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

I am not convinced that Guardiola is all he's made out to be and I'm baffled how others think differently. He has managed world class teams in his time as a manager. He was great at Barca and good at Bayern. He hasn't been tested yet. I know it's cliché but you give any manager the Barcelona 08 team or the Bayern 13 team and I'm sure they would be in a decent position to win titles. Seriously though how has he been tested thus far? This City job now will tell us whether he is what some claim.
 
I am not convinced that Guardiola is all he's made out to be and I'm baffled how others think differently. He has managed world class teams in his time as a manager. He was great at Barca and good at Bayern. He hasn't been tested yet. I know it's cliché but you give any manager the Barcelona 08 team or the Bayern 13 team and I'm sure they would be in a decent position to win titles. Seriously though how has he been tested thus far? This City job now will tell us whether he is what some claim.
Concurred. 100% I've said the same thing about his past jobs. was it Allardyce who said he could win the league with barca?
 
I've been getting very confused during games about where the dugout is so I'm glad City have decided to place the word "Dugout" in huge letters on the floor where the dugout is.
 
This post I made gave Bluemoon a laugh when I posted it, it's the best post I've ever made

"Peps going to arrive at City and not know about the premier league. I'm looking forward to his rude awakening.

First things first the quality of players. Excluding his own players two of the top three scorers in his league are Kalou and Hernandez. One couldn't get in our worst team in ages and another was a very average Chelsea player. They're the best players he plays against in Germany FFS. Welcome to the prem Pep, where every club has strikers at that level. Most have better FFS. It's all well and good defending against Kalou, our bottom half teams have Lukaku and Costa you mug.

Ok he thinks, I'll get some of my old players in. They were great for me. Not so fast Pep, not so fast at all. Players who have dominated the Bundesliga can't handle the prem. We sent Kagawa and Sahin packing. Players like Diouf and Firmino look average mate. We're a better quality over here.

Fine Pep thinks. I'll do what I always do. Who are the best players in the league? Bring them to me. I signed Dortmunds best players and ruined the league, let's get Martial, the kid is quality. How did we let Arsenal sign Sanchez?!?

Just let it sink in. His face when he isn't just signing anyone from the league. Our league is a competition Pep. Not a mockery. Our relegated teams have more money than most of your league, hands off mate.

Finally he think. I have my tactics! My previous philosophy. LVG would like a word. Each team in the prem is a challenge, you ain't getting 6-0s here every week mate. We know how to defend. We are fit, strong and we can counter.

Good luck Pep, everything you think you know will soon change. Hope you and Klopp have each other at least when you're crying by Christmas."
 
Also Pep's interviews are funny. He comes across as quite a stupid man. I'm not convinved by him at all. I was impressed with how he started there by coming in and forcing the players to get fit and actually respect the management...but his style of play leaves them really ridiculously open on the counter and his solution to it is to blame it on bad luck and yap on about processes. Somehow this seems familiar.
 
City don't seem as good a 'team' as Chelsea right now. Pep has made some disasters so far with his signings. bravo is fecking abysmal. He's no better than Sunderland keeper Pickford. Stones is poor. If he wasn't English he'd be worth about 10m to 15m. Sane looks like he could come good. Gundogan decent. Rest meh.

Clichy on for sane was hilariously bad tactics. that baffled me. Costa is better than Aguero this year too. He's immense

This is heartening. What a player he was prior to the back injury. He was brilliantly dynamic and creative in equal measure so much so I desperately wanted us to sign. If he really is only 'decent' now then we can count ourselves lucky.
 
Also Pep's interviews are funny. He comes across as quite a stupid man. I'm not convinved by him at all. I was impressed with how he started there by coming in and forcing the players to get fit and actually respect the management...but his style of play leaves them really ridiculously open on the counter and his solution to it is to blame it on bad luck and yap on about processes. Somehow this seems familiar.
Some friends of mine went to the press conference before and after the Burnley match. Asked him a question if he was worried about his defense not being able to keep a clean sheet. He just brushed the question off and didn't bother answering them. They said that the vibe in there was that everyone was trying to pally up to him and no one was grilling him in the slightest about anything. Quite boring actually.
 
Some friends of mine went to the press conference before and after the Burnley match. Asked him a question if he was worried about his defense not being able to keep a clean sheet. He just brushed the question off and didn't bother answering them. They said that the vibe in there was that everyone was trying to pally up to him and no one was grilling him in the slightest about anything. Quite boring actually.

He just comes out with jibberish. Today he was going on about respecting the country and Aguero being strong to get sent off. I don't know what's going on in his brain for him to come out with some of what he does but I don't think it's anything particularly smart. He just hasn't quite mastered the Van Gaal art of spouting jibberish in a way that makes it sound coherent.
 
