Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

[madloaf]

Every year. Anyone with half a brain can see he was the most important player in each one of those seasons (and you can see my post history where I have said that every season).

Again people here are: good results/player scores = good tactics/ best player.

It's not just "people on here" though is it as per my previous post. It's the members of the PFA, captains of each team, panels of "experts" and the public.

 

[Blue_Lightsaber]

The scratches make him look proper mental. The nose gash is bad, but it’s the scratches on his head which are even more worrying.

Now we know why he's bald.. it's the players driving him bonkers.

And for everyone that loves him or doubts him and throws shade.. when his era does come to an end.. we can all honestly say..

It was the best of times
It was the worst of times
It was the age of wisdom
It was the age of foolishness
It was the epoch of belief
It was the epoch of incredulity
It was the season of Light
It was the season of Darkness
It was the spring of hope
It was the winter of despair
We had everything before us
We had nothing before us

 

[Alvin-blue-qhd]

Football is a sport which has massive uncertainties. It's easy to say "Let's change our tactics". Easy to find reason A,B,CD. You can always change. But the most difficult part is to find a stable and effective theory which can guide you out of all the uncertainties.
Obviously Pep has a theory. That's the most valuable thing we have. We don't need a big change.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Football is a sport which has massive uncertainties. It's easy to say "Let's change our tactics". Easy to find reason A,B,CD. You can always change. But the most difficult part is to find a stable and effective theory which can guide you out of all the uncertainties.
Obviously Pep has a theory. That's the most valuable thing we have. We don't need a big change.

Pep is a tactical genius but he isn’t infallible. We all remember his 1st season here. He set his stall out to how he wanted us to play and quickly realised that he didn’t have the players to do it. He didn’t change his philosophy/tactics and his 1st season was a real slog. I feel like we are there again, the problem this time is, he has overseen the decline in the squad, he hasn’t inherited this like he did in 16/17.

We are consistently signing players who are worse than we already have. You don’t maintain/improve standards by doing this. In some cases it’s difficult/nigh on impossible…how do you replace a VK or a David Silva? However, it’s not just these legends.

We have gone from Sane to Sterling to Jack on the LW. Mahrez to half the squad on the RW. Walker/Cancelo to Rico at RB. We tried to improve the midfield with Philips and Nunes. It’s not rocket science that if you keep buying inferior players, whilst your best players simultaneously grow older, a decline occurs.

Pep either needs to change his theory (very unlikely) or he needs to demand that we cease shopping in the reduced aisle, because most of this current crop are either not up to it, or past it.

 

[sir baconface]

I’m no longer convinced that appearing on the bench means that they’re actually fit, more a sign that they’re ’involved’ in the squad.

Assuming Dias wasn’t actually fit enough to come on for 20 minutes, why is he continually putting players on the bench who aren’t fit enough to play?

Because the alternative at present is cardboard cutouts.

Cue some bright spark to say they would be an improvement.

 

[LangleyBlue1970]

He had the cut on his nose before the match. He did an interview on Prime and it was there then.

The marks on his head will be a result of frustration, scratching, him being boiling hot and it looking a lot worse than it is. They’re probably not even there now.

 

[Gabriel]

Pep is a tactical genius but he isn’t infallible. We all remember his 1st season here. He set his stall out to how he wanted us to play and quickly realised that he didn’t have the players to do it. He didn’t change his philosophy/tactics and his 1st season was a real slog. I feel like we are there again, the problem this time is, he has overseen the decline in the squad, he hasn’t inherited this like he did in 16/17.

We are consistently signing players who are worse than we already have. You don’t maintain/improve standards by doing this. In some cases it’s difficult/nigh on impossible…how do you replace a VK or a David Silva? However, it’s not just these legends.

We have gone from Sane to Sterling to Jack on the LW. Mahrez to half the squad on the RW. Walker/Cancelo to Rico at RB. We tried to improve the midfield with Philips and Nunes. It’s not rocket science that if you keep buying inferior players, whilst your best players simultaneously grow older, a decline occurs.

