Re: Pep Fraudiola Denunciation Thread

[danyjr]

Dafuq. Is this ballbag's official Twitter?

[BarrileteCosmico]

Analysis will look at City result, not at the performance

Imagine this: Sterling scores, Ederson holds the ball instead of fumbling it, referee considers that someone who lets the ball pass between his leg is intervening in the move

But analysis will say: Pep’s fault �

— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) August 15, 2020

Peptards really have no shame.

I'm confused, is he suggesting that if City had drawn Lyon that would not have been Pep's fault? In a game where he played a 5-3-2 and left some of his best performers in the bench?

[Arquitecto]

Balague has a talent for being consistently the worst journalist from Spain for over a decade. Has to be a troll artist.

[danyjr]

Balague has a talent for being consistently the worst journalist from Spain for over a decade. Has to be a troll artist.

I'm not sure why the British media give him so much coverage and credibility tbh. More often than not he talks out of his ass.

[Arquitecto]

Balague has a talent for being consistently the worst journalist from Spain for over a decade. Has to be a troll artist.

I'm not sure why the British media give him so much coverage and credibility tbh. More often than not he talks out of his ass.

Because he speaks English fluently and is their best source from Spain, corresponds with them and of course is a sensationalist to which the British media above all in Europe, are all for.

[RealGunner]

He has good friends in Sky so they give him a lot of time. It's all about who you know.

[Jay29]

He used to do a show called Revista de La Liga on Sky. His opinions weren't anything much but he did have info on most Spanish clubs and was therefore more informed than the average journo.

That's a horrible take on Guardiola, though. Anyone who watched the game knew City weren't "right" because of their line-up and set-up, so to blame it on players/refereeing decisions is just egregious.

[rincon]

Hilariously bad take from Ballague aside

To not win one of the Premier League or Champions League will be a big disappointment for Pep - those are the two he would have wanted. The Champions League even more so because Manchester City have never won it. They have some very good players of course they do - but Pep needs to be supported in the transfer market this summer. It is not that they need many players - just three exceptional ones. We know that will not come cheap - but I would like to see Pep given the money to rebuild.

So 1 billion quid later, he wants his best mate to be given more money to waste on scrubs like Rodri and Cancelo.

I see retirement hasnt made Xavi any less unbearable.

[sportsczy]

[danyjr]

Sounds like my grandma was playing the recorder flute on that tune.

[titosantill]

pep has spent more money than any manager ever in football, probably in all of sports even. at least top ten in all sports lol, and this crown xavi is still crying for money to rebuild? i wonder what happened to the near 1 billion they spent? i guess its easy to be "innovative" "tout a football philosophy (whatever that means)", when one has a blank cheque.

[Casciavit]

Xavi isn't wrong.

He's actually spot on.

City would've been better off spending the Cancelo & Mahrez money on a galactico signing instead.

They only had two cold-blooded match-winners in the CL in Sane and KDB. Sane is gone now and KDB is a midfielder. I've said it for a long time. Sterling and Jesus won't win you a CL. Mahrez is City's worst attacking signing under Pep's reign, not in terms of performance, but in terms of the impact it had as a club as it helped contribute to Sane leaving and Pep playing with inside wingers. Aguero has never come through in the CL.

If Pep stops fucking around with his CL lineups and signs match winners instead of FM projects, City will end up winning, no doubt about it.

[Casciavit]

The thing is even if he signed match-winners, it would help compensate for him fucking around with his tactics and a lot of the unlucky moments he's had over the years.

Balague talking about Sterling's miss being important isn't a bad thing in of itself. If it was anyone other than Pep, that would be the narrative of the game not the tactics. The thing is though City have such a high qualitative advantage that they shouldn't be relying on sitters in the 85th minute against fricking Lyon. Yes they were unfortunate against Spurs and Lyon in terms of luck, but Pep hasn't helped at all.

City's CL formula:

Pep changes tactics because he doesn't trust his players -> Defensive players end up making individual mistakes -> leads to a chaotic end-to-end game -> City create lots of chances and attackers miss sitters -> opposition scores from one chance -> City get knocked out

Rinse and repeat. That's been the story for 4 years.

[titosantill]

every coach wishes their team gives them money to sign "cold blooded match winners", in the same vein, when teams lose due to a player's error i'm sure coaches would find it convenient for their journalist buddies to highlight that. missing chances, defensive errors, referee errors are all part of the game. not every loss that managers get criticized for are blow outs. for someone that folks in the media have continued to hype, the solution as throwing more money when he actually cosigned all the players the club signed is what people laugh at. they've spent about half a billion pounds since he came in, so if they spend on cold blooded killers like say naymar mbappe messi we will go back to talking about the greatness of pep? they've given him all he has asked for and then some, he should figure it out. no current managers have had the luxury he has had over his career

[farfan]

The thing with these "what if" arguments is that they work both ways. Had the referee given a penalty for the obvious foul on Cornet, we wouldn't be talking about a "controversial" second goal. Even Sterling's miss came from a howler in the Lyon defense on what should have been a routine clearance.

