Manchester City under Pep Guardiola | Pep on City v Liverpool ref: "He likes to be special"

Nolito is alright but don't think he will have that big of an impact. Better then sterling or navas though so I guess its an improvement. Us getting Mkhitaryan is a much better deal anyway if we get him. Not sure if they will get Sane or not, but he wouldn't start anyway over KDB.

Gundogan a good signing in midfield if he stays fit, though thats not a guarantee. They need a lot of reinforcements in defence. Laporte isnt happening, stones might but he's not exactly great defensively. Fullbacks could use replacing as well. We'll see how they do but I don't think anyone will run away with the title. Going to be tight between united, city, chelsea with no europe and araenal probably.
 
Got a £20 bet with a Bertie at work that PG won't see out his contract.

Pep took the City job as they offered a huge pay cheque & unlimited transfer budget. He was looking forward to an easy ride while many of the other top teams are in transition. He has vastly underestimated the amount of work needed to get them challenging again. It also seems that even with the lure of Pep & CL football they are struggling to bring in their top targets.

Pep has failed to handle the pressure even when managing teams vastly superior to their nearest rivals. I can't see him coping well with trying to bring a team in decline to the top. Gonna be good.
 
namco said:
Got a £20 bet with a Bertie at work that PG won't see out his contract.

Pep took the City job as they offered a huge pay cheque & unlimited transfer budget. He was looking forward to an easy ride while many of the other top teams are in transition. He has vastly underestimated the amount of work needed to get them challenging again. It also seems that even with the lure of Pep & CL football they are struggling to bring in their top targets.

Pep has failed to handle the pressure even when managing teams vastly superior to their nearest rivals. I can't see him coping well with trying to bring a team in decline to the top. Gonna be good.
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Interesting analysis of the mindset of a man you've presumably never met in your life. I presume you can also tell me what Mr Guardiola had for dinner yesterday, as well as his views on how I should be casting my vote tomorrow in the EU referendum?
 
ReDDHDevilS said:
It really winds me up when people write things like Pep will simply walk the league!

I remember last season when City signed De Bruyne, Sterling, Otamendi how a lot of Cafties were wetting their pants with almost every post was like - OMG Aguero-Sterling-Silva-De Bruyne-Toure that front five would be unstoppable and would just slaughter the rest of the league. Yeah they murdered the rest so much so that finished fourth and that's by virtue of better goal difference!

This is the same Pep who couldn't get past the CL semi with a Bayern team that went into back to back CL final prior to his arrival, a team that consists the likes of Neuer, Muller, Lewandowski, Robben, Ribery, Xabi, Vidal, Lahm, Boateng etc. and I'm not even mentioning the likes of Thiago, Costa, Gotze etc. who'd be starters for City. In my opinion, there is no team in Europe who has as much strength in depth at almost every postilion as Bayern has.

From that Bayern team to City who doesn't have two decent FBs, whose CBs aren't anywhere near Bayern's level either, midfield is average & aging and the only addition so far is a crooked Gundogan (one of my favorites when fit I'd admit though), wide options are players who can't hit a cow's backside with a banjo plus Nolito who will be playing for the first time in this league, star players like Toure and Silva who've carried this City team over the years are a shadow of their former selves. He's 2 genuine game changers in Aguero and De Bruyne and one of them misses quite a lot through injury.

Last season was Tuchel's first season with Dortmund, a team languished in the bottom half of the table till January the season before, and yet up until the final 4/5 games Dortmund was only 4/5 points behind Bayern. And that's without any major investment in Dortmund's squad.

Here Pep will be working in a new league where there are more than 3/4 good teams with a team needing huge overhaul, he himself and the new players needing time to adapt to the PL as well as the whole team needing time to learn his style, and to suggest he'd just walk it in his first season is nothing short of laughable.
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Finally someone speaks some sense. Agree on absolutely everything you've said.
 
I'm looking forward to their season.

Kompany is probably their best defender and he hasn't been fit for ages. And what's been forgotten is two season before this he was bang average if not shite. Mangala is so bad it's embarrassing and Otamendi is on the back of a comical season himself. In midfield Fernandinho is decent, Toure will likely leave, Gundogan is injured and Fernando is shite. They also have Delph in there somewhere to run around. Going forward, Nolito is a decent signing, Sterling utterly out of form, Bony has never been in form and Nasri is still a lesbian. There's also Navas who's managed to become a worse crosser of the ball than Valencia and that takes some doing. Silva, De Bruyne and Aguero is a great trio to have on paper but if we're lucky Silva's decline is permanent and Aguero might spend a few more weeks on injury table leading to Baldy going apeshit at their medical team. Oh and they might sign a 50m defender who can't defend.
 
