Never doubt Pep

[OB1]

Again, don’t be so matter of fact the way you respond ffs, told you countless times about this…

lit was the wrong move and went against everything that had got us to that final, that isn’t myth but fact, despite the need to stick up for the decision what did the gut tell you before the match and seeing that lineup?? We are mere novice football fans, however he dropped a bollock and I’d say most would agree!

Rodri not being there does not excuse the rest of the team from underperforming as much as they did in the game and loads of people actually wanted Dinho there didn't they? Regardless, if either of them had started the final and the rest had given a similar level of performance, we would likely have still lost. The fact is, we do not know if they would have avoided stage fright.

Today does suggest though that Pep has learnt something because he definitely had a slightly different game plan today from that game and our last two games...

Pep will keep learning and he will keep trying variations on his main theme, of that I have no doubt.

 

[Xhavenjoe]

Your personal feelings prove little. It's funny you refer to them as evidence.

There was very few would have picked that team in the final. I felt as deflated as FantasyIreland did and we weren't playing. It was a poor team selection by Pep.
Personal feelings do count for something and definitely do if you're a member of the City team playing in the final and see Raheem Sterling in the starting line up.

 

[Sir peace frog]

That’s because the only player who’s been good enough to get regular starts in the first team is Foden.

Do you think any of the following players will have contributed to the same amount of trophies in the last five years as the much much much better players ahead of them did:
Enes Unal
Callum Bullock
Aaron Mooy
Billy O’Brien
Ellis Plummer
Ruben Sobrino
Joe Coveney
Olivier Ntcham
James Horsfield
Zacharias Faour
Jadon Sancho
Danzil Boadu
David Faupala
Shay Facey
Angeliño
Ashley Smith-Brown
Sadou Diallo
Jivairo Dilrusen
Bobby Duncan
Demaeceo Dehaney
Harold Essien
Pablo Maffeo
Divine Naah
Will Patching
Erik Serimiento
Pawel Sokol
Marcus Wood
Olarenwaju Kayode
Jacob Davenport
Angus Gunn
Pascal Kpohomouh
Benni Smales-Braithwait
Isaac Buckley-Ricketts
Rodney Kongolo
Yaw Yeboah
Ash Kigbu
Bersent Celina
Chidierbere Nwakali
Brahmin Dias
Edward Frances
Rabbi Matondo
Ryan Corrigan
Curtis Anderson
Luke Brattan
Tom Dele-Bashiru
Cameron Humphries
Aaron Nemane
Charlie Oliver
Lewis Thomas
Oaazee Aghatise
Sam Bellis
Pablo Mari
Owen Hesketh
Noah Ohio
Tom Midgley
Douglas Luiz
Brandon Barker
Colin Rosler
Jeremie Frimpong
Lorenzo Gonzales
Uriel Antuna
Ian Poveda
Henri Ogunby
Ernest Agyiri
Collins Tanor
Thierry Ambrose
Joe Snowdon
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru
Leojo Davidson
Fedel Ross-Laing
Delicious Correia
Paolo Fernandes
Charlie McNiell
Nabil Touaizi
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens
Felix Goddard
Aleix Garcia
Todin Adarabioyo
Joel Latibeaudiere
Mix Diskerud
Nathaniel Ogbeta
Tom Scott
Keyendrah Simmonds
D’Margio Wright-Phillips
Murphy Bennett
Andrian Bernabe
Henry Timi Davies
Daniel Grimshaw
Dylan Halliwell
Louie Moulden
Felix Nmecha
Cuban Philpott
Luca Thomas
Jack Harrison
James Wright
Pierce James
Lukas Nmecha
Ivan Ilic
Joe Hodge
Alpha Dionku
Harvey Griffiths

Most of these went to lower league clubs, other inferior leagues around the world or aren’t even in football anymore. And the few who may have had a very slim chance to be good enough had excellent players ahead of them in their position.

Why would we blood future League 1 and MLS players, and future taxi drivers and factory workers, into our first team when we try and win every single trophy we play in?

That group of lads who played against Wycombe were in the team because they aren’t like any of those names listed above, they are like Foden, simply worthy of being in the team because they are good enough.

Wow, great indept post

 

[FantasyIreland]

To explain their non-performances only with the formation and the manager is a bit simplistic.

Call it simplistic by all means,but we still had plenty in the tank (more than Chelsea anyway)so for Pep to change a winning formula and play into the oppositions hands with that weakened selection was criminal.

You don't start a game with plan B,and neither do you fix what isn't broken (IMO :-))

He got it wrong,he didnt give us our best chance of winning,and his reputation took a blow as a result.Hopefully such brainfarts are a thing of the past,and they do not blight what can become a legendary status.

 

[kippaxwarrior]

He drops a bollock from time to time but when he gets it right(which is more often than not) no one can lay a glove on us.

 

[malg]

He drops a bollock from time to time but when he gets it right(which is more often than not) no one can lay a glove on us.

Absolutely, and there is nothing wrong with calling him out for odd bollock dropped. We'll miss him when he goes.

