Pep Guardiola's adventures in Manchester City

The most interesting thing from that article is that he blames himself and it's not the players fault.

Seems to fly in the face of the Villarreal nonsense lol.

In all fairness to City's 0-5 win against West Ham. Hope this continues.

Wenger changed English football. Take a page Pep.

https://www.google.co.in/amp/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4139684/amp/Pep-Guardiola-Sergio-Aguero-meet-late-night-talks.html?client=ms-android-samsung

Also dint know Pep blocked Wi-Fi connection at the City training ground. What a clown

As if that's going to solve anything

Also checked since he's apparently banned Wi-Fi in mid-October, City's results since then have been,

Barcelona 4-0 City
City 1-1 Southampton
United 1-0 City
West Brom 0-4 City
City 3-1 Barca
City 1-1 Boro
Palace 1-2 City
Gladbach 1-1 City
Burnley 1-2 City
City 1-3 Chelsea
City 1-1 Celtic
Leicester 4-2 City
City 2-0 Watford
City 2-1 Arsenal
Hull 0-3 City
Pool 1-0 City
City 2-1 Burnley
West Ham 0-5 City(FA Cup)
Everton 4-0 City

9 wins, 5 losses, 5 draws, 29 goals conceded. 90% of those wins have come against the bottom half. City were the most in-form team in England before this period

Making eccentric decisions like these thinking he's cool and he stands out but unfortunately he's gained half his fanbase through fake gimmicks and publicity stunts such as this.

Madrid destroyed Mourinho's legacy as a coach. Will Pep's City stint destroy his legacy ? We'll see.

what a clown

Pizza and Wi-Fi are essential for any lad's state of mind, no wonder City look depressed and slow in matches

Plays Kolarov as CB and Yaya ahead of the defense

Tbf to Yaya, he was really good today

Pep Guardiola on winning Manager of the Month: "I think Conte’s cupboard is full, that’s why they decided to give it to someone else."

RealGunner wrote:Pep Guardiola on winning Manager of the Month: "I think Conte’s cupboard is full, that’s why they decided to give it to someone else."

Pep Guardiola set for Manchester City clearout with 18 players at risk

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/mar/16/pep-guardiola-manchester-city-clearout-18-players

I certainly think it's too early to be discussing permanent damage to Pep's legacy as a manager. However, this certainly hasn't gotten off to the flyer that so many imagined when they announced his hiring.

Changes were certainly necessary. The squad and the style were far from Pep's standards. But, he's also had time to begin installing his ideas and his players. Regarding the latter, he's had two windows and spent €177.65m (net spend) according to Transfermarkt. As for style, he's obviously directing the players to a more methodical, possession-based system. However, it just doesn't seem to be clicking. (Granted, this could be due to personnel.)

Obviously, this is just the first year of his Man City project. However, it's worth asking the question: are the current flaws in the City team/approach fixable in the long-term, an will Pep be there to "fix" them? Is it really as simple as plugging in a more capable keeper, swapping personnel in defense, and bringing in a controlling midfielder? Or, are there more fundamental flaws?

To be perfectly honest, I'm not certain. I don't think anybody can be certain at this point. However, it would be harsh to judge pep after only a single, partial season.  At the very least, he needs next season to show what he is building at City. After that, we may be able to make a better judgement as to the direction that this project is going.

Ok first off, a few words to defend Pep:
City have been for years now a hastily assembled team with no clear pattern to their transfers or long-term strategy, just throwing money at the squad and seeing what sticks, so he always had his work cut out for him. It's obvious he wasn't just taking over a near-perfect unit as he did at Bayern.

That being said:
Pep did what I expected he'd do. Turned City into flat-track bullies, just like he did with Bayern. He just doesn't realize the track isn't as flat as he wants it to be.
Until he changes his general attitude towards what works vs what he wants to work, he won't win much anymore unless he's hit with a perfect storm of golden generation players as he was in the glory days of Xaviesta.

The defence is clearly awful, a lot more so than i realised.

