United (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

Lavinda Past said:
I agree with you but with a word of caution...

Our Board consists of businessmen who have little or no experience or attachment to football beyond being on City's Board.

The owners were 100% reliant on Soriano and Bergiristain to attract their old friend Pep to the club, and have paid out over £20m a year to keep him here.

They'll probably go for Enrique as a safe bet.
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Oh, the horror! He’s won nowt!! ;-)
 
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waspish said:
Some don’t get it? if Pep wants to stay another ten years Khaldoon will back him fully! Pep will leave when Pep wants to leave he won’t be sacked..
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Certainly not while he’s helping get Top 4, Champions League, and silverware every year or two…and filling the North Stand!!
 
Spurs quarter 69 said:
The thing has amazed me is the astonishment of every rag I've met that they won. Their major emotion seemed to be relief, think the last 12 years have robbed them of their arrogance.
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Been getting pelters off the cunts since 2.30pm saturday afternoon.

Some contacts i've never had a message off in months. Well nothing football related anyway.

I think the way the match panned out (we was totally outplayed from minute 3) has upped their giddiness 10 fold.

This picture put the whole game into perspective for me. A 6 foot 4 giant owned by a leprechaun.

Cunts!!
 

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wolviedinho said:
Rightly so and if that’s the case, the club has let him down badly on recruitment. He doesn’t have the players required to dominate and win games.
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How have the club let him down? Are you saying he has no say over the players we buy? And team selection? If that is not the case then its his fault he doesn't have the squad or players to dominate and win games
 
The Mighty Marmoush said:
How have the club let him down? Are you saying he has no say over the players we buy? And team selection? If that is not the case then its his fault he doesn't have the squad or players to dominate and win games
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We don't know what goes on but what we do know is that city walk away from top targets all the time. Getting next best has been a method that has served us well.

World class players for certain positions is a must in an all conquering pep team. He also cares a lot about the club, last season stopped buying what was required because he didn’t see the squad falling apart like it did. Wanted to save city a few quid.

I would say overall we have let him down with player recruitment. Asked him to perform miracles on a lot of ok/good players but not world class.

Give him what he needs. That is not potential but Top tier. Now money maybe an issue at times and how we are viewed on net spend and ffp/115. Plus world class is very expensive.
 
We didn't look right from the off, and as poor as the rags have been, when I saw the Iine up, I feared the worse. I know we have an injury crisis atvthe back, but surely with such a weakened defence more emphasis should have been placed on having a bit more bite in midfield. We were constantly outnumbered in the middle of the park, which put the back four under increased pressure. We also looked leggy and couldn't get back when they hit us on the break. Whether in this window or the summer we need some pace, power and presence in the midfield so we can start to dictate the tempo of the game.
 
alexmcity said:
One might think: given we played an entirely 2nd choice or partly 3rd choice defence at United, it's understandable we were a bit shit in defence; but why were we shit in attack as well?

The reason is that a Pep team attacks as a whole: the quality of the attacks depends on the quality of the build-up play, and the quality of the build-up play depends on the quality of the defenders on the ball and on their mutual understanding.

Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol and O'Reilly are levels above Rico, Khusa, Alleyne and Ake in terms of their quality on the ball and playing from the back. Even in his best years Ake was average on the ball and quite overrated by the crowd. Without other defenders who are good in possession he's lost. Khusa has a lot to learn in that regard as well.

So, being good at possession and playing from the back is foundational for the quality of our attack. The way to change that is to play highly direct football. That can work in some games but it won't win us titles, because being open to counters will mean many dropped points.
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Thank you for putting into words exactly what I think. In Peps system we play as a unit. Gvardiol is a huge miss and will be for the rest of the season.
 
waspish said:
So you’re not going to give pep at least what’s left of his contract with the new players and more coming in summer? After all he has done won for our club?

Just can’t get my head around anyone who’s a Man City supporter ever wanting pep out or moved on!
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I agree.
 
simon23 said:
The team sheet yesterday as soon as it was announced I knew we were in trouble...some of that is just bad luck...especially losing Nunes coupled with the loss of all of our centre halves.

However its not just about yesterday..Its been obvious since the end of last season that the squad aint anywhere near serious enough to get to the heights we have previously...