[Arquitecto]

The thing with these "what if" arguments is that they work both ways. Had the referee given a penalty for the obvious foul on Cornet, we wouldn't be talking about a "controversial" second goal. Even Sterling's miss came from a howler in the Lyon defense on what should have been a routine clearance.

This.


Many hypotheticals could have gone Lyon's way but few are talking about how they went through Juventus and City successively but more on the point how Sterling missed.


Game ended 1-3. City sucked end of.

[FennecFox7]

Here comes Cas with his Mahrez bullshit and over complicating every little thing trying to make pep look good.

City have spent all that money and spent 70m on Mahrez, and that dummy left him on the bench and played 5 DEFENDERS AND 2 DMS AGAINST LYON . Genius, Sane was injured and was being benched even before Mahrez, he was benched by Bernardo Silva. He was not exactly lighting the world alight when he was playing and his attitude is trash.

Forget that when Mahrez came on city looked like a completely different team, then sterling did the bottle job of the century.

City don’t need a “galactico” signing, they’ve spent so much money it’s sickening, what they need is a manager who doesn’t over complicate every little thing. Why was Bernardo on the bench? Where’s Foden?

I see you’re criticizing pep but you’re not going far enough, he should be sacked tbh

[Mr Nick09]

40 millions on Nathan Ake and 70 millions on Koulibaly will make everything better

[Casciavit]

I'm not overcomplicating it, you're just simplifying it to suit your agendas. I've seen like 70-80% of City's matches since Pep has arrived, and I've been spot on with what has happened regarding the club like 90% of the time within that time period.

Mahrez signing absolutely was an issue because he wasn't needed. Yes, Bernardo was the starter during the run-in, but Mahrez still added competition and Pep had to shoehorn him in the games before that because of his price.

The guy had no excuses this season. Sané was injured and Bernardo was out of form but he still couldn't maintain a starting place. He just isn't good enough to be a starter under Pep's system. End of.

Although the Lyon loss isn't about Mahrez. No one has said that. I like how you act like was a big difference maker when he came on though. City looked better offensively because they actually had a player who could stretch out the Lyon backline. Mahrez was very sloppy himself. Bernardo coming on would've made the same impact. I know why Mahrez came on though because these are the games he was signed for. He has the capacity to pull something out of nothing at times. Too bad those moments have been few and far at City.

Also why are Madrid fans coming after Pep's signings like they weren't breaking transfer records all the time in the last two decades? Your entire club repopularized itself on expensive signings. You don't have a leg to stand on at all. At least Pep signs younger players who he has to develop and not the best players in the world at the time like someone would lead you to believe.

[Casciavit]

After watching City over these past few seasons, this is the reason they struggle in the CL. Trust me.

Pep builds his entire system on control and domination. His players rehearse set moves. Everything is planned to the last detail. It's a system built on not making mistakes so when you have a qualitative advantage like City does it's no surprise Pep does so well in the league. However, that's the same reason he struggles in the CL.

In a knockout match you can't dominate the entire match. Hence, a control freak like Pep starts to overthink and changes his system to compensate for the fact that City doesn't have a qualitative advantage in Europe the way they do in England.

So he plays a weird defensive team in the away leg. They end up not scoring and guess what happens in the home leg?

You know how I talked about how they're a team built on certainty? That's the exact reason their home legs end up being a huge scoreline.

The players are already uncomfortable knowing theyre losing and they end up making individual mistakes because of that. Guess what happens? The match becomes chaotic and end to end and that's the style of match Pep HATES.

At Barcelona he had such a qualitative advantage that the matches rarely became end to end. He also had Xavi and Iniesta who could kill the tempo. At City he has De Bruyne who contributes to that style. There's a reason he used to shove him out to the wing earlier on in the big games. It's no surprise that when City concede in big matches they tend to quickly concede another. They get exposed!

Some teams thrive on chaos like Liverpool. Even Madrid were similar in that they had experienced players who could kill the tempo in Modric and Kroos.

They also had a difference maker. That difference maker was Ronaldo because they know when the game becomes end to end he will score every chance he gets. Madrid doesn't win 3 CL's in a row without him. City don't have that difference maker.

Instead they have bottlers. The CL is about doing the most with the least. The small details mean so much. You can't make it to the next round when you miss as many chances as they do. So after 4 years WTF do you do when your forwards keep missing chances? You sign big game forwards who don't.

