Pep Guardiola - 2024/25

[alexmcity]

What are you talking about?! You're throwing the towel in on our greatest ever manager, who is still under contract with the club. I'm saying he's deserving of time because he's the fucking greatest we've ever had and likely ever will. If he'd have left after the treble we'd have experienced a worse season than this one last year and been even worse in this campaign. We certainly wouldn't have gone and won a 4th title in the row.

Thank fuck you don't make the decisions.

Calling Pep our greatest manager doesn't do justice to his stature in the game.

He's up there with the greatest managers in history.

I won't be surprised if he goes down as the greatest ever, as unlike, say, Ferguson he has not only won many trophies but has changed football. Pep's a unique combination of a winner like Ferguson and a tactical genius like Michels.

Only time can tell whether he can build another great City team but it's daft to write him off.

 

[supercity88]

Calling Pep our greatest manager doesn't do justice to his stature in the game.

He's up there with the greatest managers in history.

I won't be surprised if he goes down as the greatest ever, as unlike, say, Ferguson he has not only won many trophies but has changed football. Pep's a unique combination of a winner like Ferguson and a tactical genius like Michels.

Only time can tell whether he can build another great City team but it's daft to write him off.

Quite right!

 

[supercity88]

No one is throwing in the towel on Pep but you have to look at facts. Our football has been declining, he’s making decisions that are increasingly daft, the opposition is getting stronger and all managers have a shelf life.
So the club need to decide what to do. I see 3 options
1. Trust in and fully back Pep for his last 2 years. But then what happens? And what if our decline continues?
2. Keep Pep for at least 1 year whilst the next long term manager is brought in at some point
3. See if Pep might walk of his own accord or make a radical decision to bring his long term successor in much more quickly and as Billy Shears says it’s a 4-5 year rebuild potentially. Personally I don’t see it as anywhere near as long but would be at least 2 seasons

Whatever, in this day and age, CL is critical to long term success so tomorrow really is make or break. If we lose I think it’s EL and to make it worse we know the rags will get CL
So bloody do it tomorrow City

The fact is he is our greatest ever manager and one of the best ever. So you trust the process. Much like when he came and we struggled and the media said he wouldn't dominate here like he has in Spain and Germany, give him time! We have had injuries, mental and physical fatigue and a poor recruitment strategy.

He has picked the team he felt would get results. He has used tactics he felt would work. Same as in the previous seasons where we have dominated.

Based on all he has done for us, I see one option and then a load of fucking nonsense from bed wetters. You back him and give him time.

 

[mrbelfry]

Pep gets slagged no matter what he does because he's set such a high standard. If Akanji wasn't brought back in we would all be complaining about Nunes still playing right back. If Haaland wasn't playing we'd be complaining about him keeping a £1m a week record breaking goal scorer on the bench. After a game where we've complained people are passing it sideways, no one can beat a man and players refuse to shoot we have people asking why Grealish wasn't playing.

We are the easiest team to slag off about boring football whilst the opposition sit 10 men in the box and it gets called sublime. Then we have people saying Pep should change it and invite the opposition on to us. When we do that and the opposition don't bite then we complain the centre half's keep passing it to each other with no threat.

Then we are told the way to beat the the parked bus is to have runners and wingers so we buy Nunes, Kovacic, Doku, Savinho, Marmoush but we have no Plan B. The days of Sane not chasing balls into the channel or Sterling missing sitters are long gone because most teams know they'll get battered if they play a high like against us and they get free reign to manhandle our players anyway.

This season has been the perfect storm of disaster that's given everyone the collective jitters and we've had some stalwarts constantly injured, hopelessly out of form or just no longer able to meet the high standards they set.

Pep is also in unfamiliar territory. He's never managed a team for this long before and he's probably being a bit too sentimental with his trusted guys and his decision making has seemed a little erratic . I back him to figure it out though

 

[Dizbuster]

2 players that can't press don't think it would have worked.

I too remember when we used to dominate possession, in part, with our suffocating press. That was last season.

 

[Dizbuster]

I wouldn’t want another person to lead us through this period.

