Pep Guardiola - 2025/26

[JewelZee]

Too slow to be honest

Who?

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

…just reminded me,..why/how have we let Kev leave,if he wanted to stay?!The club have either dropped the ball,or had a collective frontal lobotomy since the treble.Was f’kin great while it lasted tho eh?!!..hey ho..

Because his performances didn’t warrant a new contract, even more so on his wages. Because we realised there was a number of players we needed rid of and he was the only big hitter whose contract was ending.

 

[Berti No Show]

A lot of talk around the transfers this summer that Pep is very likely to stay beyond the next 2 year contract cycle. The average age of the side has plummeted this summer and sounds like the manager wants to oversee the development of the next cycle of players. In football terms, we probably lucked out by having such a poor season last season as it's put a fire in Pep to climb the mountain again.

That would be ideal. Pep deserves to leave the Club when he's taken us back to the top of the Mountain again.

 

[uwerosler28]

I think if Pep knew how badly the CWC would have upset pre season when we have had a summer of quite some upheaval, he would have pleaded with the club to sacrifice the CWC.

With the the way Pep needs to rebuild the team and start again with something new tactically, in an ideal world he would have had the players off for 4 weeks and had us back 5 weeks before the season started preparing us tactically and fitness wise.

Only having the team back for 2 weeks prior to the season starting and having one game against a second division Italian team has been in part a disaster

Pep would have been better off pleading for a right back and a winger who can actually contribute goals and assists rather than skipping the cwc, that would have helped the rebuild immeasurably

 

[Kippax Street 1880]

Donnarumma is going to help massively. Forget shot stopping and playing out from the back. His leadership is crucial. He's also going to have a chip on his shoulder after the way he's left PSG.

The defence has lacked leadership I know Dias does do it. But having a goalkeeper the Italian captain behind you shouting orders and organising. Is going to be a different for our defenders. Pep has someone now out there that can organise that defence.

He also speaks five languages from what ive read. Italian, English , French , Spanish and Portuguese.

How's his Uzbeki ?

 

[Blue2202]

I don't envy your comprehension skills and ability to identify contradictions. Still, thanks for your opinion that we can't compete for the title this season.

You literally just said finishing 6th would be an acceptable season? But before stated competing for the title should be the goal? So which is it?

What’s more telling is your inability to actually respond to factual points. Are you not able to comment on the fact we’re already 6 points behind?

You deem yourself a prediction genius but there’s no evidence or substance to back up your points. Everything you say is said in blind faith or you're just delusional.

 

[JewelZee]

You’re in cloud cuckoo land I'm afraid, we’re already 6 points behind with the derby and Arsenal away to come in our next two games and we could easily be another 5 behind in two weeks time given the way we’re playing. Dippers haven’t got out of first gear but have won all of a harder set of opening fixtures than ours. Im going off facts than just blind faith and opinion.

We’ll be nowhere near the title this season if something doesn’t change quickly. Saying 6th is acceptable is another contradiction on your part because that’s not competing for the title is it? Which is what the minimum should always be for us.

6th is not remotely acceptable...

 

[JewelZee]

Pep would have been better off pleading for a right back and a winger who can actually contribute goals and assists rather than skipping the cwc, that would have helped the rebuild immeasurably

Who says he would have had to plead tho?

 

[PeterBarnesShorts]

Because his performances didn’t warrant a new contract, even more so on his wages. Because we realised there was a number of players we needed rid of and he was the only big hitter whose contract was ending.

I do get that,and have to agree, he is past his best…However,are we all sure that he wasn’t willing to take a drop in his wage?!I only say this as I’m sure that if he was used correctly,he would still be more effective and potentially win us more points than Bernardo has shown lately?…I understand he’s still under contract but still…?!

 

[Paul1970]

I think if Pep knew how badly the CWC would have upset pre season when we have had a summer of quite some upheaval, he would have pleaded with the club to sacrifice the CWC.

With the the way Pep needs to rebuild the team and start again with something new tactically, in an ideal world he would have had the players off for 4 weeks and had us back 5 weeks before the season started preparing us tactically and fitness wise.

Only having the team back for 2 weeks prior to the season starting and having one game against a second division Italian team has been in part a disaster

Chelsea seem ok though mate .