That's why Xavi is right. That's why I said they would've been better off signing a galactico who is a killer in front of the goal rather than depth signings. Those are the ones who will make the difference for him.

Essentially, City only have two choices.

1- Sign a galactico to win you the matches and keep Pep.

2- Replace Pep and sign a coach who's style is more conductive to knockout football

The thing is though Pep's buddies all work at City so he won't get sacked. Pep's entering his 5th season and his teams tend to peak in his third. It wouldn't surprise me if City actually plays worse next season and they pull a Mou/Poch/Klopp and collapse. The modern coach tends to have an expiry date. If that happens Pep will still probably not get sacked and just ride out his contract until the end of next season. People don't realize how protected he is.

[Casciavit]

I'm also tired of this narrative that clutch players don't matter. Barca and Madrid have dominated the CL because of the players they have. Barca had to do with them coming across generational talents. They may have had better technical players than Madrid but Madrid had match winners.

The mentality of guys like Ramos and Ronaldo is insane. They win you matches. Benz can also be relied on. Let's not forget Bale who was scoring last minute winning goals in his last PL season then went on to make the difference in finals for Madrid.

That's why PSG said fuck it and bought Neymar and Mbappe and it's no surprise that in their first season where they are both fit they are in the finals.

Midfielders win you the CL because they can manage the tempo of the chaotic nature of CL matches. They are the reflection of your team. However they aren't the ones winning you the games. It's the forwards scoring the chances when it comes to them. You need killers to win the CL. City have De Bruyne but he's a midfielder so it doesn't count. Sané was the closest thing they had but he dipped. It's time for them to open their pockets again  and sign a galactico if they want to win the CL. They should've done it in 2018, but better late than never.

Look everyone knows City should be beating Lyon without a galactico. However, Pep's style puts them at a disadvantage in the knockout rounds. Nobody is denying he deserves blame in that regard. But at least if they have a killer it'll help them compensate for that. It's about finding solutions and that's the easiest way to help fix that issue.

[titosantill]

Also why are Madrid fans coming after Pep's signings like they weren't breaking transfer records all the time in the last two decades? Your entire club repopularized itself on expensive signings. You don't have a leg to stand on at all. At least Pep signs younger players who he has to develop and not the best players in the world at the time like someone would lead you to believe.

we've never shied away from the fact that we sign players. when people actlike a coach player club or whatever is the best thing since sliced bread, like it or not , it opens room for criticism, banter etc. also a better comparison would be coach to coach reaction; not coach to club. when higuain missed an open goal (Also against lyon), nobody gave pellegrini the same lifeline.

we're not saying there's anything wrong with signings. but the way this guy has been hyped, for the solution to be give him galactico signings, i'm (not speaking for others) like, then whats so great about him? sam allardyce would have also loved some cold blooded killers on his team. and unlike most coaches around europe, pep has a say on who his team signs. so if we are complaining that they signed duds, guess who did that?

maybe city should get salah mane and virgil (ala gotze and lewa to bayern) every coach (And fan like myself) would like the chance to spend loads of cash and deplete the immediate rival as well.

[danyjr]

I generally find Casciavit's posts insightful however in this case he is wrong about two things:

#1 that he says CL teams have "qualitative advantage" over EPL teams. Monaco and Lyon did not have qualitative advantage over EPL teams. I would bet if they played in EPL they'd be mid-table at best. City also got knocked out against Spurs and Liverpool, which are EPL teams. Teams City managed to beat convincingly in the EPL in the same season.

#2 that he says PSG are in the finals because of having "clutch players". The same clutch player who has missed 5 one-on-ones in the last two games. The reason QSG are in the finals is because they have played second grade teams all the way in the knock-out stages: BVB, Atalanta and RB Leipzig. As RG said even the kebabi round the corner from his house would have taken PSG to the finals with the superior squad he has had against every team QSG have played against.

Otherwise agree with the posts' general narrative that baldy fraudy's overthinking is his Achilles's heel.

[Casciavit]

After today's match, I never want to hear anyone ever again tell me having killers doesn't matter.

Lyon missed their sitters, and then Gnabry scored out of nothing. Knowing Pep's luck Lyon probably would've scored those if they were against City LMFAO.

In the knockout rounds, variance plays a huge role. Hence, killers will make the difference for you.

[rincon]

Yes Pep is unlucky to lose to Lyon 3-1, and Lyon's individual quality made the difference

The mental gymnastics to defend Pep.

[BarrileteCosmico]

Who are the people defending him, exactly?

Also who is saying that having clutch players doesn't matter?

GL going after all sorts of red herrings in this thread, there is wide consensus that Pep screwed up big

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