Guardiola's Press Conference - So what do you think?

[Hellboy]

Xavi was a great player then, and Iniesta was a world class prospect. Guardiola deserves an awful lot of credit for their progression but they both had an obvious potential to be the best CMs in the world. Barcelona played us off the park at times in 2008 when we had one of our best teams ever.

Pep and that Barca team were a match made in heaven at the time, not sure he can replicate 50 % of that with the squad he has at City at the moment

 

[gaucho_10]

He sounds so modest, and we all know it's so fake. I hope he flops.

 

[Touseef]

I think he'll guide City to a higher league finish than Mou will United.

I'll take that bet for next season. not because I dont rate him but Mou has an advantage in knowing the league so for the first season atleast, he might be ahead. Ofcourse what happens over the next 3 years is another matter.

 

[Ridge Racer]

You should read some articles from the catalan press about Xavi, back then in 2008. He was absolutely reviled at some point and everyone and his mother wanted to sell him. Fast forward one year later and he's suddenly world class. But Pep definitely didn't have anything to do with that. Same with Iniesta, who was played as a DM in Rijkaard's Barça, and came to be the best attacking midfielder of an era. Or injury-prone winger Messi, reconverted in a striker/central-midfielder who started scoring lots of goals and gave world class assists. Or Piqué, who didn't impress at United, spent one season in mid-table Zaragoza and under Pep became one of the best defenders in the world. Let's not forget about the unproven Busquets over Yaya in the 2010 season, which was seen as a very risky gamble. Or how Pedro has been absolute wank ever since Guardiola left Barça.

Of course everybody could have won with Barça. Fraud manager this Pep.

 

[Giggs86]

I think he'll guide City to a higher league finish than Mou will United.

I think it will be the opposite.

In Spain Pep always had the edge on Mou since it was Pep's home and Mou was a 'guest' there.

England is Mou's home turf, he knows the PL like the back of his hand, he knows the other managers, the English press etc. It's his home basically. I am absolutely certain he will have the edge over Pep.

 

[Polite Poster]

There are some real whoppers on this thread.

I guess when Pep owns the PL it will all be down to the great players City bought with the oil riches. Yeah that's it anyone could win with those resources

 

[cyberman]

Doesn't he have to own the league first?
That's along the same vein as City's great youth acadamy..why wait when we can presume success?

 

[Mancunia_Religion]

What I think about him is what I thought about him years ago. He's an opportunist. I don't think the signings he made improve them a whole lot either. If we had signed Nolito and Gundogan it'd throw up. Not one bit afraid of their team unless Silva or Yaya can take a youth portion to make them 5 years younger again. Looking forward to playing them.

 

[Perrick Dubois]

Why don't you like him? Because he's managing City?

I have never liked him or his style of football, the deep seeded resentment probably comes from them beating us in those two CL finals, come to think of it.

 

[ManRant]

I honestly don't see the comparisons between LVG and Pep.

They are similar in parts, namely in defensive and midfield area. The most glaring difference would be when athe ball is in the final third.

While LVG stamped his way in attacking sense, Pep is more flexible. And this is possible as at Barca and Bayern they have quality attacking triplets/quartets. Would be interesting to see how Pep would do it with city.

 

[AlwaysRed66]

His problems are going to start when he has to balance both Champions league & domestic league, midweek & weekend. At Bayern & Barcelona he was able to rest half the team without any damage to the league form, but will be asking for trouble if he does that here, & likely to be punished. Particularly as he is known to really push his players.

 

[jojojo]

You should read some articles from the catalan press about Xavi, back then in 2008. He was absolutely reviled at some point and everyone and his mother wanted to sell him. Fast forward one year later and he's suddenly world class. But Pep definitely didn't have anything to do with that. Same with Iniesta, who was played as a DM in Rijkaard's Barça, and came to be the best attacking midfielder of an era. Or injury-prone winger Messi, reconverted in a striker/central-midfielder who started scoring lots of goals and gave world class assists. Or Piqué, who didn't impress at United, spent one season in mid-table Zaragoza and under Pep became one of the best defenders in the world. Let's not forget about the unproven Busquets over Yaya in the 2010 season, which was seen as a very risky gamble. Or how Pedro has been absolute wank ever since Guardiola left Barça.

Of course everybody could have won with Barça. Fraud manager this Pep.

I think you're overdoing it there. Xavi and Iniesta were both crucial players in Spain's Euro win in 2008. Messi had been runner up in FIFA player of the year in 2007 and 2008 and had only just turned 21 when Guardiola arrived.

Xavi was renegotiating his contact, and was linked to Bayern, and after a poor (by their standards) season the local press didn't find it hard to find angry fans. The team as a whole in that season looked jaded and uninspired and so did Rijkaard. The party boy atmosphere had damaged the team, and while their home form was OK, their away form was awful (5 wins in La Liga).

Guardiola took a whole series of good decisions. Big new contract for Xavi, personal trainer for Messi, encouraging Laporta to sell Ronaldinho and Deco, and so on. He's a great manager, who turned great players into a great team, but it's easy to get carried away.

 

[jojojo]

His problems are going to start when he has to balance both Champions league & domestic league, midweek & weekend. At Bayern & Barcelona he was able to rest half the team without any damage to the league form, but will be asking for trouble if he does that here, & likely to be punished. Particularly as he is known to really push his players.

He didn't rest half his players at Barca, that's not how he won the treble. He had 7 players who started more than 40 matches that year. If anything I'd credit him with achieving Chelsea like injury stats, a feat he wasn't able to repeat at Bayern.

 

[Ban]

It's funny how he says Chelsea and City have the best academies. That's maybe true but how does first team benefit from it?

