Pep Guardiola - 2025/26

mattcity5 said:
The game changed.

Opposition started to sit deep in a back ten and made it harder to pass through them. Ended up with us going side to side more. Since then some press higher too now, but teams are generally a lot more switched defensively against us
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We also simply do not have prime David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ílkay Gündoğan or Bernardo Silva to unlock the door. We’ve not even got one player at their level never mind having all four at the same time at their very best.

We have a bit of a disease of giving the ball away in attacking midfield at the moment. Especially Foden and Reijnders.

Even when DSilva, Gündoğan and BSilva couldn’t unlock the door at any given time, they didn’t give the ball away (De Bruyne was different in the way he played but he could do things the Silvas and Gündo couldn’t). Now, when Foden and Reijnders can’t unlock the door, they either give the ball away or they’re on the floor after a dive or being outmuscled.

I think Rico Lewis is potentially better at unlocking the door than Foden+Reijnders and is something we should be looking to develop with him. We’ve seen it in CL games with him (Bratislava through ball to Haaland, Villarreal away assist to BSilva…).

Obviously Cherki could potentially be at the old attacking midfielders level eventually.
 
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.db. said:
We also simply do not have prime David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ílkay Gündoğan or Bernardo Silva to unlock the door. We’ve not even got one player at their level never mind having all four at the same time at their very best.
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yes ,thats a very big problem. midfield is lacking a true wrold class player ,who can carry the ball forward and find caps in defence. Maybe there will never be another midfield pairing like Kevin and David were ,but it definetly can be much better.
 
.db. said:
We also simply do not have prime David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ílkay Gündoğan or Bernardo Silva to unlock the door. We’ve not even got one player at their level never mind having all four at the same time at their very best.
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Add Fernandinho to that list….Midfield is the key to both the defence (because we don’t protect the back four or retain possession to keep the pressure off the back line) and our attack because of the lack of creativity and the slow slow passing which allows the opponents defence to get back in numbers and into position.

From Mancinis days until about two years ago we always had the strongest midfield…..now it is substandard and not helped by playing with a front four that constantly leaves the midfield outnumbered.
 
Ken92 said:
yes ,thats a very big problem. midfield is lacking a true wrold class player ,who can carry the ball forward and find caps in defence. Maybe there will never be another midfield pairing like Kevin and David were ,but it definetly can be much better.
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Hopefully Cherki will be. He’s got the potential, but he’s only 22.

If Foden can sort his form out and be more consistent, that will also be a big plus. His last 18 months have been disappointing though apart from the odd month here and there.
 
.db. said:
Hopefully Cherki will be. He’s got the potential, but he’s only 22.

If Foden can sort his form out and be more consistent, that will also be a big plus. His last 18 months have been disappointing though apart from the odd month here and there.
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Don't think they can play together against stronger opponents, one has to be more on the wing and neither is a winger. Both pretty poor ball winners and tacklers.
 
.db. said:
We also simply do not have prime David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ílkay Gündoğan or Bernardo Silva to unlock the door. We’ve not even got one player at their level never mind having all four at the same time at their very best.

We have a bit of a disease of giving the ball away in attacking midfield at the moment. Especially Foden and Reijnders.

Even when DSilva, Gündoğan and BSilva couldn’t unlock the door at any given time, they didn’t give the ball away (De Bruyne was different in the way he played but he could do things the Silvas and Gündo couldn’t). Now, when Foden and Reijnders can’t unlock the door, they either give the ball away or they’re on the floor after a dive or being outmuscled.

I think Rico Lewis is potentially better at unlocking the door than Foden+Reijnders and is something we should be looking to develop with him. We’ve seen it in CL games with him (Bratislava through ball to Haaland, Villarreal away assist to BSilva…).

Obviously Cherki could potentially be at the old attacking midfielders level eventually.
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Can’t take this seriously given what you’ve written about Lewis
 
bondsman said:
Can’t take this seriously given what you’ve written about Lewis
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Why not? I think even his most ardent supporter would agree he's not a right back and is sadly not improving that area - but whilst he wouldn't be my first choice, he's clearly a far better midfielder - and lets be honest, if saturday was anything to go by, we can't be any worse going forward.
 
Gumzy97 said:
Genuine question why did we go away from the tactics and playstyle that won the treble? Is it because of injuries or did teams work us out because I can't think of a team that did.
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The players are different. We don't have a quickest thinking in his prime Debruyne,, World Class Rodri, healthy Stones, Prime Bernardo, up and coming Phil. Prime Dias exceptional Gundogan, Prime Ederson with his feet, defensive maestro in Walker. etc

Lot's of factors just clicked. So add that to supreme confidence across the board.

Pep's tactics are pretty good. But having 4 of the top 10 players in the world their absolute prime and about 8-9 of the top 50 all in top form was the difference.

A lot of the same things je did back then he is doing now, but the result's are different because the level.of talent is different.

There is no one in the world who can go from defense to creating a pin point chance like prime Kevin. Ratface and Cherki are the closest. But he is about 3 levels above both in accuracy and level of difficulty.

There are zero comparisons to prime Rodri. Kante, Busquet and the new boy ar Chelsea are close. They all play it differently using different skill set but they make playing midfield unbearable for the opposition. Those 2 plus the prime Bernado, prime Haaland who is getting the ball early from Kevin.

And the ball skills of Stones, Dias, Akanji and Gvardiol was just far superior to anything anyway outside of Barca.


The difference is the amount of talent...in their prime...
 
bondsman said:
Can’t take this seriously given what you’ve written about Lewis
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Foden and Reijnders have next to no link-up play with Haaland, centrally (Foden is much better at providing chances for Haaland from wide areas than he is centrally).

Forget about anything Lewis has ever done at full back and think about what he’s done and the potential he has as a midfielder. Watch him next time he plays in midfield and watch how he gets balls through to Haaland. He’s very good around the edge of the box and looking for and executing forward passes.
 
Now that we’re playing a team with ZERO WINS (currently) in the UCL there’s no excuse for this crap he’s served up. Him and his staff have got it all wrong for every semi important game bar Newcastle this year.
 
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BillyShears said:
Wonder what they all have in common ...
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They want the best for their team and want to see them playing exciting football, rather than this turgid shite.

There are some on here that would still be saying we can't sack him when he's 90, shuffling around with a zimmer frame, stinking of piss and with no idea what day it is.
 
Playing a right full in midfield
Playing a left full right full
Playing a midfielder at left full

Jesus fucking Christ
 
Im not shouting for him to get sacked at all. However if everything falls into place and Enrique is available this summer. May be best for everyone to make a change in summer. With Pep leaving us 2nd and a carabao cup.
 
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