Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

[robbieh]

One thing that's a bit confusing is how we've morphed into a winger centric outfit. I know we had the Sane Sterling combination for a while but looking at a video posted elsewhere we once had a midfield of Yaya, Silva, Barry and Nasri.

And since then we've had various combinations of Dinho, Yaya, Silva, Kev, Rodri, Bernardo and so on.

Not a winger in sight. Now not only do we have two, but two who can't defend. Throw in the fact we have no fullbacks, and it's a recipe for disaster.

The video was the 5-1 at WHL. And apart from the midfield, we had Zabba and Clichy.

Maybe the winger thing is to get the best out of Erl, but it's quite a shift from the style we've played for ages, not to mention the way Pep has played wherever he's been.

It looks like a mistake.

 

[Paul1970]

I'd have played that defence if it was fit. Pep and the fitness guys know more than we ever will. What I wouldn't have is Rico fucking Lewis running round like a headless chicken roaming into midfield and then being out of position when they are attacking, the positioning is all off from our back line it has been all season. Gvardiol is still getting caught in no man's lands as well trying to push up the pitch, if we don't have defenders with pace don't ask them to be out of position so often.

Is Kev fit? If he's fit to play 5 minutes, he's fit to play 30, if not shouldn't be on the bench. Is Grealish a pisshead? If not he should be playing, shouldn't be on the bench, at least he can keep possession and get us up the pitch. Gundog did nothing in midfield that Nunes couldn't have done Yesterday and he has a damn site more pace/stamina than him, might have worked well but can see he went for a bit of new and old with that combination but maybe could have mixed it up at 2-2 looking for a win? Who knows.

It's the sheer reluctance to actually use the squad I find baffling.

He is picking his favourites and it’s killing us and next season he will pick his favourites again and it will kill us . I think some people actually believe we are gonna have a reset next season and win the title which is not going ti happen unless pep changes his way of thinking and puts sentiment on the back burner .

 

[thomas1307]

He is picking his favourites and it’s killing us and next season he will pick his favourites again and it will kill us . I think some people actually believe we are gonna have a reset next season and win the title which is not going ti happen unless pep changes his way of thinking and puts sentiment on the back burner .

at least give him a chance next season to change his ways your comment say you know he will pick his favourite next season with out knowing that

 

[Blue Elvis]

This is it, the same poor setup every game expecting different results.

Baldpeps cunning plan !

If he can't see it then his coaching staff need sacking for not challenging him on tactics/ starting team selection/ use of subs.

Needs overhaul of coaching and medical staff as well as multiple team transfers to turn us back into title contenders.

Sadly I think Pep is tarnishing his wonderful legacy by hanging on too long to what worked for him in the past.

Not seen any consistent evidence that he knows how to turn things around this season.

Dont think we will win the FA Cup or qualify for Champions League from how we are performing at present.

At least we have all those previous seasons videos to rewatch when we need a fix ! What memories !!

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Football is leaving Pep behind.
He's one more season to catch up.

 

[Damanino]

problem is he doesnt instill belief in the players with his tactics and the results. the players may be waiting on him to swap things and stop the rot while he is waiting for the players to do it.

"I want my players back".
what players? KDB in his prime, Gundogan in his prime, Ederson, Walker in their prime? made of glass Stones-Ake?
thats gone.

Viana needs to be moving all these players so Pep cannot hang onto them. replacing them with high quality will not be easy and cheap tho. and getting bad replacements like we done with Nunes, Phillips, Kova etc is just gonna set us back more.

also the backroom staff needs new ideas, new faces. Fernandinho is a good start but set piece coach, GK coach, defensive coach can come too, and Lillo can be waken up from sleeping on the bench too.

 

[Marvin.]

One thing that's a bit confusing is how we've morphed into a winger centric outfit. I know we had the Sane Sterling combination for a while but looking at a video posted elsewhere we once had a midfield of Yaya, Silva, Barry and Nasri.

And since then we've had various combinations of Dinho, Yaya, Silva, Kev, Rodri, Bernardo and so on.

Not a winger in sight. Now not only do we have two, but two who can't defend. Throw in the fact we have no fullbacks, and it's a recipe for disaster.

The video was the 5-1 at WHL. And apart from the midfield, we had Zabba and Clichy.

Maybe the winger thing is to get the best out of Erl, but it's quite a shift from the style we've played for ages, not to mention the way Pep has played wherever he's been.

It looks like a mistake.

