Pep's contract situation | 2 year extension confirmed! (pg1817)

[Keeper!]

Rested, presumably.

I genuinely hope it was, seems a strange one, especially not even making the bench.

Hopefully Mr Stones has woken from his 2 year slumber, a wonderful talent is in that guy, so sad to seem him waste it.

 

[domalino]

Rested, presumably.

Pathetic! Sell the bastard.

 

[Ric]

I genuinely hope it was, seems a strange one, especially not even making the bench.

Hopefully Mr Stones has woken from his 2 year slumber, a wonderful talent is in that guy, so sad to seem him waste it.

I think with an almost fully fit squad then we’ll see some senior players completely left out of the match day squad each week. I guess Guardiola thought we don’t need two centre halves on the bench for West Brom at home, but leaving Laporte out completely would’ve been more detrimental than resting a reinvigorated Stones.

 

[hilts]

Central defence is fine, dare I say it looking very good. Keepers are good if not perfection left back still a concern.

What needs sorting is further up the pitch and the manager needs to make his mind up on certain players, what positions they play and bring in something different.

 

[Keeper!]

I think with an almost fully fit squad then we’ll see some senior players completely left out of the match day squad each week. I guess Guardiola thought we don’t need two centre halves on the bench for West Brom at home, but leaving Laporte out completely would’ve been more detrimental than resting a reinvigorated Stones.

Agreed but Stones has genuinely looked a class act in the last few weeks and we know he has flakey self confidence issues, and Pep seems to be trying to give Laporte a kick up the backside in the last few weeks.

Surprised Stones was not at least on the bench as said, his form and attitude deserved at least that.

 

[twosips]

I think with an almost fully fit squad then we’ll see some senior players completely left out of the match day squad each week. I guess Guardiola thought we don’t need two centre halves on the bench for West Brom at home, but leaving Laporte out completely would’ve been more detrimental than resting a reinvigorated Stones.

It's going to be very boring. 'Where's *insert random healthy player*!' in reaction to every single lineup when it's pretty obvious that they're just having to sit this one out. Of course it'd be another player's name from that same person if player x was there and player y was missing instead.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

By ideological shortfall you mean he signed Rodri to replace Ferna right? Because that's pretty much the only place where I could see dismantling and rebuilding in his image? For the most part the rest of what we have/have bought is the same group that got 198 points in two seasons.

I agree to some extent that he may not be getting through to certain players, but ultimately the bigger picture as I said in my previous post, is that there isn't a magic wand manager who is going to come in and massively improve results/performances in the medium term. You might get a new manager bounce but when it comes to putting the work in on the training pitch, Guardiola's methods are second to none. You don't need to look at his results to know that, you need only listen to what players who have worked under him have said.

Obviously things aren't great right now, but I'd be very very wary of simply writing Pep off. As I said the board need to hold their hands up too and accept that their recruitment since summer 2018 has been far too reactive and whilst they like to pat themselves on the back for being smart, you're not smart when your smartness ends up with players who aren't quite what you need.

With the amount already invested in Guardiola (and Txiki and Ferran) by the owners, I fail to see anything other than him being backed with big money in the summer to buy 3 or 4 players who he can drop straight into the best XI. It's really not THAT surprising that players who did 198 points between 2017 and 2019 would have a drop off subsequently. The group needs refreshing and competition arriving.

My guess is that they'll sell a 'big' player from the group in the summer too. A shot across the bows of those who are left.

Mahrez for Sane in effect, killing the width, variety and pace for below par invertee wingers which stifles us and has knocked Raz into a shell of his former self.

Relying on favourites like Gundogan when we could be far more enterprising with Foden and give him time to develop into the player he can be and we'd be no worse off in terms of results this season.

So, in addition to Plodri which doesn't work, there's inverted wingers which doesn't work, no width which doesn't work, no left back which doesn't work, and a lack of Foden which stops our long-term development into the team we could become with a homegrown interpretation of Silva with its own mystique and uniqueness, which despite Gundogan having the odd good game is sorely lacking from the side.

We need a new front 3, a midfield powerhouse and a left back next summer. We've got the most we'll get out of Raz, Gundogan and Mahrez and 2bh I think it's time we ended the £60m model, raise funds from underperforming players, create a ruthless culture and re-invent what we do.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

There are a lot of people making excuses,

This is simple lads.
We arent good enough and we dont buy well enough. Our form drop off isnt a new thing. It dropped off at the start of 19/20 season and it`s getting worse. We pick different player to start but with little effect. When we Joe public can see the game drifting away from us there seems a reluctance to change things.

Certain player being snubbed. Substitutions being made much too late. The fixation with this double pivot against a struggling WBA with 1 win in 13 games.

This isn`t a blip in form we are turning this team into a shadow of itself.

This is getting worse in front of our very eyes in my opinion. 2 legends of the club are getting old in Kun and Fern. We still after 4 years haven`t got a decent left back, we only have one truly creative player that gets a good level of game time in Kev. etc, etc.

There is one person who has the power to change things within this team, that`s the manager. The buck, as it should do, stops with him. I don`t know how much control Pep has over transfers but Txiki Berinstain must also carry some responsibility.

I sincerely hope he has the vision to see where changes are needed to enable him to find the system to best suit our team.

IMO top 4 looks out of our reach. Top 6 maybe achievable just. After 11 games we are 3 points away from 14 and 8 from Liverpool.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I genuinely hope it was, seems a strange one, especially not even making the bench.

Hopefully Mr Stones has woken from his 2 year slumber, a wonderful talent is in that guy, so sad to seem him waste it.

He was obviously rested. Pep gives players a week off regularly. Walker, Sterling and KDB have all had them recently from memory. Not a cat in hell's chance he was dropped.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

By ideological shortfall you mean he signed Rodri to replace Ferna right? Because that's pretty much the only place where I could see dismantling and rebuilding in his image? For the most part the rest of what we have/have bought is the same group that got 198 points in two seasons.

I agree to some extent that he may not be getting through to certain players, but ultimately the bigger picture as I said in my previous post, is that there isn't a magic wand manager who is going to come in and massively improve results/performances in the medium term. You might get a new manager bounce but when it comes to putting the work in on the training pitch, Guardiola's methods are second to none. You don't need to look at his results to know that, you need only listen to what players who have worked under him have said.

Obviously things aren't great right now, but I'd be very very wary of simply writing Pep off. As I said the board need to hold their hands up too and accept that their recruitment since summer 2018 has been far too reactive and whilst they like to pat themselves on the back for being smart, you're not smart when your smartness ends up with players who aren't quite what you need.

With the amount already invested in Guardiola (and Txiki and Ferran) by the owners, I fail to see anything other than him being backed with big money in the summer to buy 3 or 4 players who he can drop straight into the best XI. It's really not THAT surprising that players who did 198 points between 2017 and 2019 would have a drop off subsequently. The group needs refreshing and competition arriving.

My guess is that they'll sell a 'big' player from the group in the summer too. A shot across the bows of those who are left.

Agree with most of this. Pep hasn't become a bad manager. He's committed to MCFC and vice versa.

He is rebuilding the team which peaked 18 months ago. We have the nucleus of another great side there because the likes of Dias, Laporte, Torres and Foden are still developing.

I think there will be a lot of business in the summer, not least a top line striker coming in to maybe replace Sergio. Don't discount eh impact Messi could have too.

Like you, I think we will be fine and I'ms till 100% behind Pep. He will get it right.