Pep's rebuilding job. Pep's City Mk II

You mean Brazils no 9 ? that Jesus ? ...you've lost all credibility with that one son.
Why? Brazil are not the wonderful side they once were.

Roberto Firmino is a regular Brazilian national player, I would have him no where near our team, Danilo is the 1st choice RB but could not get regular game time for us.

Jesus is a talent for sure, is he capable of replacing Sergio in the long term, at this moment it's looking very unlikely.
 
Last edited:
We've lost our fear factor due to the fuckwittery and persistence of playing with 'inverted wingers'.

It's so predictable and easy to defend against that teams are no longer scared of us. All teams need to do is keep compact and narrow defensively, restricting the ability of our 'inverted wingers' to cut inside but also having the added effect of suffocating the space our two #8's thrive on. It doesn't matter if they defend deep or press high, as long as they stay compact and narrow we don't have the natural width to exploit the vulnerabilities of defending that way. When we do very occasionally go round the outside of the opposing fullback our 'inverted wingers' haven't got the confidence or bollocks to cross with their weaker foot, so end up checking back inside allowing the opposing team to get back into position.

Once teams know they can stay relatively safe defensively purely by playing on instinct, which is staying compact and narrow, it gives teams the freedom to attack at will. That's why our defence is left exposed.

It then becomes a game of athletism which teams can use to their advantage to outnumber us on the counter attack as we have too many players who can't make recovery runs especially in midfield (Rodri, Silva, Gundogan) and at left back, whoever plays there.
 
I think there's a lot of flappers on here. Stones is good enough - he was good enough last season and the season before. He's had rotten luck with injuries and he needs a commanding CB next to him to blossom, which he currently doesn't have. Laporte isn't gone forever.
Someone said Mahrez isn't the player we need him to be - for real? Mahrez is class! more than justified his place in this team on a number of occasions, someone mentioned the same about Jesus - again, class player that deserves to be here.

I think we need:

one CB to replace Vinny and the possibly outgoing (and ageing) Nico, then one of either THB or Garcia promoted.
a left back to support Zinchenko, as Mendy has proven nothing and Angelino, regrettably, doesn't look like a champion
a winger to replace Sane IF he leaves
a striker to prepare for Sergio leaving.

thats it! Foden will naturally replace David, and he'll get more games as the season progresses. People seem to think he needs to be on the pitch with Silva to learn from him and prepare, this isn't true.

so in summary I'd suggest two signings for now, a CB & a LB, and then a winger and a striker in the summer or next.

Mahrez is nowhere as bad as many people moan, but I'm not sure he was ever needed and he probably fucked the balance in the team that led to situation in which we're probably going to lose Leroy.
 
We’ve only played one top team this season. United are a similar level to Chelsea who we beat and we’ve not played anyone decent in Europe. I don’t actually understand what he’s alluding to there.

maybe he thinks - if we were such shit against Rags, who are no more than decent, what would better teams like those he quoted, do to us.
 
When Pep talks about “things we cannot control” surely he’s talking about the refs and VAR?
He has said more than once “no-one has given us anything”
Maybe he is talking about his mate Tixki brain fart not to buy a CB last summer.
 
Txiki will know if pep is staying or leaving now
If he is leaving next year they will be planning a successor
Don’t forget this is peps dream job
He has a team above him in place that will do whatever he wants and support him 100%
He won’t get that elsewhere in Italy Spain or Germany without the politics
This is not Pep's dream job!! and that is not knocking the guy in any way. It is a privilege to have this guy working for us but to him it's a job.
He has the perfect working enviroment for sure, amazing facilities and wants for nothing, but drean job....NO
He is Catalonia and Barca through and through and at some stage will go back there, probably to La Masia or into Catalonia politics.
 
We've lost our fear factor due to the fuckwittery and persistence of playing with 'inverted wingers'.

It's so predictable and easy to defend against that teams are no longer scared of us. All teams need to do is keep compact and narrow defensively, restricting the ability of our 'inverted wingers' to cut inside but also having the added effect of suffocating the space our two #8's thrive on. It doesn't matter if they defend deep or press high, as long as they stay compact and narrow we don't have the natural width to exploit the vulnerabilities of defending that way. When we do very occasionally go round the outside of the opposing fullback our 'inverted wingers' haven't got the confidence or bollocks to cross with their weaker foot, so end up checking back inside allowing the opposing team to get back into position.

Once teams know they can stay relatively safe defensively purely by playing on instinct, which is staying compact and narrow, it gives teams the freedom to attack at will. That's why our defence is left exposed.

It then becomes a game of athletism which teams can use to their advantage to outnumber us on the counter attack as we have too many players who can't make recovery runs especially in midfield (Rodri, Silva, Gundogan) and at left back, whoever plays there.

Two things most glaringly obvious Saturday (and a few other times this season), how their midfield were waiting for that misplaced pass and then spring forward at pace straight away, with our midfield trailing behind, almost every time, it was like watching the start of a 100m sprint.

Berni worked as an inverted winger at first, but they've read his books now, same with Raheem, the amount of times you see the defender cutting off the outside lane, cover just behind, forcing us to pass inside to a packed midfield waiting to pounce on that misplaced pass, our fullbacks (who normally offer that round outside pass), occupied by two wide men so can't commit too much, so obvious.
 
We've lost our fear factor due to the fuckwittery and persistence of playing with 'inverted wingers'.

It's so predictable and easy to defend against that teams are no longer scared of us. All teams need to do is keep compact and narrow defensively, restricting the ability of our 'inverted wingers' to cut inside but also having the added effect of suffocating the space our two #8's thrive on. It doesn't matter if they defend deep or press high, as long as they stay compact and narrow we don't have the natural width to exploit the vulnerabilities of defending that way. When we do very occasionally go round the outside of the opposing fullback our 'inverted wingers' haven't got the confidence or bollocks to cross with their weaker foot, so end up checking back inside allowing the opposing team to get back into position.

Once teams know they can stay relatively safe defensively purely by playing on instinct, which is staying compact and narrow, it gives teams the freedom to attack at will. That's why our defence is left exposed.

It then becomes a game of athletism which teams can use to their advantage to outnumber us on the counter attack as we have too many players who can't make recovery runs especially in midfield (Rodri, Silva, Gundogan) and at left back, whoever plays there.

So, we weren't predictable just several months ago when we won 15 games in a row, but suddenly we have become predictable and Guardiola of all managers can't see it but fans can? Our problems have little to do with tactics and a lot to do with injuries, tiredness after two incredible seasons, aging legends and officials.

Let us though forget all this and woman about inverted wingers.

People forget we created enough chances at Anfield against a much better team than the rags. Poor finishing, the absence of our best defender (and Ederson!) and officials stopped us, not inverted wingers and predictability. We have created far more chances than any other team in the league this season. Using inverted wingers is not a problem at all.
 
Last edited:

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.