Pep Guardiola - 2020/21 Performances

[citytill1die84]

You praise Klopp for picking a brave team but they drew to our "cowardly" one, and were lucky not to lose. In fact his brave attacking side only scored thanks to a penalty.

YCNMIU can u? lol

 

[FCBarca]

I would say that this version of Pep is unfamiliar to me, surprising and uninspired

 

[Keeper!]

Pragmatist Pep? I agree to a certain extent. I don’t agree with the double pivot nor do I agree with him holding back foden. This season is going to see us empty handed. He is still not giving Bernie or foden a proper run out instead he is playing it “pragmatic” with gundo.

Pep has lost his spark this year. I am sure there are many reasons including Covid, family death and his mentality/stamina to stay at city for 5 years. Throw in a squad rebuild and Cas for good measure.

The whole team look mentally exhausted. In my opinion we need to cut Pep and the players a lot of slack this year. Tired minds will lead to bad mistakes and bad decisions

We can have a moan/laugh and discuss tactics, formations and personal but I know regardless of the results we will not turn our backs on Pep or the players when things are tough. Transitioning from one team to another was always going be hard. Buckle up for a bumpy season.

"The whole team look mentally exhausted. In my opinion we need to cut Pep and the players a lot of slack this year. Tired minds will lead to bad mistakes and bad decisions"

We did that last season as well, this teams does look tired and bored, is that down to the amount of football, empty stadiums , loss of belief in the manager or a combination?

For the last 18 months we are nowhere near our highest level.

 

[Fordyboy46]

As a team we look fucked fitness wise already and we're just in to November. Three more bloody internationals these next two weeks and several of ours will have nothing left in the tank soon, like Pep says something has to give re the number of games played every season. I know this doesn't touch the pragmatism narrative but I think it's a lot to do with how we're playing at present and I can't see things getting much better in the future.

 

[Paul1970]

We always say the players are tired and that is why we are not performing well what would happen if a lot of people went to work and didn’t perform because they are tired . They get absolute shot loads of money to go out and perform ski don’t feel sorry for these pampered superstars and neither should any normal working class person out there and does 40 plus hours a week for a fraction of there pay.

 

[remember arthur mann]

Obviously in transition from last year, don't worry, it will take a little longer but nowhere near as over at the swamp which is 7+ years and counting !

 

[supercity88]

Barely a break from last season, no pre-season plus several injuries and covid through the team.

I don't think it is any surprise we aren't that sharp. Liverpool and City have had it tough physically and mentally and were blown in the second half. There is science behind the whingeing about banning 5 subs.

Yes it would help us with our bigger squad but without it we are also most affected having had no time off last time out.

 

[MAG]

It’s the Lillo effect!
Juan Manuel Lillo

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

Think Pep looks daft going on about five subs and only making one and leaving foden waiting to come on for 10 minutes and not using him, no point in complaining about players running on fumes if you Carnt even use the subs available

 

[bugsyblue]

We can debate whether yesterday was a point gained or two points lost but to be honest that will only be answered by the end of the season.

However I don’t agree with the assessment that there are huge parallels between Pep’s first season and now. If they are, there really shouldn’t be!

When Pep arrived he had instil his ethos and style. That understandably takes time. Equally we had an ageing squad which needed rebuilding, we had players that didn’t fit Pep’s style (hart) and we always knew that first season was a transitional one.

Fast forward to now, Pep’s entered his 5th season with us - he’s not rebuilding someone else’s side, this is HIS side! Yes football is cyclical and yes we need a small rebuild but we have a much better squad now that what he inherited. We have players that fundamentally understand what pep wants and expects. In short, we shouldn’t need such a transition to take place and if we do then that’s a failure on pep and the club.

Yesterday was an opportunity lost in my opinion. You can call it pragmatic but I think we were slightly cowardly. But that’s not even the most startling observation to debate. What we should be debating is why we have become so predictable going forward? Why have we lost the edge and spark we once had in attack? It’s not pragmatism that’s causing this, it’s because we aren’t good enough. That’s the harsh reality.

 

[Stoned Rose]

They got in behind us a couple of times in the first half as the back three/five struggled in a needlessly alien system. Maybe if he picked his best team and went out to win the game we would have been out of sight.
He would never nowadays pick the sort of brave starting line up in a big game that Klopp did today

That "brave" side Klopp picked were fucking shite and only blagged anything out of the game due to their usual penalty and Kev missing ours.

We were much the better side.

 

[bugsyblue]

That "brave" side Klopp picked were fucking shite and only blagged anything out of the game due to their usual penalty and Kev missing ours.

We were much the better side.

That’s not true. They had more shots and more shots on target than we did. They were more dangerous than us in the first half.

We got control of the game however in the second and were unlucky not to win because of KDB’s missed pen. However let’s not kid ourselves we made loads of chances.