Also, I was never a big fan of his so it will be easy to hate him.

He is a good manager but I think he's not as good as portrayed and as he think he is. I hope he flops massively.

I see some United fans adore the guy.

 

[M18CTID]

It's funny how he says Chelsea and City have the best academies. That's maybe true but how does first team benefit from it?

Also, I was never a big fan of his so it will be easy to hate him.

He is a good manager but I think he's not as good as portrayed and as he think he is. I hope he flops massively.

I see some United fans adore the guy.

I think it's relevant for someone like Guardiola to say it because he has a reputation for blooding academy players. You are right that both City and Chelsea haven't promoted enough of those academy players over recent years and from a City POV it does grate a fair bit with a lot of our fans - sure, everyone gets excited at the marquee signings but we also feel that Pellegrini could've drip fed more youth team players into the first team. Hopefully Guardiola can address that; there are a fair few gems in the academy that he should be able to work with - Diaz in particular looks a star in the making and seems very well suited to Guardiola's style, so we'll have to wait and see how things pan out.

 

[Ban]

I think it's relevant for someone like Guardiola to say it because he has a reputation for blooding academy players. You are right that both City and Chelsea haven't promoted enough of those academy players over recent years and from a City POV it does grate a fair bit with a lot of our fans - sure, everyone gets excited at the marquee signings but we also feel that Pellegrini could've drip fed more youth team players into the first team. Hopefully Guardiola can address that; there are a fair few gems in the academy that he should be able to work with - Diaz in particular looks a star in the making and seems very well suited to Guardiola's style, so we'll have to wait and see how things pan out.

Yeah I get why he said it but as you say whats the purpose of having a great academy if you dont use it for senior level. We will see if Pep will change it.

What position does Diaz play?

 

[Attila]

I think it's relevant for someone like Guardiola to say it because he has a reputation for blooding academy players. You are right that both City and Chelsea haven't promoted enough of those academy players over recent years and from a City POV it does grate a fair bit with a lot of our fans - sure, everyone gets excited at the marquee signings but we also feel that Pellegrini could've drip fed more youth team players into the first team. Hopefully Guardiola can address that; there are a fair few gems in the academy that he should be able to work with - Diaz in particular looks a star in the making and seems very well suited to Guardiola's style, so we'll have to wait and see how things pan out.

How many academy players did he put in during his 3 years at Bayern? I've read it wasn't many but I'm not sure on the numbers

 

[BobbyManc]

How many academy players did he put in during his 3 years at Bayern? I've read it wasn't many but I'm not sure on the numbers

To be fair Bayern's squad is incredible as it is so it was always going to be unlikely any youth players were going to deserve a substantial chance in a side that good. Plus, I'm not sure Bayern's youth team is anything special, City's beat them 6-1 in the UEFA Youth League when they played them. If Guardiola does not integrate a couple of youth players into the first team squad at City then questions will have to be raised given the squad has weaknesses and there are some fantastic youth prospects who deserve a chance.

 

[Brwned]

You should read some articles from the catalan press about Xavi, back then in 2008. He was absolutely reviled at some point and everyone and his mother wanted to sell him. Fast forward one year later and he's suddenly world class. But Pep definitely didn't have anything to do with that. Same with Iniesta, who was played as a DM in Rijkaard's Barça, and came to be the best attacking midfielder of an era. Or injury-prone winger Messi, reconverted in a striker/central-midfielder who started scoring lots of goals and gave world class assists. Or Piqué, who didn't impress at United, spent one season in mid-table Zaragoza and under Pep became one of the best defenders in the world. Let's not forget about the unproven Busquets over Yaya in the 2010 season, which was seen as a very risky gamble. Or how Pedro has been absolute wank ever since Guardiola left Barça.

Of course everybody could have won with Barça. Fraud manager this Pep.

I think Pep deserves lots of credit but I find this hard to believe given he was named player of the tournament in Euro 2008.

 

[Name Changed]

Cheats?

I thought he was caught doping. Maybe not.

 

[M18CTID]

Yeah I get why he said it but as you say whats the purpose of having a great academy if you dont use it for senior level. We will see if Pep will change it.

What position does Diaz play?

If Pep can't change it then that's a worry. Diaz plays attacking midfield - he's still only 16 yet stood out in the FA Youth Cup last season against players who were mainly older than him.

 

[M18CTID]

How many academy players did he put in during his 3 years at Bayern? I've read it wasn't many but I'm not sure on the numbers

To be fair - and somewhat surprisingly - Bayern's academy wasn't all that. City turned into them over 6-0 twice at home in the UEFA Youth League in consecutive campaigns and I think they finished bottom of Arsenal's group last season.

 

[cyberman]

To be fair Bayern's squad is incredible as it is so it was always going to be unlikely any youth players were going to deserve a substantial chance in a side that good. Plus, I'm not sure Bayern's youth team is anything special, City's beat them 6-1 in the UEFA Youth League when they played them. If Guardiola does not integrate a couple of youth players into the first team squad at City then questions will have to be raised given the squad has weaknesses and there are some fantastic youth prospects who deserve a chance.

Bayern's squad is incredible due to the signings Pep made though. The vast majority of Bayerns starting 11 joined under Pep's tenure.
That's a choice that he made.

 

[Ridge Racer]

I think Pep deserves lots of credit but I find this hard to believe given he was named player of the tournament in Euro 2008.

The euro was after the club season with Rijkaard. Many journos from El Mundo Deportivo and Sport (the Catalan pro-Barça press) wanted him gone. Of course he had a great euro and then with Guardiola he really shined, but was far from appreciated before that