Match Day Thread General matchday thread.

[BobbyD]

Too many people knock Pep purely because he's had the best coaching jobs in the world and thrived everytime. Which is an odd thing in itself tbh.

Yes he has money to burn on a squad but to get a team playing like that takes some doing. Not sure we've ever seen a better team on these shores, and that's credit to Peps coaching ability. Man is next level.

I don't particularly like him but you can't knock what he's done.


People will though.

he didn't exactly thive at Bayern. He was par for the course.

Now i won't knock his teams for how brilliant they are technically and i love the way he has the side always getting the ball back with the press which he has down much better than klipperty. However he'll need to sustain it at City (which to be fair he looks like doing). A record breaking 1 season isn't that else we'd be praising Conte to the high heavens.

What i can't argue against is that his side has been playing arguably the best football since i've been watching the PL.

 

[NSIS]

For me, Pep is a great coach.

Yes, he has a seemingly bottomless pile of money to spend, but it’s not as easy as that. He knows what pieces his particular jigsaw are missing and he then goes out and buys them. He then constructs a team that is capable of playing the way that he wants.

City have been spending fortunes for years, so that’s nothing new. But this is the best side they’ve produced, imo.

We can see the results of his work this season. A team that’s 16 points ahead of anybody else, has lost just once, and has a GD of +62 in 28 games!

I take the point that he gets players to fit his system rather than adapting the system to the players he has. But whatever works!...

 

[King Shergar]

He has the luxury of money to burn in order to practice his philosophy. I think there's a lot of managers that play the beautiful game..yet get scuppered due to weaknesses in the team due to a lack of quality in the squad and a cap on their spending. So I won't think this guy is the messiah..imagine your gaffer with an extra 200 mill to spend or Poch or Conte..so yeah he deserves praise but he didn't invent sliced bread

I think you are probably right, I think Poch is probably every bit as good a coach when it comes to playing that way.

Guardiola is without a doubt a massive talent as a coach, but I think he got the breaks at the right time to prove he can deliver big trophies playing that way, which maybe other managers haven't. I'm sure if Poch had just been thrust into the Barca hot seat as a young manager with Messi, Xavi, Iniesta then he to would have won plenty of trophies, and established himself as a manager all the biggest clubs in the world want.

I can't have Klopp as being on the same level unfortunately, as his sides are so poor defensively. Atleast Guardiola and Poch know how to organise a defence and coach players how to defend a set piece.

 

[Hoddle is a god]

Pep's greatest attribute is that he's got the gravitas to be able to keep all those fragile and out-sized egos in check and wanting to play for one another.

That is exactly what City's board wants and needs.

Would Pep be any good managing the likes of Bradford or Accrington Stanley? Probably not. But, so what?

 

[Spurlock]

he didn't exactly thive at Bayern. He was par for the course.

Now i won't knock his teams for how brilliant they are technically and i love the way he has the side always getting the ball back with the press which he has down much better than klipperty. However he'll need to sustain it at City (which to be fair he looks like doing). A record breaking 1 season isn't that else we'd be praising Conte to the high heavens.

What i can't argue against is that his side has been playing arguably the best football since i've been watching the PL.

Some of the best, not the best...United at their pomp were fantastic...season in, season out under Fergie. There's more than one way to play beautiful football, I've always preferred Madrids style of powerful attacking than Barca's tiki taka and United were a powerful attacking force for years.

 

[Spurlock]

For me, Pep is a great coach.

Yes, he has a seemingly bottomless pile of money to spend, but it’s not as easy as that. He knows what pieces his particular jigsaw are missing and he then goes out and buys them. He then constructs a team that is capable of playing the way that he wants.

City have been spending fortunes for years, so that’s nothing new. But this is the best side they’ve produced, imo.

We can see the results of his work this season. A team that’s 16 points ahead of anybody else, has lost just once, and has a GD of +62 in 28 games!

I take the point that he gets players to fit his system rather than adapting the system to the players he has. But whatever works!...

The bit in bold....that's the back breaker and you don't need to be a genius to do that...you need a blank cheque book. You telling me Poch would not be sat at the top with an extra 200 mill to inject into our squad? Or Klopp or Conte?

