'Pep' Guardiola sack watch

Can't blame Pep for this, too many players shit the bed tonight. Laporte, Ederson were a borderline disgrace. Walker and Dias really poor and KDB absolutely atrocious. One time he can't be blamed for overthinking, played the right players, made the right subs, his bunch of players just completely shat themselves. Of all the seasons this one is the one that's least on him.

And GREALISH!!
 
When you think he's had 6 years at City and 3 at Bayern, right after they'd just won the CL, and he's not won it and only made 1 final.

That's really poor.
 
So how much will he spend this summer? And how long before the owners realise he isn't the golden ticket they thought he was.
 
He didn't change tactics, he simply got outplayed, he only changed tactics when Madrid were missing chances for fun in the 2nd half.
City are miles better than this Madrid side imo and Pep is miles better than Carlo. If this were anything but a Cl semi final you would have easily won over 2 legs. I actually cant wrap my head around how you lost to this side tonight so everyone is to blame
 
And GREALISH!!

I don't blame Grealish he created more chances in his time on the pitch than the rest of our forwards put together. Jack has been super poor recently but compared to KDB, Foden and Sterling tonight (I'll give Mahrez a pass because he scored the goal) he was the best. Bernardo Silva is our only attacking player who deserves more than a 4 or 5 for today. Grealish will carry the can though because of Mendy's clearance but Sterling and KDB in particular were absolutely horrid 2 or 3 /10 level performances.
 
Thats more than a manager thing in my opinion, its a Real Madrid thing in the CL, like Liverpool at Anfield. Its a club thing, a history thing and dare I say a support thing. Had we Liverpool/Real like support in the 1st leg this is a dead rubber. But we don't theres a nervousness and tension about the club that has ran across 3 managers in the CL.
Your clubs form is funny in the CL - so gradual, so slow. I remember you guys having a hard time getting out of the group stage. And you do have a habit of finding a way to go out against any decent team you face - Monaco and Lyon. You have improved though. Last 2 seasons are too close to really criticise. Coming up against this Real side was always going to be a struggle.
I cant see you winning it unless you face some weird draw that puts you against Porto in the final or something though. And you'd probably turn it into way closer a match than it should be. Maybe if you got a specialist cup manager like Ancelotti or something. Guardiola doesn't look too strong with cups even if tonight wasn't his fault
 
When you think he's had 6 years at City and 3 at Bayern, right after they'd just won the CL, and he's not won it and only made 1 final.

That's really poor.
It's definitely worth saying and I don't think it's petty or a minor issue: to go a season without a trophy with his club's resources is almost unthinkable and I think those old questions are still relevant to ask if he messes up the league. He's the best manager in the world according to a lot of people, has ridiculous talent at his disposal and yet... he's being outshone by Klopp.

4 games, 4 wins will win them the league.They have nothing else to play for and they should be fired up once the disappointment of tonight subsides.
 
Some bottle job tonight. Pep choosing not to close the game out better in normal time and his strange choice of subs made certainly played a part. Trying to be too clever for his own good, 2011 with a star studded Barcelona his last success in the CL.

Now the next question is can he pick his side up for the weekend against a Newcastle side whom are well capable of getting a result this weekend. One slip up in the remaining league games and Liverpool will win the league title.
 
City are miles better than this Madrid side imo and Pep is miles better than Carlo. If this were anything but a Cl semi final you would have easily won over 2 legs. I actually cant wrap my head around how you lost to this side tonight so everyone is to blame

Thats what we do, we're City after all. We managed to get relegated from miscounting points vs Liverpool, messed up our CL group because Pelligrini doesn't understand goal difference. We have a magic way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Pep of course has questions to answer about the teams mentality but I don't think he put a foot wrong tactically, sometimes the other guys were just better and wanted it more or didn't shit the bed.

Never underestimate the club who did this... to get relegated. Can't stress over today really when you've seen shit like this
“We needed a third, but with a few minutes remaining, we got an instruction from the bench to hold the ball in the corner and waste time as they’d heard Wimbledon had taken the lead at Southampton
Lomas, skipper at the time, remembered: "Alan Ball called me over and said: 'We're up, kill this game off, just do whatever you can.'
Of course, the players took that info as being gospel and, with the clock ticking into the last five minutes, acted accordingly.

“Lomas and I both headed towards the corner of the pitch over the next few moments trying to run the clock down,” said Rosler. “That’s when Quinny raced from the physio room and up the touchline and yelled at us that we needed another goal, but we’d already wasted a few valuable moments.”
Quinn recalled: "I had gone off after about an hour and was watching it on TV, so I knew what the situation was. I had to run up the tunnel and get the message on that we needed another."

The City fans wondered if they were missing out on something as Lomas kept the ball by the corner flag wasting precious minutes against a Liverpool defence who weren’t that bothered about getting the ball back.
 
