Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

[JewelZee]

Whose fault is it we have an aging midfield, you say it like it has just cropt up out of nowhere. The midfield is literally what we will have all season, KDB is done.

Whoever made the decision that we sit tight with this midfield is at fault. I'm yet to understand our refusal to spend this past window. Personally I think the decision to keep the purse closed was made from above both Txiki and Pep. Waiting until the Summer of 25 to make the necessary impact moves only makes sense if the club expected Pep to leave. If they anticipated him extending even for one year then big moves should have been made this past Summer in order to give Pep his best chance to remain dominant over his last 2 years. The way we are moving in terms of squad development has to be questioned irrespective of what happened over the last 14 seasons. The current squad has at minimum 6 players who will have next to zero value in terms of maintaining our level next season. That number could easily be closer to 8 or 9. Some of these could remain as squad depth/role players but we'll be needing MINIMUM 5 serious additions or you can forget remaining England's best and one of Europe's best.

 

[city warrior]

Did txiki tell you he wasn't signing a midfielder if not for Gundo? Making up scenarios. Txiki ans Pep are ot different entities when it comes tk signing. You are delusional if you think that way.
Paqueta? He had betting allegations. So you want to sign him with ban looming? This is what delusion looks like

We had 0 rumours of signing any midfielder before Gundo, it's extremely clear that we would have not signed anyone else if it wasn't for that (which came pretty late in the summer by the way). We had the chance to sign Guimaraes before end of June with his release clause. Not to mention we weren't able to get Bellingham.

Paqueta's allegations have been there for 2 years by now, and nothing has come from it. Did I say they are different entities? No, I said the responsibility of finding and signing midfielder is Txiki's, not Pep. Again, all of those three players are clearly physical and something that Pep wants, but Txiki couldn't find the right fit. The midfield we have now is Txiki's mistake nad no one else.

 

[samuelyeboah]

I legit don't know what's working well in this team right now, there's so many issues -
1. Very old and slow midfield makes it extremely easy to counter
2. Defenders extremely high line means there's usually not enough bodies at the back, leading us to concede basically the same exact goal every week (2nd goal today)
2. No ability to counter with pace
3. No overlapping fullbacks, so very easy to double team on wingers
4. No creativity in the middle of the pitch, so no problem for opponents to focus on wings
5. No real aerial threat in the middle despite having a 6''4' striker due to poor crossers on the wings
6. Fullback inverts inside offering very little in possession but leaving their position exposed to the counter
7. Wingers don't create underlapping runs behind the defenders (like sane and sterling used to do), so opponent centerbacks can very easily focus on striker
8. Midfield extremely slow & striker who presses lazily means very hard to execute press effectively
9. very little goal contribution from the wing due to poor finishers in that position leaves our only threat isolated in the striker position

How much is this on pep? I don't know, but all of these things have been there for 3 months and we still continue to do the same things.

 

[Richie Rich]

Txiki had to convince the manager to sign Haaland. So, yes, he has a veto.

 

[meeesh]

Walker being thrown in without training for 19 days probably the biggest

He must have thought he was fit enough, and the logic behind that was probably due to the pace of Semenyo, as Lewis would have been roasted......................:) Oooops

 

[ProofMCFC]

Whoever made the decision that we sit tight with this midfield is at fault. I'm yet to understand our refusal to spend this past window. Personally I think the decision to keep the purse closed was made from above both Txiki and Pep. Waiting until the Summer of 25 to make the necessary impact moves only makes sense if the club expected Pep to leave. If they anticipated him extending even for one year then big moves should have been made this past Summer in order to give Pep his best chance to remain dominant over his last 2 years. The way we are moving in terms of squad development has to be questioned irrespective of what happened over the last 14 seasons. The current squad has at minimum 6 players who will have next to zero value in terms of maintaining our level next season. That number could easily be closer to 8 or 9. Some of these could remain as squad depth/role players but we'll be needing MINIMUM 5 serious additions or you can forget remaining England's best and one of Europe's best.

100% agree. Love txiki but he has left us in the shit and Viana with a job to do. How someone of Pep’s ilk doesn’t know if he wants to stay or not yet is crazy, it has to be bullshit. For some reason both parties are biding their time to announce it. It does all seem to be pointing to this being his last year with not spending big last summer. That would mean Pep has done a Ferguson on us imo, I’d like to think he wouldn’t do that. Let’s just hope the board don’t expect the next manager to paper over the cracks.

 

[come-on-barney]

He's run out of ideas unfortunately. Need to let him go and bring in someone new for next season.

If it’s only a one year extension I agree. Tbf he was badly let down in the transfer market over the summer. The club just expected Pep to keep producing miracles. The club management needs to take a lot of the blame not Pep.

 

[JewelZee]

A signing of a quality, young and dynamic midfielder the year Gundogan left would've left us very well placed for another 5 years of success.

As it is now, we need to make signings from a position of weakness and they need to hit the ground running.

Agree...

 

[come-on-barney]

All the hallmarks of his third season at Barcelona.

We will still be there or thereabouts in all the remaining competitions but with a tactically tired team and ageing squad I think we are seeing the beginning of the end of the Pep era.

I think he leaves in the summer and hands the rebuild over to a new coach with the new DOF.

Or perhaps the outgoing DOF might be going at the right time!

 

[come-on-barney]

Wright is comfortable in that position.

Frustrated we didn’t give him a game, couldn’t have done any worse. No wonder players want to move on.