I mean we all know their fullbacks are bang average at best but their CBs good god when Kolarov is playing CB you know there's an issue.

They desperately need a DM who can protect said defence, the fact he's been filling Yaya Toure in that spot says it all. They obviously miss Gundogan and if he come back fit that helps quite a lot.

Aguero will obviously be moved on, he simply isn't the same player anymore. His dribbling ability has completely degraded from his Atletico days, he just can't press people anymore and quite frankly his finishing has been so poor this year ( that's one thing he could recover though)

Also nobody will say this but i will, Silva should be moved on. He gives you like half a dozen good games a season and has done for years.

Build around Gundogan, De Bruyne, Sterling, Jesus and Sane, but the rest will and probably should be moved on.

I think this is the time to admit that Firenze was right though, they needed a major shake up when he arrived not just a few additions.

I felt that it was mental but it turns out most of those players are just not good enough anymore.

I guess it is "good" in hindsight for City to be KO'd against Monaco in that fashion as that tie highlighted the glaring issues with the team so City can actually pin point what the team really needs.

More than likely, Pep would be around for next season. His current squad is good enough for a top 4 finish (more than good enough really). So, if City is sensible, view that match, see the supposed weak areas and work on it as best as you could.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:The defence is clearly awful, a lot more so than i realised.

I mean we all know their fullbacks are bang average at best but their CBs good god when Kolarov is playing CB you know there's an issue.

They desperately need a DM who can protect said defence, the fact he's been filling Yaya Toure in that spot says it all. They obviously miss Gundogan and if he come back fit that helps quite a lot.

Aguero will obviously be moved on, he simply isn't the same player anymore. His dribbling ability has completely degraded from his Atletico days, he just can't press people anymore and quite frankly his finishing has been so poor this year ( that's one thing he could recover though)

Also nobody will say this but i will, Silva should be moved on. He gives you like half a dozen good games a season and has done for years.

Build around Gundogan, De Bruyne, Sterling, Jesus and Sane, but the rest will and probably should be moved on.

I think this is the time to admit that Firenze was right though, they needed a major shake up when he arrived not just a few additions.

I felt that it was mental but it turns out most of those players are just not good enough anymore.

Agree with a lot of this.

The City squad just wasn't built for Pep. Simple as... Honestly, I think this only highlights what Pellegrini was able to do with the side. Granted, it was far more suited to his style than Pep's.

I almost mentioned building around Gundogan, as well. However, I have doubts about his ability to return to his previous form from Dortmund. He's had several injuries in a row. After watching players like Torres, Sturridge, Lucas (his starting level is debatable, though), Agger, Aurelio, etc. degrade following consistent injury trouble, I would have concerns gambling on Gundogan's fitness.

I whole-heartedly agree on Silva, though. He was the focal-point for Man City for a while, but I think he's become a hindrance. The side absolutely needs to be built around Sterling, De Bruyne, and Sane. You can incorporate them in a variety of ways. However, those three are "doing it" at every instance of asking. That needs to be rewarded, and the club needs to remove anything standing in the way of solidifying them as the attacking core of the team.

I'm somewhat less convinced by Jesus, however. He has certainly looked promising, but I think he's in a bit of a honeymoon period. Teams are still figuring out how to play him. I would want to see him continue this production for a sustained run before gambling on him as THE MAN to lead the City line. I simply think they may go get a high-profile striker this summer that could see him pushed down the pecking order.

Their defense is as sturdy as a wet paper bag. Stones is really the only one with promise. Pep doesn't seem to trust the other CBs in his possession based system. Kompany has been injured for the better part of two seasons now and turns 31 in less than a month. Their keeper simply isn't up to it, and the fullbacks... Well, they've been beaten up in the media enough, haven't they?

I suppose my real question is this: did Pep know just how large of a rebuilding project he was signing up for? Through his relatively short managerial career, he's never been a long-term builder. He's just not stayed in one place long enough (4 years Barca, 3 years Bayern). Moreover, both of his previous clubs had talent when he arrived. He simply needed to bring out the best in his current players (which I think is his forte). I'm very curious to see how he goes about recruiting the players that will turn city around, because I'm not convinced they're currently on the books.

