I thought the general consensus and issue was that we aren't as good as City? So we have to address that, as dreadful as that might be we either spend some more money, like they have (twice as much as us), or we accept they are better than us. I know what I'd rather to be honest. By that token, Mhky and Fellaini and Herrera aren't good enough and Lukaku has to prove that he is. IF Guardiola was our manager, that's what he would do. He wouldn't be able to improve those players in question, he would just bin them off and buy better, just like he has at City. He's not a magician, regardless of what the media might want to suggest. He just go out and buys the best players to suit his team.
Delph fair enough, he's a fixture in the team now and playing well. He bought De Bruyne and put him in the team, quite straightforward. I don't really see the others as having improved really, apart from that they are now part of a far better team and so appear better.
Did he? Ah right, I thought he was a Pep purchase. I think what Guardiola has done is improved the team by buying better players, not necessarily improved loads of players.
The thing is when he was at Chelsea, his parking the bus style actually got results in these type of matches. Chelsea had one of the best records against the other top sides when he was there. With us though he is not getting the results playing like that. The Arsenal game last week is the only exception and that was not a typical Chelsea under Mourinho performance, it was an incredibly lucky result. Mourinho's Chelsea wouldn't have allowed Arsenal a sniff at goal, nevermind 30+ shots. Much like Wenger at Arsenal he is completely out of touch with what is required in modern day football to compete, Mourinho hasn't adapted either, and is still using the same old boring tactics he was using in the mid 00s.
Most of the players who started yesterday where already there. The only players Pep bought where Walker and Ederson. The majority of Peps big money signings where on the bench as back up. It was the same at Barca and Bayern, the majority of the best players he had in those sides where already at the club. It's amazing how much better players can play when they are coached properly. Pep has proved that wherever he's gone.
Apart from Jesus, Sane & Gundogan of course. So, half the team that started the second half. Ergo, he bought to improve the team.
Are you prepared to change your opinion that Pep has improved many players, now that you realise Sterling, KBD, Fernandinho, Delph, Otamendi, etc were already there? And give him some credit?
He's improved the team for **** sake. By buying additional players, spending absolute hundreds of millions. The team is bound to improve I can see a significant change in Silva and Delph so yes, he has improved those players. The rest you name look better based on the team they are now in, I can't see any significant improvement in them as players. I'm not putting Guardiola down as it's no secret I would have prefered him over Jose any day of the week but let's not over egg his 'genius'.
From the player he was at Chelsea no doubt but the spell in Germany brought him back here a different player. He was more or less the finished article by the time Pep bought him.
He hasn't improved him per se, just made a different use of him. Under Pellegrini he was more attacking and contributing more goals, but less involved in overall play as a result. Under Guardiola he plays a bit deeper with more chance to get involved in the build up and influence the game. As a result of this, combined with the expensive attackers and attacking fullbacks City have bought, he's getting more chance to contribute, but is still the quality player he was turned into at Wolfsburg. Arguably he's back to playing the same role he did in Germany too. I think if you said Guardiola was making better use of him within the team then you'd be right imo, but he has been this good for a while.
The games I saw he did. I didn't see that much of him tbh, but when I did he was playing behind Perisic, Caligiuri and Dost. Definitely think he's currently playing more akin to the position he had at Wolfsburg, after Pellegrini and Guardiola pushed him all over the place the last couple of seasons. As Chief said, it's the decision of Guardiola to spend big on Sane, Jesus, Walker, Danilo and Mendy that has made the difference. City now have top quality wide players in defence and attack, so De Bruyne can play where he's best rather than spending half the time (relatively) wasted on the wing.
De Bruyne has also hit the age whereby he is coming into his prime. All in all, style of play is one thing. I don't believe everyone has to play a certain brand of football to be entertaining. The emphasis on that tiki-taka is stupid. You don't need to play tiki-taka to provide good showing for the fans and we have displayed that several times this season as well. The problem is our cowardice approach to big games. That is the fundamental difference between United and City. I am absolutely certain that City are not as untouchable as made to be in the media. They have laboured wins in recent weeks to prove that point. As a result, I don't see City going through the season unbeaten. To emphasize Chief and Swarbs' points, there are not that many players at City that I would welcome at United. De Bruyne, Silva and Aguero would be the 3 that I would pick to join us. To me, it suggests we have enough quality here, just the wrong mentality to big matches.
