Comparing us to Bayern

[ono]

Yeah Coman was brilliant last night!

His goal was brilliant. He was awesome at the weekend too.

 

[Walking on the blue moon]

This is a very thorough analysis! Agree with most of your points, but then it is just one match. Like others had said, Pep changes formation and the players he used in that in accordance to the characteristics of his team and those of the opposition. Thus no definite conclusions can be drawn on the roles our players will play next season.

I can see KDB playing like Muller too, though some work still needs to be done, in particular on improving his already impressive goal record. He and Muller share the amazing trait of finding space and appearing in the most threatening positions. They may not have the best technique, but it is more than enough enough to evade opposition defenders.But I'm getting ahead of myself. Maybe Pep will decide to play a no. 10 after all. Who knows?

Perhaps Yaya will stay if he and Pep can get past some past grudges, and if his git of an agent behaves. ;) But if Pep finds a holding midfielder more in the ilk of Alonso and Busquets, he may have to accept a squad role, or even be sold.

Maybe Sterling can become dynamic enough under Pep. I like his attitude and think his willingness to improve may pay off under the best guidance.

You forgot about Thiago though. While he did not play much yesterday, he is an integral part of Bayern's midfield, arguably more important than Vidal (though it may be a perception clouded by my preference). And then there was the Barca model. All these may shed some light on Silva's and Nasri's role next season. I don't know if it is more of a hopeful speculation or not, but I think Silva plays more and more like top of a midfield three in recent years.

Our central defence probably needs more calmness.

Morata was brilliant last night! And Coman has been a revelation this season.

 

[Maldeika]

I can see KDB playing like Muller too, though some work still needs to be done, in particular on improving his already impressive goal record. He and Muller share the amazing trait of finding space and appearing in the most threatening positions. They may not have the best technique, but it is more than enough enough to evade opposition defenders.But I'm getting ahead of myself. Maybe Pep will decide to play a no. 10 after all. Who knows?

Müller is so much Müller - unique guy and playing style. Let KdB be KdB - he is so talented that Guardiola will make use for him.

I do not know who watched the CL on BT Sport yesterday. There was an interview from Hargreaves with a lot of Bayern players and officials - part of it is about Guardiola's work.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Nothing wrong with most of your points but it's all irrelevant as Pep isn't Pellegrini, he doesn't have one way of playing and then tries to shoehorn players into the side, we'll sign players with the attributes hee thinks are key and we'll tailor thee team based on the players we have, their strengths and weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition.

 

[Balti]

we're not in their league right now that's for sure

 

[Kompany is King]

Pep will be tested. But he agreed to come knowing that.

It will be interesting. Very.

Pre-season training will be key for a fast, successful league start. Not sure with Euros etc & trip to China will help. No Winter break either.

Pep as City manager. Fantastic. Just incredible. Let it sink in, Pep will be City manager.

 

[hutton who blue]

Drink it in. I can hardly wait myself.

 

[citymad]

Plus the work rate will increase by a huge amount

Which is why some of our over 30 players may not feature in many games or be at the club much longer. I can see a lot of changes coming up with some young, hungry and technically gifted players. The poor performances this season suggests this squad has run its course.

 

[inbetween]

Pep will be tested. But he agreed to come knowing that.

It will be interesting. Very.

Pre-season training will be key for a fast, successful league start. Not sure with Euros etc & trip to China will help. No Winter break either.

Pep as City manager. Fantastic. Just incredible. Let it sink in, Pep will be City manager.

The most exciting thing about Pep is the energy and drive he will bring. Pellegrini seems to have this acceptance air around him now where it doesn't really matter what happens. With Pep against Norwich he would be chucking everything at these players and not just sitting there allowing it to happen. He would not stand for the shambles we have become the last couple of months because that reflects on him too.

 

[Akira]

A fixed formation is irrelevant with Pep. He will pin-point the strengths and weaknesses of our teams and adapt towards it, just like he did with Bayern. We can only expect that he will instill a form of discipline, patience and work ethic into the team, which I think are far more important for the team right now.

 

[ojeme]

I watched them last night with interest to see how they would line up and to see if we could replicate their system with what we currently have at the club. I know Pep often changes and tweaks his system (which he did in the 2nd half) but it was interesting to compare them and us, player for player to try and gauge which of our current squad might stay and prove their worth.

Firstly Neuer was obviously in goal, and he was a total calamity last night. He
cost them one goal and should have cost
them another one (which was disallowed). He's a great shot stopper and is very commanding but he also causes problems with how much he interferes with the actual game. His kicking and his distribution last night looked fairly average, which is most people's worry with Hart.