Akash said:
I'm looking forward to their season.

Kompany is probably their best defender and he hasn't been fit for ages. And what's been forgotten is two season before this he was bang average if not shite. Mangala is so bad it's embarrassing and Otamendi is on the back of a comical season himself. In midfield Fernandinho is decent, Toure will likely leave, Gundogan is injured and Fernando is shite. They also have Delph in there somewhere to run around. Going forward, Nolito is a decent signing, Sterling utterly out of form, Bony has never been in form and Nasri is still a lesbian. There's also Navas who's managed to become a worse crosser of the ball than Valencia and that takes some doing. Silva, De Bruyne and Aguero is a great trio to have on paper but if we're lucky Silva's decline is permanent and Aguero might spend a few more weeks on injury table leading to Baldy going apeshit at their medical team. Oh and they might sign a 50m defender who can't defend.
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Such a shit team :lol:
 
Bojan11 said:
Payet was known. He just wasn't consistent enough.

Hope everybody doesn't compare every 29 year old signing with Payet.

Nolito isn't someone who is going to get them from 4th to 1st. Besides goalscoring was not really a problem. It was getting control of games and defending.

I hope they continue to sign these sort of players.
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He may not improve them much because i actually think he's more suited to a counter attacking play, that doesn't mean he is average. 63 goals + assists in 91 games playing for a mid-table team. How many wingers have better stats than that in the top 3 leagues? I'm guessing not that many.
 
prarek said:
He may not improve them much because i actually think he's more suited to a counter attacking play, that doesn't mean he is average. 63 goals + assists in 91 games playing for a mid-table team. How many wingers have better stats than that in the top 3 leagues? I'm guessing not that many.
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Pedro had great stats too.

Although I think the jury on him is still out, mind.
 
Despite the shite team narrative - City will do quite well next year if Aguero and Gundogan remain healthy. They do need a defender or two.
 
Rafateria said:
Sterling is not, in an shape or form, better as a #10. Ridiculous claim.
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I would say the best form he's had is when he played at the top of the diamond midfield behind Suarez and Sturridge.

His best game for England came in that position as well.
 
namco said:
Got a £20 bet with a Bertie at work that PG won't see out his contract.

Pep took the City job as they offered a huge pay cheque & unlimited transfer budget. He was looking forward to an easy ride while many of the other top teams are in transition. He has vastly underestimated the amount of work needed to get them challenging again. It also seems that even with the lure of Pep & CL football they are struggling to bring in their top targets.

Pep has failed to handle the pressure even when managing teams vastly superior to their nearest rivals. I can't see him coping well with trying to bring a team in decline to the top. Gonna be good.
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If he had had any courage or if he was a romantic he tried to portray himself as, he would have come to Manchester United, Arsenal, Milan, etc. This way he's just another mercenary trying to add to his CV and bank account before he gets found out.
 
City still has the best team on paper and with Pep, they can win the league with the proper signings this summer.... Very similar to Jose with you guys, if Jose can bring in some of his own signings, he has a great chance winning the league next season
 
Dreadnought said:
If he had had any courage or if he was a romantic he tried to portray himself as, he would have come to Manchester United, Arsenal, Milan, etc. This way he's just another mercenary trying to add to his CV and bank account before he gets found out.
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Nah, if he was a romantic he would've taken over someone like Rochdale or Scunthorpe. You make it sound like everyone that plays for or manages United does it for free ;)
 
Akash said:
I'm looking forward to their season.

Kompany is probably their best defender and he hasn't been fit for ages. And what's been forgotten is two season before this he was bang average if not shite. Mangala is so bad it's embarrassing and Otamendi is on the back of a comical season himself. In midfield Fernandinho is decent, Toure will likely leave, Gundogan is injured and Fernando is shite. They also have Delph in there somewhere to run around. Going forward, Nolito is a decent signing, Sterling utterly out of form, Bony has never been in form and Nasri is still a lesbian. There's also Navas who's managed to become a worse crosser of the ball than Valencia and that takes some doing. Silva, De Bruyne and Aguero is a great trio to have on paper but if we're lucky Silva's decline is permanent and Aguero might spend a few more weeks on injury table leading to Baldy going apeshit at their medical team. Oh and they might sign a 50m defender who can't defend.
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Even I found that analysis amusing:lol:
 
I'm incredibly excited to face off against them next season, the two best managers in the world at the head of two great teams in the same city. Yes please.
 
