Pep Guardiola's adventures in Manchester City

Fraud IMO.

He let me down, will put my full support behind Antonio Owens now.

Pep La Liga already celebrated as the champion

CM Prem >

Fraud

When exactly was it that he switched to that 3-4-3?

Is it actually the case (because that's how it feels like) that their poor run of results is directly corresponding to the switch from 4-1-4-1 to 3-4-3?

Why the hell did he do it in the first place?

the prem lge is proving to be a bit more competitive than any thing pep is used to.

Hapless_Hans wrote:When exactly was it that he switched to that 3-4-3?

Is it actually the case (because that's how it feels like) that their poor run of results is directly corresponding to the switch from 4-1-4-1 to 3-4-3?

Why the hell did he do it in the first place?

According to WhoScored, they've used three at the back four times in the league and have yet to win a game using it.

Also acc. to WhoScored, they started using it against Everton, a week after they lost to Spurs.

IIRC, a big problem City had in the Spurs game was playing out from the back and getting around Spurs' pressure (and they had trouble with that against Celtic just days before). It could be that Pep thought the additional centre back would help solve that problem, given that individually City don't have great ball players back there. But when they used it against Everton and Southampton, they drew both games.

They switched to a back four for WBA away and won 4-0. Then they beat Barca 3-1. Then he used the back three again vs Chelsea, probably to make it easier to press Chelsea's own 3-4-3, but it backfired in the end (although they made a number of clean opportunities to win the game).

So it could well be that City's discomfort playing in a back three, especially one that lacks traditional wing backs, is responsible for their erratic form this season. It may have helped with one problem but created another one - that is, a weaker defensive structure and less protection for error prone defenders. 4-2-3-1 is a much more familiar formation for them.

If he plays Clichy and Kolarov at CB then this result should not be suprising to anybody

The Prem is competitive because the top dogs of the leauge are as disorganized as the fodder of the leauge.

And he has Arsenal and Pool to play still. Keep piling on that pressure you homies. And let us strip this fraud pos to his bare butt.
The cnut thought he could just waltz past teams in this league as well. The sheer smugness in his behavior and attitude is unbelievable. And yet people hate Mourinho more. IMO this guy is ten times more vile and despicable.

He will come good. Just another £300m and he will come good. The genius will be there for all to see.

He just needs to sign Messi

3 wins in 15 games

halamadrid2 wrote:3 wins in 15 games

is that really what it is ffs

Firenze wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:3 wins in 15 games

is that really what it is ffs

no

Technicalities smh. 4 wins and they came against West Brom, Crystal Palace, Burnley and Barca

The rest of the games have been 6 draws and 5 losses

Yeah but 3 wins in 15 still sounds somewhat worse than 4 wins in 9 and one of the game they didn't win was basically a friendly and another draw was what they needed in that game)

why do people call pep a Fraud and not klopp. is klopps Liverpool any better than peps city

It's because people never had any expectations from Klopp. Pep has the reputation of the best manager in the world. So all eyes are usually on him.

Notes:

- Says he underestimated the importance of the second ball. Xabi Alonso used to constantly tell him about the importance of those situations, but he didn't think much of it. Never in his coaching career did he care about the second balls, but now that's the biggest struggle he's currently facing.

- The thing PL has going for it is that it's unpredictable. The ball is in the air more than on the ground.

- He alternates between three and four at the back because he wants to see what makes his team play better. He admitted that it may confuse the players, but he then quickly defended using 3 ATB. He said the games against Everton and Chelsea were arguably City's best games, and they only lost because they were unlucky. However, after games like those occur the players' confidence naturally drop, and you need the players to be very confident to play 3 ATB.

- Most PL teams play the same (relying on second balls), bar Chelsea who actually attempt to build up at times.

- If the players don't understand his message it's not the players' fault. It's his fault for not making it clearer. However, he thinks at the end all the info he's given the players will 'come out'.

- Completely understands why the English critique his playing style (build up and high pressing etc), and says it's down to the different cultures they grew up in.

- He won't change his belief in football. However, He WILL adapt to each league's peculiarities. He said he did it in Germany. He said Germany have the most amazingly quick counterattacks and he found a way to halt them.

- Calls out those who say pragmatism = playing style. He said pragmatism = numbers and judging by his record he's as pragmatic as they come as his team rarely concede and score many goals.

- Is convinced his style can work judging from early season performances.

- Again, he's going to adapt, as he did in Germany. First, he'll adapt to the quality of his players, and then he'll adapt to the PL. He isn't going to change his principles though because he believes it's the best way to play.

- He then says he never once claimed his football was 'better' than that of other managers. He just believes in his way of playing. He compares himself to Tony Pulis and says they both have different ways on how they view football and they won't change because they believe it's the best way to play. He also compares it to chess where two players have different playing styles and they try to win in their 'own way'. That's what he loves most about football.

- He isn't here to play 'fantastic football' but to win games. He wants to win games his way. He's convinced his style works due to his previous success.

- He doesn't know if City will be a success, but after six months he's optimistic that they will be.

- He then talks about the game against Chelsea. He says KDB, City's best player, scores that goal 99% of the time, and if he did, City would have won. There was no way Chelsea was going to come back. However, since he didn't, the players started going crazy trying to get that second goal. As a result, they become positionally unstable and ended up conceding goals on the counterattack.

- But he's like after a game like that, he can't tell the players they played bad because they didn't. All he can do is try to convince them that that was the right way and try to get them to continue to follow you.

-He went to England to prove himself and prove that his football can work.

- Says if he isn't successful, then he accepts it. He doesn't think he's special and acknowledges that all managers fail and lose sometimes. He also says he was lucky up until this point to have coached the players he did. He then proceeds to call out all those who called him 'fake humble' when he said he won games because of the players. When he got the credit, he gave it to his players. Now they're saying he only won because he had great players and he gets no credit.

- Henry then defends him by saying well ''you gave us lots of instructions on how to play as good as we did.'' Pep agrees and says he's doing the same thing at City, but it will obviously take longer as City's conditions differ. He says success won't arrive right away and Henry will experience it firsthand as he's become an assistant coach. He then says it's going to need time and he thinks it will work out, but if it doesn't he'll shake hands with the owner and thank City for giving him the opportunity anyways.

20 min interview ffs.

Cascia the mvp thanks for the summary

Cascia


Fantastic interview. Guy is a genius. Everything he mentions is exactly how you see in City games. What isn't working is apparent from his words and City's performances. And you can also tell that once Pep figures it out and puts the belief in City players, they will start performing to the level of how Bayern and Barca did under him. It's a matter of patience.

He might not deliver it this season (still firmly believe he will be up there by march), but he is going to light PL in his 2nd season.

Absolute legend

just don't understand why he would give an exclusive to Ali G of all interviewers

I thought Pep doesn't do "exclusive interviews"? Also, nice interview and lovely break down by Casc. Still gonna laugh at his team going down 4-0 to Barcelona and LC though (the latter for a brief moment anyway).