Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

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I’m a passionate Manchester City fan, and my support for Pep Guardiola is unwavering despite the challenges the team is facing. Pep's track record speaks for itself, and his ability to adapt, innovate, and build dominant teams is undeniable. Even during tough times, his tactical brilliance have often led to success.and his legacy at City is already historic.The club has achieved incredible milestones under his guidance, from multiple Premier League titles to domestic trebles and record-breaking seasons.

Finishing in the top four is crucial for maintaining the club's momentum and ensuring they remain competitive in the Premier League and Europe. The Champions League, while a prestigious target, am not putting too much faith this year , and focusing on consistent domestic performance is a smart approach.

The media's narratives can indeed be frustrating, especially when they seem biased against City's success. But the club's achievements under Pep speak louder than any criticism. His tactical genius and the team's resilience have already made this era one of the greatest in City's history.
 
falcon117 said:
His tactical genius and the team's resilience have already made this era one of the greatest in City's history.
Click to expand...

This is the greatest era and Pep's the best.

The biggest challenge for Pep is how to adapt to the current changes in football without sacrificing core principles. Part of these principles is to prioritize technique and intelligence over physicality, i.e., players like David, Bernie, Gundo, Foden, Aguero, KDB, etc.

The biggest challenges have come from teams that prioritize running, intensity, transitions, physicality, i.e., teams like Klopp's Liverpool. Arteta's Arsenal are also quite physical.

Over the last few years the tendency to increasing physicality has come to the fore. We could deal with it due to having some physically outstanding players like Rodri and Haaland, especially the former. Rodri's injury has shown that our midfield is lightweight without him and can't deal with duels and transitions. Pep knows this better than anyone, but it seems he was planning to leave after this season and wanted his successor to choose the new players. Thus, we gambled that Rodri could stay fit for another season, and also that at least two from Dias, Stones and Ake would be available in most games, with Walker staying close to his standards. All of this failed to materialize leading to what we are watching currently.

With Nico's signing and Rodri returning in several months, plus the new defensive signings, we are beginning to address our weaknesses. It will take time, but we will be much better next season, and even better the season after next. Given his record and mentality, Pep won't leave before building another great team.
 
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falcon117 said:
I’m a passionate Manchester City fan, and my support for Pep Guardiola is unwavering despite the challenges the team is facing. Pep's track record speaks for itself, and his ability to adapt, innovate, and build dominant teams is undeniable. Even during tough times, his tactical brilliance have often led to success.and his legacy at City is already historic.The club has achieved incredible milestones under his guidance, from multiple Premier League titles to domestic trebles and record-breaking seasons.

Finishing in the top four is crucial for maintaining the club's momentum and ensuring they remain competitive in the Premier League and Europe. The Champions League, while a prestigious target, am not putting too much faith this year , and focusing on consistent domestic performance is a smart approach.

The media's narratives can indeed be frustrating, especially when they seem biased against City's success. But the club's achievements under Pep speak louder than any criticism. His tactical genius and the team's resilience have already made this era one of the greatest in City's history.
Click to expand...
I’m also a passionate City fan of some sixty years’ standing. There’s only one thing in serious question here. It’s not Pep’s past superb record, when the stars have been aligned, but his ability to dig himself out of a hole and adapt to much changed circumstances.

Most of his game changers are now gone or finished, whilst every single manager can predict and counteract his once revolutionary tactics. He’s not faced similar circumstances before.
 
EdersonsSmiley said:
A damning indication of how physically past it our current team is.
Click to expand...

This is about style, how direct a team is, not about physicality. Unless you think Forest are way superior to Liverpool and Chelsea, which they clearly aren't.

This doesn't mean we don't need to increase the physicality and pace of the team, though.
 
EdersonsSmiley said:
A damning indication of how physically past it our current team is.
Click to expand...
No it isn't, we know the midfield has got older and slower,but we've never aimed to be a fast direct team when we were winning everything. We do need to be nearer Liverpool Arsenal on it though and we will be.
 
EdersonsSmiley said:
A damning indication of how physically past it our current team is.
Click to expand...
If you looked at the same graph from the past seven years it would look the same

We won six premier league titles in that time

This style has been played from the Dutch teams of the 60/70/80s

Then the Barca teams of the 90/00/10s

To now city of more recent vintage

To say it doesn’t work anymore is a load of old bollocks

If you are to ask Pep what his plan b is , he would say make plan a better
 
Charlesfarsbar said:
If you looked at the same graph from the past seven years it would look the same

We won six premier league titles in that time

This style has been played from the Dutch teams of the 60/70/80s

Then the Barca teams of the 90/00/10s

To now city of more recent vintage

To say it doesn’t work anymore is a load of old bollocks

If you are to ask Pep what his plan b is , he would say make plan a better
Click to expand...

Yeah I went back to check as I thought we would be closer to the pack.

We were actually even slower in years gone by so you can ignore my comment.
 
Charlesfarsbar said:
If you looked at the same graph from the past seven years it would look the same

We won six premier league titles in that time

This style has been played from the Dutch teams of the 60/70/80s

Then the Barca teams of the 90/00/10s

To now city of more recent vintage

To say it doesn’t work anymore is a load of old bollocks

If you are to ask Pep what his plan b is , he would say make plan a better
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's a simple idea: nobody can run as fast as a kicked ball.
 
alexmcity said:
This is the greatest era and Pep's the best.

