Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

[Chak19]

I disagree. It's the first time KDB and Foden have started a match and it's clear neither are fit. Thart gives you a clue to the extent of the problems. We're missing Stones, Akanje and Ake at the back, Kovacic has been out, and so on, and so on. We're struggling all over the pitch and you just cannot have that many players out, have to make continuous changes, have to play players who are not ready, are not fit and so on, and expect it to be any different whether it's for 2 matches or for 20. But for some reason hardly anybody else - on here anyway - seems to be capable of understanding that. I know it's not pretty but it is what it is.

KDB is almost never fully fit these days and probably never will be and we knew that already, same thing for Stones and Ake, Foden has been off form all season and it's not down to fitness, and Kova as good as he's been is not a miracle worker, we started this terrible run when he was fit, it's obvious this system doesn't work without Rodri and needs to be changed to suit the players available, Haaland's ridiclous form at the start of the season papered over the cracks.

 

[Blue_Lightsaber]

We need to stop blaming Pep.

Just ask yourself this.. was Grealish under instruction to take a terrible corner or Nunes under instructions to run back into the box and give away a pen?

It's on the players and honestly it feels like Ruben + 10 clowns out there!

 

[Chak19]

We need to stop blaming Pep.

Just ask yourself this.. was Grealish under instruction to take a terrible corner or Nunes under instructions to run back into the box and give away a pen?

It's on the players and honestly it feels like Ruben + 10 clowns out there!

Well when our corners are utter shite game after game no matter who takes them, yes Pep and the set piece coach get the blame because what the fuck are they doing in training ?

 

[Chak19]

The players we have available aren’t capable of playing Peps way, some players just haven’t the legs for it and others not fully fit you could say but he still persists with his ways. You can’t play possession based football when you have players who gift the ball to the opposition and players without the legs to press and win back possession if we do give the ball away.

He’s got to try and look at ways that work in the moment. If he gets players back fully fit and some new signings in maybe we can play the way he wants. Right now I think we need to try something different and play to our strengths. We are just so predictable.

Been saying that since the Sporting game, drop deep and play on the counter becaue this possession style with the highline just isn't working with these players, I'm giving up on it now because he obviously won't change it.

 

[RayCTID]

The only thing you could "blame" for his principles of having a small squad but even he has admitted it was a mistake in not having a more deeper squad. It is easy said than done in actually bringing the correct players, who can really work with his methods and provide cover. We could try and play on the counter attack but that is not his way and the current set up isn't entirely comfortable with that as that it means total concentration which is what the team is lacking.

 

[wolviedinho]

I am embarrassed for the people who have posted on here attacking pep and crying like fucking babies.

All that he has done for the club and this is how you thank him? All because it’s shit now and we ain’t hammering teams each week playing wonderful football.

I am putting every fucker on here who is having a go at him on ignore. Cant be dealing with idiots.

 

[Blue_Lightsaber]

Been saying that since the Sporting game, drop deep and play on the counter becaue this possession style with the highline just isn't working with these players, I'm giving up on it now because he obviously won't change it.

What is Pep supposed to do??

Over the last month and half one thing is absolutely clear..

We're not dealing with a 4 in a row winning team..
We're not even dealing with happy flowers team..

It's Ruben + 10 clowns out there complete with benny hill music!

 

[Chak19]

What is Pep supposed to do??

Over the last month and half one thing is absolutely clear..

We're not dealing with a 4 in a row winning team..
We're not even dealing with happy flowers team..

It's Ruben + 10 clowns out there complete with benny hill music!

Drop deep and play more direct and on the counter ? not saying it will work but why not give it a go when the alternative is this shite ?

 

[Damanino]

wonder if we signed someone like Saka, would we in the current set up ask him to hold up the ball, turn back, pass it back, recycle the ball, rarely beat defenders, get into the box, get a shot off knowing he has decent stats both for scoring and assisting, much better than any our current wingers, would we use his strengths or would we ask him to revert to type and be like Grealish just on the right side?

because I am getting sick of what our attacking play now is, which is slow, ponderous build up, too many passes for the sake of it, out to wing, back to inverted fullback, some extra passes between high up CBs then 9 out of 10 times just give it to KDB who is coming out one the wider half space and puts in a cross where only Haaland is between 2/3 defenders.

even seeing some good crossing chances by wingers given up as they are "forced" to play it back to KDB to let him do the cross. which makes sense as he has an eye for setting up goals, albeit had quite a lot of blind passes/crosses this game, but its very very limited with these set of players just to make the whole attack end with a KDB cross no mater what.
or maybe if Foden finds tiny space to get a shot off than thats the only alternative.

this seems to be brutally limited to previous seasons.

wingers getting a shot visibly more rare and rare. I think they are asked not even bother with it just recycle until KDB can find some space for the cross.

for a Pep team its rather "meh" attacking football at the moment.