 

[Paul1970]

I agree when we look back at this period like mid 2010s to mid 2020s there will be bit of feeling like how we only won a single CL.

we were one of the best side overall in this period maybe after Real, but won same amount of CLs as Bayern, Liverpool, PSG, Chelsea etc.

that Chelsea final still irks me, in a way that we had much better season while they had a shit one resulting mid year manager firing and Tuchel took them over like in January. also we were building towards a dominant side and a CL winner side while Chelsea did fuck all since Conte's first year in 2017 when they won the title but completely rebuit that side by 2021. and took Tuchel about 4 months to turn them into CL winners. bit like if we fire Pellegrini 6 months before he left and new manager delivers CL trophy ffs straightaway.

we also were the better side in semis vs Real Madrid when they had to score two in last 5 minutes to pull it back and should have played that final vs Liverpool.
at least karma gave it back a bit when we won it it was part of a Treble but overall we should have done better in CL.

better not to talk about last season, that was not worthy of the players and the management either or Pep. lets hope that was a one off and our worst CL run for the next decade or more. certainly was oru worst in last decade.

I wouldnt mind to aquire that skill tho that we can win trophies when we dont really deserve it. for us its like we need to be the best to win it while there are times when others get there being second best. its also strange we didnt have one Premier League year when we came close second. Like within 2-3 points still alive in closing rounds but lose out. we werent eve within 10 points mostly when others winning it. despite when we won it quite a few times we had a must win game in last round to clinch it. Mancini's one was even openn until last minute. :)
we either won it in these fights or the years we didnt we were not even at the races. same in CL there are hardly any knockout ties I recall where we were second best and went to next round. opposite happened few times like losing out on away goals vs Monaco, Spurs, we were not worse than them for sure, some of the ties vs Real too etc.

We only win one because pep decided to fucking tinker in our biggest game ever and fucked it up . Absolute fuck up

 

[Draikin]

I think if Pep knew how badly the CWC would have upset pre season when we have had a summer of quite some upheaval, he would have pleaded with the club to sacrifice the CWC.

With the the way Pep needs to rebuild the team and start again with something new tactically, in an ideal world he would have had the players off for 4 weeks and had us back 5 weeks before the season started preparing us tactically and fitness wise.

Only having the team back for 2 weeks prior to the season starting and having one game against a second division Italian team has been in part a disaster

CWC Pep is still a mistery to me. Gave players who were on the sales list more playing time than new players who needed it badly

 

[alexmcity]

You literally just said finishing 6th would be an acceptable season? But before stated competing for the title should be the goal? So which is it?

What’s more telling is your inability to actually respond to factual points. Are you not able to comment on the fact we’re already 6 points behind?

You deem yourself a prediction genius but there’s no evidence or substance to back up your points. Everything you say is said in blind faith or you're just delusional.

It seems pointless to explain what I mean. You don't want to get it. For example, I didn't say that finishing 6th would be acceptable. You didn't understand the sentence where "(6th?)" appeared. (6th?) refers to "nowhere near what's acceptable", not just to "what's acceptable". Also, I'm wondering there about what you mean under "nowhere near what is acceptable", hence the question mark after 6th.

For me, the aim this season is to build a new team that can win big trophies next season, PL and/or CL. 6th wouln't be enough to play in the CL. But I don't think that it is impossible to compete for the title this season. Yes, as things stand, we may be, say, 12 pts off the top in 2 weeks or months. But if we are 7-8 pts off the top in February, as we were in 2023, then we may have a chance to compete for the title. The season is very long and very surprising things may happen.

My last reply to you. Good luck.

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

I do get that,and have to agree, he is past his best…However,are we all sure that he wasn’t willing to take a drop in his wage?!I only say this as I’m sure that if he was used correctly,he would still be more effective and potentially win us more points than Bernardo has shown lately?…I understand he’s still under contract but still…?!

If there was another few whose contract was coming to an end then I think KDB would maybe have stayed. He’s apparently on 200k a week or so at Napoli. It would be mental to have paid him similar with us but as you say not sure how much he would have dropped to stay if the offer was there.

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

It seems pointless to explain what I mean. You don't want to get it. For example, I didn't say that finishing 6th would be acceptable. You didn't understand the sentence where "(6th?)" appeared. (6th?) refers to "nowhere near what's acceptable", not just to "what's acceptable". Also, I'm wondering there about what you mean under "nowhere near what is acceptable", hence the question mark after 6th.

For me, the aim this season is to build a new team that can win big trophies next season, PL and/or CL. 6th wouln't be enough to play in the CL. But I don't think that it is impossible to compete for the title this season. Yes, as things stand, we may be, say, 12 pts off the top in 2 weeks or months. But if we are 7-8 pts off the top in February, as we were in 2023, then we may have a chance to compete for the title. The season is very long and very surprising things may happen.