They played with a back four, although both full backs were more in line with Alonso. Kimmich and Benatia were the two centre backs, and both were awful. Kimmich is a midfielder really and Benatia is never in a millon years good enough to play for Bayern. Having said
that, Juve countered brilliantly. They were flanked by Lahm and Alaba. Alaba had a shocker, getting caught on the ball a lot, but in the second half he ended playing centre back for a while when Alonso came off for Coman. Despite his bad game, Alaba is a level or two above what we have. Lahm was steady and
obviously has a great brain on him.

In line with the advanced full backs was Alonso who almost slotted into the back 2 to make a 3. He had an ineffective game and was replaced. From our current squad, only Yaya could really offer that he offers, but he might not have the
discipline to stay so deep all game. I think it is worth a try though personally.

Ahead of Alonso was Vidal, Muller (centrally) and Ribery and Costa (wide). The closest thing to Vidal in our current set up is probably Fernandinho. They have a lot of similar qualities. Muller is a
confusing one because he basically is a forward really. He played behind Lewandowski but he was in the box an awful lot. He almost looks like a number 9 playing in a number 10's position. Maybe De Bruyne can do this for us, or even Yaya. I don't see anybody else carrying a big enough goal threat to do it.

Out wide is where it was interesting and it made me realise we are a million miles behind what they have. Costa, Ribery, Coman and Robben are all top drawer. Last night it was Costa and Ribery to begin with. They just have abilities that we don't have. They played as inverted
wingers so they cut in, but rather than cut in and shoot (Costa still did that) they tended to cut in and play a diagonal. They did this time and time again. When they crossed the ball, they absolutely fizzed it at head height. Nobody in our
current set up has that ability, nor do any of the wide players have the combination
of the technical ability, explosiveness and physicality to actually go past an opponent like he isn't there.

When they took off Alonso and changed their shape a little, Coman came on and was exceptional (as he was at the weekend when he got 3 assists against
Bremen). He has a diretcness about him that i wish Sterling had (or maybe Sterling would have if he played on the right). Pep put Coman and Costa next to eachother so Coman offered the outside threat, and Costa offered the coming inside threat. It's a far cry from Navas and Sagna fighting for the same space.

Up top, Lewandowski and Aguero, there isn't much difference. Lewandowski is better in the air but Aguero is more explosive.

So in conclusion, i don't think we need as
big a clearout as i initially did, but it did
leave me scratching my head a bit regarding Sterling, Silva, Nasri and maybe even De Bruyne . Unless De Bruyne plays a Muller sort of role i don't see where he fits in. I can't see where Silva honestly plays and same for Nasri. I can see
Sterling maybe playing on the right where Coman was playing. He doesn't have the
ability to play on the left and play the diagnoal with any form of consistency just yet (maybe he will).

Defensively, Otamendi and Kompany are both better than what they have. Even Mangala isn't much worse. Based on last night this is what i can honestly see..

--------------------------Hart------------------------

--------------Kompany--------Otamendi----------
New RB-----------------Yaya-------------------New LB
------------------------Fernandinho------------------
----Sterling-----------------------------------New Winger
-------------------De Bruyne------------------------------
--------------------------Aguero------------------------

With the biggest remaining question mark being over Sterling and De Bruyne and how suited they would both be. Given what we have paid for them, i can see this sort of formation being tried for a while. I sadly can't really see where Silva plays which is gutting.

Anybody else watch the game and see where they think he could play?

EDIT: I might try and do this type of analysis for Bayern's remaining games (when possible).

here's what I think will come close to a strong-as-bayern first 11, including new signings:

Hart
Zabaleta Kompany Otamendi Clichy
Fernandinho Gundogan
Coman Pogba Reus
Aguero

*Back four not the strongest but with
greater flexibility that Pep shows, we can have Sagna covering at CB, Fern and Delph being tried at RB and LB respectively, Denayer used at RB and CB
*Pogba would play deeper or further up depending on opposition and we can always make changes to his position as games progress based on how things are going e.g. if we are trying to see out a lead, he can be asked to play deeper
*2 wide men to always stretch the opposition. This is one area where you would hardly see available top notch players. We really need these sort of players even more than we need FBs in my opinion but let's all see what the boss is up to

Ono, what do you think?

 

[Javi Garcia's Hairstylist]

One thing I really liked - late on Bayern had a throw in and Pep ran up to their player like an absolute madman. Here! Throw it in right now! Throw it to him!

And it worked. They did it quickly and retained possession as Juve had not set up yet to defend it.