Don't build around Gundogan. He might be good enough, but he will never have a season without injury.

They spent 200m last summer. More than enough to fix some of these issues. The squad can't be used as the only excuse for him when he spent like that. Pep and the sporting director failed in this.

Spot on rincon, people love making excuse for that bald punk. He spent 200m. TWO HUNDRED. What about Nolito? Was that guy needed? Bravo? Did he fit Pep's posession fixation? Injury ridden Gundogan? So much of this can't be on the squad. Pep takes responsibility here. It doesn't help that he plays Kolarov and Zabaleta at CB every *bleep* now and then as well

rincon wrote:They spent 200m last summer. More than enough to fix some of these issues. The squad can't be used as the only excuse for him when he spent like that. Pep and the sporting director failed in this.

He obviously spent poorly, no one is making excuses for him here Rincon and ES. Not everything is about Pep negatively or positively.

I said in the summer that i was gobsmacked he didn't replace Fernandinho or the fullbacks.

I hate this discussion tbh, i was trying to respond to DTOR in an honest manner about a realistic evaluation of the squad irrelevant of Pep and how it can be improved.

But obviously that isn't possible on this forum, where everything comes back to Pep is a failure or Pep is GOAT and no discussion about City can happen without this shitfest.

Whatever happened to Delph ? was supposed to be the " solution " to their midfield problems not too long ago.

donttreadonred wrote:

I suppose my real question is this: did Pep know just how large of a rebuilding project he was signing up for? Through his relatively short managerial career, he's never been a long-term builder. He's just not stayed in one place long enough (4 years Barca, 3 years Bayern). Moreover, both of his previous clubs had talent when he arrived. He simply needed to bring out the best in his current players (which I think is his forte). I'm very curious to see how he goes about recruiting the players that will turn city around, because I'm not convinced they're currently on the books.

If he didn't he sure as hell does now lol, honestly while he'll have the money to make it happen it will be interesting to see how he does in building a squad.

He kind of did at Bayern and Barca in a way but those teams also had significant building blocks already in place.

This time he's going to have to build around players who have no experience in winning outside of Gundogan winning the Bundesliga so this might take longer than people realise.

farfan wrote:Whatever happened to Delph ? was supposed to be the " solution " to their midfield problems not too long ago.

Delph has never been good lol, he was never seen as the solution either.

He was bought by City because he's English, relatively cheap and could fill a homegrown spot on the squad quota.

donttreadonred wrote:
Agree with a lot of this.

The City squad just wasn't built for Pep. Simple as... Honestly, I think this only highlights what Pellegrini was able to do with the side. Granted, it was far more suited to his style than Pep's.

I'm sorry but this is wrong. First of all, no squad is ever 'built# for one manager (except extreme long term engagements).

But as far as squads 'built' for a manager go, City have been building for Pep since about 3 years.
I mean these are his Barcelona CEO and DoF buddies, they've been working toward Pep becoming manager since they joined City in, was it 2011?

They reliably KNEW that he would be joining at least in summer 2015, when they bought de Bruyne, Sterling, Otamendi. Probably they knew before then.

They bought Bravo, Nolito, Sané, Gündogan, Stones and Jesus when he joined.

This squad was assmembled with Pep in mind, and to a good part with his supervision, and all that with ENORMOUS resources, the most expensive squad in world football, with Utd and Real.

That it's allegedly not good enough is no excuse AT ALL.

Pep's problem is that his players are flopping, Bravo flopped hard, Stones flopped even harder, Gündogan turned out to be not available.
But most of all, his tactical plan for City is not stable.

That being said, Monaco were a monster of an opponent and in the Prem, Pep is still ahead of Klopp, Wenger, Mourinho despite all his apparent failures lol.

I'm not sure what Mole was on about with realistic discussions when DTOR said 'The City squad just wasn't built for Pep.'. So yeah, blame shifting.