Your clubs form is funny in the CL - so gradual, so slow. I remember you guys having a hard time getting out of the group stage. And you do have a habit of finding a way to go out against any decent team you face - Monaco and Lyon. You have improved though. Last 2 seasons are too close to really criticise. Coming up against this Real side was always going to be a struggle.
I cant see you winning it unless you face some weird draw that puts you against Porto in the final or something though. And you'd probably turn it into way closer a match than it should be. Maybe if you got a specialist cup manager like Ancelotti or something. Guardiola doesn't look too strong with cups even if tonight wasn't his fault

Yeah honestly we're gonna need a draw like Liverpool had this season where we only need the 1 big game to finally get it done if I'm honest. Until we finally get the monkey off the back its gonna always be a combination of City being City and fear. I don't think supporter apathy towards the CL helps either (or fake apathy really) and all the negativity about it.
 
He builds some of the best teams, he doesn't just have them....but at City he's had children playing. There's no leadership or character in the City team, it's all Pep. It's amazing how well they do tbh. Maybe should've done better with Bayern, but can't fault his time at City.
Children? The starting eleven tonight are 28, 31, 27, 27, 25, 27, 30, 31, 21, 25. The subs that came on are 25, 26, 27, 31 and 37.

If in a group of players of those ages, you don't have any "leaders" or "characters" (which I disagree with btw) after spending over £950m rebuilding a squad that was already the most expensive in the world then that sounds like a managerial failure rather than one that the players are at fault for.
 
He builds some of the best teams, he doesn't just have them....but at City he's had children playing. There's no leadership or character in the City team, it's all Pep. It's amazing how well they do tbh. Maybe should've done better with Bayern, but can't fault his time at City.
:lol:

Amazing the excuses that are made for him. City have been built to give him everything, there's no excuses for him.
 
Thats what we do, we're City after all. We managed to get relegated from miscounting points vs Liverpool, messed up our CL group because Pelligrini doesn't understand goal difference. We have a magic way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Pep of course has questions to answer about the teams mentality but I don't think he put a foot wrong tactically, sometimes the other guys were just better and wanted it more or didn't shit the bed.

Never underestimate the club who did this... to get relegated. Can't stress over today really when you've seen shit like this
“We needed a third, but with a few minutes remaining, we got an instruction from the bench to hold the ball in the corner and waste time as they’d heard Wimbledon had taken the lead at Southampton
Lomas, skipper at the time, remembered: "Alan Ball called me over and said: 'We're up, kill this game off, just do whatever you can.'
Of course, the players took that info as being gospel and, with the clock ticking into the last five minutes, acted accordingly.

“Lomas and I both headed towards the corner of the pitch over the next few moments trying to run the clock down,” said Rosler. “That’s when Quinny raced from the physio room and up the touchline and yelled at us that we needed another goal, but we’d already wasted a few valuable moments.”
Quinn recalled: "I had gone off after about an hour and was watching it on TV, so I knew what the situation was. I had to run up the tunnel and get the message on that we needed another."

The City fans wondered if they were missing out on something as Lomas kept the ball by the corner flag wasting precious minutes against a Liverpool defence who weren’t that bothered about getting the ball back.

Ah come on now.

You can't keep hiding behind the aw shucks we're just lickle old City and we're just glad to be here routine.

You've been the richest club in the world for what? 14 years?

Had 11 consecutive years in the CL, had Guardiola for 6 of those.

It's pretty insane you're still yet to win it, and with only one final too.
 
Ah come on now.

You can't keep hiding behind the aw shucks we're just lickle old City and we're just glad to be here routine.

You've been the richest club in the world for what? 14 years?

Had 11 consecutive years in the CL, had Guardiola for 6 of those.

It's pretty insane you're still yet to win it, and with only one final too.

I'm not hiding behind anything, I'm just not flustered. We played a game they won, we lost. They were the better team on the day. It happens. If I was pissed or angry I wouldn't come on here after. Disappointed, absolutely but it's football. We've been here before and likely will be again. I was more saying the manner in which City snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is nothing new.
 
They are like robots. Mostly they take the lead, control the game, know exactly what to do, win the game.
But once things slightly go wrong for them, they don’t know what to do. Like they don’t even register they are a goal down and time is running out. No urgency, no ideas, no heart.
 
He didn't change tactics, he simply got outplayed, he only changed tactics when Madrid were missing chances for fun in the 2nd half.
I mean he instructed them to play out a dead game right from the start. He did the same against Atletico in the 2nd leg. He doesn't need to do that IMO. Maybe it wouldn't make a difference but he approached the game totally differently in the 2nd leg. Every coach does it of course, but the vast majority aren't capable of just outplaying every single team in every stadium and dominating the ball like his side's tend to. It just feels like he's overthinking it and doesn't trust his team to execute the same way in those moments.
 
