Pep Guardiola - 2025/26

Something I don't believe (because I'm not so shallow) is that pep suddenly can't manage a winning team.

It's not something you learn, or lose. It's more about managing people, inspiring them, than juat tweaking tactics and having magical players.

But I think the drive is gone, from the club maybe because its from the manager. Maybe anyway. If be amazed if Pep can turn this around.

Whatever though, it's going to make zero sense sacking him in his last year when he's setting us up for the next guy.
 
JewelZee said:
The angry clappers keep falling back on the same tired "you can't win the title every year" nonsense. Who exactly has said we should be. I won't speak for others but for me there's an enormous gap between playing good football and living up to certain standards and being outright shambolic. Losing 0-4 at home to Spurs. Blowing a 1 goal lead at home in a derby in the 90th and beyond. Losing 1-4 at Porto. Losing 1-5 to the Arse. Losing twice to Liverpool without scoring a goal. Blowing a 3-0 lead at home in the last 15 minutes of a CL game v. Feyenoord. Losing to fucking Al Hilal while conceding 4. Drawing 0-0 away to a Southampton on the verge of being the Prem's worst team ever. Losing consecutive FA Cup finals with 2 virtual no shows. Blowing a 2-1 advantage on 86 minutes v. Real Madrid at home in the CL. Surrendering 4 unanswered in 30 minutes v. PSG blowing a 2-0 lead. My apologies but that is absolutely diabolical. 1 or 2 of those can and do happen to everyone. Not all those and others in 15 months.
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But how many times does this need repeating?
WE KNOW THESE RESULTS. WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED LAST SEASON. IT IS DONE, OVER, FINISHED.
The club (Pep) has admitted that they made a mistake in trying to get one more season out of the legends of the club. It is a matter of public record - the club got it wrong.
Now they are trying to put it right with a new DOF, new coaches and new players. They know that they are behind the curve so they are investing in high potential.
Going over old ground again and again, ad nauseam, is futile.
 
mdj0520 said:
Dunno where else to put this and I don't think Pep would do it at all and maybe I'm just getting super nostalgic...

But I'd really like it if we went for a 2011-12 style 4-2-2-2. I think our players are suited for it (except maybe a right back, but if that's our concern we should go back to the champs league final 3-2-4-1 with stones stepping up and a cb on the right most spot.

Stones ---- khusa ---- gvardiol ---- Ait Nouri

-----------------------------Rodri --------------

-------------Nico-----------------------------------

-------Foden--------------------- Reijnders-----

--------------------------- marmoush-------------
---------------------Haaland---------------------

Ait nori can get up and down with 3 CBs covering, Stones only steps up if ait nori steps forward. Nunes or Rico only play if Ake or Gvardio play at left back and then we inverse the formation.

Marmoush plays as a second striker. At the moment Haaland is actually taking down balls or recieving passes but he has no one to play it off to. Having Marmoush and Haaland as an old fashioned strike partnership would benefit both of them similar to Dzeko-Aguero or Negredo-Aguero.

Our wingers are completely ineffective. Having Foden and Reijnders roam and interchange across the middle and provide width if needed with occasional help and overlaps from stones and ait-nouri gets two creative 10s in the side. Cherki and Bobb can both play here.

Nico and Rodri as the Gareth barry - Yaya style midfield pairing. Imposing, robust. Noth the most pace but with Foden and Reijders roaming there's legs there. Another bonus would be throwing on a bernardo or someone to stand next to Nico and psuhing Rodri forward like we used to do the de jong to push yaya forward.
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Wonderful idea that will never happen

I'd love to see Pep do something like this, we know he has it in him, but just dont see it happening now for whatever reason
 
oldius said:
But how many times does this need repeating?
WE KNOW THESE RESULTS. WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED LAST SEASON. IT IS DONE, OVER, FINISHED.
The club (Pep) has admitted that they made a mistake in trying to get one more season out of the legends of the club. It is a matter of public record - the club got it wrong.
Now they are trying to put it right with a new DOF, new coaches and new players. They know that they are behind the curve so they are investing in high potential.
Going over old ground again and again, ad nauseam, is futile.
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Fair enough but then can we focus on what needs to be done in the context of where we are without constantly bringing up the treble, the 4 in a row, etc., etc. That is just as irrelevant and futile in terms of us getting our shit together.
 
Unless I’m mistaken, Pep’s repeatedly rejected any change in style, which suggests the need to keep on buying until we can finally slot the right players in. But that doesn’t look like happening. We’ll probably end the transfer window with a clueless defence and a dog’s breakfast of a goalkeeping situation.

So will that allow his acolytes to give him a free pass, blaming our ills on Hugo Viani, or will the manager be held to account by the same criteria that are applied in the rest of the world?
 
