Pep Guardiola - 2025/26

Gabriel said:
The club has given Guardiola a larger squad, yet he’s been operating as if we actually have the same smaller squad. Some of that reliance has been forced upon him by myriad circumstances, but the scars from Leverkusen have also left their mark.
Going to be interesting to see both whether we can catch a second wind with the same players, and whether Guardiola can utilise a larger squad once more are fit and return.
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He can’t control the injuries. We were without 8 first team players today
 
madloaf said:
2 years. 2 years straight of stagnant walking football with the occasional flashes. It's not only about the points. It's about the way we play. I would like to be entertained. Bernardo on the right wing, no though balls to haaland, unbalanced midfield. High line with no pace.Urgh. Yes I'm sure I'll miss him when he's gone, but maybe he's lost his fast ball. You keep believing. I hope you're right.
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Winning 4 in a row isn't easy. To demand entertainment when the team is doing history is to be spoiled and ungrateful. We were fighting for back to back Trebles as late as April 2024.

We are having a very good season. We are top scorers in the league and in the top 4 in the CL. If our football is stagnant, what then is Arsenal's who have scored about 10 goals fewer from open play?

Injuries have hit us recently. Gonzalez is injured, Gvardiol injured, Dias had to be subbed off... Some players have run out of steam.

But we were in a worse position a month ago (7 pts off the top). I think we can win the title if we are within 6 pts in 6-8 weeks. Let's see what happens.
 
alexmcity said:
Winning 4 in a row isn't easy. To demand entertainment when the team is doing history is to be spoiled and ungrateful. We were fighting for back to back Trebles as late as April 2024.

We are having a very good season. We are top scorers in the league and in the top 4 in the CL. If our football is stagnant, what then is Arsenal's who have scored about 10 goals fewer from open play?

Injuries have hit us recently. Gonzalez is injured, Gvardiol injured, Dias had to be subbed off... Some players have run out of steam.

But we were in a worse position a month ago (7 pts off the top). I think we can win the title if we are within 6 pts in 6-8 weeks. Let's see what happens.
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We're comparing this year to last year whilst ignoring that pep was in charge last year? The several performances this year that have, again, been soporific, we're ignoring them as well. We have improved from last year for sure I won't deny it, but it's not looking super again is it? It's fine, I'm venting and it's not like I don't understand the counter arguments. At what point does this become a discussion? Probably never which I do not understand.
 
madloaf said:
We're comparing this year to last year whilst ignoring that pep was in charge last year? The several performances this year that have, again, been soporific, we're ignoring them as well. We have improved from last year for sure I won't deny it, but it's not looking super again is it? It's fine, I'm venting and it's not like I don't understand the counter arguments. At what point does this become a discussion? Probably never which I do not understand.
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You are completely ignoring our injury situation last season. It's not like we had a wonderful squad that was playing stagnant football. We had a severe injury crisis between November and February, and had to reinvent midfielders as FBs. Yet we were the best league team in the last calendar year in terms of points per game, GF and GD.

This season, two of the midfielders, one of them amongst the best in the world, weren't available for almost all of the games. Gonzalez did well, but he is still learning the position.

It's hard to discuss with someone who has a clear agenda against the manager and is quick to moan after bad results (8 wins and 2 draws in the last 10 games BTW).
 
alexmcity said:
You are completely ignoring our injury situation last season. It's not like we had a wonderful squad that was playing stagnant football. We had a severe injury crisis between November and February, and had to reinvent midfielders as FBs. Yet we were the best league team in the last calendar year in terms of points per game, GF and GD.

This season, two of the midfielders, one of them amongst the best in the world, weren't available for almost all of the games. Gonzalez did well, but he is still learning the position.

It's hard to discuss with someone who has a clear agenda against the manager and is quick to moan after bad results (8 wins and 2 draws in the last 10 games BTW).
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Calendar year trophy coming our way.