look at some of goals scored in the treble season, the movement, the runs, fucking hell, nowadays this looks so far away. seen one where ball is out at Grealish he is looking for cross options and Foden makes a run, Haaland at the long side and Mahrez from another wing making a deep run and Grealish finds him and Mahrez finishes well with a goal. oh and Alvarez is also in the box taking the vision of 1-2 CB's as well.

these days same situation: Grealish on the left with the ball, no one in th box only Haaland, Bernardo somewhere far away from action on other side, Foden front of the box maybe hoping some long shot action, Grealish turns back passes back to Gvardiol, who passes to Gundo, he passes to Dias, back to Gundo, Out to grealish, he turns back to Gvardiol, KDB moves a bit to left gets the ball and crosses in but again only Haaland inside the box, defender clears it.

 

[sir baconface]

I actually thought he handled the post match presser well. Humble and human; not flippant like he sometimes can be. He didn’t look broken, as a couple of posters suggested - just a bit exasperated.

He does deserve some slack and respect over the next few months for all he’s done for us. The doubts many people are expressing are simply because he’s untested in this sort of situation and - so far - has struggled to come up with anything.

It’s not going to get hugely better overnight. Losing at Villa is not out of the question. Nor is dropping out of the CL. Fatigued players will remain fatigued while the sick list is chocker and the kids are left on the bench. If we sign anyone decent in the January window, they won’t work miracles. But hopefully we will stop the rot.

Fingers crossed on the 115. Let’s accept top 4 is now our target and work towards it. As an FOC, that will do me fine this year as long as we see a credible plan for re-booting. If he can’t start the turn around during that time, he’ll probably walk. I can live with that too as the club is bigger than any individual.

That said, who can totally rule out some sort of implosion or confidently predict external events?

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

wonder if we signed someone like Saka, would we in the current set up ask him to hold up the ball, turn back, pass it back, recycle the ball, rarely beat defenders, get into the box, get a shot off knowing he has decent stats both for scoring and assisting, much better than any our current wingers, would we use his strengths or would we ask him to revert to type and be like Grealish just on the right side?

because I am getting sick of what our attacking play now is, which is slow, ponderous build up, too many passes for the sake of it, out to wing, back to inverted fullback, some extra passes between high up CBs then 9 out of 10 times just give it to KDB who is coming out one the wider half space and puts in a cross where only Haaland is between 2/3 defenders.

even seeing some good crossing chances by wingers given up as they are "forced" to play it back to KDB to let him do the cross. which makes sense as he has an eye for setting up goals, albeit had quite a lot of blind passes/crosses this game, but its very very limited with these set of players just to make the whole attack end with a KDB cross no mater what.
or maybe if Foden finds tiny space to get a shot off than thats the only alternative.

this seems to be brutally limited to previous seasons.

wingers getting a shot visibly more rare and rare. I think they are asked not even bother with it just recycle until KDB can find some space for the cross.

for a Pep team its rather "meh" attacking football at the moment.

look at some of goals scored in the treble season, the movement, the runs, fucking hell, nowadays this looks so far away. seen one where ball is out at Grealish he is looking for cross options and Foden makes a run, Haaland at the long side and Mahrez from another wing making a deep run and Grealish finds him and Mahrez finishes well with a goal. oh and Alvarez is also in the box taking the vision of 1-2 CB's as well.

these days same situation: Grealish on the left with the ball, no one in th box only Haaland, Bernardo somewhere far away from action on other side, Foden front of the box maybe hoping some long shot action, Grealish turns back passes back to Gvardiol, who passes to Gundo, he passes to Dias, back to Gundo, Out to grealish, he turns back to Gvardiol, KDB moves a bit to left gets the ball and crosses in but again only Haaland inside the box, defender clears it.

It’s dire. Today’s performance was absolutely awful for me. We didn’t trouble their clown of a keeper all game. Hardly created a decent chance and then the usual comedy defending kicked in. We are absolutely rubbish at the moment and have been since the first few weeks.

Pep needs to sort it out. It’s his job.

 

[KDB4ever]

Awful L, and I bet Pep will play the same old midfielders over again and again.

 

[Blue-Ghana]

wonder if we signed someone like Saka, would we in the current set up ask him to hold up the ball, turn back, pass it back, recycle the ball, rarely beat defenders, get into the box, get a shot off knowing he has decent stats both for scoring and assisting, much better than any our current wingers, would we use his strengths or would we ask him to revert to type and be like Grealish just on the right side?

because I am getting sick of what our attacking play now is, which is slow, ponderous build up, too many passes for the sake of it, out to wing, back to inverted fullback, some extra passes between high up CBs then 9 out of 10 times just give it to KDB who is coming out one the wider half space and puts in a cross where only Haaland is between 2/3 defenders.

