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Sideshow Bob

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Thread for discussions on Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in 2017/18.
 
Premier League: Brighton 0-2 Manchester City - 12th August 2017

Played 1
Wins 1
Draws 0
Defeats 0
 
Massive pep rant!

I just dont get the "pep" hype that every pundit on TV and in the media comes out with. His not adapted his style to suit the prem. His come in with his 2 at the back we will roll over the smaller teams attitude and its not working. He hasn't got a plan B when things go wrong. He wont sacrifice his philosophy to throw a long ball in the box to nick a goal and its telling now. Last night massive credit to that young (almost all English team) Koeman put out, who worked hard, defended for their lives and almost nicked all 3 points. Brighton stuck at it for 70 mins the week before. It's what the premier league is all about. You have to adapt to find a way to win. It can't always be pretty. Yet some people still moan that United were only 1 nil up against Swansea after 80 mins. find that crazy.

He was at Barca at the perfect time in their history. He was so lucky to be around that era of special players. How many of those 3 la liga titles or 2 champions leagues they won are really down to him? Honestly his a mooch.

Bayern the treble winners, sacked Jupp Heynckes for the 'best manager in the world'. He Didn't make it past the semis losing to Atletico, battered 5-0 by real, and iconically losing to Barca as well. Hardy missing him were they? When they won a treble of their own without him.

His tactics in this league are just weird. Remember when he played Sagna as a 10 last season? Last night his encouraging Otamendi to shoot from 25 yards! Aguero looks a shadow of his world class self. It's so poor.

After spending £192 million last season and £220 million so far this season, honestly how can City look so bad?
 
Wayward finishing isn't helping though. How many chances did they have last night?
 
Should have kept Iheanacho. I'll add it to the list of errors the mooch has made.
 
Let's judge him after 38 not 2 games, I've only seen them play about 30 mins vs Brighton this season and they ripped them apart at times but they didn't get the breakthrough which came later on.

I'm not 100% convinced by him but I do like that he loads up his team to attack unlike the last Barca/Ajax philosophy guy Van Gaal who did the opposite and refused to adapt his tactics or style.

Premier League is a bit different because there's no definitive English style as we have so many foreign managers you come up against all sorts through the season. Some bad teams try to play football, some good teams like to go direct you have to be able to adapt to the opposition almost game by game. Every team who've won this league has been a football team and a fighting team you just wonder can Pep's teams nick the points in games where it's a fight.
 
He had 38 games last season. Im not that harsh to slag him after 2 matches. It's his whole time at City.

It's just interesting how he can 'rip' Brigton up for 70 mins against but not score. But get praised for his attacking intentions. Whereas Jose gets moaned at for being 1 nil against Swansea or failing to beat teams at home last season in matches we absolutely dominated. Everyone's too obsessed with Pep. With his teams achievements of old.

I disagree. I do think that the English game has a style. The Leicester city 4-4-2 worked absolute wondereds for them in their title winning season. As well as being a foundation for success throughout the 90s and 00's. Everyone's been guilty of moving away from that formation in order to follow European styles and models.

If look across Europe now that Barca tika taka thing is dead. And It's all Pep knows. That's the problem. The Italian 3-5-2 is flavour of the month and English teams can get to grips with that as it means leaving 2 up top. It's something we are used to over here. Ok You lose wingers but no one is a natural wide player anymore. Everyone wants to come inside and be a second striker. There's more defending and more discipline in the game and they are factors that work against the style Pep knows and loves. That's why I think he will struggle over here. It's a clash of styles and from what I've seen of him last season and this one so far, he isn't prepared to adapted and change that philosophy his build his career on.
 
3-5-2 will be dead by the end of this season. Mourinho gave the blue print to kill it last year
 
Cheers to Pep. Keep up the good work. I'm over the main stream media bias analysis. The longer it takes them to find some kind of consistency, the better.
 
City's summer: Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Danilo, Douglas Luiz, Larry Kayode.
 
