That Chelsea defeat felt utterly devastating. As you say we have done remarkably well to recover from that game, and its consequences in terms of morale and suspensions. We are now the form team in the Premier league with 4 wins on the bounce. Guardiola has done a good job in managing a difficult period, and even though we were getting some bad results, the players stayed behind the manager which was a very good sign. I really like the way that players who are out of favour eg Toure or Aguero, for a while, come back stronger. That shows a good spirit at the club
Completely agree, the unity and work ethic of the team is fantastic. The "togetherness", as I poster wrote in here, which was highlighted by Guardiola himself after the recent Cup match. I really like the sound of that phrase of yours, provides a very interesting perspective. If I'm being honest, I will say that I think players do have doubts regarding the overall ballance of our strategy on the pitch. Our defensive behaviour is not the best, and leaving aside refs' policy for a moment, only people who have played football can understand the frustration of dropping points in matches such as vs Everton, Boro, Spurs etc. You simply cannot accept those results, it bloody hurts. Or losing the match vs Chelsea on the break, when even a 3-0 scoreline would seem flattering for Conte's team, we were clearly better. But I also think players have realised 2 things:
1. The manager did not have the necessary time to fix everything in his 1st year at the club. There's a very interesting article on ESPN on that subject, the amount of time available to coaches managing clubs with European duties, with a lot of international players etc. It's based on an Anceloti interview -and notice that the guy works in a 18 team league, for Guardiola it's worse: 20 teams, 2 Cups! It may sound odd, but as far as I am concerned, pretty much everything is determined during preseason, in the process the team simply gets more and more familiar with concepts, ideas, patterns of play etc introduced in the summer. It's all down to the decisions you make at that period -and, of course, the quality of the training methodology to implement them. You make the wrong decisions then and / or you lack the necessary knowledge to make them reality, you're fucked for good, period. Check City's schedule and you'll understand what I mean, the training time available as the season progresses is extremely limited. And yes, I do believe that Guardiola put the emphasis on our attacking game, changing our style -which is understandable.
2. Our defensive weaknesses are seriously associated with personnel limitations to a degree. I'm not going to discuss names in this post, I respect all of our players as human beings, I really do. But I do believe this: Certain players in the squad already know they won't continue as City's players next season. I believe they know they lack what is needed to continue under Guardiola, even nothing has been said. They just know it -and simply accept reality...
Having said all that, I will repeat it again and again, players do enjoy the team's style of play, it gets the best out of them (how many players have shown significant improvement individually since last season?), I really believe they enjoy playing football under Guardiola. So, in the process they have accepted his strategy despite the high risk involved, it's worth it...
Finally, there's no doubt the manager has earned their respect with his personality and character. Players may not be intelectuals, still they do have eyes and ears, you know, and will appreciate honesty and decency in the process. They know how that scum managing United has behaved towards his players, for example. People have been victimised there, haven't they? I mean I thought I knew Mourinio, but I still cannot believe the way he treated Shaw, for example. It was shocking, it still is to me. The guy was publicly humiliated for failing to close down Amrabat. Let me repeat that: Shaw became the scapegoat in United's defeat vs Watford. Why? Because he did not advance 10y denying space to Amrabat, in the play leading to Watford's 2nd goal. That's it. Shaw took the whole blame. Publicly. Not to mention LVG's legacy, of course, the source of all negativity surrounding the club. I have never ever experienced anything like that, and I will never forget it. How low can a man be?
On the other hand, Guardiola has consistently been honest and decent. Never has he complained about a player of his, on the contrary he overprotects them in the media. Recently he has even said that perhaps he's not good enough for them. The guy loves his players, he loves working with them, as simple as that. One could perhaps argue that he respects them too much maybe, even behind the scenes, even in private. Not me, I completely understand him. Personally I feel the same, they are all good lads. Everybody. I mean I honestly cannot find one cynical bastard in that squad, just one. On the contrary, I think we are way too innocent, even naive at times, compared to Chelsea, for example. But it's OK with me. I want City to continue walking in that path, make a difference. I could never support a "dirty" team with an immoral / unethical approach of the game. Never have...
So the bottom line is that I do believe there is truth in that phrase of yours. Just that it wasn't as simple as it perhaps seems. Guardiola has earned it.