Pep either needs to change his theory (very unlikely) or he needs to demand that we cease shopping in the reduced aisle, because most of this current crop are either not up to it, or past it.

Many good points. For me, we have slowly been moving away from the 'tiki-taka' football that served us so well and towards a more open style. It makes games more open and creates more chances (unfortunately at both ends), but I'm just not convinced that the change sits well with Guardiola's principles. He cannot control the team if the team cannot control the ball. We end up doing more running, creating tiredness and injuries, and that then renders his small squad preference obsolete. For me, he needs to forget about trying to win with a different style and to return to his principles. That means better players but also better players who are fit for purpose.

Not that long ago, we could field a team where 7-9 players just did not give the ball away, and that then covered for players like de Bruyne, Foden, and Haaland. Nowadays, however, we might field only 2-3 players who can continually retain possession and the rest are much less reliable. The next signings will likely chart the direction of travel, but I know which way I'd like us to be headed.

 

[DMA's]

We’ve got the best manager in the world and the team/board are letting him down, badly. Half the team are either past their best, can’t keep fit or were never good enough.

I’ve not idea how much we can spend FFP-wise but given our net spend over the past 5 years, it should be at least £300mil.

If you believe pep doesn’t have the final say on how the squad is built then you are living in fantasy land.

 

[Roachy]

Pep is a tactical genius but he isn’t infallible. We all remember his 1st season here. He set his stall out to how he wanted us to play and quickly realised that he didn’t have the players to do it. He didn’t change his philosophy/tactics and his 1st season was a real slog. I feel like we are there again, the problem this time is, he has overseen the decline in the squad, he hasn’t inherited this like he did in 16/17.

We are consistently signing players who are worse than we already have. You don’t maintain/improve standards by doing this. In some cases it’s difficult/nigh on impossible…how do you replace a VK or a David Silva? However, it’s not just these legends.

We have gone from Sane to Sterling to Jack on the LW. Mahrez to half the squad on the RW. Walker/Cancelo to Rico at RB. We tried to improve the midfield with Philips and Nunes. It’s not rocket science that if you keep buying inferior players, whilst your best players simultaneously grow older, a decline occurs.

Pep either needs to change his theory (very unlikely) or he needs to demand that we cease shopping in the reduced aisle, because most of this current crop are either not up to it, or past it.

We've fell off a cliff the past 6 weeks. Brentford and Fulham at home were a real slog as well that could easily have been draws. I hope a few posters are now waking up and realising this isn't a 2 or 3 player refresh. The entire spine of the team needs replacing/ reinforcing coupled with a RB. Pep will know this now and sentiment needs putting aside with a few current players.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Many good points. For me, we have slowly been moving away from the 'tiki-taka' football that served us so well and towards a more open style. It makes games more open and creates more chances (unfortunately at both ends), but I'm just not convinced that the change sits well with Guardiola's principles. He cannot control the team if the team cannot control the ball. We end up doing more running, creating tiredness and injuries, and that then renders his small squad preference obsolete. For me, he needs to forget about trying to win with a different style and to return to his principles. That means better players but also better players who are fit for purpose.

Not that long ago, we could field a team where 7-9 players just did not give the ball away, and that then covered for players like de Bruyne, Foden, and Haaland. Nowadays, however, we might field only 2-3 players who can continually retain possession and the rest are much less reliable. The next signings will likely chart the direction of travel, but I know which way I'd like us to be headed.

Tiredness is huge. Clearly we have some players who are playing far too many minutes due to injuries. However, as you said, we can’t control games anymore, which means it’s a double whammy. Our games in recent seasons followed a very similar pattern…1st half of 70% possession, 60 mins in and the opposition are dead on their feet. Now, because we can’t keep the ball, it’s us that looks fucked.

Something has to give because the players we have available aren’t capable of executing Peps tactics. If our striker was 5’6” we wouldn’t play long ball.