Feels like they've sorted the full backs and they've tried with the keeper but centre back is still a huge problem.
 
Premier League: Manchester City 5-0 Liverpool - 9th September 2017

Played 4
Wins 3
Draws 1
Defeats 0
 
Mendy very impressive today but De Bruyne ran the show really shouldn't have taken him out of my fantasy team.
 
When he plays like that you can't stop him. On his game he's the best attacking midfielder in the league. Up there with the worlds best
 
He was given way to much space by Liverpool and they paid the price.
 
Premier League: Watford 0-6 Manchester City - 16th September 2017

Played 5
Won 4
Drawn 1
Lost 0
Points 13

15 goals in 1 week!
 
Premier League: Manchester City 5-0 Crystal Palace - 23rd September 2017

Played 6
Won 5
Drawn 1
Lost 0
Points 16
 
Premier League: Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City - 30th September 2017

Played 7
Won 6
Drawn 1
Lost 0
Points 19
 
Fantastic tactics from City and Pep as much as it pains me to say. They've got 1 striker in Jesus against 3 centre halves of Chelsea. But all the support players interact, rotate and fill in for each other from all angles. Every player has got 2/3/4 different players to pass to when they receive the ball it's scary.

It's arrogant of me to say it but I honestly believe the only team that will stop them is us. Jose has played against Peps sides so many times he knows what they are going to do. If he can nullify them and when try win it on a set piece I think it's the best option. You can't go toe to toe with a side like that. It's was an unreal performance from them today.
 
Premier League: Manchester City 7-2 Stoke City - 14th October 2017

Played 8
Won 7
Drawn 1
Lost 0
Points 22
 
Hard to see past them this season, they are different class and De Bruyne is looking amazing, some of the things he’s been doing the last few weeks has been genius.

Still think Guardiola is a total idiot, the way he called Spurs the ‘Harry Kane team’ was so disrespectful. He’s doing great this season but not a pleasant person for me.
 
Premier League: West Browmich Albion 2-3 Manchester City - 28th October 2017

Played 10
Won 9
Drawn 1
Lost 0
Points 28
 
City have won nine consecutive league matches, a club record for a single season.
 
They look pretty unstoppable at the moment. Teams in the past you could say, oh if we stop him then we’ve got a chance. However with City, if you nullify De Bruyne you still have David Silva or Sane pulling the strings, then they can afford to leave one of Aguero or Jesus on the bench, plus Bernardo Silva. They’re even making Delph look good at left back! They will have a bump in the road for sure like all teams do but they could be so far ahead of everyone else by that point that it may not even matter.

I detest the club and particularly Guardiola but credit where credits due, they are looking awesome.
 
They put a plan together and they stuck to it they signed the players to attract the manager and now with him on board they've got a fantastic selection of players for him to work with and it seems that now they've solved the defensive problem that was the Achilles heel last season that they are pretty much unstoppable.

I'm sure they'll have an off day here and there and teams will take some points off them but they look miles ahead of everyone at the moment they've played everyone off the park and the movement is incredible as soon as they pass the ball they're already moving to offer to take it back and everyone is so comfortable of the ball. They've got so much speed in attack that if you go 1 behind it's pretty much curtains as you'll leave gaps that their midfield will just pick off.

They stopped being City in 2008 when they got all that money, they hit the football lottery and to be fair they've built a 2nd generation of their side and it looks like it'll be even better than the original. One vital thing they've done this time is they've signed young, hungry players who seem fully focused on becoming a great side and winning trophies they've avoided spunking money on big names this time and getting attracted by the glitz and glamour of big names.

The thing that scares me is Messi still hasn't signed that new contract at Barca I just pray that he sees life in Paris as more attractive than Manchester.
 
Premier League: Leicester City 0-2 Manchester City - 18th November 2017

Played 12
Won 11
Drawn 1
Lost 0
Points 34
Goals For 40
Goals Against 7
 
Scary stats when you see them written down.