Dreadnought said:
If he had had any courage or if he was a romantic he tried to portray himself as, he would have come to Manchester United, Arsenal, Milan, etc. This way he's just another mercenary trying to add to his CV and bank account before he gets found out.
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What's wrong with that?
Always do you and what's best for you.

Also I thought many on here were saying the City job is not as easy as it suggests and they have huge rebuilding to do.
 
I agree that City and Pep wont just walk the league. Nevertheless, the transfer window is open for another 2 months and I'm sure they will invest heavily. It's too early for any judgement
 
cyberman said:
What is wrong with that post?
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It's littered with hyperbolic statements.

"Mangala is so bad it's embarrassing". Yes he's not lived up to his hype and price tag but he's still a good defender, even if his future does not lie with a side at the level of City.

"Otamendi is on the back of a comical season". Bullshit, he was decent for City, some very good games, some poor games, mostly solid though.

"Gundogan is injured" Factually correct, but it implies he will not play at all this season. He should only miss a few games at the beginning, and has every chance of becoming one of the league's best midfielders next season.

"Fernando is shite" Improved last season and is a decent DM, similar to Mangala, hardly a top level player but can do a job alongside Fernandinho when required.

"Nasri is still a lesbian" Ok, it's not a serious post, but Nasri was very good when he wasn't injured last season and if he keeps fit it will be interesting to see what Guardiola does with him. Majority of teams would love to have a player of his quality.
 
BobbyManc said:
It's littered with hyperbolic statements.

"Mangala is so bad it's embarrassing". Yes he's not lived up to his hype and price tag but he's still a good defender, even if his future does not lie with a side at the level of City.

"Otamendi is on the back of a comical season". Bullshit, he was decent for City, some very good games, some poor games, mostly solid though.

"Gundogan is injured" Factually correct, but it implies he will not play at all this season. He should only miss a few games at the beginning, and has every chance of becoming one of the league's best midfielders next season.

"Fernando is shite" Improved last season and is a decent DM, similar to Mangala, hardly a top level player but can do a job alongside Fernandinho when required.

"Nasri is still a lesbian" Ok, it's not a serious post, but Nasri was very good when he wasn't injured last season and if he keeps fit it will be interesting to see what Guardiola does with him. Majority of teams would love to have a player of his quality.
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Your defenders may not be as bad as they're made out to be but they are closer to that side of the scale than to the success side.
Your midfield does get overrun and your defence has little protection.
His post makes more sense than blanket statements such as 'They weren't motivated last year but they will be this season'
Why?
'The transfer window is open for another 2 months'
This forum had City nailed on to sign Pogba and Thiago etc to now signing Nolito and Gundogan.
Good singings and all but the amount of credit City get for future transfer dealings is ridiculous on here. Until we see who thry sign we can't give them credit for future success.
 
Scenario 1- City don't win the title in the 1st season. People will say,"I told so","he's been found out","So, he isn't all that" etc.

Scenario 2- City win the title in his 1st season. They'll say, "He bought the league"," He should've come to United. Then he'd have proven himself the organic way", "Everyone and their grandma could manage & win it with the kind of players City have" etc.

Either way, Pep detractors have their excuses prepared.
 
cyberman said:
What is wrong with that post?
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Nothing whatsoever. In fact, I was so impressed with it that I'm off to stick a tenner on us to get relegated because surely a team as shite as the one he described has no chance of staying up.
 
sammyvine said:
What's wrong with that?
Always do you and what's best for you.

Also I thought many on here were saying the City job is not as easy as it suggests and they have huge rebuilding to do.
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Exactly. You can't win at times - on the one hand he's taken the easy option but on the other hand he's got a hell of a job on his hands!
 
M18CTID said:
Nothing whatsoever. In fact, I was so impressed with it that I'm off to stick a tenner on us to get relegated because surely a team as shite as the one he described has no chance of staying up.
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What puzzles me is how a team as shite as the one described managed to finish above United and reach the semi final of the Champions League.