 

[Stoned Rose]

That’s not true. They had more shots and more shots on target than we did. They were more dangerous than us in the first half.

We got control of the game however in the second and were unlucky not to win because of KDB’s missed pen. However let’s not kid ourselves we made loads of chances.

Your stats are shit.

A "shot" can hit the corner flag.

A "shot on target" can be a little trickler straight into the goalkeeper's hands.

Given they had the "best front 3/4 in the world" out there, at no time did I feel they were over running us or pulling us all over the place. I felt pretty comfortable.

KDB scores that pen and/or Sterling takes that chance Allison saved and we win the game and everyone on here is raving about a Pep masterclass.

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

There does seem to be a conundrum around the players “match fitness” any PT’s Physios Sports Science people out there hazard a guess at why we seem to be more affected than others? Is it just a perfect storm, short pre season, too much football, travel, enforced rest periods (due to amount of games) tired minds, the way we play, are we over science’ing things? for one reason or another we seem to be holding back substitutions, ignore yesterday as I think both managers where waiting for the other to blink (tactically) and we seem to be making less changes to the starting eleven, not got the stats

 

[bugsyblue]

Your stats are shit.

A "shot" can hit the corner flag.

A "shot on target" can be a little trickler straight into the goalkeeper's hands.

Given they had the "best front 3/4 in the world" out there, at no time did I feel they were over running us or pulling us all over the place. I felt pretty comfortable.

KDB scores that pen and/or Sterling takes that chance Allison saved and we win the game and everyone on here is raving about a Pep masterclass.

But we didn’t. And the same argument can be made for Liverpool my friend.

We were at home, they were without their captain and key CB, we stuttered going forward. We’ve been average in attack against the best teams for awhile now and that needs answering. Yes we missed Kun but there’s still something else missing in our attack to how it was a couple of seasons ago.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

It’s all about one word that we lack 95% of the time, and Pep even said it in the pre-match presser...

CLINICAL.

Need reinforcements in multiple areas, but we appear determined to pay £50-60M for every one of them these days, which makes them harder to acquire.

Why is it other teams can find players for a fraction of that?

Anyway, need to blood some of the young guns and see who does and doesn’t have it, before we go out and spend a fortune.

That said, need another SERIOUS midfielder, who is going to cost money, because we are lightweight and one KDB muscle injury (let alone broken ankle!) away from feeling fucked!

 

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

It’s the Lilo effect!

Great post! Its funny how everyone seem to have missed this. We were told that Lilo was this great mastermind and a source of inspiration to Pep but in reality it seems like his is just another spanish important with very little substance.

 

[Damanino]

We just need so much more from wide players like Sterling, Mahrez, Torres. In n defending too, but especially attacking.
Torres done well playing centrally, scored a couple, and early days for him. not early days for seasoned pro's like Raheem or Mahrez tho.

Harry Kane 7 goals, 8 assists this season,
Grealish 4 goals, 5 assists,
Son 8 goals, 2 assists,
fucking Chilwell new LB for Chelsea, 2 goals, 2 assists in,
Salah 8 goals,
DCL in Everton 8 goals,
Bruno Fenandes 5 goals, 3 assist. (mostly pens tho haha).

and then Raheem and Mahrez:
Raheem in 622 minutes 2 goals , 1 assist in PL.
Mahrez in 432 minutes 1 goal, 1 assist.
If this is what two of our most regular wide attacking players will serve up during the season, we are in trouble.

That is not good enough to league rivals. (PL only)


While Bernardo needs to show his creative side when played, he is slowly turning into a workhorse that is running a lot which is needed of course but hardly any end product in his game like assists or goals or good crosses.
we not gonna survive playing a trio of Rodri, Gundo, Bernardo and them not having a total of 5 goals between them in PL.
how that compares with all the goals scored/created directly by D. Silva, Yaya etc.

 

[KennyG]

If it is a rebuild, why not buy the striker we have needed for at least two seasons? Pep needs to trust Foden more, otherwise we should’ve replaced Silva.

The trademark of the two title winning seasons was the overload of attacking players and tap ins from balls being squared across the six yard box, which made Sterling seem far better than he is.

We’ve got not pace bar Sterling, and imagine the aerial presence of a Kane type forward?

We need to cut our losses on Rodri for a start.

 

[Centurions]

It’s all about one word that we lack 95% of the time, and Pep even said it in the pre-match presser...

CLINICAL.

Need reinforcements in multiple areas, but we appear determined to pay £50-60M for every one of them these days, which makes them harder to acquire.

Why is it other teams can find players for a fraction of that?

Anyway, need to blood some of the young guns and see who does and doesn’t have it, before we go out and spend a fortune.

That said, need another SERIOUS midfielder, who is going to cost money, because we are lightweight and one KDB muscle injury (let alone broken ankle!) away from feeling fucked!

Ferran Torres says Hi!