I cant stand Pep Guardiola

[Hoops]

Didn't Pep take over a Barca side that finished 3rd behind Real and Villarreal finishing 10 points behind Villarreal and 18 behind Real? It was not a team performing at a world class level that Pep took over from my memory.

So he went from 3rd to 1st managing a team with a 105k capacity stadium and the largest revenue in the world? Big deal.

 

[dontcallme]

So he went from 3rd to 1st managing a team with a 105k capacity stadium and the largest revenue in the world? Big deal.

I am sure it was to Barcelona fans.

Consistently beating an excellent Real Madrid side should not be completely written off.

 

[nidge]

So he went from 3rd to 1st managing a team with a 105k capacity stadium and the largest revenue in the world? Big deal.

They went from 67 points in the season before Pep was manager to 87 points in Pep first season. Regardless of how you want to look at it that is a massive swing to make.

I'm not a massive Pep fan but to claim he had it all handed to him on a silver platter is just plain wrong imo.

 

[thelak]

On one hand he has a lot to change at City - an ageing squad with injury prone star players and questionable quality of some squad players. Having said the incremental improvement needed to win the current PL is probably not a huge jump either given there is no complete dominant team to topple at the moment

I think its a disservice to Pep to downgrade what he achieved at Barca. The issue at Bayern was he tried to mould an already very effective team into his own playing style that wasn't as direct and didn't really improve the team in a league that has gotten weaker - recall pre Pep Bayern for a year or so were seen as top dogs in Europe

 

[mpickard2087]

To be fair to him I don't think he has been so pig-headed as to just copy everything from his Barca team. Whilst he has stuck to his main principle of possession of the ball he has attempted to 'fuse' some of the aspects of German/Bayern football tradition into his approach... There has been more emphasis on wing play and a greater use of crosses (maybe an obvious when you have Ribery and Robben in your squad, but this year they went out and got Douglas Costa and Coman too), he did change up and settle on a way to play two strikers in Muller and Lewandowski, and though it doesn't happen every week there are occasions when they do play a bit more directly and try to catch the opposition out by going from back to front quicker (vs. Dortmund earlier in the season for instance).

I do think though that it has been a struggle to mould the team (particularly the crucial spine of the team and especially the midfield hub) in his image/approach, especially to the level of fluidity/ease/sharpness that is needed at CL level rather than just domestically. There's been a number of setbacks - losing Kroos from midfield, some players just not ever getting to grips with what is asked of them (Schweinsteiger and Gotze), and then the main talking point... Injuries. For three seasons the injury list has been silly. I doubt there has been many (if any) matches where a full squad or even 'best XI' has been available. You've got about half a dozen perma-crocks (Ribery, Robben, Thiago, Martinez, Badstuber, Benatia) which really doesn't help but something has to be going wrong with the training methods in my opinion (I think Barca were also prone to Injuries too in his time there). Injuries have just been non stop. This has had a big impact on building the team.

At City it will be interesting to see how he adapts again. As I have said I think he's got to avoid injuries and have a settled group/team. However that squad also needs a massive overhaul in my opinion and quickly, I cant see him being happy with a lot of those players. If they don't settle quickly then I think a lot of the press/wider football public are itching to have a go at him. He is also going to have to get used to games being more competitive, though I actually think that the patient, precise approach done well could give quite a few teams the run around and it doesn't have to be a weakness in a league built on the power/physical game.

 

[Freddy Adu]

That's extremely debatable, they were better under Jupp Heynckes, less complicated and could hurt the opposition in different ways albeit from possession or direct football. Pep has taken Bayern backwards a little considering they were worthy European Champions and the best team in Europe by some distance, now you have to say it's debatable.

Ok it's debatable, but I disagree with you. I think if you really look at this current Bayern team they are better than the Heynckes team. They are more dominant and more consistent than any Bayern side for decades. Heynckes team were brilliant, and probably invoke fonder memories (after all they won a treble), but Guardiola's team is more complete, more flexible.

I just think when you get to the latter stages of the CL, the margins are so fine. What if Muller doesn't miss his penalty? You'd probably have to say that they were likely to go on and win the tournament from there. It always seems that Guardiola gets all of the criticism when his team loses, but if the Bayern forwards were a little bit sharper the other night we are having a different conversation. 3 consecutive CL semi-finals is ridiculous for any team, but it's almost as if Guardiola and his players get zero credit for such a record.

Pochettino Klopp Mourinho Wenger Ranieri Benitez Conte. Is that enough reasons he could potentially fail? They cant all win.

You think Benitez is going to be challenging with Newcastle?! What I said is that it's highly likely that he'll be successful, I didn't say he was going to win every game and every competition.

So he went from 3rd to 1st managing a team with a 105k capacity stadium and the largest revenue in the world? Big deal.

It amazes me how people can be dismissive of Guardiola's achievements at Barcelona. Big deal? He won 3 league titles and 2 European Cups in 4 seasons, 14 trophies in total! Like his style of play or not, he had an enormous effect on football at Barcelona, but also all around Europe. He made them into arguably the greatest club side ever, and had a big effect on the national team, arguably the greatest international side ever. Name me one manager in the history of football who achieved as much in a few years as Guardiola achieved there. Can't do it.

 

[Riandor]

Ok it's debatable, but I disagree with you. I think if you really look at this current Bayern team they are better than the Heynckes team. They are more dominant and more consistent than any Bayern side for decades. Heynckes team were brilliant, and probably invoke fonder memories (after all they won a treble), but Guardiola's team is more complete, more flexible.

