Were you wrong about Pep?

[Deleted member 77198]

This season is exactly what I thought we were going to get.

That Barca team is the best football team of all time for me. His Bayern team is the best visiting team I’ve ever seen in the flesh. As others have said, the guy is a genius. He just sees the game differently to every other coach.

I was a bit disappointed last season, but if you look at our record and performances when we played 433 we were excellent. We won the first 10 games remember, and people were raving about us like this season.

It all went tits up when we started dicking around with 3 at the back and then shoe-horning Gundogan in when there was really no need to. Then Bravo’s form just became absolutely comedy bad. Never seen anything like it. Every shot on target was a goal for about 3 months.

But the signs were there that this season was coming for me. Particularly how well Silva and DeBruyne worked together. I think the “getting his players in” this season is a bit overhyped as well. Our starting 11 contains 9 players from last year. Every single one of them has improved beyond measure this season. That’s not down to recruitment, it’s down to coaching.

Turning Fabian Delph into one of the league’s best left backs is exactly what that is. The way he’s taught Sterling how to receive passes and where to find space in the box where the ball may break is exactly what that is. Otamendi’s transformation into the coolest centre half in Europe is exactly what that is. I would have been happy to sell all three of those players last Summer, I didn’t think any were good enough to have a future here. The coaching that has improved them has been phenomenal.

Individually across our squad you could find better players in their prime years for many positions (especially considering how young a lot of our players are), but Pep has them working as a unit and they all have their role within that which adds to a greater overall team than their age, experience and in some cases quality would suggest we would be.

Just imagine how good the team will be when all the young lads reach their prime!..

 

[Andrew___K]

The question(s) for me is:

- How long will Pep stay with us? We've seen Pep telling Gary Lineker that he definitely wants to manage a national team in the future. Is 6 years asking too much?
- Do we have succession plans after Pep, and if so, who do we get?

Too early to decide. Footbal landscape changes very quickly these days, new promising coaches emerge every year. We can't even tell what the game on top level will be like in 3 years.

 

[hateutd]

The question(s) for me is:

- How long will Pep stay with us? We've seen Pep telling Gary Lineker that he definitely wants to manage a national team in the future. Is 6 years asking too much?
- Do we have succession plans after Pep, and if so, who do we get?

till 2021,he will be here....then who knows.....

 

[inchy14]

I said last season to the group I go with when a couple were clamouring for him to either go, or change his style to suit what we had, that he was using last season to get his message and ideas across to the 7-8 players who he was building this team around, that once he’d changed fullbacks in the summer that all last seasons work would bare fruit. Some still wouldn’t have it, said we shouldn’t be waiting a season to get things right.
They look fucking silly now don’t they. Some really couldn’t see what was happening before their own eyes. To wrapped up in getting dogs abuse regarding pep from rag colleagues than being patient. I actually include my parents in that who thought he wasn’t anything special.

 

[Harvster]

I wasn't sure about him

Having achieved a modicum of success as a manager in the Stockport Metro Junior League, I rather suspected I could have won the league had I been appointed boss of Barca & Bayern, so my jury was out-ish

Obviously the truth is now as plain as the nose on your face -

Harvster is a bozo (with apologies to the bluemooner with that monicker) who cannot tell hay from a bull's foot

Josep, on the other hand, is a genius

 

[taleofbluehalves]

I think he made mistakes last year. Changing to 3 at the back was not a good move after 10 games. Maybe had we been more pragmatic we’d have done better but I never wanted anything other than to stay. An outstanding coach, one of the best ever and I hope he stays a long time.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

I doubted him last year , I apologise pep , you are the man .....humble pie for tea again ..

I'm with you, I felt he could have done more with what we had last season & adapted his system to suit our playing staff. TBH he didn't seem to have any plan and looked like he couldn't be bothered messing with his tried and tested system.

However, ever since pre-season I've been hanging my head in shame a little.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Turning Fabian Delph into one of the league’s best left backs is exactly what that is. The way he’s taught Sterling how to receive passes and where to find space in the box where the ball may break is exactly what that is. Otamendi’s transformation into the coolest centre half in Europe is exactly what that is. I would have been happy to sell all three of those players last Summer, I didn’t think any were good enough to have a future here. The coaching that has improved them has been phenomenal.

Individually across our squad you could find better players in their prime years for many positions (especially considering how young a lot of our players are), but Pep has them working as a unit and they all have their role within that which adds to a greater overall team than their age, experience and in some cases quality would suggest we would be.

Just imagine how good the team will be when all the young lads reach their prime!..

Great post mate. Fans of other clubs who think it’s all down to the money spent sinply don’t understand what we’re doing.

As you say, the way our players alter their body shape to recieve the ball based on where they’re stood on the pitch is key to us being so fluid. Silva has always done that naturally, but Stones, Sterling, even Aguero have improved immeasurably on that.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I was wrong. I thought it'd take him two seasons to get the mess that MP left sorted out but it only took him one.

 

[Cobwebcat]

No. Though I thought it would take him until next year to win the league.