Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

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Foden wasn't good enough to play for us in 2019 either mate what's your point ? he was still given significant minutes to prove his talent and to keep him at the club, same thing with Lewis over the past two seasons, wasn't good enough to start but was still given game time, I argue we should've done the same with some of the players mentioned, either that or buy some fucking players, we did neither and we're in trouble, all of the players mentioned could help us now even Pedro Porro as well.

As for Palmer like I said he let him go just when he started to show his quality, allowing him to leave after Mahrez left didn't make sense despite the money from Chelsea, it left us with no Right wingers, similiar to selling Alvarez leaving us with no backup striker, a terrible decision.
If Foden wasn’t good enough to play then he wouldn’t have played. Same with Lewis, Bobb and Palmer. The reason why the others didn’t get (as many) opportunities as the players just mentioned is because they weren’t as good as them.

Where we did mess up is poor recruitment; I agree with you on that. We should’ve brought in a Rodri back-up and an Alvarez replacement. We should’ve sold Walker when we had the chance and replaced him too.

Playing youth players who aren’t ready isn’t the solution to our current problems though. The truth is that players like O’Reilly, McAtee, Simpson-Pusey, etc aren’t good enough to start for a team that wants to compete for and win every trophy, and clearly Pep thinks that they aren’t even good enough to do a better job than our senior players at the moment.
 
Im not sure he is being as kind as he thinks if his mentality is "Im not gonna put the youth in this shitshow, the seniors have to figure it out"

Some youth players have the mentality, they just want to show what they can do, regardless of result, and that is kind to the seniors to rest them.

His decision to do the opposite affecta BOTH groups now, youth who are probably lacking purpose because they wont get chances, and seniors whose bodies are destroyed.

Its pretty catastrophic decision making by Pep.

He has done it his whole time here, but only now (and arguably for a time last season) is it catching up to him.

I hope he doesnt go full Mourinho and refuse to adapt.
 
I constantly defend Pep on the basis that with the same players Pellegrini would have won maybe 2 leagues in the time Pep has been here rather than 6. Same applies to Roberto.
Pep's seen off Jürgen and Arteta.
But the results recently have been shocking and the performance even worse.
I think Pep is done. Obviously noone will ever sack possibly the greatest manager anywhere ever. So for me it's up to him. But 1 win in 12 could become 1 win in 20 and for a club with so many still good players it raises the question about whether he should continue.
If we can’t beat any of Everton, Leicester, West Ham, Salford, Brentford and Ipswich before we face PSG and Chelsea then yes, maybe it will be time for him to go. But win the next two games (which even in our current form we really ought to) and the mood might change
 
If Foden wasn’t good enough to play then he wouldn’t have played. Same with Lewis, Bobb and Palmer. The reason why the others didn’t get (as many) opportunities as the players just mentioned is because they weren’t as good as them.

Where we did mess up is poor recruitment; I agree with you on that. We should’ve brought in a Rodri back-up and an Alvarez replacement. We should’ve sold Walker when we had the chance and replaced him too.

Playing youth players who aren’t ready isn’t the solution to our current problems though. The truth is that players like O’Reilly, McAtee, Simpson-Pusey, etc aren’t good enough to start for a team that wants to compete for and win every trophy, and clearly Pep thinks that they aren’t even good enough to do a better job than our senior players at the moment.
But my point is Pep doesn't always get it right, just because he didn't see something special in the names mentioned doesn't mean he was right, you could argue that those players playing well in other clubs have proved him wrong, and the fact he sold Palmer means he didn't see something special about him either.

I never claimed playing youth is the solution to our problems, but how can we know when he hasn't tried it ? and I've also said playing youth isn't just to give them a chance, it's also to give the injured and tired senior players a time to rest and heal their injuries so they could comeback fitter and fresher, constantly rushing them back from injuries isn't working at all, it's just hurting us in the short and long terms, playing youth might helps us in the long term.
 