They are really looking like they’ve built their 2nd great side at City and Pep has got them playing great stuff looks like he’s finally got his head around the league but the biggest challenge is coming now which is the Xmas calendar.

When Europe has their feet up the English sides are playing 2 games a week for 2 months it’s a killer and if you don’t know how to use your squad you’ll kill your team for the run in.
 
They are irresistible at the moment but I don’t like to give them too much respect. I’m not saying this as a pure United fan but as a football fan in general - teams like City and PSG are artificial because of their rich owners coming in and splashing the cash. Obviously that’s the way of the world now but clubs like them won’t receive much praise from me.

I do appreciate what they are doing but they need to do a lot more to be considered the second coming of the messiah, like they are being branded in the media.
 
I think you can look at our spending and see money doesn’t just buy success. They’ve gone out and used that money wisely. A lot of young guys full of potential and Pep has them playing great football.

It’s 16 wins in a row in all competitions now. An English record.
 
They’ve been building that team for 3 seasons in one way to attract Pep they purposely targeted players he liked like De Bruyne, almost an if you build it they will come attitude.

You say money doesn’t buy success but Utd have won 3 trophies in the last 2 seasons but even we haven’t matched City in the transfer market.

This summer they signed Silva a guy they didn’t really need just in case they did need him and also tried to get Sanchez at the last minute just to have another weapon the attacking depth is ridiculous.

They do have some weaknesses LB, DM and CB they are short and Stones being out for 6 weeks might be a problem as Kompany is not the player he was 5 years ago but it almost feels like even if you get 2 it won’t matter as they’ll score 3 or 4 in most games.

That said trophies aren’t won in November and last season they started brilliantly and ended up with nothing but this season it doesn’t feel like history will repeat itself. That self destruct button they used to have seems to have gone which is bad news for the rest of us.
 
When you spend over a billion pounds in transfers over the last 5 years then you should be doing as well as City are doing. For every duff transfer they’ve had you get 2 or 3 awesome signings. They spent £30m on Mangala, it didn’t work, so they go spend £40m on Otamendi to rectify that mistake. If you throw enough crap at the fan then eventually it will stick.

Like you say jsp no titles are won in November but their depth is amazing. Just look at the bench of Aguero, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Toure at the weekend and you see they are potentially unbeatable.
 
I think the best thing they did last summer was cleared the average players out. Hart, Cabellero, Nasri, Sagna, Zabaletta, Fernando, Navas, Bony, Clichy etc all went and some of these guys were good servants others were expensive flops, they even sold a good youngster in Iheanacho because they'd upgraded him with Jesus.

It meant Pep didn't need to mess about trying to keep guys happy to maintain squad harmony they were ruthless and most of them left on a free those who wouldn't go went on loan.

They even tried to get Evans so they could send Mangala on loan but it didn't happen so they were forced to keep him I think the only guy who left that Pep wanted to keep was Kolarov but he wanted to go back to Italy and he didn't want to be a squad player. There's talk that they'll try and sign Bertrand or Van Aanholt in January because they need a left back with Mendy out for the season.

I think at the start of the season there were 4 first team players that they couldn't really replace with quality if they got injured Ederson, Stones, Mendy & Fernandinho. I think that's still the case but for the other 7 spots they've got at least 2 options.
 
Premier League: Manchester City v West Ham United - 3rd December 2017

So who’s in the ‘when will City make it 2-1?’ sweepstake. Gonna go 88 minutes... :p
 
Keeping my biased hat on. The Only way to stop city is to defend well and counter equally as well. The only team that can do both at the minute is us. The only guy who’s got a history of doing it against Pep is Jose. No point scoring a goal and sitting back for a half because all the stars for city are aligned at the moment and they will score. Easy to say but hard to do I know. But watching them lately just feel like that their defence will give us chances and the mood we are in at minute we will punish them.
 
I disagree. I think you’ve got to get at that defence. Sit back they’re gonna find a way through.
 
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