If he's not going to get us any closer to the CL (I agree, btw), then why the fuck should we be going for him? It's precisely these kind of players we need to be avoiding. We need to be going for the best young footballers as we build again.
Someone hit the nail on the head before, this is the kind of player we'd be going for back when we looking to break top four, and making initial strides. We've outgrown players of this standing; just reeks of another Phillips.
I'm hoping it's just unfounded gossip.
Feels increasingly clear that targeting Maddison is an example of a pattern emerging ever stronger from a familar Pep mantra.
This is to primarily focus on signings who are not necessarily the best available player, or fit with their football intelligence and technical abilities. Those latter attributes are needed but this seems about targeting those WILLING TO ACCEPT WHAT PEP WANTS AND WORK FOR HIM.
I am certain some of us already realised this and I happened to hear this almost blatantly be referenced, without being said directly, on The Athletic Football Podcast’s episode on Cancelo’s departure by Pol Ballus, often appearing on the Why Always Us pod, and who literally wrote arguably “the book” on Pep.
The increase in Pep’s desire for new players or keeping those most like this feels hard to not see related to what’s happened with a few of our players with serious grumblings that have come most to light the past few seasons. We can list them:
Cancelo
Bernardo
Laporte
Sterling
Foden (??)
Walker
Mahrez
The last player we understand as currently on Pep’s “happy flowers” list, but he sure wasn’t at the start of this season, nor with some fans, and we know of moments in the past in the squad (KDB) even if that was resolved well. I heard Sam Lee suggest his personality as closest to Cancelo about being dropped.
We’ve brought in:
Halland
Gomez
Alvarez
Phillips
Grealish
Ake
Rico Lews is starting at 18. We heavily targeted Kane.
Why?
What Pep wants is more “nice guys” who are also hard workers and skilled in the right way. We should really call this more accurately workers with high levels of Social Emotional Learning (S.E.L.) skill / intelligence.
Like any manager he needs buy in from those under your supervision to your leadership to be most effective and I suspect he’s worn out on that sort of thing. He almost left before signing due to this.
I can see why. Playing for City currently requires you to become a “disciple” of the gospel of Pep. This is because the requirement to make it in such a complex and technical system with heavy rotation also needed to keep it functioning well in 4 competitions is THAT much higher than it is at other levels and under many other managers.
That’s it really. Is this going to work? We shall see, but I am hopeful.
We should not forget the emerging players here who can fill in those who will or have left in Alvarez, Foden, Lewis, Grealish, Ake and arguably Akanj.
