Pep's rebuilding job. Pep's City Mk II

Pell said:
I'm a bit concerned about this. We seem to have a problem with information leaking out of the club, the 2013 FA Cup final buildup was dominated by Mancini's future, Pellegrini's third and last season was hampered by speculation regarding Pep, to the point the club had to officially announce it in January. All of that had negative effects on the team, so this is not a good sign. I really hope Pep's future does not become an unnecessary sideshow from now to the end of the season, otherwise this could end up being a repeat of the last season under Pellegrini.
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Is it information leaking out?

or is it speculative rumour-headlines, with selective loosely coincidental timing?

Following the derby loss, our up and down form, and pep's somewhat subdued attitude, i expect plenty of speculation to build.

But if we take pep at his word, if the club don't sack him, he will (at least) see out his contract.

And why on earth would the club sack him. If Pellegrini's reported target of 5 trophies in 5 years stands as the benchmark of the club's ambition, then pep with 7 trophies in 3 years is doing well. Still with a chance of winning 3 this year, and a mathematical chance of 4 (however unlikely).

I believed last season we could win the champions league. We strengthened our one obvious weakness (cover for dinho), so with the same team, i certainly believe we can win it this year too. despite a few poor performances. our biggest issue is being wasteful in front of goal. Sharpen up the finishing, the rest will fall into place.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
I believe it is called “managing expectations.” The CL is far from over, but we are hemorrhaging goals, so that’s going to require, oh, some COACHING?!


I read that as injuries, but it could also be an allusion to VAR. Either way, HE is the one that picks the squad, trains the players, and runs the system. I love him to bits as a thinker, but his stubbornness appears to be getting in his way.


We have never gone the full 25 thing, because Pep doesn’t want a squad that big, because you can’t keep 25 world class players happy! Instead, he has always chosen a REAL squad of 16-17 players...the team & the bench...and made sure players can cover multiple positions.

He believes that a REAL FOOTBALLER can play in almost any position. He has said his ideal footballer is Fernandinho, and he would like 11 of them. Believe him! Even Fernandinho admitted he has played 7 different positions under Pep!

Pep wants technical expertise FIRST. From there, he wants to teach you his system. Then, he needs you to understand every position in that system, so that with the constant movement of the ball, you know where the space is AND you know where all the other players should be in the system.

As I said post-Derby, “predictable patterns blunted.” We are struggling because it feels like the players are going through the motions. The system is there for them to fall back on, but if it is not quick enough, crisp enough, exact enough, then it becomes much easier to blunt by cutting off those passing lanes. The ball is moved, the players move. The ball moves, the players move. If you can read that system, and the pattern of the vast majority of that play, then even a Sunday league team with enough energy and drilling can close those lanes, stifle that ball movement, and eventually start overcoming and breaking down the system.

We have struggled against two types of teams: 11 man defence & the high energy, shut you down, not a minutes peace teams. Combine the two (which is rare) and we look bang average!

The system is good, but the execution has looked stale far too often. Newcastle was poor, but we bounced back at a Burnley, only to be exposed at home in the Derby.

We have been living ofc the “we will score more than you” mentality of the Keegan days recently, but it is simply catching up with us. We used to be playing keep away for the last 20 minutes of most games for the last few seasons. This year, we are expending all our energies to claw back a draw or find that killer goal to allow us to breathe. Both sap the energy in the last 30 mins, both mentally and physically.


I don’t believe City will do much, if anything, unless the absolute right player for the next 6-10 years becomes available. Laporte will be back soon, as will Zinchenko, so I don’t foresee any panic buys.

However, I can see where the summer might be one of £200-250M in purchases, with £150M coming in for players.

All that said, even with the dip in form from exquisite to above average and “only” 3rd in the table (Chelsea, Utd, Spurs & Arsenal all trailing us, some significantly), the last decade have been the best time to be Blue EVER IN OUR HISTORY, and I’m not ready to ignore that or announce its end.

The future is Blue.
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Great post
 
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OntarioBlue said:
Great post
Click to expand...
Post of the week....I am concerned that Pep is either a) in denial over the urgency to review tactics and to get in a top class CB ...or b) is so disillusioned with dodgy reffing / VAR / UEFA treatment of our club that he is on the point of chucking in the towel.....

I would love to be proved wrong, btw as I love the guy
 
ChicagoBlue said:
I believe it is called “managing expectations.” The CL is far from over, but we are hemorrhaging goals, so that’s going to require, oh, some COACHING?!


I read that as injuries, but it could also be an allusion to VAR. Either way, HE is the one that picks the squad, trains the players, and runs the system. I love him to bits as a thinker, but his stubbornness appears to be getting in his way.


We have never gone the full 25 thing, because Pep doesn’t want a squad that big, because you can’t keep 25 world class players happy! Instead, he has always chosen a REAL squad of 16-17 players...the team & the bench...and made sure players can cover multiple positions.

He believes that a REAL FOOTBALLER can play in almost any position. He has said his ideal footballer is Fernandinho, and he would like 11 of them. Believe him! Even Fernandinho admitted he has played 7 different positions under Pep!

Pep wants technical expertise FIRST. From there, he wants to teach you his system. Then, he needs you to understand every position in that system, so that with the constant movement of the ball, you know where the space is AND you know where all the other players should be in the system.

As I said post-Derby, “predictable patterns blunted.” We are struggling because it feels like the players are going through the motions. The system is there for them to fall back on, but if it is not quick enough, crisp enough, exact enough, then it becomes much easier to blunt by cutting off those passing lanes. The ball is moved, the players move. The ball moves, the players move. If you can read that system, and the pattern of the vast majority of that play, then even a Sunday league team with enough energy and drilling can close those lanes, stifle that ball movement, and eventually start overcoming and breaking down the system.

We have struggled against two types of teams: 11 man defence & the high energy, shut you down, not a minutes peace teams. Combine the two (which is rare) and we look bang average!

The system is good, but the execution has looked stale far too often. Newcastle was poor, but we bounced back at a Burnley, only to be exposed at home in the Derby.

We have been living ofc the “we will score more than you” mentality of the Keegan days recently, but it is simply catching up with us. We used to be playing keep away for the last 20 minutes of most games for the last few seasons. This year, we are expending all our energies to claw back a draw or find that killer goal to allow us to breathe. Both sap the energy in the last 30 mins, both mentally and physically.


I don’t believe City will do much, if anything, unless the absolute right player for the next 6-10 years becomes available. Laporte will be back soon, as will Zinchenko, so I don’t foresee any panic buys.

However, I can see where the summer might be one of £200-250M in purchases, with £150M coming in for players.

All that said, even with the dip in form from exquisite to above average and “only” 3rd in the table (Chelsea, Utd, Spurs & Arsenal all trailing us, some significantly), the last decade have been the best time to be Blue EVER IN OUR HISTORY, and I’m not ready to ignore that or announce its end.

The future is Blue.
Click to expand...
I don't think City's mini-era is at an end either but we have got a little group of key players who have come to the end of their careers together and that was bound to cause some problems especially as it has coincided with injury.

We've been really unlucky with serious injuries. Mendy has been damaged almost to the point of no return and KDB is still not quite right.

I see plenty of people in the media and other football fans who are delighted by the turn of events but I wouldn't be surprised at all if City end up with another couple of trophies and CL qualification again. We'll have to get Laporte and Stones together though for that to happen.
 
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