I noticed how fresh Pep looks & how pleased he seems since pre-season. He's got a smile on him that says a thousand words.
Seeing Bernardo bouncing up & down on the sidelines waiting to come on during the Community Shield was another encouraging sign. He growled & made a fist gesture as he gee'd up his team mates to get back into the match. His first act was to lead by example by clattering a Rag player, & his second was to score the equaliser.
After asking Pep what he needed to do to get back into the team, Grealish acknowledges he fucked up at the end of our treble season. As opposed to last summer, this pre-season he had a quiet holiday away with his family, & then started pre-season training early with a personal trainer in an attempt to put a poor season behind him, & it's working.
I didn't pay much attention to the England matches, but fans & pundits are all saying what many of us are calling for, & that's for Grealish to play centrally, to allow our tricky, skillful wingers to tear the arse out of the opposition.
Rico (Zico)! What more can I say. He's been a revelation since pre-season! He's grown up loads, & you can see he no longer looks like a star struck EDS lad. He's now a player who feels he's good enough & tough enough to play for the first team.
Pep went ballistic at the squad last season for not protecting & sticking up for Zico when opposition players kept clattering him, to upset his momentum. The squad have responded & Rico has become far smarter when faced with broken nosed, cauliflower eared hatchet men who're trying to take him out.
The signing of Kovacic made little sense to most of us a year ago, but since pre-season he's making City fans think the unthinkable of "Rodri who?". He's been absolutely stellar for us so far, hence why I reckon we've not bothered with a CDM to challenge, rest & rotate with Rodders.
KDB & Haaland look fighting fit & back to their very best & look up for the scrap, & Savinho has been a revelation on the right, mirroring the devastating Doku on the left. I'm gutted for Bobb, as he was the star player during the USA tour, but he'll be back.
Gundog returning was just the icing on the cake. We know what he brings, & he looks like he's never been away & brings a calm assurance, which beautifully knits our play together.
There's no way the likes of Bernardo & Pep haven't been given the inside track on Barça's woes by the likes of Gundog, Cancelo, Garcia & Torres. I think they all now realise which side their bread's buttered, hence our staff being more settled at the Etihad & not being interested in options being offered elsewhere.
Added to Echeverri's arrival in January, & talk of City's interest in Musiala & Wirtz why on fuckin earth would Pep Guardiola walk away from all this potential, at a club challenging for everything & providing him with the tools & environment he needs to succeed?
This is why I think Pep keeps himself, the management, the owner & the players on their toes by only signing two year extensions. This way, it's difficult for anyone to get too comfortable & take anything for granted.
We've already seen the mental meltdown of Teeth over at Klanfield, & now it's Arteta & Slot machine who're tasked with taking Pep down. If anything, Guardiola looks more up for the scrap than I've ever seen him & long may it continue.
As for City fans? Please stop thinking & talking about life after Pep, & just enjoy the master at work during City's golden era.
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