Pep Guardiola - 2025/26

Ajm1985 said:
There is such a dearth of quality football in the PL this season. Just absolute trash all around
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Indeed.

The overall standard has dipped in the last 3 years, since we won the treble. Even when we last won it in 2024, we weren't great by any means.

This current Arsenal team, which will become champions, would get absolutely torn apart by our team of a few years ago. Klopps dipper team would absolutely dick them too, no doubt.

The rags are piss poor but got a manager that got them a big organised and they shot up the table, mainly down to most of the league ranging from bang average to shite.

It's not some coincidence that no English side in the champions league managed a win last week now they're matched against decent sides.
 
jrb said:
It’s not just the boredom during matches, it’s not changing tactics, making the same tactical mistakes over again, and not changing our style of play when it needs changing during games.

There have been numerous things highlighted throughout the season like City constantly playing the high line which has killed us and costs us wins and points throughout the season, which we are still playing now.
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How are you not going to play a high line if the opponent is camped in their own box?

If you didn't play a high line there would be a huge gap in the middle of the pitch.
 
waspish said:
We are run better but still when you lose a manager like pep they’ll be a drop of! look at the rags flapping about for 13 years and there is about to be a new dawn there they believe so the new films out>>

“Getting giddy again part 8”
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Why the eff would we look at the rags? Such an irrelevant analogy. Oh no, Pep is the only thing keeping us from becoming the Rags. LMFAO
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
On that basis, I’m not seeing much evidence of a plan in our buying Reijnders, Semenyo or Marmoush (or Haaland come to that). All counterattacking players, who thrive on galloping downfield into oceans of space, yet we face parked buses every week and when we do get a chance to counterattack, consciously slow it down and go backwards and sideways. Meanwhile, the lock picker that is Rayan Cherki gets left on the bench……
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Yes, see my posts in the Viana thread questioning if he has any idea what he's doing.
 
supercity88 said:
I can understand the fatigue some are feeling with the football we witness.

But I'd ask those people to go and watch some other PL football games and see if they're entertained. There are very few sides entertaining this season. Arsenal are boring their way to the title. Liverpool are like us in that they get in good positions and do fuck all whilst conceding from pretty much every chance they concede.

The rags are probably playing the best football right now, but that's purely because other teams attack them so there's more space to play in. West Ham, Forest, Spurs have all taken points from us by letting us have the ball and sitting deep. We can't change the opposition's style when it's effective against us - even Real Madrid did it. We need to work out how to beat sides that do it, but there were plenty of times even in our best periods where we had to bore our way to a result by playing chess with the opposition. It wasn't always exciting fluid football.
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The solution is on the bench most weeks, Cherki like Kev, Cherki can break low blocks with his passing and intelligence. He's got the most assists this season and he's mostly on the bench. When we looked great this season he was key to opening those defences
 
Bluewonder said:
How are you not going to play a high line if the opponent is camped in their own box?

If you didn't play a high line there would be a huge gap in the middle of the pitch.
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How do you play a high line when the opponents back line and midfield are afforded all the space in the world to play longer through balls? It's been so many times suicidal...
 
Bluewonder said:
What you 'Pep out because I'm bored' lot don't understand is that we'll come up against a deep block irrespective of who our manager is.

It's the price of success.

And the next manager will be less adept at dealing with it.
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Will he though?
 
waspish said:
Hahaha it’s mad how people react to make a point! Oh Everytime we went head to head let in the season we beat them to the title playing that high line! Don’t fans get it the high line is why we won what we have! If you don’t think that sorry your dumb!
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We also pressed incessantly. What's actually dumb is how you keep making points that lack any context in order to make Pep seem infallible.
 
domalino said:
That's not what you said. You said you wanted to be entertained.

If you just want change for the sake of change, fine, but you should be prepared that whoever comes in after Pep does not deliver the exciting football you say you want.
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Eh? It’d have to be different anyway? Surely we all want to be entertained?

