
O'Reilly (or Ait-Nouri if he hits form)

Rodri
Gonzalez

Cherki
Foden
Doku

Haaland
Click to expand...
Yes. But there was no need to start Bobb in this kind of the game. Pep showed massive adaptability in the last 2 months. I am a bit disappointed he didn’t adapt Vila‘s strong and tall team after loosing the same way we lost last year.
 
alexmcity said:
Wrote this 4 days before Villa.

Another bad game vs Bournemouth or Liverpool and the forum will be drowned in negativity.

We'll come good eventually. This squad has great potential. Pep and the new players will need another 1-2 months to work things out. Of course, much depends on Rodri's availability. If he is back to full fitness in January and we are not many points off the top, we can compete.

In tough games away from home, we need both Rodri and Gonzalez, maybe Khusa at RB as well, in order to have all of Foden, Cherki and Doku behind Haaland.

My ideal team for big games:

Donna

Khusa
Dias
Gvardiol
O'Reilly (or Ait-Nouri if he hits form)

Rodri
Gonzalez

Cherki
Foden
Doku

Haaland
Click to expand...
Your my choice for manager once we’ve sacked the wanker currrently in charge.


;-)
 
Mcfc1.9.8.0 said:
I still think there will be an announcement into the new year that Pep and the club are parting way and a new manager is coming in who that is god only knows. The whole club just needs a refresh even when we win the style of play is brutal to watch,the club struggling to sell tickets and transfers have been horrendous. We are going backwards at a rate of knots and I get the belief that we are in transition. That transition started last January and not one transfer has any excitement that will put bums on seats not one transfer has a set of bollox on in them to pull this squad back to where it was bar the keeper. Pep ain’t stupid he knows this he’s always said managers are judged on results. He’s the one that stuck by the old guard too long he’s the one that wants small squads with a lot of injury problems.
Pep will see out the season like Klopp and fingers crossed he’ll get us over the line for a top 4 finish
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Donnarumma doesn't have a set of bollox on him? Okey doke mate.
 
The team needs to go back to basics of positional play. And that requires more talent and intelligence than physicality. Players who have quality in tight spaces like Cherki, Foden, Bernardo and Bobb.

We fear defensive transitions, so we put faster and stronger players, so we play transitions at the end and getting what we wanted to avoid. Opposition always run. The way to avoid defensive transitions is to have the ball in the opposition half so you need more talent than physical players.

Also having a striker as Haaland who doesn't involve in possession game is one less player numerically. That's why we need that extra player in the middle with 3-BOX-3 or 3-3-3-1 formations.

Wingers needs to come to receive the ball too much, so they ar far from dribble and cross, and always have 1 vs 2. You isolate them. Scoring wingers needs to push up the opposition fullbacks and create space in the middle for central players. If wingers stays upper, opposition fullbacks need to stay deeper.

Guardiola's Barça was way more dynamic. The formation are now more simple. Just a front 5 in attack and avoiding transitions. But if you move the ball wide just for searching inside players to get the space between CBs and FBs the game is so repetitive at the end. Dani Alves overlapped the winger too.
 
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Danny Kelly today mentioned how all the new football rules had been rushed through to counteract City and their style of play. The order of the day is route one football, long throw ins and physicality. Bringing back the old style thuggery. Well done the PL for taking football back to the dark ages to appease the red tops.
 
Mcfc1.9.8.0 said:
Even in the 9 “unbeaten” we have been shite a lot of the time.
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That's very critical. If we'd stayed onside late on yesterday and equalised this whole thread would be different. We were caught offside 3 times and Villa like to play for that. The Dutch side v Villa midweek adapted to that tactic and scored from it. Villa paid the price. We need to adapt better. But there are small margins and yes maybe the starting 11 wasnt exactly right but we had a very bruising CL game midweek and midfield was effectively depleted for this PL game. We will beat them at the Etihad later in the Season.
 
remember arthur mann said:
Danny Kelly today mentioned how all the new football rules had been rushed through to counteract City and their style of play. The order of the day is route one football, long throw ins and physicality. Bringing back the old style thuggery. Well done the PL for taking football back to the dark ages to appease the red tops.
Click to expand...
Pulis and Allardyce will be back in the PL soon the way it's going.
 
remember arthur mann said:
Danny Kelly today mentioned how all the new football rules had been rushed through to counteract City and their style of play. The order of the day is route one football, long throw ins and physicality. Bringing back the old style thuggery. Well done the PL for taking football back to the dark ages to appease the red tops.
Click to expand...
What new rules are these?!
 
remember arthur mann said:
Danny Kelly today mentioned how all the new football rules had been rushed through to counteract City and their style of play. The order of the day is route one football, long throw ins and physicality. Bringing back the old style thuggery. Well done the PL for taking football back to the dark ages to appease the red tops.
Click to expand...
Good points made. City are 3rd youngest side in the PL on average and accounting for the 9 game unbeaten run before yesterday we are adapting well.
 
We struggle against high pressing teams like Bournemouth since Donnarumma and Haaland are two men less with the ball. The message from Pep today is: ok, press me, ball to Cherki so Haaland has 1vs1 if your defensive line is high...

Great Doku with total freedom of movement.
 
this team is a year off where we should be
Too many players bedding in
but Nico g, Nico o, cherki, Marmoush etc gonna be amazing
Add Doku, bobb and khusanow…wow
But next year we’ll walk the league again
 
Im a big fan of this 4231 with wide fullbacks.

The fullbacks are suited to attacking while simultaneously defending, the system is hardest on them, but O Reilly and Nunes have the pace and stamina for it.

The wingers prefer playing centrally, easy way to get Cherki in with minimal liability. Mamroush can play with Haaland as well in this system.

Best use of Bernie, Kova to aid Nico G and Rodri as they play close to the CBs to help control the centre.
 
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