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oldius said:
But how many times does this need repeating?
WE KNOW THESE RESULTS. WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED LAST SEASON. IT IS DONE, OVER, FINISHED.
The club (Pep) has admitted that they made a mistake in trying to get one more season out of the legends of the club. It is a matter of public record - the club got it wrong.
Now they are trying to put it right with a new DOF, new coaches and new players. They know that they are behind the curve so they are investing in high potential.
Going over old ground again and again, ad nauseam, is futile.
Click to expand...
But they aren't succeeding, no matter your resolute, unequivical support.
Blown an incredible position. Now we're desperately playing catch up, and I don't fancy our chances unless mindsets radically change.
I wonder if Liverpool Madrid, Chelsea etc. have the Uruiah Heeps we have, celebrating saving money and having a parade when we "walk away" . Or are they delighted with their purchases.
 
GaudinoMotors said:
But they aren't succeeding, no matter your resolute, unequivical support.
Blown an incredible position. Now we're desperately playing catch up, and I don't fancy our chances unless mindsets radically change.
I wonder if Liverpool Madrid, Chelsea etc. have the Uruiah Heeps we have, celebrating saving money and having a parade when we "walk away" . Or are they delighted with their purchases.
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I have no idea what you are speaking about.
We haven't won the league once in five years and we are three games into a new season.
The new DOF has just taken over.
The new coaches have just arrived.
I have not heard of anyone celebrating saving money, but it is normal to compare deals by value. If it wasn't, the more negative posters wouldn't have been able to repeatedly lambast the spending of £100m on Jack. With our needs, I was glad to buy Cherki for £30m rather than Wirtz for £116m - I think he has a higher ceiling too.
 
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oldius said:
I have no idea what you are speaking about.
We haven't won the league once in five years and we are three games into a new season.
The new DOF has just taken over.
The new coaches have just arrived.
I have not heard of anyone celebrating saving money, but it is normal to compare deals by value. If it wasn't, the more negative posters wouldn't have been able to repeatedly lambast the spending of £100m on Jack. With our needs, I was glad to buy Cherki for £30m rather than Wirtz for £116m - I think he has a higher ceiling too.
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Whilst your unquestioning, pavlovian loyalty is highly admirable, you live on past laurels and fail to acknowledge mistakes and direction of travel. Fair enough, let's see how the season pans out.
Also you say you have no idea what I'm talking about ...then respond to it.
For what it's worth.....what price on an historic treble. You act as if we crowd funded it. Money well spent if you ask me - which you and many others won't.
 
GaudinoMotors said:
Whilst your unquestioning, pavlovian loyalty is highly admirable, you live on past laurels and fail to acknowledge mistakes and direction of travel. Fair enough, let's see how the season pans out.
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I think you may need to have a look over my recent posts where I have stated, clearly:
The club has made mistakes and has admitted them.
We kept club legends for a season too long.
The new DOF is trying to put that right.
The investment is in young players with a high potential ceiling.

That isn't unquestioning, it is accepting of the position.
I have no interest in repeatedly digging out what has gone before - it is done.

For your attention, here is a quote directly from my post you replied to:
The club (Pep) has admitted that they made a mistake in trying to get one more season out of the legends of the club. It is a matter of public record - the club got it wrong.
 
oldius said:
I think you may need to have a look over my recent posts where I have stated, clearly:
The club has made mistakes and has admitted them.
We kept club legends for a season too long.
The new DOF is trying to put that right.
The investment is in young players with a high potential ceiling.

That isn't unquestioning, it is accepting of the position.
I have no interest in repeatedly digging out what has gone before - it is done.

For your attention, here is a quote directly from my post you replied to:
The club (Pep) has admitted that they made a mistake in trying to get one more season out of the legends of the club. It is a matter of public record - the club got it wrong.
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Fair enough - not read your back catalogue. You seem very protective and forgiving of those that have made glaring mistakes, you're a better person than I. Ultimately, I suppose, what else can we do?
This isn't hindsight, some of the decisions and/or lack of are astonishing.
 
