Pep Guardiola - 2025/26

BBC twisting Pep's message by

'Grumpy' Guardiola jokes about Man City spending​


Err, no. It was plain and simple media criticism about net spent lies,
and title pressure for the Arse and 5 others with a smile on his face.
I’d rather go to prison than pay them cunts a penny of a TV licence again.
 





The standard of European football may very well have declined over the last 5 years but that is probably because many of the better players are now playing in the PL.

The total net spend figures for the last 5 years show for the PL it is 6.3 billion euros and for Serie A it is 513 million euros. La Liga and the Bundesliga have negative net spends over the last 5 years.

Brighton are the only current PL side to have a negative net spend over the last 5 years whereas there are 10 current Serie A teams, 14 current La Liga teams and 12 current Bundesliga teams with negative net spends over the last 5 years.

It's difficult to conceive how such spending power of the PL wouldn't lead to a general increase in the standards of the PL, particularly when transfers are more data driven than ever before.

Arsenal v Chelsea semi final. A fine example of how poor 'elite' football has become.

No doubt your boffin stats will tell us how wonderful it is again.

The eyes don't lie. English football is shite.
 
Arsenal v Chelsea semi final. A fine example of how poor 'elite' football has become.

No doubt your boffin stats will tell us how wonderful it is again.

The eyes don't lie. English football is shite.

Most games involving Arteta's teams are guaranteed to be shite. So much of the blame rests with that insecure twat.
 
Arsenal v Chelsea semi final. A fine example of how poor 'elite' football has become.

No doubt your boffin stats will tell us how wonderful it is again.

The eyes don't lie. English football is shite.

It was a cautious London derby semi final with a lot at stake for both teams and the Arsenal players reaction showed it meant a lot to them - I don't think that makes English football shite.

Rosenior took a risk to only go for it quite late on and as it didn't work out I presume he'll be being criticised on Chelsea forums.
 
Jack Grealish (a player I rate very highly) cost us £100m. In my opinion, he was never worth more than £30/40m even at today's ludicrous prices.

For that reason alone, I really can't take transfer fees (net or otherwise) seriously. They're meaningless in terms of how good a player actually is (Kalvin Phillips anyone?) and can't possibly be used to rate the standard of football being played across a particular league, or across Europe.

You can only trust your own opinion based on what you see. Not the opinion of fans, reporters, pundits, statistics, etc... just your own view.

You think it's better, I think it's a lot worse. Easy as that. Opinions.

I was going to let this lie but I've got a boffin stat for you - probably the most significant indicator of the likelihood of a team's success is wage bill. And usually there would be a link between the transfer fee and a player's wage.

The implication of transfer fees being meaningless would be that there are highly paid Directors of Football across the country stealing a living.

And whilst undoubtedly PL clubs will have overpaid for players this spending power means PL clubs are getting their 1st choice targets, even if they have overpaid for them.
 
I was going to let this lie but I've got a boffin stat for you - probably the most significant indicator of the likelihood of a team's success is wage bill. And usually there would be a link between the transfer fee and a player's wage.

The implication of transfer fees being meaningless would be that there are highly paid Directors of Football across the country stealing a living.

And whilst undoubtedly PL clubs will have overpaid for players this spending power means PL clubs are getting their 1st choice targets, even if they have overpaid for them.

Your second paragraph is spot on. DoF are blagging a living, just like agents. It's not a real job in my opinion.

Owners (many of whom know little or nothing about the game nowadays) are being taken for a ride giving these chancers access to their wallets.

As for the London derby, there's no getting away from the fact that it was a stinker, thanks mainly to both coaches lacking the bollocks to attack. That's become the norm in too many PL games over the past few years.

The price of failure is too high. The game has become boring because coaches are risk averse.
 
Your second paragraph is spot on. DoF are blagging a living, just like agents. It's not a real job in my opinion.

Owners (many of whom know little or nothing about the game nowadays) are being taken for a ride giving these chancers access to their wallets.

As for the London derby, there's no getting away from the fact that it was a stinker, thanks mainly to both coaches lacking the bollocks to attack. That's become the norm in too many PL games over the past few years.

The price of failure is too high. The game has become boring because coaches are risk averse.
If we were 1 goal up against the rags in a 2 legged semi final, to me the result of the 2nd leg would be everything and I couldn't give a shite whether it was entertaining or not. Neither the Arsenal nor Chelsea players were under any obligation to entertain neutrals.

Speaking of the rags they were one of the clubs who held out the longest against having a Director of Football - that worked out well for them

And getting back on topic - love this:

 
Hearing Pep Guardiola speak today genuinely hit me. Not because he’s one of the best football managers ever - but because he spoke from the heart. He talked about the lost children of Palestine/Ukraine, and about the nurse who was killed by ICE, with real emotion and care. You could tell it wasn’t just words for the cameras too.
In a world where so many stay silent or play it safe, Pep chooses to stand up for what’s right. That’s rare. And honestly, it makes you realise just how broken society is when someone like him feels extraordinary for simply just being human.

Winning under him now feels even more special. It’s not just success, silverware and records - it’s knowing the person leading us to these achievements genuinely cares about humanity. He’s proof that compassion and decency can exist at the top.

When he eventually steps away from football, I can’t help but think the world would be better if someone like him had a bigger platform. People like Pep remind us that leadership isn’t just about success - it’s about doing the right thing, even when it’s difficult. Massive respect to him for that. Thanks for everything Pep.
 
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What a good person tho. Best we will ever have imo. We get infuriated with the football but how can u not love baldy -:)

Stay forever, il just have to lose the plot weekly and accept the high line.

Maybe start a city/possession/pep therapy group?
 
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What a good person tho.
It is very difficult to not be galvanised by such a sincere and passionate human being. Not afraid to stand up to his ideals as well.

To put it into context, the seemingly risk averse tactics and stale performances on the pitch at times can be due to a number of reasons. One is too much respect for the manager and too little experience overall. Another reason could be too many games, niggles and lack of mental focus (the other side of the coin is the argument to build up first 11 cohesion).

At the end of the day, I think he is doing very well with a squad that is not quite ready yet to fight on all fronts.

What a change this press conference was from the deflated mood of recently. This kind of passion can make tired players run through walls. But please, still trying to rotate a bit more would make me happy. Fresh players putting in a shift is a joy to watch.
 
I’m not enjoying this season, especially recently, but absolutely no way should we get rid of Pep.

The issue isn’t him, it’s injuries and a lot of recent poor signings. Guehi and Semenyo are better, hopefully a few more like them and we’ll start to improve.

Players like Lewis need fucking off, and quite possibly Reijnders.
I dont know if you've noticed that even the games Lewis and Reijndees don't play haven't been particularly better...

At some point, we have to admit its the system that needs improving We are so much more like Real Madrid these days. Lots of individual talent with very little chemistry.
 
I dont know if you've noticed that even the games Lewis and Reijndees don't play haven't been particularly better...

At some point, we have to admit its the system that needs improving We are so much more like Real Madrid these days. Lots of individual talent with very little chemistry.
Used to be classed as dribbling if one of our players had more than 2 touches. This year we've got a team of "dribblers", dawdling on the ball for too long.

Prefer he didn't go down the emotive, messianic, Bono route. It's paved with hypocrisy.
 
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