even seeing some good crossing chances by wingers given up as they are "forced" to play it back to KDB to let him do the cross. which makes sense as he has an eye for setting up goals, albeit had quite a lot of blind passes/crosses this game, but its very very limited with these set of players just to make the whole attack end with a KDB cross no mater what.
or maybe if Foden finds tiny space to get a shot off than thats the only alternative.

this seems to be brutally limited to previous seasons.

wingers getting a shot visibly more rare and rare. I think they are asked not even bother with it just recycle until KDB can find some space for the cross.

for a Pep team its rather "meh" attacking football at the moment.

look at some of goals scored in the treble season, the movement, the runs, fucking hell, nowadays this looks so far away. seen one where ball is out at Grealish he is looking for cross options and Foden makes a run, Haaland at the long side and Mahrez from another wing making a deep run and Grealish finds him and Mahrez finishes well with a goal. oh and Alvarez is also in the box taking the vision of 1-2 CB's as well.

these days same situation: Grealish on the left with the ball, no one in th box only Haaland, Bernardo somewhere far away from action on other side, Foden front of the box maybe hoping some long shot action, Grealish turns back passes back to Gvardiol, who passes to Gundo, he passes to Dias, back to Gundo, Out to grealish, he turns back to Gvardiol, KDB moves a bit to left gets the ball and crosses in but again only Haaland inside the box, defender clears it.

This is a stupid take, did he ask Sterling and Sane not to score, they had the dribbling ability and their scoring rate IMPROVED after joining our club. Our current wingers don't have the ability to score goals , apart from Savinho who looked good for Girona

 

[Damanino]

This is a stupid take, did he ask Sterling and Sane not to score, they had the dribbling ability and their scoring rate after joining our club. Our current wingers don't have the ability to score goals , apart from Savinho who looked good for Girona

with Sane and Sterling we didnt play this slow build up football. they wouldnt have much space to use their speed if you put them in now instead of Grealish and Bernardo.
our play and build up was levels quicker, and our pressing was much better to. we won the ball back more upfront quickly after losing it, letting us create panic vs disorganized defence. these days we lose the ball they just beat our press and pass around or just run through our slow midfield.
when we get it back its another slow build up, we even refuse to do quick transition, when the space is there to run, we slow it down, try to get everyone in place, this lets opponent reset their two lines of parked bus and off we go with our slow approach.

 

[footballmanager]

listening to pep's presser he seems more willing to take the fall for the players than to make radical changes and be ruthless. it could be mostly for show but not even counting with mcatee and academy players and instead playing the old guard will be his fall, cause the oldies arent able/dont care anymore

 

[HypnoticBlue]

He needs to wake up quick or he’s done, do we not have defenders or midfielders in the academy because he needs to play them in the team now.
We are gonna be in a scrap for the top half of the table the way it’s going, and you wouldn’t rule out Salford turning us over in the cup and us not making the knockout stages of the CL.
The crisis is turning into a disaster.

 

[Roachy]

Credit in the bank for recent achievements, but life isn't just about winning. Need to take the rough with the smooth and stop this slide.

 

[Paul1970]

listening to pep's presser he seems more willing to take the fall for the players than to make radical changes and be ruthless. it could be mostly for show but not even counting with mcatee and academy players and instead playing the old guard will be his fall, cause the oldies arent able/dont care anymore

Can’t see pep changing anything tbh as it’s that deep rooted with these players that in doubt unless they decide to leave he will not get them out I mean he actually talked Walker round into staying so do you really think he is gonna be able to be ruthless because I don’t . Love pep and don’t we will ever see a manager as good but for me I think this beeds to be his final season and I think it will be .

 

[Blue Maverick]

I think this is the first week in the season we haven’t got a midweek game, since the fa cup final Pep has had very little time to train with the team, hes said it himself. They play, next day recover, following day come in for a tiny bit of training then they have another game or are travelling to a game. You have multiple injuries then you have to fit players in, Nunes will have had about 2 possibly 3 trading sessions to fit in at left back, apart from his fuck up he did ok.
Pep said you can’t do tactics on a white board you must train together, hopefully this week he can sort something out or some of the senior players need to step up and have a word why it’s not working, if they think they aren’t capable of carrying out this system let him know, hopefully he would listen. Top 4 this year is a must and a few good performances, I don’t think any signings in January will make a huge difference.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

wonder if we signed someone like Saka, would we in the current set up ask him to hold up the ball, turn back, pass it back, recycle the ball, rarely beat defenders, get into the box, get a shot off knowing he has decent stats both for scoring and assisting, much better than any our current wingers, would we use his strengths or would we ask him to revert to type and be like Grealish just on the right side?

Bukayo Saka is a much better player than Grealish ever will be.

He'd get more goals and more assists than Grealish, regardless of how he would be supposedly instructed to play.

The reason why Jack is a squad player is because he doesn't have nearly enough of a direct impact in the final third. That's not to do with tactics, that's down to his own shortcomings.