A clear agenda. What you mean is an opinion. You're not normally this ridiculous. Perhaps we leave it there.
 
skillman said:
Just been done tactically for 45 minutes by an U21 manager. They made a change at half time and we didn’t react to it at all. Very, very poor.
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Hard to game plan for a handful of clear chances that should've been goals and your two creative outlets being borderline anonymous for large parts of the game. Could've done better with how we set up from the start and managed the game with the subs though.
 
pbueno16 said:
Hard to game plan for a handful of clear chances that should've been goals and your two creative outlets being borderline anonymous for large parts of the game. Could've done better with how we set up from the start and managed the game with the subs though.
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Agreed. Coached a win in the first half but then didn’t react or have a plan B in the second. Which isn’t good enough.

IMO anyway.
 
Bluewonder said:
But that didn't actually happen, did it? Because we dominated the game and chucked it away through poor play in the final third.
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They brought on an extra midfielder at half time and we didn’t react at all. Kept Rodri on his own in midfield with Bernie giving the width and then took Reijnders off who runs and runs.

The tactics in the second half were the same as what they were in the first half which wasn’t the route to go down. IMO anyway.

They carved through us over and over in midfield with simple passes and got at our back 4 with ease.
 
Just gutted we didn't see it out

Thought both Foden and Cherki didn't have their best game

Rodri was brillant and Nunes has been very good as well
 
madloaf said:
Calendar year trophy coming our way.

A clear agenda. What you mean is an opinion. You're not normally this ridiculous. Perhaps we leave it there.
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Your criticisms don't take into account objective circumstances, such as injuries, aging players, having new players who need time to develop and perform at their best, etc. You expect quick results. Because the best manager would have done better, right?

Now, imagine that we had the very best manager in the world this season (or over the last 18 months) instead of Pep. What would have he achieved? Serious question.
 
He had 1 hand tied behind his back with the injuries forcing subs and the lack of options on the bench but still feel like his planning was poor.

Reijnders should not have come off before foden or cherki. when he went off, chelsea didnt have to be concerned with any movement in behind anymore and could pile forward at will which saw the pressure mount on us. He was also a valid option to drop deeper. He once again threw Rodri in at the deep end making him play 90 minutes. Fatigue causes injuries, he was shattered long before we were out of subs, we had options, reijnders could have dropped in, O'Reilly or Nunes could have gone in there from fullback, Lewis could have come into the backline or directly into midfield. None of them are great options but the priority has to be to protect him and ease him in before he's picking up yet another injury and we dont see him again for months.
 
alexmcity said:
Your criticisms don't take into account objective circumstances, such as injuries, aging players, having new players who need time to develop and perform at their best, etc. You expect quick results. Because the best manager would have done better, right?

Now, imagine that we had the very best manager in the world this season (or over the last 18 months) instead of Pep. What would have he achieved? Serious question.
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You've accused me of "having an agenda" which is bizarre on a forum where opinions are really all we have and are now saying things like "I expect quick results" which I have never said. In fact I specifically talked about performances not results. However, as I don't mind the odd bit of nonsense I will answer.

What would he have achieved? No idea. I have no idea what the football would have looked like if we had a different manager. However, my point is I'm not completely disinterested in finding out. As I said, I'll likely miss him when he's gone, but there's a chance we look better than we have in the last 2 years.
 
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Prestwich_Blue said:
Let's face it, his best years are now behind us. No spark or intensity in this team anymore, and seemingly no plan to address that. We've had some amazing experiences between 2017 and 2023 but we desperately need fresh ideas.
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Utter nonsense.

There’s not another manager in the land that would have us higher than where we are now. 2nd is pretty good for a team that was at the CWC and is going through a rebuild.

Put it this way, you’re not going to get anyone else turning O’Reilly and Nunes into full backs to cover for poor recruitment.

The main issues today were:

- Rodri got tired after 60 minutes but Nico was injured so not available to replace him.
- Doku wasn’t fit to start so we lacked true attacking width.
- This is also meant the likes of Foden and Cherki had to cover the flank and central position when going forward.
- Both our centre backs went off injured.

Also, I don’t want to be picky but we won a record 4th title in a row in 2024 :)
 
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