The biggest challenge for Pep is how to adapt to the current changes in football without sacrificing core principles. Part of these principles is to prioritize technique and intelligence over physicality, i.e., players like David, Bernie, Gundo, Foden, Aguero, KDB, etc.

The biggest challenges have come from teams that prioritize running, intensity, transitions, physicality, i.e., teams like Klopp's Liverpool. Arteta's Arsenal are also quite physical.

Over the last few years the tendency to increasing physicality has come to the fore. We could deal with it due to having some physically outstanding players like Rodri and Haaland, especially the former. Rodri's injury has shown that our midfield is lightweight without him and can't deal with duels and transitions. Pep knows this better than anyone, but it seems he was planning to leave after this season and wanted his successor to choose the new players. Thus, we gambled that Rodri could stay fit for another season, and also that at least two from Dias, Stones and Ake would be available in most games, with Walker staying close to his standards. All of this failed to materialize leading to what we are watching currently.

With Nico's signing and Rodri returning in several months, plus the new defensive signings, we are beginning to address our weaknesses. It will take time, but we will be much better next season, and even better the season after next. Given his record and mentality, Pep won't leave before building another great team.
Click to expand...
Im not sure Id call Haaland physically outstanding. He has the physique all right ,but doesnt throw himself about enough.,
 
Norman kneejerk said:
I saw a clip of City from a few seasons back yesterday with KDB etc and the intensity we had then was like night and day. Very striking.
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I watched an episode of that Amazon documentary on our 17/18 season the other day. If anyone has access to it on Prime, it’s well worth a watch to help judge where we are at the moment.

I know we were arguably in our pomp then, even if we failed to land the CL, but the difference in the speed of our play and the general fitness of the players between then and now is absolutely startling.

People tend to concentrate on the pace of Sterling and Sane in that side, but the speed and strength of running of the whole team was miles ahead of where we are now. Particularly notable was how much slimmer De Bruyne was back then - he must be a good stone, maybe even two stone heavier now.

Personally I think that a good chunk of our current problems simply relate to a lack of fitness, given our tendency to collapse in the second half. I’d love to know how much actual running and fitness work we do in training, because we simply haven’t looked fit at any stage of this season.
 
sir baconface said:
I’m also a passionate City fan of some sixty years’ standing. There’s only one thing in serious question here. It’s not Pep’s past superb record, when the stars have been aligned, but his ability to dig himself out of a hole and adapt to much changed circumstances.

Most of his game changers are now gone or finished, whilst every single manager can predict and counteract his once revolutionary tactics. He’s not faced similar circumstances before.
Click to expand...
Wow, he must have had some crazy luck for the stars to align for 15 seasons.

Perhaps it's more to do with his ability?
 
Bluewonder said:
Wow, he must have had some crazy luck for the stars to align for 15 seasons.

Perhaps it's more to do with his ability?
Click to expand...
You must have a degree in selective reading.

He’s been highly instrumental in making the stars align. And also in creating an exhilarating style copied by many. And also won a zillion trophies. No denying any of that.

My argument - as you well know - is that times have changed. The world has caught up. Managers with a fraction of his budget now expose him almost every week and so far he’s had no answers. He’s let the squad deteriorate to a level where serious surgery is required. They look slow, dispirited, predictable, poorly organised and prone to collapse. It’s a first for him.

Everyone runs out of steam eventually.
 
Brewster's millions said:
I watched an episode of that Amazon documentary on our 17/18 season the other day. If anyone has access to it on Prime, it’s well worth a watch to help judge where we are at the moment.

I know we were arguably in our pomp then, even if we failed to land the CL, but the difference in the speed of our play and the general fitness of the players between then and now is absolutely startling.

People tend to concentrate on the pace of Sterling and Sane in that side, but the speed and strength of running of the whole team was miles ahead of where we are now. Particularly notable was how much slimmer De Bruyne was back then - he must be a good stone, maybe even two stone heavier now.

Personally I think that a good chunk of our current problems simply relate to a lack of fitness, given our tendency to collapse in the second half. I’d love to know how much actual running and fitness work we do in training, because we simply haven’t looked fit at any stage of this season.
Click to expand...
I agree. The Brighton match, after we won the league in 2018 at The Etihad Yayas last game. I wasn't sat in my usual place in CB but much lower down near the pitch. The thing that struck me was how FAST all the players were, the game absolutely fizzed and zipped - its only when you saw it up close you realised how fast and slim/ slight they were. Compare and contrast to now, I'm 7 years older and see a difference in myself, so can understand how some of the lads have declined a bit.
 
Charlesfarsbar said:
If you looked at the same graph from the past seven years it would look the same

We won six premier league titles in that time

This style has been played from the Dutch teams of the 60/70/80s

Then the Barca teams of the 90/00/10s

To now city of more recent vintage

To say it doesn’t work anymore is a load of old bollocks

If you are to ask Pep what his plan b is , he would say make plan a better
Click to expand...

I think we've found out the hard way it doesn't work without world class midfielders.

Because we've made it work without a world class striker in the false 9 season, we've made it work without a good left back forever, we've even made it work with 4 CB's.
 
Blue_Lightsaber said:
I think we've found out the hard way it doesn't work without world class midfielders.

Because we've made it work without a world class striker in the false 9 season, we've made it work without a good left back forever, we've even made it work with 4 CB's.
Click to expand...
It’s a tired old cliche but games are won and lost in midfield
 
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