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

Are you serious? Unproven? He won 14 trophies in his first 4 years alone in management and he didn't exactly take over a Barcelona team that was sweeping all before them, they were in turmoil. If Pep is unproven then who in Gods name is proven?

Yes I'm totally serious. He was in a unique position at Barca - everything is in place for you to do well at that club. You can't completely credit Pep with Barcas success and I don't think he had to display any great managerial genius to win with them. And at Bayern he only achieved what is expected of Bayern really didn't he? I wouldn't say he over achieved there.

Who in Gods name is proven? Sir Alex Ferguson proved himself to be a great manager. He didn't walk into a mega club he created one. Mourinho is proven he has been a success in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain. He has actually constructed teams. What he done with Porto alone eclipses Peps achievement as a manager in my eyes.

EDIT: give me prime Messi, Iniesta and Xavi etc. and I'd probably look a good manager!
 
You just looked at wikipedia and conpletely ignored the circumstances. Pep took over barcelona when the spine of the team had just won the Euros, and had one of the greatest generations in history wither entering or in the middle of their prime, including the 3rd greatest player of all time. The year before they were a mess, with a manager that had lost the plot and the locker room, and a locker room in shambles. Incidentally, that same stuff happened to real madrid that season, too.

And they were two years removed from a CL double.
 
You just looked at wikipedia and conpletely ignored the circumstances. Pep took over barcelona when the spine of the team had just won the Euros, and had one of the greatest generations in history wither entering or in the middle of their prime, including the 3rd greatest player of all time. The year before they were a mess, with a manager that had lost the plot and the locker room, and a locker room in shambles. Incidentally, that same stuff happened to real madrid that season, too.
What circumstances? Pep was the manager of probably the greatest club side we have seen in our generation. That is indisputable. Whether or not you believe anyone else could have achieved the same with that side is irrelevant.
 
Shades of LVG. A manager that has only ever known what it's like to have the best players in the league. It's unbelievable how sure some people were that he'd succeed at City and dominate this league. Clearly this was like nothing he's ever done before, no Messi to bail him out and no piss easy league like in Germany.
 
Wonder what excuses his fanboys that were shamelessly defending him with tears in their eyes have to say this week.
 
Let's see if Pep gets questioned like Mourinho did, eh? City have had a lot of sub-par performances this season, which have been more or less totally ignored. Its mostly Pep's fault too. Cladio Bravo is an awful goalie. Pep's choice. Stones? If not Pep's choice, the choice of his bestie Txiki. Soriano and Txiki were brought in years ago specially to build a squad for Pep. This is the result? United get hammered for splashing the cash without a plan. People seem to forget City spent more than us in the summer, supposedly according to some long-term identity building blueprint. Where's the scrutiny?
 
Yes I'm totally serious. He was in a unique position at Barca - everything is in place for you to do well at that club. You can't completely credit Pep with Barcas success and I don't think he had to display any great managerial genius to win with them. And at Bayern he only achieved what is expected of Bayern really didn't he? I wouldn't say he over achieved there.

Who in Gods name is proven? Sir Alex Ferguson proved himself to be a great manager. He didn't walk into a mega club he created one. Mourinho is proven he has been a success in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain. He has actually constructed teams. What he done with Porto alone eclipses Peps achievement as a manager in my eyes.

EDIT: give me prime Messi, Iniesta and Xavi etc. and I'd probably look a good manager!
Agree totally on that point.

Disagree on the point about the players he had under Barcelona making him look good, I'd be more on the side that he got them playing in such a way that complimented every player they had whilst maximising the effectiveness of Messi. Best club side we will see probably.
At Bayern of course you are expected to win the league but 3 titles in a row is not to be scoffed at whilst breaking one or two German League records which had lasted for decades or more. I think he's a superb football manager and his first few months in the premier league won't define him for me, I expect him to find a way to win the league during his time at City.
 
Let's see if Pep gets questioned like Mourinho did, eh? City have had a lot of sub-par performances this season, which have been more or less totally ignored. Its mostly Pep's fault too. Cladio Bravo is an awful goalie. Pep's choice. Stones? If not Pep's choice, the choice of his bestie Txiki. Soriano and Txiki were brought in years ago specially to build a squad for Pep. This is the result? United get hammered for splashing the cash without a plan. People seem to forget City spent more than us in the summer, supposedly according to some long-term identity building blueprint. Where's the scrutiny?
He managed the great Barca team (which he inherited) and the world's press think he can do no wrong..... conveniently ignoring what his Barca predecessors did in building that team and that despite Bayern having tons of cash/control/dominance, he couldn't win the CL.

Think he's a very good manager don't get me wrong but a lot of rose-tinted glasses about.
 
Let's see if Pep gets questioned like Mourinho did, eh? City have had a lot of sub-par performances this season, which have been more or less totally ignored. Its mostly Pep's fault too. Cladio Bravo is an awful goalie. Pep's choice. Stones? If not Pep's choice, the choice of his bestie Txiki. Soriano and Txiki were brought in years ago specially to build a squad for Pep. This is the result? United get hammered for splashing the cash without a plan. People seem to forget City spent more than us in the summer, supposedly according to some long-term identity building blueprint. Where's the scrutiny?
I think the players you mentioned were brought in to implement the style he clearly prefers and wants to use no matter the situation. So I can understand why he bought them but his problem now is that Peps style is being found out in this league so the players mentioned particularly Bravo are worthless really.
 