Genuinely disappointed to see so many turn on him due to a bad season. Yes it’s been crap and boring but what about all the seasons we ripped it up? He is more than due a rocky season or 2 ffs.

A victim of his own success.

So many players have not turned up this season. I would move any of them on instead of pep, any.

Let’s all buckle under the pressure instead. As if pep can’t see how shite we are. He is dealing with a huge squad of players who are nothing more than average at best.

No wonder he is sick of them. It’s a game of football not rocket science. The majority need to do a lot better or be shown the door. I would just get rid now.

Rip the plaster off and go again.

We don’t score goals and it’s on the players. We concede stupid goals and it’s on the players. We create fuck all and it’s on the players. The recruitment is on the club. Both those major issues is why we look and play like shit.

Huge squad? If that were true, we would have been better equipped to face the run of injuries that we had. I want Pep to return next season and beyond, but Pep's fingerprints are all over this disaster of a season. However, I trust that the greatest manager ever will find a way to right this ship. Many of our players have underachieved this season, but they've been playing without full fitness or proper rest and recovery time and in many instances, they have been put into formations which maximized their weaknesses. Team selection and underuse of subs has also been a problem.

Playing a 4-0-6 formation against Palace blew a trophy for us. Do you disagree?

 

[HelloCity]

Huge squad? If that were true, we would have been better equipped to face the run of injuries that we had. I want Pep to return next season and beyond, but Pep's fingerprints are all over this disaster of a season. However, I trust that the greatest manager ever will find a way to right this ship. Many of our players have underachieved this season, but they've been playing without full fitness or proper rest and recovery time and in many instances, they have been put into formations which maximized their weaknesses. Team selection and underuse of subs has also been a problem.

Playing a 4-0-6 formation against Palace blew a trophy for us. Do you disagree?

Not sure we can be talking about Pep ‘blowing’ trophies when he’s responsible for a shit load more of them, especially when we’ve gone like 8(!) seasons before we finished without one.

You won’t find another manager in the history of football that hasn’t ‘blown’ them at some point.

 

[cleavers]

Playing a 4-0-6 formation against Palace blew a trophy for us. Do you disagree?

Yes, missing a penalty blew a trophy for us, and some poor defensive play for their goal.

 

[wolviedinho]

Huge squad? If that were true, we would have been better equipped to face the run of injuries that we had. I want Pep to return next season and beyond, but Pep's fingerprints are all over this disaster of a season. However, I trust that the greatest manager ever will find a way to right this ship. Many of our players have underachieved this season, but they've been playing without full fitness or proper rest and recovery time and in many instances, they have been put into formations which maximized their weaknesses. Team selection and underuse of subs has also been a problem.

Playing a 4-0-6 formation against Palace blew a trophy for us. Do you disagree?

Huge squad from January. Leaving players out of cup finals…

Playing Gundo/kev/kova/bernie because he don’t trust the rest is a clear issue that needs addressed in the summer.

The injuries is a freak season. Won’t happen this way again.

Players who don’t care and are happy to collect the wages while underperforming is where the blame lays.

 

[Dizbuster]

Not sure we can be talking about Pep ‘blowing’ trophies when he’s responsible for a shit load more of them, especially when we’ve gone like 8(!) seasons before we finished without one.

You won’t find another manager in the history of football that has ‘blown’ them at some point.

Pep has guided us to countless trophies. That does not preclude blowing one.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Has anyone posted the picture of him with all the Trophies from 2023. Because that knocks every argument into a cocked hat doesn't it?

 

[Bez]

Whenever Pep leaves City he will be considered a legend. We need to be careful what we wish for. Yes, the football can be boring to watch at times, but that is because in the Premier League most of the teams we play against park the bus. So, yes it is boring, but that's mainly because the opposition decide to park the bus - in effect, they choose to play anti-football to try and steal a result. Against CP we were trying to score for the majority of the game and either we did not convert our chances or we could not find a way through against a team that rarely kicked the ball all match. Defensively we look more solid and I am sure we will get rid of the players that cannot do what is required and get some hungry new ones that can. Bring on next season.