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GaudinoMotors said:
Fair enough - not read your back catalogue. You seem very protective and forgiving of those that have made glaring mistakes, you're a better made than I. Ultimately, I suppose, what else can we do?
This isn't hindsight, some of the decisions and/or lack of are astonishing.
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You have to move on.
We have had a great run, but elite sport is unforgiving.
The failure to timely replace those legends is not on Viana.
All he can do is build from this point, and it looks to me that is what is happening.
I imagine there is some tension in the string though because we need a younger core, to replace world-class, to deliver a small squad, to lose players on lengthy contracts...the list goes on and is a tough gig.
 
oldius said:
I have no idea what you are speaking about.
We haven't won the league once in five years and we are three games into a new season.
The new DOF has just taken over.
The new coaches have just arrived.
I have not heard of anyone celebrating saving money, but it is normal to compare deals by value. If it wasn't, the more negative posters wouldn't have been able to repeatedly lambast the spending of £100m on Jack. With our needs, I was glad to buy Cherki for £30m rather than Wirtz for £116m - I think he has a higher ceiling too.
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Not being funny mate but wirtz will be a great player once he gets going and tbh if wirtz wanted us we wouldn’t even have looked at cherki . I’m hoping we bring echerverri back
 
oldius said:
But how many times does this need repeating?
WE KNOW THESE RESULTS. WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED LAST SEASON. IT IS DONE, OVER, FINISHED.
The club (Pep) has admitted that they made a mistake in trying to get one more season out of the legends of the club. It is a matter of public record - the club got it wrong.
Now they are trying to put it right with a new DOF, new coaches and new players. They know that they are behind the curve so they are investing in high potential.
Going over old ground again and again, ad nauseam, is futile.
Click to expand...
Who says players signed have high potential? You never know that most of the time and a lot of players never hit their so called potential. Should have brought in more world class players ,rather than try to hit jackpot for lesser money. You are right that this is history now ,but that doesn´t change the facts.
 
oldius said:
You have to move on.
We have had a great run, but elite sport is unforgiving.
The failure to timely replace those legends is not on Viana.
All he can do is build from this point, and it looks to me that is what is happening.
I imagine there is some tension in the string though because we need a younger core, to replace world-class, to deliver a small squad, to lose players on lengthy contracts...the list goes on and is a tough gig.
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At least you're open to discussion and don't resort to insults and cancelling like some of the Clap Cartel.
Cheers.
 
oldius said:
But how many times does this need repeating?
WE KNOW THESE RESULTS. WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED LAST SEASON. IT IS DONE, OVER, FINISHED.
The club (Pep) has admitted that they made a mistake in trying to get one more season out of the legends of the club. It is a matter of public record - the club got it wrong.
Now they are trying to put it right with a new DOF, new coaches and new players. They know that they are behind the curve so they are investing in high potential.
Going over old ground again and again, ad nauseam, is futile.
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Yet you still think as a club we should have been buying potential (part of our initial problem with the likes of Doku, Savinho etc) over prem proven, quality players. There needed to be a balance of potential and players for the here and now.
 
thegoatsthegoat said:
Yet you still think as a club we should have been buying potential (part of our initial problem with the likes of Doku, Savinho etc) over prem proven, quality players. There needed to be a balance of potential and players for the here and now.
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I think we have bought quality and potential.

Reijnders is the Serie A midfielder of the season.
Cherki had the highest chance creation stats in Europe.
Khusanov had the best stats for U23 defenders in the top-five leagues.
Marmoush was leading the Bundesliga stats ahead of Kane in a less competitive team.

Haaland and KDB were not prem proven. Zaba, Kompany, Silva, Aguero, Fern, Rodri...the list goes on and on.

Time will tell how quickly we get back to being a competitive force.
What we should have done is entirely subjective.
 
oldius said:
I think we have bought quality and potential.

Reijnders is the Serie A midfielder of the season.
Cherki had the highest chance creation stats in Europe.
Khusanov had the best stats for U23 defenders in the top-five leagues.

I could go on.
Time will tell how quickly we get back to being a competitive force.
What we should have done is entirely subjective.
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Not prem proven though, we need players hitting the ground running and knowing the league for me, otherwise it is another stop start season. I like this window, but the left back aside we have brought in players from lesser leagues and they do not have the comfort of time to bed in. You have defended City and their actions on every different thread so it is a bit pointless to criticise the club to you but our recent windows have been disastrous, all from your point of potential. Fingers crossed this one isn't
 
thegoatsthegoat said:
Not prem proven though, we need players hitting the ground running and knowing the league for me, otherwise it is another stop start season. I like this window, but the left back aside we have brought in players from lesser leagues and they do not have the comfort of time to bed in. You have defended City and their actions on every different thread so it is a bit pointless to criticise the club to you but our recent windows have been disastrous, all from your point of potential. Fingers crossed this one isn't
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KDB, Kompany, Fern, Silva, Haaland, Aguero.

Non were prem-proven.

It isn't pointless to debate, but I can agree or disagree.

Those of a different opinion to me have failed to note that I have already stated that we kept our legends too long and failed to invest earlier as we should. The club have stated that also.
I am interested in what happens now, that is all. I acknowledge that we have erred, as every business will have done in a twelve year cycle.
 
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