Now that is part of football -it goes in cycles and the club need time to refresh which in part they seem to have done well.

HOWEVER - I have some serious doubts about some of our recruitment even before yesterday....

  • The lack of a specialist right back - walker fell off a cliff over two seasons ago and we have been treading water ever since
  • we only have one left back - NOR has done well but we have run him into the ground....RAN - serious questions about whether he cares or not from the albeit little Ive seen....but his attitude stinks at present
  • Wide players - Doku I like - he is something different - think he will always be a step below world class but he is a decent squad player....but other than that we have Semenyo and he isnt a traditional winger......As for Sav ( apoor transfer) and Bobb - they aint got it and wont get to the level required.
  • We spend money on buying a young Engish Keeper and then went for Donarumma as well - this was in hindsight just bad planning....we spent money on Trafford that we probably didnt need to spend. (I like Trafford as a keeper and I think he has parts of his game where he is better than Donarumma BUT Donarummas shot stopping is superior)
  • Over a season ago I said Stones and Ake were finished..they should have been encouraged to be moved on - with a world cup year ahead of them being told they wouldnt play cause of fitness and recovery issues would have motivated them to find a new team allowing us to bring in new players and bed them in sooner....we have to let these two both go this summer and make very quick decisions on Reis and Khusonov (who I really like) - Bringing Guehi in hopefully sorts out some of this
  • Reijnders for me at present is looking like a bad transfer....he isnt a winner....he is a bit part player and we needed a serious box to box midfielder and we have got a light weight moments type player who disappears the moment a game becomes difficult.
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I agree with most of what you have said here except for Reijnders. In my opinion he is a Gundo replacement. The one we have not replaced is KDB. Cherki is more of a David Silva.
 
fil w said:
We didn't look right from the off, and as poor as the rags have been, when I saw the Iine up, I feared the worse. I know we have an injury crisis atvthe back, but surely with such a weakened defence more emphasis should have been placed on having a bit more bite in midfield. We were constantly outnumbered in the middle of the park, which put the back four under increased pressure. We also looked leggy and couldn't get back when they hit us on the break. Whether in this window or the summer we need some pace, power and presence in the midfield so we can start to dictate the tempo of the game.
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I'm not sure why we looked tired, but I agree. We looked it. Pep and the boys likely underestimated the fight United had in them.

But the pace issue is an interesting one. We have 3 of the fastest guys in the league in Nunes, Khusanov and Haaland. We have pace. But we never counter attack. If Doku gets released with the ball, its only him up there while Haaland and company are trying to get up. Going the other way, we should have the legs to get back. But not with Ake or Lewis on the pitch. Couple this with a not fit-as-yet Rodri and we struggle.

As a couple of others have said on this thread, we need to decide what the next iteration of this team will be. Slow, plodding possession? Or are we going to look to join the rest of the league into a fast break type offense.
 
Spurs quarter 69 said:
The thing has amazed me is the astonishment of every rag I've met that they won. Their major emotion seemed to be relief, think the last 12 years have robbed them of their arrogance.
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I doubt that very much and they certainly won't have lost their stupidity and sense of entitlement.

It's all part of their DNA ......................
 
Mr. Shush said:
I'm not sure why we looked tired, but I agree. We looked it. Pep and the boys likely underestimated the fight United had in them.

But the pace issue is an interesting one. We have 3 of the fastest guys in the league in Nunes, Khusanov and Haaland. We have pace. But we never counter attack. If Doku gets released with the ball, its only him up there while Haaland and company are trying to get up. Going the other way, we should have the legs to get back. But not with Ake or Lewis on the pitch. Couple this with a not fit-as-yet Rodri and we struggle.

As a couple of others have said on this thread, we need to decide what the next iteration of this team will be. Slow, plodding possession? Or are we going to look to join the rest of the league into a fast break type offense.
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I agree we have plenty of pace going forward and at the back. It's in midfield that's a concern. Every time the rags hit us on the break, our midfield looked like they were running in treacle. Another observation from yesterday's game was the distinct lack of tracking back by Doku and Semenyo. Both have pace to burn, and although tackling isn't a key aspect of their game, they made it very easy when the rags were going forward.
 
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