I hope they do, I hope it puts pressure on the fans to make some proper noise on Sunday and we come out and do it.The media will no doubt focus more on his comments about the atmosphere and while I'm sure he does want more from the fans, he's clearly making these statements because he wants a reaction from the players who he feels have lost some of their hunger after what they've won in the last five years. He barely mentions the fans in the post-match press conference, it's all about the players and the club as a whole.
I think what Pep gains the most satisfaction from as a manager, other than the trophies of course, is to see his team playing with all the principles he believes in or as he likes to say "being ourselves" and right now he's not seeing it. Pep has always maintained that he will only leave if the players stop responding to him and it looks like that's what's happened with quite a few of our squad, even if it's only subconsciously with a lot of them.
It's incredibly reassuring to hear our manager, who has already achieved so much in the game and perhaps more relevantly in this league, is still as hungry as ever and so clearly determined to turn this around. It's what gives me confidence that, whether it be this season or next, we'll get back to our usual high standards and possibly be even better than what we've seen in the past.
One thing is for sure, I wouldn't swap Pep for any other manager in the world and every fan of every other club is waiting for the day he leaves City because despite all the money jibes they know he's the best in the business.
Not seen it yet . Just got in , but I can imagine what he's getting at. The amount of tickets being sold/given away today was absolutely embarrassing. I'm leaving my self wide open for abuse here now but the majority of people in the ground today wernt up for it. They couldn't be arsed. Neither could the team 1st half. Is it complacency? Is it the aftermath of the derby? Is it the cheap price of season cards that people can just fuck it off when they can't be arsed? I don't know but what I do know is that it was a shit effort from our fans today. There were over 30 seats empty near me in SS3 and that's not people not buying tickets, it's from season card holders who couldn't be arsed. Couldn't be arsed against Tottenham , one of our biggest rivals who actually made an effort and sold 3 tiers of away tickets for a 400 mile round trip on a Thursday night.
Its clear that he picked the 11 out of those he views as the most hungry players. Think he will pick the same team vs Wolves (except maybe Dias for Akanji). Some really big names on the bench, and its obviously related to his post match comments. We already know its likely that Gundogan and Bernardo leaves in the summer. But it could be more. I worry especially about KDB and Foden. The rest are easier to replace imo (Laporte, Cancelo, Bernardo). It might be only a few or it might be an exodus. It all depends on how they react to Peps challenge.It was so reassuring on so many levels. Firstly that we’ve been right in our assessment of certain players and the team in general. We’ve been spot on to question the desire. It’s also reassuring because it gives me great hope that we’ll come back eventually. I don’t know when, probably not this season, but some point in the near future we will properly challenge for the title again. Purely because we have Pep and he is incredible. A lot of these players need to be sold and I think we have a very interesting summer in store for us. The sales will be very revealing.