City don't seem as good a 'team' as Chelsea right now. Pep has made some disasters so far with his signings. bravo is fecking abysmal. He's no better than Sunderland keeper Pickford. Stones is poor. If he wasn't English he'd be worth about 10m to 15m. Sane looks like he could come good. Gundogan decent. Rest meh.

Clichy on for sane was hilariously bad tactics. that baffled me. Costa is better than Aguero this year too. He's immense
Not surprising. The only surprising thing was how well they started. City has more work to be done on them, more players that need to be replaced because of age and at the same time more new players coming in. Pep's system is also a drastic change and his defense don't look to handle it at all.

Meanwhile Conte has 3 at the back and usually two people in front of them giving them more stability. His squad all know each other well and recently were champions. Only minor changes needed. He's however relying heavily on goals from 2-3 players but that's not unlike a certain Barcelona team.
 
This post I made gave Bluemoon a laugh when I posted it, it's the best post I've ever made

"Peps going to arrive at City and not know about the premier league. I'm looking forward to his rude awakening.

First things first the quality of players. Excluding his own players two of the top three scorers in his league are Kalou and Hernandez. One couldn't get in our worst team in ages and another was a very average Chelsea player. They're the best players he plays against in Germany FFS. Welcome to the prem Pep, where every club has strikers at that level. Most have better FFS. It's all well and good defending against Kalou, our bottom half teams have Lukaku and Costa you mug.

Ok he thinks, I'll get some of my old players in. They were great for me. Not so fast Pep, not so fast at all. Players who have dominated the Bundesliga can't handle the prem. We sent Kagawa and Sahin packing. Players like Diouf and Firmino look average mate. We're a better quality over here.

Fine Pep thinks. I'll do what I always do. Who are the best players in the league? Bring them to me. I signed Dortmunds best players and ruined the league, let's get Martial, the kid is quality. How did we let Arsenal sign Sanchez?!?

Just let it sink in. His face when he isn't just signing anyone from the league. Our league is a competition Pep. Not a mockery. Our relegated teams have more money than most of your league, hands off mate.

Finally he think. I have my tactics! My previous philosophy. LVG would like a word. Each team in the prem is a challenge, you ain't getting 6-0s here every week mate. We know how to defend. We are fit, strong and we can counter.

Good luck Pep, everything you think you know will soon change. Hope you and Klopp have each other at least when you're crying by Christmas."

He's also taken over a side nowhere near as good as that Barce who won the CL 2 seasons before and had a prime Messi breaking through alongside Henry, Etoo, Ronaldinho, Iniesta and Xavi. Reckon my nan could win the CL with that lot. And Bayern who'd just won the trebble.

City's defense is a problem, there midfield isn't the same level, their forwards near to Bayern maybe but nowhere near Barce. A much harder job.

What's more his solution to their defensive problems was spending 50 million on a poor defender who's good at passing and an average keeper who's good at. Absolutely mental that they've spent 120m on Stones, Otamendi and Mangala, 140m if we include Bravo.
 
This post I made gave Bluemoon a laugh when I posted it, it's the best post I've ever made

"Peps going to arrive at City and not know about the premier league. I'm looking forward to his rude awakening.

First things first the quality of players. Excluding his own players two of the top three scorers in his league are Kalou and Hernandez. One couldn't get in our worst team in ages and another was a very average Chelsea player. They're the best players he plays against in Germany FFS. Welcome to the prem Pep, where every club has strikers at that level. Most have better FFS. It's all well and good defending against Kalou, our bottom half teams have Lukaku and Costa you mug.

Ok he thinks, I'll get some of my old players in. They were great for me. Not so fast Pep, not so fast at all. Players who have dominated the Bundesliga can't handle the prem. We sent Kagawa and Sahin packing. Players like Diouf and Firmino look average mate. We're a better quality over here.

Fine Pep thinks. I'll do what I always do. Who are the best players in the league? Bring them to me. I signed Dortmunds best players and ruined the league, let's get Martial, the kid is quality. How did we let Arsenal sign Sanchez?!?

Just let it sink in. His face when he isn't just signing anyone from the league. Our league is a competition Pep. Not a mockery. Our relegated teams have more money than most of your league, hands off mate.

Finally he think. I have my tactics! My previous philosophy. LVG would like a word. Each team in the prem is a challenge, you ain't getting 6-0s here every week mate. We know how to defend. We are fit, strong and we can counter.

Good luck Pep, everything you think you know will soon change. Hope you and Klopp have each other at least when you're crying by Christmas."
I wouldn't be that cocky about defending in the PL though. Burnley sure as hell didn't display a defending masterclass against City one matchday before.
 