If we can’t beat any of Everton, Leicester, West Ham, Salford, Brentford and Ipswich before we face PSG and Chelsea then yes, maybe it will be time for him to go. But win the next two games (which even in our current form we really ought to) and the mood might change
I think we might beat Everton as we are at home. Should be 15 points from that lot in the league. But I reckon we'll get 9.
Which in itself would be a relief after the recent shit show.
I think we'll finish with around 50 points so should be safe.
 
Question - do you think most other managers would have gotten more points out of the last 12 games? I believe the answer is certainly yes.
Sure but that's not the point, I wouldn't trade Pep for them just because they could do better for two months, what worries me is the performances in these two months, it's just not acceptable for any manager and club at the top level. I don't want Pep to leave, I just want him to do better than this dross, he's better than that.
 
If he continues doing the same thing every week then this is on him. We know the squad isn't perfect but he has to adapt. He would generate so much more goodwill with fans if we saw that he was changing personnel (academy players), changed tactics (deeper line etc).
 
But my point is Pep doesn't always get it right, just because he didn't see something special in the names mentioned doesn't mean he was right, you could argue that those players playing well in other clubs have proved him wrong, and the fact he sold Palmer means he didn't see something special about him either.

I never claimed playing youth is the solution to our problems, but could we know when he hasn't tried it ? and I've also said playing youth isn't just to give them a chance, it's also to give the injured and tired senior players a time to rest and heal their injuries so they could comeback fitter and fresher, constantly rushing them back from injuries isn't working at all, it's just hurting us in the short and long terms, playing youth might helps us in the long term.
They haven’t though for the reasons I gave above. None of them were good enough at the time and realistically most people wouldn’t take them back either. The only former academy player who is good enough to play for a team challenging to win every trophy is Palmer. It’s not that Pep didn’t rate Palmer as he gave him opportunities. It’s the fact that we were offered a large sum for a player with not a lot of experience in senior football so it made sense to cash in.

The fact that Pep trusts unfit / injured senior players over our youth players shows that they aren’t good enough; not even as good as Lewis who gets pelters on here. Would Lewis be playing if Akanji, Ake, Stones and Dias were all fit and available?
 
They haven’t though for the reasons I gave above. None of them were good enough at the time and realistically most people wouldn’t take them back either. The only former academy player who is good enough to play for a team challenging to win every trophy is Palmer. It’s not that Pep didn’t rate Palmer as he gave him opportunities. It’s the fact that we were offered a large sum for a player with not a lot of experience in senior football so it made sense to cash in.

The fact that Pep trusts unfit / injured senior players over our youth players shows that they aren’t good enough; not even as good as Lewis who gets pelters on here. Would Lewis be playing if Akanji, Ake, Stones and Dias were all fit and available?
Yeah well you seem to think Pep can't be wrong about any player ever, I say he can, let's agree to disagree.

And Pep didn't rate Palmer that much otherwise he would've refused to sell him, the decision to sell him may have made sense from a financial point but it didn't make any sense in terms of squad planning, it left us with no right wingers, same with Alvarez, big money but utterly disastrous for the team, Pep didn't do anything about that either.
 
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I think we might beat Everton as we are at home. Should be 15 points from that lot in the league. But I reckon we'll get 9.
Which in itself would be a relief after the recent shit show.
I think we'll finish with around 50 points so should be safe.
If we win the next two we’ll get some confidence back and then West Ham and Salford could easily make it four wins in a row and suddenly the mood has changed completely
 
These 12 games haven't just been bad we haven't had this level of sustained incompetence since Pearce was manager and he had Samaras up front not Haaland.
Has he suddenly become incompetent?
or is it due to the players?
or the injuries?
or Pep's stubborness to change his style?
 
Has he suddenly become incompetent?
or is it due to the players?
or the injuries?
or Pep's stubborness to change his style?
Poor recruitment has left ageing players exposed, injuries haven't helped and Pep's refusal to try something different has put the cap on it.
 
Poor recruitment has left ageing players exposed, injuries haven't helped and Pep's refusal to try something different has put the cap on it.
Yes, these are all mitigating factors, but Pep has earned the right to stick at his style. 72% win ratio across his career.

If, after he has all his players back and these results still persist to the end of the season, then that's a different conversation.
 
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