Must be one very lucky team :lol:
 
People are underestimating Guardiola, he's an incredible league manager. I am convinced he will have City at 90+ points next season. The question is whether Mourinho can get United to challenge that. Nobody else will come close, but Mou can get something similar from his players. It will certainly be a very interesting season.
 
BobbyManc said:
It's littered with hyperbolic statements.

"Mangala is so bad it's embarrassing". Yes he's not lived up to his hype and price tag but he's still a good defender, even if his future does not lie with a side at the level of City.

"Otamendi is on the back of a comical season". Bullshit, he was decent for City, some very good games, some poor games, mostly solid though.

"Gundogan is injured" Factually correct, but it implies he will not play at all this season. He should only miss a few games at the beginning, and has every chance of becoming one of the league's best midfielders next season.

"Fernando is shite" Improved last season and is a decent DM, similar to Mangala, hardly a top level player but can do a job alongside Fernandinho when required.

"Nasri is still a lesbian" Ok, it's not a serious post, but Nasri was very good when he wasn't injured last season and if he keeps fit it will be interesting to see what Guardiola does with him. Majority of teams would love to have a player of his quality.
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I wasn't entirely being serious. Not completely anyway.

Not bad though. Last year you were still insisting Mangala had world class potential because City had bought him for 40m. I'll give it another season for his shitiness to well and truly sink in. He's complete garbage.

Gundogan could go either way. He hasn't recovered his form fully since that long lay off and coming on the back of another injury.

Fernando is a bit crap though. Bottom half PL is his level. Nasri is a pointless footballer and I sure as shit wouldn't take him at United.

City's attack is where you're miles better than most teams. Keep Aguero, Silva, KDB fit and firing you'll do very well. If Sterling can join then it would get worrying for the rest. Defense and Midfield is mediocre in my view.
 
Polite Poster said:
What puzzles me is how a team as shite as the one described managed to finish above United and reach the semi final of the Champions League.

Must be one very lucky team :lol:
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What puzzles me is how a team as superior as City (like some of your fans would have us believe) finished only one point ahead of one of a very lacklustre United side with a total plonker as a manager.

The pundits were very quick to label us and our season as a catastrophe, while little or no mention of City were made. If us at our worst can manage to finish only one point behind City then I fancy our chances with a strengthened side and a far superior manager as compared to what we had last season.
 
Pep isn't half as bad as is being made out on here.

6 titles, 4 cups and 2 Champions league's in 8 years.

12 trophies.



Ancelotti:
3 titles, 2 cups and 3 Champions league's in 17 years

8 trophies



Mourinho:
8 titles, 4 cups and 2 Champions league's in 14 years

14 trophies


Only the main cups and league titles have been counted. Just because expectations of him are higher then the other two doesn't mean he is worse.
 
ctp said:
People are underestimating Guardiola, he's an incredible league manager. I am convinced he will have City at 90+ points next season. The question is whether Mourinho can get United to challenge that. Nobody else will come close, but Mou can get something similar from his players. It will certainly be a very interesting season.
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Well considering he didn't get 90+ points in the Bundeglisa.. when he was at a team that brought there biggest rivals best players..
Only 4 less games aswell.. Don't see that happening first season.
Maybe second.
 
M18CTID said:
Nothing whatsoever. In fact, I was so impressed with it that I'm off to stick a tenner on us to get relegated because surely a team as shite as the one he described has no chance of staying up.
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Polite Poster said:
What puzzles me is how a team as shite as the one described managed to finish above United and reach the semi final of the Champions League.

Must be one very lucky team :lol:
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We were both shite. Over the last two seasons in fact.
Finishing above United proves nothing tbh. If we held on for 15 mins v West Ham and qualified for CL that would not make us better or City worse.
We would both still be shit. Only difference is people aren't still claiming United have the best squad in the league or if so and so stayed fit we would be champions.
We are both shit.
I wouldn't point to CL for Citys lack of shitness btw. That Madrid game opened peoples eyes across Europe to the state of your team.
 
SwansonsTache said:
What puzzles me is how a team as superior as City (like some of your fans would have us believe) finished only one point ahead of one of a very lacklustre United side with a total plonker as a manager.