Absolutely mental that they've spent 120m on Stones, Otamendi and Mangala, 140m if we include Bravo.
Replacing Hart with Bravo was probably the biggest - voluntary - decline in class in footballing history. Was so amazed when he signed for them, because i immediately knew he will cost them a lot of points this season :)
Otamendi another ridiculous transfer - just like Mangala was. They don't seem to detect Premier League fit defenders.
Stones in the end will be a great transfer for them..his cause it not helped this season by having helpless partners like Otamendi and Kolarov (whom i rate, but no in CB)
 
Claudio Bravo is very poor. I dont like criticising Pep given what hes achieved, but it was a poor decision to get rid of Hart. It could cost them dearly.
 
It's the only big league in which as many as 5 teams can win it & the only league in which mid table teams can buy and reject insane transfer bids, so yeah
The reason 5 teams can win it is because none of them are truly great, in the same way barcelona, real madrid, bayern or atletico are great. Need i remind you who are the defending premier league champions?

As for the money issue, it's true, but then you watch how that money is being spent and the argument collapses on itself

Then you can add in no winter break + the xmas season.

It's not "the best", but it is the toughest.
Now this is true. PL *is* the toughest from a purely physical pov. More games(two cups), no xmas break, almost every game played at breakneck pace. It's more grinding than any other. On the other hand: 2013-14 man city 86 points. Barcelona(the team that beat them soundly in the CL) 87 points.

And seriously, let's stop reading too much onto this game. City can't defend? Ignoring the final minutes in which they stopped defending altogether to try and score the equalizer, they conceded chelsea a grand total of 3 clear chances to score. They themselves created 7. That's not guardiola being exposed, that's his players letting him down.


PS Please, please, PLEASE stop making me defend that catalan cnut
 
City don't seem as good a 'team' as Chelsea right now. Pep has made some disasters so far with his signings. bravo is fecking abysmal. He's no better than Sunderland keeper Pickford. Stones is poor. If he wasn't English he'd be worth about 10m to 15m. Sane looks like he could come good. Gundogan decent. Rest meh.

Clichy on for sane was hilariously bad tactics. that baffled me. Costa is better than Aguero this year too. He's immense

Your football judgement is laughable. Bravo only won everything with Barça, and won 2 Copa Americas with Chile.

Go play some Fifa or FM, football is not your beach man!

Are you really thinking that you know more about tactics than Guardiola? Typical arrogant judgement by EPL fanboys!
 
Bravo only won everything with Barça, and won 2 Copa Americas with Chile.
He is still worse then Pickford. It's rather your judgement which is bad, when you think that titles say anything about how good a player is.
 
The reason 5 teams can win it is because none of them are truly great, in the same way barcelona, real madrid, bayern or atletico are great. Need i remind you who are the defending premier league champions?

As for the money issue, it's true, but then you watch how that money is being spent and the argument collapses on itself


Now this is true. PL *is* the toughest from a purely physical pov. More games(two cups), no xmas break, almost every game played at breakneck pace. It's more grinding than any other. On the other hand: 2013-14 man city 86 points. Barcelona(the team that beat them soundly in the CL) 87 points.

And seriously, let's stop reading too much onto this game. City can't defend? Ignoring the final minutes in which they stopped defending altogether to try and score the equalizer, they conceded chelsea a grand total of 3 clear chances to score. They themselves created 7. That's not guardiola being exposed, that's his players letting him down.


PS Please, please, PLEASE stop making me defend that catalan cnut
Finally someone who understands and knows how to talk about football. I cannot believe the level of ignorance that one can read in these forum.

Jesus they only know how to judge performances by results, even Conte said they were lucky, and lots of experts here saying that Guardiola is a fraud, and the EPL is the toughest league in the world.

Only physically, because at a tactical level they are on a Jurassic level, even if they spend 10 billion euros they will never play the best football, they have to hire all the foreign managers to teach them how to play.
 
He's also taken over a side nowhere near as good as that Barce who won the CL 2 seasons before and had a prime Messi breaking through alongside Henry, Etoo, Ronaldinho, Iniesta and Xavi. Reckon my nan could win the CL with that lot. And Bayern who'd just won the trebble.

City's defense is a problem, there midfield isn't the same level, their forwards near to Bayern maybe but nowhere near Barce. A much harder job.

What's more his solution to their defensive problems was spending 50 million on a poor defender who's good at passing and an average keeper who's good at. Absolutely mental that they've spent 120m on Stones, Otamendi and Mangala, 140m if we include Bravo.
They spend 20m on Bravo? :eek:
 
Finally someone who understands and knows how to talk about football. I cannot believe the level of ignorance that one can read in these forum.

Jesus they only know how to judge performances by results, even Conte said they were lucky, and lots of experts here saying that Guardiola is a fraud, and the EPL is the toughest league in the world.

Only physically, because at a tactical level they are on a Jurassic level, even if they spend 10 billion euros they will never play the best football, they have to hire all the foreign managers to teach them how to play.