Bernardo and Foden struggled badly at Forest so Pep hit the wings vs Forest in what looked like a very attacking side but we effectively isolated our 4 forwards. Pep is searching hard for solutions

 

[Blue2202]

This season is down to the manager and the director of football, the complacency and poor purchases and the reluctance to play young player apart from a championship player at right back and in midfield are down to the pair of them, we are a middling team now and the fall from grace over such a short period of time is staggering, the signs were there post Istanbul, there is no room for sentimentality in football yet this is what happened with our superb players who are now sadly past it. It'll be an interesting last 9 games or so to put it mildly. Fingers crossed we can do something in the cup and get a CL spot but I'm far from hopeful sadly.

Its hard to disagree otherwise unfortunately. Its not just the reluctance from Pep to play younger players though, its his reluctance to make subs to change games, experiment with the set up, and worst of all stop picking his favourites who are so clearly finished/just not at the level required... bernardo, gundogan, lewis, nunes, de bruyne, savinho all fit into that category for me.

If he refuses to change his thinking just like he hasn't for the last 6 months then I'm afraid his legacy will become tarnished. I genuinely don't even think we were this bad in the season Mancini left.

 

[bondsman]

Bernardo and Foden struggled badly at Forest so Pep hit the wings vs Forest in what looked like a very attacking side but we effectively isolated our 4 forwards. Pep is searching hard for solutions

Disagree system isn’t changing week to week and football is won in midfield. We don’t have one.

 

[LTW]

The guy is good and has potential, but has never managed a top top club before. Do you really want to gamble on that?

There’s about £400m of talent that’s underperforming under Pep, I’d rather see if it can be salvaged by a new coach than sell it on and then fulfil their potential and realise that Guardiola was the problem.

Plus the days of us having the best squad in Europe are gone, and the succession signings are a few levels below, and as Pep has no track record of overachievement it’s likely we’ll be spending the rest of his tenure where we currently are anyway - challenging for top 4. If that’s going to be the case, I’d rather do it with exciting, uncomplicated football with a young manager who might integrate the next Palmer, Rogers etc than the garbage currently being churned out.

 

[bondsman]

I wonder has he lost the dressing room

 

[Blue2202]

Yeah I'm aware.

What's that got to do with spending this summer?

Do you think players with the quality we need are going to have the same willingness to join us without champions league football? If so you need to take the blue tinted glasses off. It will also undoubtedly hamper the amount we can spend to continue rebuilding the squad.

 

[waspish]

I wonder has he lost the dressing room

Doubt it with what pep has coached them into winning and they'll be only one winner if any truth

 

[Gorbachev]

I wonder has he lost the dressing room

He hasn't lost it, but I think there are a few in that dressing room who think chasing a champions league spot as beneath them and some who know they won't be here next year.

It's human nature to down tools a little if you know the company doesn't want you anymore. Regardless of how long you have been there.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I wonder has he lost the dressing room

He's lost the EDS for sure.

 

[Damanino]

also a problem how motivated some of the players to bust a gut to get us that much needed CL place while they know they have no chance to come with us into next season. its the end of the road for a lot of them.

 

[Goater=Legend]

I wonder has he lost the dressing room

A lot of the players here have won a hell of a lot. Maybe after winning four in a row, Pep has struggled to fire them up again, which he needs to be ruthless in the summer and reset with fresh new hungry players.

 

[robbieh]

For me, if a couple of players are off form, it's probably the players. If the whole team is off form then it's the manager.

HIs refusal to play O'Reilly anywhere means Gvardiol is being run into the ground, and making mistakes.
Playing Lewis as an inverted midfielder is leaving Khusanov and the defence generally exposed, although Khusanov is coping well.

He keeps changing whoever plays alongside Nico, which won't be helping him.

He's given up on Jack yet keeps playing Bernardo who has been run into the ground over the last years.

Núñez was doing OK at RB but is now sidelined.

And it is obvious neither of the wingers help defensively so you can't play both.

Frankly it's baffling.

 

[Keeper!]

Bernardo and Foden struggled badly at Forest so Pep hit the wings vs Forest in what looked like a very attacking side but we effectively isolated our 4 forwards. Pep is searching hard for solutions

This present Pep is somewhat broken, hardly surprising with the efforts of previous seasons and even more so with his personal situation.

I want him to start this rebuild but I am starting to think he will be saying goodbye in the summer, especially if we don't finish the season in decent form and miss out on CL.

This summers tournament could not have come at a worse time, everyone at the club needs a long break from football to refresh and recharge and sadly that ain't happening which is a huge worry.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

The speed by which fellow blues are willing to discard our greatest ever manager after one poor season when the problems on the pitch are so clearly caveated by personnel and injuries is remarkable to me. I guarantee Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea want him gone as well, and their reasons are obvious, but I don't know why a portion of our fanbase agree with them.