The pundits were very quick to label us and our season as a catastrophe, while little or no mention of City were made. If us at our worst can manage to finish only one point behind City then I fancy our chances with a strengthened side and a far superior manager as compared to what we had last season.
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I think you're doing United's season a disservice there as you actually finished on the same points as us rather than 1 point behind ;)

I'd put some of the under-performance of both teams down to not having particularly good managers in charge - both of them should've done better considering the resources at their disposal. And while United have upgraded their manager, it's fair to say City have too.
 
M18CTID said:
I think you're doing United's season a disservice there as you actually finished on the same points as us rather than 1 point behind ;)

I'd put some of the under-performance of both teams down to not having particularly good managers in charge - both of them should've done better considering the resources at their disposal. And while United have upgraded their manager, it's fair to say City have too.
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Damn it! Okay, GD then :)

Yes, I'd say both teams look stronger than the year before and for me both teams are guaranteed top4 contenders, and perhaps also title contenders.

But I dare wager that this is the biggest challenge Pep has faced so far in his career, and that in his first season his lack of PL experience might put him at a slight disadvantage compared to Mourinho. A lot depends on transfer activity though, both teams can totally turn the tables in their favour with 2-3 shrewd signings.
 
cyberman said:
We were both shite. Over the last two seasons in fact.
Finishing above United proves nothing tbh. If we held on for 15 mins v West Ham and qualified for CL that would not make us better or City worse.
We would both still be shit. Only difference is people aren't still claiming United have the best squad in the league or if so and so stayed fit we would be champions.
We are both shit.
I wouldn't point to CL for Citys lack of shitness btw. That Madrid game opened peoples eyes across Europe to the state of your team.
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Quite a lot of truth spoken there and you won't find many City fans disagreeing with too much of it - the squad needs freshening up (although I don't think it was too outrageous to claim that we had the best squad in the league, especially with De Bruyne, Sterling, and Otamendi coming in last season). However, if Leicester can win the league it shows me that 5 or 6 other teams could've won it as well and that includes both City and United. I think Leicester made a lot of teams look like mugs last season.

The Madrid game was just weird to be honest. We're not as good as them but I felt they were there for the taking and while 1-0 on aggregate doesn't look bad on paper, the fact that we hardly attacked them in the second leg was bizarre. I don't know why we didn't just throw the proverbial kitchen sink at them in the last 15 minutes - we only needed one goal to go through and better to go out in a blaze of glory than limp out in the manner we did. I think using that game as a barometer for the state of the whole team is a bit unfair - Real won the competition after all - because we finally got to grips with the CL last season. There were a lot of shrewd performances such as Sevilla away, Kiev away, and PSG home and away.
 
Akash said:
I wasn't entirely being serious. Not completely anyway.

Not bad though. Last year you were still insisting Mangala had world class potential because City had bought him for 40m. I'll give it another season for his shitiness to well and truly sink in. He's complete garbage.

Gundogan could go either way. He hasn't recovered his form fully since that long lay off and coming on the back of another injury.

Fernando is a bit crap though. Bottom half PL is his level. Nasri is a pointless footballer and I sure as shit wouldn't take him at United.

City's attack is where you're miles better than most teams. Keep Aguero, Silva, KDB fit and firing you'll do very well. If Sterling can join then it would get worrying for the rest. Defense and Midfield is mediocre in my view.
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I still stand by my views on Mangala at the time, he had the attributes to be a world class defender, and still does, it's now looking a lot less likely he'll ever eradicate his weaknesses to progress to close to that level though. Gundogan I agree with, he is a risk, and there's not much point attaching too much significance to his signing at this stage. Wait to see how he recovers and adapts, although his injury problems are overstated. Fernando I'm not going to disagree on too much, his level is a team either like Porto or Everton, but yeah he is not good enough for City. Nasri is different, he lacks end product in terms of goals and assists but is excellent at keeping possession (I see him as a rich man's Lallana) and linking up with other attackers. He can be an asset next season, and I have a sneaky feeling he might surprise people with how involved he will be under Pep.
 
Dreadnought said:
He might have a shout but Ancelotti and Mourinho, for example, have done it in more difficult conditions and over a longer period of time.
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A longer period failing to win league titles maybe. He also won the CL with a fantastic and super expensive RM side. And AC Milan beating Liverpool and Juve us hardly the stuff of underdogs.
 
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