I'd like a guy who when Pep fucks up the line-up takes the bull by the horns and takes charge on the pitch.Im the opposite because I know exactly what Kane is. He's very good, 30 goals a season in a good year.
Haaland is a goal/game, 40 goals a season striker at 20 before Pep gets his hands on him and to me thats the most exciting prospect since he got his hands on a 20 year old Messi. I have no idea how good he could get. He could genuinely be the one guy who replicates Messi and Ronaldo's scoring numbers.
We can't really lose short term, whichever we get will be fantastic and solve our biggest issue, but with Haaland there's just this sense of something special. I think you've said it yourself earlier in the year - against PSG last year, Sevilla this year, City this year - when he gets the ball the atmosphere changes. Defenders shit themselves, even in an empty stadium you can hear people (the benches, media etc.) Go quiet because wherever it is on the pitch he could do something incredible.
Also next year is going to be a revenge tour. Every single game is going to be this squad unleashing built up rage thats bottled up from last night and is going to ferment all summer. I expect us to be fucking scary again, like in 2017-2019 and be twatting clubs 7 and 8-0 like we did back then. Haaland is a City fan, he might play for another club but he is a City fan and I guarantee he feels like we do, and he will be on that wavelength.
If we get Kane I'll not complain for a second, we will be absolutely frightening for a few seasons. He has his own hunger and will probably get on the wavelength quick. I think in 3 and a bit years time we will be looking around Europe for the next striker to spend £150m+ on to replace Kane we will have some regrets, but it probably won't be Pep's problem by then.
Firstly, I have to say that I think the success of this season is down to Pep more than any other at City so far. What a fantastic job he did to kickstart the team after an iffy start and navigate the team through such a challenging season playing pretty much every few days.Sorry, I simply don't agree. Gundogan has played DM successfully loads of times and Sterling at least troubled them. Might as well blame Bernie and Kevin for being pretty ineffective. We lost because our players from front to back didn't perform to their best level and Chelsea did.
Whilst I don't think Pep 'fucked up' I do believe that the tactics and shape applied by Tuchel is perfect for strangling us - certainly a huge factor in why our players didn't perform. We would have been beaten irrespective of what DM was in place. We didn't exactly look a different team when Fern came on and Gundo pushed forward.
The problem for Pep which will not go away is how does he change what we usually do to beat Chelsea.
Mate, you might be right, so might I. Its all about opinions and you have set yours out in an intelligent and thoughtful way without attacking the manager and the players. Follow through on the logic that most believe that playing our 'usual' team of of the 4 at back, Fern/Rodri in front and then an attacking 5 of Gundo/Bernie/Phil/Kev/Mahrez we would have won that game. I really don't think we would. Maybe Fern would have stopped the goal - difficult to see because it was a ball from deep into the channel. Maybe our front 5 would have gelled better. What I do know is that it would not made one jot of difference to Chelsea tactics.Firstly, I have to say that I think the success of this season is down to Pep more than any other at City so far. What a fantastic job he did to kickstart the team after an iffy start and navigate the team through such a challenging season playing pretty much every few days.
But.............I think Pep has to carry the can partly at least for how the game went last night. He has mentioned himself in the past the truism that you learn far more from your defeats, and how they are essential if you want to improve. For me, the one thing he hasn't learned is that, no matter how much he can justify his reasoning for making whatever selection/tactical tweaks he makes in these CL games, the end result is invariably a poor performance which ends in the team going out with a whimper.
Cases in point: Liverpool, Lyon and last night. With Liverpool he tweaked things moving Gundogan into an unfamiliar role I think because he was concerned about the lack of control in the 4-3 when they had a wild spell. End result, a pretty limp showing where the tie was effectively over after 30 minutes. Regards Lyon it's clear with hindsight he had obvious misgivings about the ability of the defence to deal with them (probably with justification). But the setup was still something relatively alien to the players and the game was a total clusterfuck, let's be honest. Last night wasn't ridiculous, it was very attacking in theory and of course Gundo has played there before, but not regularly for quite some time. It's just the little things putting players out of the positions where they have been in a groove prior to last night......Foden moved from left wing where he has been settling in nicely over the past dozen games or so and Gundo moved from his POTY performance-worthy position.
I have no idea about football coaching but I do know a bit about psychology and what goes on inside an athlete's head at times when the stakes are highest. You don't want to be thinking about tweaks to your normal game when you are already trying to cope with all the other things potentially taking you out of the zone. As much as we might say winning the league is the most important thing the majority of the squad have done it multiple times now, as players they will be desperate to win the CL which brings the most pressure in their minds. The proof is in the pudding - CL, high stakes, change to regular tactics, lame performance. It'd be different if the performance was good. @twosips sums it up perfectly in his post mortem.
Whilst we may indeed have lost with Ferna or Rodri as DM you can't say for sure and by the time Ferna came on the players had just watched Kev exit the field in tears. As much as he was having a mare he is still the team talisman, panic and bewilderment began to set in, both on the field and the bench after that. Game was a bogey.
Anyway, sorry for the long-winded reply. For what it's worth I think you are an extremely knowledgeable poster, we're on similar wavelengths as I find myself agreeing with the vast majority of your posts, not a bad thing to see some things differently though :-)
So he isn’t as “ruthless” as some suggest.
Everyone is hurting at the moment but in the cold light of day, people should rightly look back on the season as a stunning success. We have won the PL title, which should always be enough for any football fan, of any club. If you expect more than that, you will never be happy.
Totally with you on all that. There's every chance playing the same team as the semis would lose too, and sorting out how we play against that system is surely going to be at the forefront of Pep's thinking.Mate, you might be right, so might I. Its all about opinions and you have set yours out in an intelligent and thoughtful way without attacking the manager and the players. Follow through on the logic that most believe that playing our 'usual' team of of the 4 at back, Fern/Rodri in front and then an attacking 5 of Gundo/Bernie/Phil/Kev/Mahrez we would have won that game. I really don't think we would. Maybe Fern would have stopped the goal - difficult to see because it was a ball from deep into the channel. Maybe our front 5 would have gelled better. What I do know is that it would not made one jot of difference to Chelsea tactics.
He tweaked on Saturday and it didn't work. He has had three shots this season at beating Tuchel with the same outcome irrespective of the players he has fielded. What does he do next season? Play the way we always play with a settled team or tweak more and more. Interesting to see which and the outcome. Of course all bets are off if we sign a world class striker. We just need to bang it up to the big man ;-)
Pep makes the calls and ultimately he carries the can. The worrying thing is that certain Managers e,g Solskaer (god knows why) ,and now Tuchel just seem to be able to beat his teams . Pep cannot seem to change the destiny of a game part way through. No impact subs. No Plan B . We were screwed pretty much after Chelsea scored.
Yeh, I’d prefer Haaland of the two. Age, pace and that human wrecking ball capability has huge appeal. The shoulders and upper back shape and strength are like something out of a Marvel comic. Yesterday was more a failing of the system, in respect of the specific questions that Chelsea ask, than the personnel for me and I’m not persuaded fully by the argument that we would have won for sure had we started Ferna over Raz. I think we’d have done better, but I still wouldn’t have wanted to afford us more than a 50:50 shout. Either way, if we are to ever win the CL then we will need the attributes that either Haaland or Kane possess, at some point
Read again our exchange from December. I was perfectly right that we were going to get better and win the PL, you were completely wrong that we were declining under Pep.
And I was perfectly right also that those who thought Pep was finished and we were declining under him were fucking stupid.