I just think when you get to the latter stages of the CL, the margins are so fine. What if Muller doesn't miss his penalty? You'd probably have to say that they were likely to go on and win the tournament from there. It always seems that Guardiola gets all of the criticism when his team loses, but if the Bayern forwards were a little bit sharper the other night we are having a different conversation. 3 consecutive CL semi-finals is ridiculous for any team, but it's almost as if Guardiola and his players get zero credit for such a record.



You think Benitez is going to be challenging with Newcastle?! What I said is that it's highly likely that he'll be successful, I didn't say he was going to win every game and every competition.



It amazes me how people can be dismissive of Guardiola's achievements at Barcelona. Big deal? He won 3 league titles and 2 European Cups in 4 seasons, 14 trophies in total! Like his style of play or not, he had an enormous effect on football at Barcelona, but also all around Europe. He made them into arguably the greatest club side ever, and had a big effect on the national team, arguably the greatest international side ever. Name me one manager in the history of football who achieved as much in a few years as Guardiola achieved there. Can't do it.

Disagree.
I do not think Pep has really improved this Bayern team in the way you say.
For me they were pretty complete already under Heynckes and won the treble quite convincingly.

He added players that have not all added to the team, Alonso for example and as a result has disappointed/alienated a portion of the fans who were disappointed to see a dominant German side become a hybrid Spanish side.

Most Bayern fans I know are glad to see him go and hope most of the Spanish contingent follow him out the door.

As for Barcelona... Right face, right time. I'm not denying he is an intelligent football manager, but winning with Barcelona and Bayern...?! It's like playing FM and being allowed to manage the top clubs in the world straight off.

Yes it was a good turn around, but Barcelona should have been doing much better. He didn't turn no hopers into winners...

City is an actual challenge and Leicester as well as us, have proven its not all about the money. Will be interesting to see what he does and IF Pep creates a trophy winning Team across multiple fronts, given the strength of the EPL, then I might change my mind.

 

[Lufti]

I just think when you get to the latter stages of the CL, the margins are so fine. What if Muller doesn't miss his penalty? You'd probably have to say that they were likely to go on and win the tournament from there. It always seems that Guardiola gets all of the criticism when his team loses, but if the Bayern forwards were a little bit sharper the other night we are having a different conversation. 3 consecutive CL semi-finals is ridiculous for any team, but it's almost as if Guardiola and his players get zero credit for such a record.

I don't know if I'd call going from beating Real Madrid on aggregate and smashing Barcelona 7-0 (agg) on route to two finals, to losing 5-0 to Real Madrid (agg) and 5-3 to Barcelona (agg) marginal. That's quite a big swing.

I just don't think Guardiola isn't a very good proactive coach. His big game management under Bayern has been pretty poor to be honest. They were very fortunate against Juventus this year, and I don't think they've really convinced against any other truly big teams since he's been in charge.

Since joining Bayern, his record against Dortmund (the only real big domestic fixture) is okay losing 4, winning 5 and drawing 1. It's not exactly great though is it when you consider Bayern have been stealing Dortmund's best players and two of those Bayern wins came in the season Dortmund seriously underperformed.

In the Champions League he's lost to Porto, City, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Arsenal.

 

[Chris12]

Sounds like the German fans are a bit xenophobic.

 

[Riandor]

Sounds like the German fans are a bit xenophobic.

Are we then by the same token?
There are many (British) spurs fans who are proud that we have so many young lions in the team and I would equally be disappointed if we lost that connection.

 

[Lufti]

Are we then by the same token?
There are many (British) spurs fans who are proud that we have so many young lions in the team and I would equally be disappointed if we lost that connection.

Exactly, if we exchanged Kane, Walker, Rose and Dier for 4 Spanish players I think the fans would have a right to be a bit miffed. Schweinsteiger was to Bayern what Kane is to us only even more so. Likewise Kroos came through the academy too

 

[The Feet of Hoddle]

I think Pep is going to fail in this league, not saying he is a bad manager, it just that this league is like no other. You would expect so many people to do well here and they fail, yet those you expect to fail succeed...

And yes, deep down I want him to fail... Why would I want ManC to do better

 

[Sandros Shiny Head]

Kind of want Utd to catch City and see this dope and his turtlenecks in the Europa League

 

[Pellshek]

On the one hand, Pep is a very smart, mature & together guy.

On the other hand, the adoration of him & his own personality are fucking cultish & weird & disconcerting & fucking, fucking eeeeeew.



TL/DR: Pep is a cult

 

[Disconosebleed]

He's not done anything wrong per se. He looks rather dashing in his v neck sweater and designer stuble

Its the football hipster wakers that massage his balls day in day out that makes me not like him. Has anyone notice how the hipsters call him 'Pep', like they know him personally?

"Oh no, I dont think 'Pep' would line up like that'. Peps philosphyis a high press, with a rapid transition from defense to offence focusing on the runs of an able trequartista overlaping the false nine, creating overload situations"

LoL I expect we will be hearing alot of this codswallop in the near future.

Sounds to me like you're annoyed that people are able to discuss football at a more advanced tactical level than you can understand.

 

[Hoops]

Well well Mr Tikki Takka, I invented football. We kicked your hipster ass for 90 minutes.

I hope they go onto a loss of form now.

 

[Xeeleeyid]

Whatever you think of his management he seems a pretty decent bloke. Was very gracious in defeat on Sunday.

 

[Dougal]

Whatever you think of his management he seems a pretty decent bloke. Was very gracious in defeat on Sunday.

I noticed that. What a ****.

 

[Hoops]

Whatever you think of his management he seems a pretty decent bloke. Was very gracious in defeat on Sunday.

well, we beat him so badly anything else but gracious in defeat would have been foolish.

 

[dontcallme]

well, we beat him so badly anything else but gracious in defeat would have been foolish.

Hasn't stopped many, many others from beings dicks.