Pep Guardiola - 2020/21 Performances

[Tugay One Cup]

U18 champions, U23 champions, PL winners, Carabao cup winners, CL finalists - get a bloody grip; this forum is like pensioners' bingo with incessant moaning about what needs to be done. We are the team of the decade, smashing records galore, there really is not a lot that needs to be done differently to what has been done.

Although I totally agree with the gist of what you're saying, I think the problem for most people is that near the end of the season we'd finally worked out what was our strongest lineup and if we committed to that and lost then the manager wouldn't be catching anywhere near this level of flack. That being said, the player threads would all be ten times worse.

This is obviously a huge transfer window for us now and, although I don't think there's many changes that need to be made, a couple of top quality acquisitions will change the mood entirely.

 

[oldius]

Although I totally agree with the gist of what you're saying, I think the problem for most people is that near the end of the season we'd finally worked out what was our strongest lineup and if we committed to that and lost then the manager wouldn't be catching anywhere near this level of flack. That being said, the player threads would all be ten times worse.

This is obviously a huge transfer window for us now and, although I don't think there's many changes that need to be made, a couple of top quality acquisitions will change the mood entirely.

The forum is a nightmare if we don't win and that is not the club I support.

 

[carlosthejackal]

Some of the shit posted on here is embarrassing.

 

[samarasra]

We won the league despite Rodri not because of him, if he was as good as what you think he is and say he is then as a record transfer fee holder he would not be dumped for the clubs biggest games of the season for a 36 year old and then someone who has hardly played there this season. Pep has finally seen it. He’s now third choice. It’s nothing to do with form either as Sterling has been in shit form for the last few months yet started the clubs biggest game ever, another decision you will no doubt agree with as Pep made it and he’s won more trophies than me.

Rodri being part of a title winning team means fuck all on his individual abilities or contribution otherwise Darren Fletcher is one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history.

We won the league because of the strength of the collective, every one of them. Did Pep tell you he was "dumped" and what he "has finally seen", I think he sees what you cannot.
Sterling it appears was played for his strengths and was given game time in the past few matches in hope of restoring him to his best form, sadly it didn't work.
"Rodri being part of a title winning team means fuck all on his individual abilities or contribution otherwise Darren Fletcher is one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history." What a ridiculous comment from someone who follows a team sport. A PL winning team is a collection of individual players/staff whose combined and individual varieties of skills and strengths are better than any other team, over a season. I doubt Rodri will be sulking too much, that he's not considered a great player, as he polishes his medals knowing he will go down in the club's history as part of a great team. Likewise in years to come Fletcher's name will be in the Reds' history books as a member of what they remember as a great team, no one will care what our opinions of either are.

 

[leo_city]

Some of the shit posted on here is embarrassing.

You'd think we were relegated to Europa League after the loss

 

[samarasra]

Although I totally agree with the gist of what you're saying, I think the problem for most people is that near the end of the season we'd finally worked out what was our strongest lineup and if we committed to that and lost then the manager wouldn't be catching anywhere near this level of flack. That being said, the player threads would all be ten times worse.

This is obviously a huge transfer window for us now and, although I don't think there's many changes that need to be made, a couple of top quality acquisitions will change the mood entirely.

I totally agree with you. I too wish we had played what you refer to as "our strongest lineup", which Chelsea may have expected but did not have the experience of playing against in their previous 2 wins. If it wasn't working well he could have used the bench to change it to the way we actually started.

 

[mikemcfc]

We didn't lose bcause they scored 1 we lost because we couldn't score. Nothing to do with who played d.m.The changes didn't work but if you can't see the thinking and the sense behind the changes it's probably because you don't want to but that's your problem not Peps nor anyone elses really.
Not everything Pep trys will work but more often it will and more often than anyone else which is what makes him the best there is around so I'll take the few rough days for all the many great days and that'll do me, and probably most City fans.