My last reply to you. Good luck.

We won’t be 7-8 pts off in Feb, and even if we were you’re then comparing a team that was the current champions, that went on to win a treble, chasing down a side who has no experience of winning a league, to a brand new side that’s going through a rebuild. We wouldn’t have it in us to win a league but as I say, for me we will be nowhere near that close to the leaders in Feb. Especially when it’s 6 points already.

My own personal hope is just better football. Whatever that leaves us in the league so be it.

 

[King Jay]

Who?

The combination of those 2

 

[alexmcity]

We won’t be 7-8 pts off in Feb, and even if we were you’re then comparing a team that was the current champions, that went on to win a treble, chasing down a side who has no experience of winning a league, to a brand new side that’s going through a rebuild. We wouldn’t have it in us to win a league but as I say, for me we will be nowhere near that close to the leaders in Feb. Especially when it’s 6 points already.

My own personal hope is just better football. Whatever that leaves us in the league so be it.

That's reasonable. On paper, we are not likely to compete for the title. But every season strange (at least on paper) things happen. Like City winning 21 games in a row after looking hopeless (according to some on here). To rule City out from challenging for the title 3 games in is premature. Let's see what happens.

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

That's reasonable. On paper, we are not likely to compete for the title. But every season strange (at least on paper) things happen. Like City winning 21 games in a row after looking hopeless (according to some on here). To rule City out from challenging for the title 3 games in is premature. Let's see what happens.

It’s taking all the evidence and using that info along with logic.

We aren’t the dominant team we was. The spine and leaders that we built that success from have departed on the whole. We have a few left but they are then surrounded by lesser quality players, some without prem experience, some without experience of being in run ins. There’s been a massive shift and it would be mad to expect any kind of title challenge when we have much less quality players than before. All whilst the current champions have just broken the bank on what appear to be top signings, some with prem experience straight away. It can be viewed as premature but it’s just being realistic and managing expectations. If I believed we was in a title race this season I will be disappointed throughout the season

 

[Gorbachev]

Chelsea seem ok though mate .

They had a core of a team under Maresca though, had just won the Conference League and CWC and were basically coming into the season as they left it but with new additions to bolster where they left off.

They didn't have the upheaval like we did.

Us on the other hand were coming into this season with the start of a new team, new coaching staff and in need of a tactical change. Having a 5 week pre-season would have benefitted us more greatly bedding in these new players and getting the team up to speed tactically.

Chelsea also managed to get two pre-season games in against Milan and Bilbao, one of which is a CL outfit. Why did we think playing against a second tier Italian side was ample going into the season.

Failure to prepare, prepare to fail. I think sums up our start of the season.

It will take a good 3 months before we are up to speed in my opinion and we will be back. In the meantime though, I think it is going to be rough.

 

[alexmcity]

It’s taking all the evidence and using that info along with logic.

We aren’t the dominant team we was. The spine and leaders that we built that success from have departed on the whole. We have a few left but they are then surrounded by lesser quality players, some without prem experience, some without experience of being in run ins. There’s been a massive shift and it would be mad to expect any kind of title challenge when we have much less quality players than before. All whilst the current champions have just broken the bank on what appear to be top signings, some with prem experience straight away. It can be viewed as premature but it’s just being realistic and managing expectations. If I believed we was in a title race this season I will be disappointed throughout the season

I already answered that point. We were in a similar situation in December 2020 in the following sense: 1. the previous season was poor by our standards, David left in the summer, Aguero and Ferna were oldish, Rodri and Gundo were terribly slow (remember?), Liverpool looked much stronger than us, having won 99 pts the previous season, and so on; 2. our start to the season was very slow, we looked off the pace, many were very pessimistic, especially after the draws with United and WBA in December. Read the threads from that time and you will get the similarities. Then...we won 21 games in a row in all compets and were just 3 wins off the quadruple.

Now, one can argue that despite the bad results at the start of 20/21, we had a much better team, but that's only because of hindsight. Back then many thought Pep had peaked and the future wasn't bright.

This doesn't mean we are going to repeat 20/21. It only means that people are too quick in their judgments. Nobody at this stage last season would predict that Liverpool would win the league in March and City would lose 4-5 consecutive games in the league.

My expectation is that we'll improve significantly over the season. Whether we can compete depends also on our rivals, their form, injury problems, and so on.