Pep Guardiola - 2025/26

TonyBookEnd said:
Maybe this is a tad kneejerk. This week is not a defining week

What titles has his thinking cost us but think what titles has his overthinking brought us? His crazy plans have made him arguably the greatest coach in history
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Couple of FA Cups and a CL title, possibly a second, but ya live by the Pep ya die by the Pep. It is what it is...
 
Blue2202 said:
it’s not over the top at all, what he did was downright disrespectful and stunk of arrogance - it’s also added to a long list of many previously.

Year in year out managers from bigger clubs get criticised for making 7 or 8 changes in the domestic cups so I think its fair to call out 10 changes in the most elite club competition in world football.

How on earth could he think changing that many players with barely a single 90 minutes between them in the last 2 months would just have to turn up to beat a well drilled side?

Get the game won, make the necessary changes and then worry about the upcoming games. Not the other way around.
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Plain common sense...
 
Something id like to see is allowing the RW the same freedom afforded to the LW.

For some reason, when Cherki plays RW, he is allowed to basically just drift in the centre, for good reason, he can do damage with more options.

Let Bobb and Savinho do the same, im honestly tired of seeing them forced so wide.

Obviously they still need to improve in many areas, but this would be a good step in not limiting them.

We saw with Doku, when you let him drift centrally, the freedom he gets makes him more dangerous.
 
This may be controversial and what he has done for us and the Premier League, but I feel his tenure is coming to an end. I hope it doesn't, and I hope he reinvigorates himself to challenge whiskey face's legacy.
 
citizen_maine said:
So, basically, everybody does it
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Did you read the part I said domestic cup competitions or did you choose to ignore that? Yes, some managers choose to prioritise their Premier League status/position when picking teams in the FA or Carabao Cup.

But when A - we haven't qualified for the next round yet. B - We had the opportunity to move top of the table. C - We all valued even qualifying for the CL so much after last season - it's absolutely inexcusable that Pep would rather try to inflate his ego rather than pick a team to win such an important game.

Find me a manager since the start of the CL who's made 10 changes from their strongest starting 11 in an important Champions League game. It may have happened in a group game dead rubber but this game was far from that.

I have a feeling you'll be struggling as there aren't many managers out there so arrogant to even think of it.
 
WallyA said:
Something id like to see is allowing the RW the same freedom afforded to the LW.

For some reason, when Cherki plays RW, he is allowed to basically just drift in the centre, for good reason, he can do damage with more options.

Let Bobb and Savinho do the same, im honestly tired of seeing them forced so wide.

Obviously they still need to improve in many areas, but this would be a good step in not limiting them.

We saw with Doku, when you let him drift centrally, the freedom he gets makes him more dangerous.
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Good idea in theory but they would be bullied off the ball and , bingo, counter attack is on . Heck to Pep wouldn't even let Grealish get central and he could draw a foul and keep the ball like a bank keeps money . Doku is built like a tank with a rocket turbo so no-one gets near him .
 
Overthinking - one of the most annoying phrases.
We pay this guy to think.
He is one of the greatest football minds in history.
Nobody says he has overthought when changes result in a win.
If he makes changes and we lose, he has overthought it, or a host of players are utterly shit and never will be good enough.

Football is ALL about results. It has never changed in that respect. We feel great after a win and don't analyse too much; we feel shit after a loss and analyse to death. Some of us are more emotional about it, some of us more phlegmatic.

When the history books close, they will close on the greatest chapter in our history. He has earned the greatest respect possible. That does not mean that change should not happen, nor that it will not happen, but he has earned the right to be involved in the process, for it to be planned, inclusive, and designed for the club to continue to evolve.

At this moment, I have absolutely no idea where we would look to replace someone like Pep, but I would imagine that we know already whom it will be.
 
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Pep Guardiola is like our dog.

We love him and hes brought us a lot of joy, but he is capable of incredible acts of stupidity.

OK our Vega woke us up at 5am went outside into the cold and wet and stubbornly refused to come in (usually he is quite obedient) even when there was buttered toast on offer.

When he eventually had enough of the cold and wet and relented this morning, he walked past the toast to his crate. Ok, he didnt make ten changes v Leverkusen or fail to play Fernandinho or Rodri in a Champions League Final, but he loves buttered toast like Pep loves winning, and occasionally is capable of incredible stupidity.
 