Well yes, we did lose because they scored one goal.
You said, "We lost because we couldn't score", well you can't argue that logic, you cannot.
In the post you replied to isn't the "he tore the heart out of our team" graphic I provided self explanatory to all of that?
We've played against 5-4-1 collapsed defenses for two years now in the PL ever since Pep inverted wingers and we all know we've done well, but Chelsea are the best at it now.
Pep took his two most creative midfield players, Kev, Gundy (his leading PL scorer, playing here against a PL team, and put him as far away as possible from their goal?)
He took those two players whom are most familiar with one another, the very thing that you need the most to break that 5-4-1 down, and separated them as far as possible into roles neither are best suited for. Weakening our attack and defense. I support Pep but I maintain that mistake.
The way we gave up that goal and "We were never gonna score" and the head scratching of a team selection were echoing through the forum and the global football punditry long before I posted so it is obviously other people's problem/concern as well and not just mine. But to single out a measured account of what almost nobody would have done, over all of the knee jerk, opinion-less, disrespectful, cursory posts while inferring the majority of fans and professionals alike "can't see the thinking and the sense behind the changes" without offering any insightful explanations of your own seems odd to me.
I'm not one of the "entitled", I'm not "Pep out" I'm glad he's here and for a long time hopefully.
In fact when pretty much everyone was saying awhile back before he extended his contract that Pep only does his 3-4 years and moves on and no way will stay longer, I was one of very few that saw something at that time in Pep and defended, no, he is going to stay, he gets us, we're different, he sees the passion of the fans, he sees and doesn't understand the crap against us, and will stay. That has been borne out.
We both, and millions more, agree, "Pep's changes didn't work."

 

[WNRH]

Deluded.

Can insult me but cannot tell me why? Ok.

 

[KevinReed]

Khaldoon was spot on Pep. Best Chairman of a football club knows the GOAT football manager Pep. Khaldoon was also spot on to highlight Pep's outstanding human qualities. Don't ever forget, Pep destroyed super league BS.

 

[WNRH]

You don't win 21 games in a row despite a player, unless you have someone like Messi to compensate for the weaknesses of that player (btw, Messi's Barca never won 21 games in a row!). And you can't be as solid in defence as we were during that winning run despite your DM, that's nonsense.

Some of the players who were key to our winning run from December to March lost form, more or less. Not only Rodri, but also Cancelo, and arguably Bernardo (poor in the final and generally not as good as in January and February) and Gundo to an extent (scored 10 goals January and February, and just 2 goals in April and May) , even Dias and Stones weren't generally as solid as between December and March and were making more mistakes in April and May. Sterling was scoring goals up to February and went off the ball after that.The only players who improved after February were Mahrez, Ferna and Zinchenko.

It's not clear that Pep was right to not play Rodri. After all we won in Dortmund and Paris with Rodri. Ferna started just one CL knock-out game, and despite some opinions on here we didn't play better with him, that's why he didn't start in the final either. Anyway, Rodri will likely be 1st choice at DM next season. We won't play Chelsea every game. Btw, we came closest to winning vs Chelsea precisely at the Etihad where Rodri was the only proper midfielder to start the game. He made a mistake in that game, but the performance with him in the team was clearly better than the performance without him in the final. So, it's far from clear Pep did the right thing despite Rodri showing signs of losing form. Let's see what happens next season.

You are correct, some of those players you mentioned did lose form, but at one stage or another they were playing to a high ability. Rodri has never hit those heights individually despite all the team accolades such as a 21 game winning streak that he was part of.

DM’s or number 6’s are unstated and unappreciated, if you don’t notice them then they’ve had a good game. Rodri was getting noticed for the wrong reasons, getting caught on the ball, losing it in key positions, not playing through the lines, the odd bad game is standard but with Rodri it was happening more and more and the goal he conceded at home to Chelsea was the final nail in the coffin for the rest of the season.

He’ll still be at City next season as he cost £60m and it’s not easy to just get rid of players like that but if it was like NBA and we could trade him, my opinion would be Pep would take that trade as he’s not that special and there will be a dozen players like him who can do a better job in our team and give us more.

There’s a lot of talk about Fernandinho being given an extra year just for his leadership in the dressing room, whilst I don’t doubt that reasoning, I would imagine another reason to extend his playing contract into his 37th year is because Pep is not fully convinced of his supposed replacement.

It would not surprise me to see both leave in the summer of 2022.