And once again, with the second paragraph you may as well have said “be careful what you wish for” lol, I’m quite aware there are no guarantees mate but it’s like I said he’s going sooner than later anyway and most people accept it’s unlikely he will do more than the 1 year he has left on his deal so I’m quite happy to have the change this summer.
 
jrb said:
It’s not just the boredom during matches, it’s not changing tactics, making the same tactical mistakes over again, and not changing our style of play when it needs changing during games.

There have been numerous things highlighted throughout the season like City constantly playing the high line which has killed us and costs us wins and points throughout the season, which we are still playing now.
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I actually think apart from the fact it is a disaster defensively the high line tends to squeeze all the players into a third of the pitch making it difficult for the likes of Haaland, Marmoush and Semenyo, none of whom possess a good first touch. It's OK with players like Silva, Agüero etc al.

Pep's keen on using the full width of the pitch, I would argue with our current players it would make sense to use the full length of the pitch.
 
robbieh said:
I actually think apart from the fact it is a disaster defensively the high line tends to squeeze all the players into a third of the pitch making it difficult for the likes of Haaland, Marmoush and Semenyo, none of whom possess a good first touch. It's OK with players like Silva, Agüero etc al.

Pep's keen on using the full width of the pitch, I would argue with our current players it would make sense to use the full length of the pitch.
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I think we’ve been pretty solid defensively bar a couple individual mistakes. The main issues have been a midfield that’s stretched thin and overloaded in transition and a front line that either struggles to create quality chances or doesn’t finish the chances created.

Ideally we would use the whole pitch, but most teams we play against in the league aren’t interested in using anything more than their own half so they can hit us on the counter or use set pieces. Occasionally, the selections don’t fit how the games usually play out. 2 of Haaland, Marmoush and Semenyo shouldn’t be playing against the low blocks like you said and we should use two of Cherki, Foden and Doku instead.
 
robbieh said:
I actually think apart from the fact it is a disaster defensively the high line tends to squeeze all the players into a third of the pitch making it difficult for the likes of Haaland, Marmoush and Semenyo, none of whom possess a good first touch. It's OK with players like Silva, Agüero etc al.

Pep's keen on using the full width of the pitch, I would argue with our current players it would make sense to use the full length of the pitch.
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The high line is not a disaster defensively.

We've had the highest line defence in every season pep's been here (except this one, Arsenal's is about 2ft higher) and over that time we've had the best defensive record by a mile. Over 50 fewer goals conceded than anyone else and 7 more clean sheets.
 
supercity88 said:
West Ham, Forest, Spurs have all taken points from us by letting us have the ball and sitting deep. We can't change the opposition's style when it's effective against us - even Real Madrid did it. We need to work out how to beat sides that do it, but there were plenty of times even in our best periods where we had to bore our way to a result by playing chess with the opposition. It wasn't always exciting fluid football.
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You make a good point. A key difference between then and now was the presence of the likes of Merlin and KdB, who both knew how to split a defence open, and Yaya who could bust one open on one of his runs.

These guys don’t grow on gooseberry bushes, unfortunately. The nearest we have to those lock-pickers now is Cherki, but he spends most of his time on the naughty step. Doku can take out defenders in a different way. Others are mostly timid, crab-like, wasteful, different style and/or simply lesser talents.

I’ve said it before but I believe Cherki can be our next David Silva if managed well. If Pep stays beyond the year end - which is by no means certain- I pray they learn to live together more positively. If he goes, Cherki will have his chance to come out of the shadows.
 
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Gumzy97 said:
The solution is on the bench most weeks, Cherki like Kev, Cherki can break low blocks with his passing and intelligence. He's got the most assists this season and he's mostly on the bench. When we looked great this season he was key to opening those defences
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I know Pep has said he feels the balance is off with Cherki starting, but somehow he needs to build the team to cover that, because he has to play. He's our only creative spark and has to be carried if that's what it takes for us to create more. I feel like the team could benefit in watching some Fernandinho videos - go wipe the opposition out if they're about to counter. Stop watching them pass around us with ease.
 
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