What circumstances? Pep was the manager of probably the greatest club side we have seen in our generation. That is indisputable. Whether or not you believe anyone else could have achieved the same with that side is irrelevant.
How? Luis Enrique has won 8 trophies in less than 2 and 1/2 seasons with barcelona. So far, he's actually done better than guardiola in the same time frame. And he's been doing it in a stronger league, against a better real madrid side and with atletico on top of it. Guess he's better than guardiola uh?
 
Wonder what excuses his fanboys that were shamelessly defending him with tears in their eyes have to say this week.

The feckers were posting up vids of Tracy Chapman - Revolution at one point.

And no, I am not joking. I truly wish I was though.
 
Nah, we've seen in in two competitive leagues. It's just both times his teams had like 11 of the 30 best players in the world. This time, he doesn't
if he had all the best players then it wasn't competitive was it?! But yeah get your point. He may be as good as everyone makes out but at the moment he's not showing it.
 
Yes I'm totally serious. He was in a unique position at Barca - everything is in place for you to do well at that club. You can't completely credit Pep with Barcas success and I don't think he had to display any great managerial genius to win with them. And at Bayern he only achieved what is expected of Bayern really didn't he? I wouldn't say he over achieved there.

Who in Gods name is proven? Sir Alex Ferguson proved himself to be a great manager. He didn't walk into a mega club he created one. Mourinho is proven he has been a success in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain. He has actually constructed teams. What he done with Porto alone eclipses Peps achievement as a manager in my eyes.

EDIT: give me prime Messi, Iniesta and Xavi etc. and I'd probably look a good manager!
Completely agree with this.
 
How? Luis Enrique has won 8 trophies in less than 2 and 1/2 seasons with barcelona. So far, he's actually done better than guardiola in the same time frame. And he's been doing it in a stronger league, against a better real madrid side and with atletico on top of it. Guess he's better than guardiola uh?
Your comment earlier about "ignoring circumstances" would also apply here would it not? Considering Enrique inherited mainstays of Peps team whilst arriving on the back of a season in turmoil due to conflict in the changing room, particularly between the big players and Tata Martino. The irony is strong.
 
if he had all the best players then it wasn't competitive was it?! But yeah get your point. He may be as good as everyone makes out but at the moment he's not showing it.
He gets a free ride for playing Navas and Stones but Jose gets slaughtered ( rightly) for bringing on Fellaini
 
We really really need to start picking up results while the teams above us are slipping up.

I don't think city are going to win anything this year. They are far too inconsistent and beatable if you get at them. It just goes to show that no amount of money instantly correlates into success and it takes time for a manager to make any lasting difference. On paper they have a top squad and manager and should be doing much better.... They looked really great against Barca a month ago... the wheels have come off since then it seems.
Will the press start hounding pep now? I hope so.

I don't think what he did with Barca was anything special apart from the fact they were insanely successful. Messi and inesta were destroying teams all by themselves. He clearly couldn't sort out their defense either, he didn't have to because they were nearly always on the front foot but their defense without Messi would have been found out an awful lot more I think.

This is by far his toughest gig and he still has unlimited resources at one of the top clubs. If he's as good as people let on he is he will make the difference and they will win the league while playing great attacking intelligent football and seriously challenge for the CL year after year. I'm not so sure that will happen with this team in this league. I hope I'm right about that!
 
Your comment earlier about "ignoring circumstances" would also apply here would it not? Considering Enrique inherited mainstays of Peps team whilst arriving on the back of a season in turmoil due to conflict in the changing room, particularly between the big players and Tata Martino. The irony is strong.
:lol::lol::lol::lol:

Whooooooosh
 
People in this thread need to calm down. It's been just a few months. He should be judged after two seasons, like all other new managers.
 
People in this thread need to calm down. It's been just a few months. He should be judged after two seasons, like all other new managers.

He mightn't be their manager at the end of the season.
 
If we were playing well, he would have be under immense pressure.
 
People in this thread need to calm down. It's been just a few months. He should be judged after two seasons, like all other new managers.

Not really. Especially when he is likely to only stay 3 years. He was always supposed to be an immediate short term success option, not a long term building job. So it's fine to judge him straight away.
 
Not really. Especially when he is likely to only stay 3 years. He was always supposed to be an immediate short term success option, not a long term building job. So it's fine to judge him straight away.

How do you know all this?
 
They looked really great against Barca a month ago...
In the second half, and i think that was down to barcelona not coming out of the locker room than with city being really good(which they were). They were getting played out of the park on the first half.

He clearly couldn't sort out their defense either, he didn't have to because they were nearly always on the front foot but their defense without Messi would have been found out an awful lot more I think.
Actually he did. It's the whole point of his football, if i have the ball 70% of the time and my players are always in the right position to win it back, the only way my opponents can create chances is either through an individual mistake by one of my players, or by a truly great offensive play. Their defence was consistently among the best in the world in terms of goals conceded. Same thing happened with Spain NT. It was down to the Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta trio rather than Messi
 
That interview was painful.

He said there was nothing wrong with the tactics

He then said there was nothing wrong with the players/Selection

And finally he said they defended well...