 

[StockportJB76]

If City fans are going to criticise Pep they got a screw loose. He is by far our greatest manager and will be so difficult to replace when he leaves (note United's problems when Ferguson stepped down). Why even go into digs about team selections, etc! The team performance and style of play at Chelsea, with the effort and camaraderie of the team was exceptional and all I could wish for in a City team. Ferguson won two Champions Leagues in all those years with some exceptional players and numerous Academy products.
Pep wants us to be the biggest and best club in Europe and to create a legacy in terms of style of play and mentality. This is why he makes these comments. Some City fans need to not take these comments personally and to embrace these aims! It should also be noted that the club and its hierarchy want full stadiums and this will be part of the discussions and the top end of the club and this is what Pep is reflecting also.Unfortunately this is partly in reaction to the media campaign against us and we should not rise to their bait.
I am not going to judge Pep in terms of a Champions League victory. Mournino first spell at Chelsea produced one of the finest teams I have seen but no Champions League silverware. It did however create the foundations for Champions League success further down the line.But subsequent teams in my opinion were below the level of of this side. The best team does always win this competition.

So enjoy Pep, appreciate this great team! We don't know how lucky we are to have them!

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Of course it was,ive never been so confident of a trophy until that line up was announced.....then my heart sank and what had been an awesome day of prematch build up vanished in an instant.

We were/are better than Chelsea,and that game/result was a complete and utter clusterfuck

The warning lights were flashing against Brighton for me mate, not when the team was announced in the final. I think we’d gone at Brighton, nobody played well (Foden scored a cracker and was okay but that was about it).

The most difficult thing in sport is to get back up to a peak after you’ve already dipped from a peak, which was from December to March. But it had long gone in May. Rodri hadn’t played well for weeks leading up to the final, Dias was poor at the end of the season, Cancelo was very poor going back to the Leeds game in April… I think Pep felt he needed to change something. Sterling had always played well against Azpilaqueta, Gundogan has had magnificent games at 6 in the past… but in the final nobody played well other than Walker, and Jesus when he came on.

If anything needs to come into question with Pep, it’s not so much his team selection for the final, it’s not keeping the players up at the level needed in the final weeks of the season. But, again, it’s the most difficult thing to do trying to get back up to a peak after you’ve already dipped.

 

[Sir Joe Aguero]

If City fans are going to criticise Pep they got a screw loose. He is by far our greatest manager and will be so difficult to replace when he leaves (note United's problems when Ferguson stepped down). Why even go into digs about team selections, etc! The team performance and style of play at Chelsea, with the effort and camaraderie of the team was exceptional and all I could wish for in a City team. Ferguson won two Champions Leagues in all those years with some exceptional players and numerous Academy products.
Pep wants us to be the biggest and best club in Europe and to create a legacy in terms of style of play and mentality. This is why he makes these comments. Some City fans need to not take these comments personally and to embrace these aims! It should also be noted that the club and its hierarchy want full stadiums and this will be part of the discussions and the top end of the club and this is what Pep is reflecting also.Unfortunately this is partly in reaction to the media campaign against us and we should not rise to their bait.
I am not going to judge Pep in terms of a Champions League victory. Mournino first spell at Chelsea produced one of the finest teams I have seen but no Champions League silverware. It did however create the foundations for Champions League success further down the line.But subsequent teams in my opinion were below the level of of this side. The best team does always win this competition.

So enjoy Pep, appreciate this great team! We don't know how lucky we are to have them!

I’d bet every penny I had on us never having a better manager than Pep, but he dropped a bollock in the CL.

 

[OB1]

The warning lights were flashing against Brighton for me mate, not when the team was announced in the final. I think we’d gone at Brighton, nobody played well (Foden scored a cracker and was okay but that was about it).

The most difficult thing in sport is to get back up to a peak after you’ve already dipped from a peak, which was from December to March. But it had long gone in May. Rodri hadn’t played well for weeks leading up to the final, Dias was poor at the end of the season, Cancelo was very poor going back to the Leeds game in April… I think Pep felt he needed to change something. Sterling had always played well against Azpilaqueta, Gundogan has had magnificent games at 6 in the past… but in the final nobody played well other than Walker, and Jesus when he came on.

If anything needs to come into question with Pep, it’s not so much his team selection for the final, it’s not keeping the players up at the level needed in the final weeks of the season. But, again, it’s the most difficult thing to do trying to get back up to a peak after you’ve already dipped.

Teams can definitely have some problems of maintaining performance levels when they win the league early. Pep is all too aware of that from his time at Barca and I am sure he was trying to avoid it but it didn't work out.

The performance though against Everton was pretty good though so it really is hard to be sure about much.

I do think that the number of games played and the mental effort required to try and win all four trophies, and get withing three wins of doing so, has to be immense and draining, even for a large squad. The only possible game that we didn't appear in was the FA Cup final.

I know for a fact that Pep felt he needed to change something after two consecutive defeats to Chelsea and that he chose to go down a very attacking route (and TBF, albeit fine tuned, he still did that yesterday, with great success).

However, I am personally tired of coming back to that game and even more tired of feeling that our manager is simply wasted on some of our support.