Now here we have a true expert :lol:
Tactical at Jurassic level? :confused: yeah sure...PL is attracting the best managers in the world year after year, but amazingly they turn to "Jurassic level" as soon as they go to the PL, after being "world class" the years before.
Seems legit :cool:
 
Don't know how anybody can have a go at him. Yet the same people defend Mourinho.

De Bruyne doesn't miss a open goal then it is game over. Just like if our players don't miss chance after chance and we would be in the top four. Manager can only do so much.

He isn't responsible for the shocking defensive recruitment in the last four years. That's down to his pals.
 
Your football judgement is laughable. Bravo only won everything with Barça, and won 2 Copa Americas with Chile.

Go play some Fifa or FM, football is not your beach man!

Are you really thinking that you know more about tactics than Guardiola? Typical arrogant judgement by EPL fanboys!
Bravo is shit pal. I'm guessing you support barca?
 
Finally someone who understands and knows how to talk about football. I cannot believe the level of ignorance that one can read in these forum.

Jesus they only know how to judge performances by results, even Conte said they were lucky, and lots of experts here saying that Guardiola is a fraud, and the EPL is the toughest league in the world.

Only physically, because at a tactical level they are on a Jurassic level, even if they spend 10 billion euros they will never play the best football, they have to hire all the foreign managers to teach them how to play.
Are you ok buddy? Maybe you should tell whoever is forcing you to watch English football that you want to change the channel?
You'll feel a lot better.
 
He is still worse then Pickford. It's rather your judgement which is bad, when you think that titles say anything about how good a player is.
Ah Ah now you want to teach me how to judge a player?

I do not judge players based on results, of course Bravo was not the first choice for Guardiola, he did not want to stay with Hart because he does not play well withthe foot.

The problem is that Hart is not even top 5 in the Serie A, how can people here say that he is top level?
 
Ah Ah now you want to teach me how to judge a player?

I do not judge players based on results, of course Bravo was not the first choice for Guardiola, he did not want to stay with Hart because he does not play well withthe foot.

The problem is that Hart is not even top 5 in the Serie A, how can people here say that he is top level?
Joe Hart is better than bravo pal. don't even attempt to argue the point. man city fans even think bravo is shit lol
 
No one said guardiola is a fraud . I just don't think he's as good as people say. because sone people make out he's the best by a long way. ...he isnt
 
Don't know how anybody can have a go at him. Yet the same people defend Mourinho.

De Bruyne doesn't miss a open goal then it is game over. Just like if our players don't miss chance after chance and we would be in the top four. Manager can only do so much.

He isn't responsible for the shocking defensive recruitment in the last four years. That's down to his pals.
He had the opportunity to change personnel before joining. he chose stones for 40m or whatever and decided kolarov is a cb though. otamendi is bloody gash too
 
Don't know how anybody can have a go at him. Yet the same people defend Mourinho.

De Bruyne doesn't miss a open goal then it is game over. Just like if our players don't miss chance after chance and we would be in the top four. Manager can only do so much.

He isn't responsible for the shocking defensive recruitment in the last four years. That's down to his pals.

Who decided to let Hart go, buy Bravo.... and Stones?
 
Bravo is shit pal. I'm guessing you support barca?
No far from it, I am just saying that you probably only watched Bravo at the Premier League.

I watched him when he played for Sociedad, Barcelona and for Chile, and Joe Hart is shit compared to Bravo.
 
The problem is that Hart is not even top 5 in the Serie A, how can people here say that he is top level?
Nobody said he is top-level. Not even top 5 in Serie A is still better then Bravo: Not even Top15 level in the Prem
 
Are you ok buddy? Maybe you should tell whoever is forcing you to watch English football that you want to change the channel?
You'll feel a lot better.
Of course I am Ok, i have the right to stand by my opinion, and I will watch and say whatever I want and when I want, and if you do not like it keep going.
 
No far from it, I am just saying that you probably only watched Bravo at the Premier League.

I watched him when he played for Sociedad, Barcelona and for Chile, and Joe Hart is shit compared to Bravo.
He isn't though.
 
If I was pep Joe Hart would be coming back next summer.
Or I'd sling millions Milan way and bring in Donnarumma
 
Of course I am Ok, i have the right to stand by my opinion, and I will watch and say whatever I want and when I want, and if you do not like it keep going.
Just breathe buddy, nice deep breaths.
Not our fault Pep is getting shown up in England, physicality isn't really an excuse when its only turned December. That starts from the Christmas period and snowballs from there.
But hey! At least we have Pep the foreigner to teach us how to play football with his 4 wins in 13 or whatever it is.
Pep bless us all
 
Arsenal Chelsea Tottenham man utd Sunderland Southampton Leicester west Brom Liverpool Middlesbrough at least all have keepers better than bravo
 
I just seen in 6 game's v Chelsea pep has 0 wins 4 draws 2 losses.

Maybe he can't handle the jurassic tactics. diddums