I don’t think it’s down to Pep this time. He didn’t overthink it.
Didn't overthink it in lineup but the instructions were clearly defensive which is what they almost never do (and shouldn't have done clearly).
 
When they finally win it, it will be a bit like doing the crossbar challenge, smacking footballs endlessly then by law of averages, eventually hitting the crossbar. Its the most blatant attempt to aim absolutely everything at winning this single trophy and they keep messing it up. Remarkable. Look at some of the sides who've won it since they started financially doping
 
Any excuses for him in CL is pathetic. He has been given all. No other manager has that luxury. There was also zero pressure on him, that his head is on the line at any moment, and he knows that he is safe for his job.


A lot of the players he like/buys are just mental midgets and always managed to bottle it at the most important matches.


Look how many clear chances they have missed over the 2 matches. And how open his side play after they got big lead in both matches.


Long time ago he should have build the team around leaders and mentally strong players, as well as quality real striker in the front.


Yeah he is great in the PL, but he literally have unlimited budget and can do everything he wants. Yeah he is top manager, but he also has the luxury to have 2x first team players, as well as at the very least 2x the budget compare to any team in the league.
 
I'm not hiding behind anything, I'm just not flustered. We played a game they won, we lost. They were the better team on the day. It happens. If I was pissed or angry I wouldn't come on here after. Disappointed, absolutely but it's football. Been here before and likely will be again.

No you're taking it on the chin and you're a good poster.

But in general there's loads of city fans I know who still think of themselves as little old city and big underdogs and all that. I wonder if it plays into why you've still not won it, there's a sense of nervousness and panic on big European nights. You definitely should have won it by now with the teams and manager you have.
 
I mean he instructed them to play out a dead game right from the start. He did the same against Atletico in the 2nd leg. He doesn't need to do that IMO. Maybe it wouldn't make a difference but he approached the game totally differently in the 2nd leg. Every coach does it of course, but the vast majority aren't capable of just outplaying every single team in every stadium and dominating the ball like his side's tend to. It just feels like he's overthinking it and doesn't trust his team to execute the same way in those moments.

I don't think he did, this happens time and time again when teams press right up on City, you just don't see it too often. Ancelotti simply had the better gameplan today a full Bernabeau on his back and a club with more steel/winning experience.
 
Didn't overthink it in lineup but the instructions were clearly defensive which is what they almost never do (and shouldn't have done clearly).
It still was working to be fair and if Ederson had come to grab the ball, City would have won 5-3 on aggregate. They looked extremely comfortable even after the subs they made but one moment just changed everything. It is true though that City don't seem to respond well to adversity and you'd never really expect them to do well in games where they're losing.
 
I don’t think it’s down to Pep this time. He didn’t overthink it.

What I thought, I don't know what you even say about that. Real Madrid are just incredible and defies all logic. They did almost everything right for 180 minutes. It makes you reconsider a lot of what you believe about football. Why try to dominate games when teams can just take it away in a moment.
 
No you're taking it on the chin and you're a good poster.

But in general there's loads of city fans I know who still think of themselves as little old city and big underdogs and all that. I wonder if it plays into why you've still not won it, there's a sense of nervousness and panic on big European nights. You definitely should have won it by now with the teams and manager you have.

I think and I'll probably get shit for this off other City fans, outside of Pep and co. theres a huge vibe of imposter syndrome around the club in Europe, I do think it permeates from our supporters fake apathy ("We hate Uefa", "we don't want it anyway") etc.. The whole "We hate Uefa" thing needs to be let go and the support need to embrace the competition.
 
He must be absolutely gutted.i do believe he'll win it with City simply because he'll be given what he needs in the summer or the summer after and he'll be heralded as the second coming.
What amazes me is the free ride he's given by the media City's PR machine really is exceptional.
 
For all his genius I can't help but feel a nervousness around Pep in these big games that has to be noticeable for his teams too (same with Tuchel).
 
I think and I'll probably get shit for this off other City fans, outside of Pep and co. theres a huge vibe of imposter syndrome around the club in Europe, I do think it permeates from our supporters fake apathy ("We hate Uefa", "we don't want it anyway") etc.. The whole "We hate Uefa" thing needs to be let go and the support need to embrace the competition.

The thing is though Real Madrid are the top proponents of the Super League to break up this whole competition even though they absolutely live for these few matches every year.
 
Give him another 2 billion to spend, maybe this time he'll win it
 
Subbing in Grealish is on the coach
He was a c*nthair away from getting us the 2nd goal, twice, completely on his own out of nothing. Before our goal we went 70 minutes playing nervously not looking like scoring. If anyone watches that game thinking Grealish was the problem they are blinded by an agenda