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Blue2202 said:
it’s not over the top at all, what he did was downright disrespectful and stunk of arrogance - it’s also added to a long list of many previously.

Year in year out managers from bigger clubs get criticised for making 7 or 8 changes in the domestic cups so I think its fair to call out 10 changes in the most elite club competition in world football.

How on earth could he think changing that many players with barely a single 90 minutes between them in the last 2 months would just have to turn up to beat a well drilled side?

Get the game won, make the necessary changes and then worry about the upcoming games. Not the other way around.
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If it was a domestic cup, we'd have been out and I would've been far more upset about his team selection. We are not out of the CL after his mid-week gamble, we could still win the whole thing. So I guess he saw it as a risk worth taking and we live to fight another day.
 
TonyBookEnd said:
If it was a domestic cup, we'd have been out and I would've been far more upset about his team selection. We are not out of the CL after his mid-week gamble, we could still win the whole thing. So I guess he saw it as a risk worth taking and we live to fight another day.
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Still in it yes, with tougher games to come and now with the fact he can't afford to rest his strongest 11 again in order to qualify for the top 8. Pep took his eye off the ball for his own ego's sake - that's inexcusable.
TonyBookEnd said:
You believe that Peps team selection and tactics were the sole reason we lost those games?
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Unquestionably yes, just like his selections and tactics have won us so many other trophies - which I'm assuming you'd have no issue in attributing to him - you can't have it both ways.
 
WallyA said:
Something id like to see is allowing the RW the same freedom afforded to the LW.

For some reason, when Cherki plays RW, he is allowed to basically just drift in the centre, for good reason, he can do damage with more options.

Let Bobb and Savinho do the same, im honestly tired of seeing them forced so wide.

Obviously they still need to improve in many areas, but this would be a good step in not limiting them.

We saw with Doku, when you let him drift centrally, the freedom he gets makes him more dangerous.
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Yeah, that’s a good point. Almost like the Grealish thing with Bobb stuck so close to the touch line. The other night was a chance to play the lad as a 10 even but bizarrely Rico was there.I’m obviously not putting Bobb anywhere near David Silva but he’s got certain similarities. Mainly his natural game would be to come inside and get on the ball. Easy to forget David spent so long starting from the right for us. If he had basically been told to hug the touch line he wouldn’t have been a quarter of the player he was.
 
Zabbasbeard said:
Pep Guardiola is like our dog.

We love him and hes brought us a lot of joy, but he is capable of incredible acts of stupidity.

OK our Vega woke us up at 5am went outside into the cold and wet and stubbornly refused to come in (usually he is quite obedient) even when there was buttered toast on offer.

When he eventually had enough of the cold and wet and relented this morning, he walked past the toast to his crate. Ok, he didnt make ten changes v Leverkusen or fail to play Fernandinho or Rodri in a Champions League Final, but he loves buttered toast like Pep loves winning, and occasionally is capable of incredible stupidity.
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I love this analogy! Go Vega x Go Pep.

I've calmed down a tad since Tuesday, but I'm still baffled by 10 changes!!
 
69FACUPfinal said:
I love this analogy! Go Vega x Go Pep.

I've calmed down a tad since Tuesday, but I'm still baffled by 10 changes!!
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If we slap Leeds it worked. Find it hard to get that arsed about the CL. I know just how good we had to be to finally win that bent bullshit competition and we're a million miles off that level at the moment. Just extra games to me. The League takes precedence over everything for me this season.
 
Kippax Street 1880 said:
If we slap Leeds it worked. Find it hard to get that arsed about the CL. I know just how good we had to be to finally win that bent bullshit competition and we're a million miles off that level at the moment. Just extra games to me. The League takes precedence over everything for me this season.
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I know what you mean PL for me, then the FA Cup. But 10 changes, for any game was ludicrous. Am awaiting today's line up with interest.

How's Vega BTW? X
 
Blue2202 said:
Still in it yes, with tougher games to come and now with the fact he can't afford to rest his strongest 11 again in order to qualify for the top 8. Pep took his eye off the ball for his own ego's sake - that's inexcusable.

Unquestionably yes, just like his selections and tactics have won us so many other trophies - which I'm assuming you'd have no issue in attributing to him - you can't have it both ways.
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Don't want it both ways. Players win and lose matches, the coach can only do so much from the sidelines. Pep gets too much credit when we win and too much criticism when we don't.
 
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