He's not their manager though. He has only ever been their temporary manager. Their substitute teacher. This has been the problem. If these players aren't self motivating now with a CL semi round the corner, a battle for 4th and the best manager in World football incoming in a matter of weeks then how do you expect a caretaker manager to motivate them?
To relate it to industry, you're basically asking someone who's been fired/placed on gardening leave to motivate his staff. It wouldn't happen in industry. In industry the conduct of players like Toure would have resulted in the sack.
It's a fair point, and may explain some of the motivation issues in the last three months, and arguably even all this season. But it doesn't explain motivation issues last season. He certainly wasn't a supply teacher then.
In Sorriano's book he talks about how different types of managers are needed for different situations. The example he used was Rijkaard was too easy on the players, they became complacent, lazy and unprofessional in his last season. The group needed someone charasmatic, a disciplinarian that wouldn't accept anything but the highest standards. They narrowed it down to Mourinho or Guardiola. They went with Guardiola and he created the best team in history, won the treble in his first season out of the same core group of players that Rijkaard finished 3rd with the season before.
Yes Guardiola is a brilliant tactician, but he also got more out of the group because of his personality and man management style.
It was kind of the opposite when we replaced Mancini with Pellegrini. I was a huge Mancini fan, but his man management style was to be aloof, dismissive, exacting in his standards and would accept nothing but the best. This alienated and demotivated some players in his final season. When replacing him we needed the opposite, a manager that would come in and take it easy on the players, be nice, amiable, easy going.
Personality wise Pellegrini was probably a good appointment at the time. We had a hugely talented squad who just needed the pressure taken off, needed to be loved. It worked and we played some great football that season and won the league.
But just as Mancini should have altered his man management style in his final season, perhaps Pellegrini should have altered his in his final two. It's clear there have been countless games in the last two seasons where we have been an absolute shambles.
As I say, the tactical, selection and recruitment side have been argued to death, everyone has a different view. But when a majority of players are demotivated, seemingly not trying or making simple mistakes, that has to be a man management issue. I refuse to accept we've just got a really rotten bunch who don't give a fuck.
They are the most successful team in England over the last 5 years, they are highly talented, highly motivated, driven individuals. If one or two players are demotivated that's unlucky. If it's the majority of the squad, that's a management issue. Jupp Heynkes won the treble when he was the supply teacher.
We now find ourselves in the exact same situation that Barca found themselves in before Pep took over. A highly talented squad who are nowhere near reaching their potential. We have a star player who is influential in the dressing room who has let his standards drop and probably gone on one season too far (Ronaldinho / Yaya). That could possibly affect the dressing room.
The squad needs to raise it's standards, raise motivation, to introduce some youth to reinvigorate it, make it ambitious again, make them run harder than before. Guardiola couldn't be coming at a more perfect time for us.