 

[jimharri]

Has anyone posted the picture of him with all the Trophies from 2023. Because that knocks every argument into a cocked hat doesn't it.

This one?

 

[Dizbuster]

Yes, missing a penalty blew a trophy for us, and some poor defensive play for their goal.

Quite true, but you're leaving out the issue with midfield. We've been played through in midfield as though there were none of our players there, and that has been a problem since Rodri went down.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

It's not a new tactic though is it? Teams have done this in previous seasons yet we've always found a way round it.

But we're without a D Silva, Nasri, Mahrez, an in form KDB - even a Rodri, to pick the lock these days. Sav has lost his keys and Doku locks himself out.

 

[Stiff Little Wingers]

Pep gets slagged no matter what he does because he's set such a high standard. If Akanji wasn't brought back in we would all be complaining about Nunes still playing right back. If Haaland wasn't playing we'd be complaining about him keeping a £1m a week record breaking goal scorer on the bench. After a game where we've complained people are passing it sideways, no one can beat a man and players refuse to shoot we have people asking why Grealish wasn't playing.

We are the easiest team to slag off about boring football whilst the opposition sit 10 men in the box and it gets called sublime. Then we have people saying Pep should change it and invite the opposition on to us. When we do that and the opposition don't bite then we complain the centre half's keep passing it to each other with no threat.

Then we are told the way to beat the the parked bus is to have runners and wingers so we buy Nunes, Kovacic, Doku, Savinho, Marmoush but we have no Plan B. The days of Sane not chasing balls into the channel or Sterling missing sitters are long gone because most teams know they'll get battered if they play a high like against us and they get free reign to manhandle our players anyway.

This season has been the perfect storm of disaster that's given everyone the collective jitters and we've had some stalwarts constantly injured, hopelessly out of form or just no longer able to meet the high standards they set.

Pep is also in unfamiliar territory. He's never managed a team for this long before and he's probably being a bit too sentimental with his trusted guys and his decision making has seemed a little erratic . I back him to figure it out though

Yes of course he's set a phenomenal standard. The point is whether his skills are on the decline or not and I think they are but with so many things going against him this season, I can't work out what might happen next season but presumably the club and Pep himself have a better idea

 

[mrbelfry]

Yes of course he's set a phenomenal standard. The point is whether his skills are on the decline or not and I think they are but with so many things going against him this season, I can't work out what might happen next season but presumably the club and Pep himself have a better idea

When you've done what Pep and the team have done for 4 seasons the only way is down. Summer reset and a bit of breathing room to plan and we will have a better season that this. Nows the time for us all to hold our nerve

 

[Dax777]

433 wide fullbacks, or 4222 wide fullbacks (although less likely to do this with Haaland).

Last 2 games we went to a back 3 for some reason and looked even worse than we have before.

Play Bernie, Kova, Gundogan, Nico G, Rodri all very deep in the middle.

Let Nunes and O Reilly make controlled runs down the wing.

Marmoush LW, RW seems more unsure with Foden out of form, but maybe Savio/Doku/Bobb.

This is what we should do. Haaland, simply should play as the RF and Marmoush as LF

With the Fullbacks O'Reilly and Nunes as the crossers. The beauty of this formation is that it leaves us with 4 Central midfielders who are forced to step back and take control of the ball away from the Central Defenders and move it quickly.

This was the main advantage of that formation..The central mids ( specifically Kova, Bernie, Gundo and Kev) ran our offense and tried to move ot quickly. True, Haaland wouldn't be able to split wide as often as Macca did, but id still be a better system.

 

[Mancini’s Pastilles]

Talksport is bollocks and the guys on it are knobs, but darren bent said one thing that is interesting. Sometimes a new voice is needed. Found it interesting

 

[cleavers]

Quite true, but you're leaving out the issue with midfield. We've been played through in midfield as though there were none of our players there, and that has been a problem since Rodri went down.

I'm leaving nothing out, Palace (and Southampton even worse) barely ventured into, never mind through, our midfield, both defended well, the differences, against Palace we had a golden opportunity to score, the best you can have, and Southampton really didn't even try to score.

None of that is related to Rodri, who isn't available to any of it.