 

[Hoddle is a god]

Some of the best, not the best...United at their pomp were fantastic...season in, season out under Fergie. There's more than one way to play beautiful football, I've always preferred Madrids style of powerful attacking than Barca's tiki taka and United were a powerful attacking force for years.

Agreed, Bruv.

I remember Jurgen Klinsmann and Ruddi Voller having a pop at our England team for trying to play like Spain and Brazil. They loved our style of football, with big strong lads across the park, and sprinters running the wings to make crosses for the big strikers to nod it in the back of the net. They thought that was a beautifully direct way to play football, which they tried to emulate ffs!

To this day, I wish we had a Martin Chivers/Alan Gilzean up front to scare the weedy ****ers in these top class defences. I reckon we'd score a hatful of goals like that.

 

[NSIS]

The bit in bold....that's the back breaker and you don't need to be a genius to do that...you need a blank cheque book. You telling me Poch would not be sat at the top with an extra 200 mill to inject into our squad? Or Klopp or Conte?

I think you need more than that.

Many clubs - PSG - just rush out and buy stars. We can afford Neymar, the latest whizz kid, Mbappe, etc. Pep’s more clinical than that. He knows what pieces he needs to make the team work in his preferred style once he’s put the whole thing together he gets it playing as he wants it to.

The results we can see this season

 

[PleaseNotPoll]

Yes, he has a seemingly bottomless pile of money to spend, but it’s not as easy as that. He knows what pieces his particular jigsaw are missing and he then goes out and buys them. He then constructs a team that is capable of playing the way that he wants.

I'm not even convinced that he does this that well, to be honest.
I pointed out that when he joined City his fullbacks weren't going to be able to play in the style that he uses.
He didn't address that in the first season, then cleared out everyone in those positions and brought in three players for massive money.
Even then he missed out a bit, as his left-back got a long-term injury and he was forced to use players out of position.

His attacking players are amazing and his training and style of play make them virtually unplayable.
I'd love to see what he'd do with a weaker side, but I doubt that will ever happen.

 

[Dier Hard]

The bit in bold....that's the back breaker and you don't need to be a genius to do that...you need a blank cheque book. You telling me Poch would not be sat at the top with an extra 200 mill to inject into our squad? Or Klopp or Conte?

Yeah completely agree. You can even look further down the spectrum at managers who still try and play football the right way; Eddie Howe, Marco Silva etc. If they were fortunate enough to take over top sides with half a £bn to spend, chances are they'd make a successful team who plays attractive football.

Let's also not forget that Pep has been able to easily rectify the "mistakes" he made last season:
Signed Bravo for £16m, flopped, signed Ederson a year later for £35m.
Signed Stones for £50m, failed to deliver, now fourth choice after Kompany, Otamendi and the £60m Laporte.
Signed Nolito for £15m, flopped and was sold, signed Bernardo Silva for £40m.

Not many managers can afford to spend loads of money on certain players and then spend even more just a season later to replace them if they've failed to deliver.

 

[BobbyD]

Some of the best, not the best...United at their pomp were fantastic...season in, season out under Fergie. There's more than one way to play beautiful football, I've always preferred Madrids style of powerful attacking than Barca's tiki taka and United were a powerful attacking force for years.

you obviously didn't read the arguable part in my statement .

Barcas ticky tacky is boring. This city side are more fun than his barca at least they counter attack at speed. They were disappointing for me last night when you could have whacked arsenal for more in the 2nd half but gave up attacking cause they couldn't be bothered.

 

[Spurlock]

I think you need more than that.

Many clubs - PSG - just rush out and buy stars. We can afford Neymar, the latest whizz kid, Mbappe, etc. Pep’s more clinical than that. He knows what pieces he needs to make the team work in his preferred style once he’s put the whole thing together he gets it playing as he wants it to.

The results we can see this season

That's because Pep buys his own players to fit his style, the owners of PSG buy the players for the manager and then judge him if it doesn't work..that rarely works and just exposes the manager...Conte at Chelsea being a prime example of that this season compared to last. Poch buys his own players...imagine an extra 200 mill for Poch...we would be right up there.

Bayern didn't think much of Pep and Pep only maintained what previous managers had done their..he didn't move them on and out of all the big teams in Europe I reckon Bayern are the tightest run ship....for me, it's not a coincidence out of his 3 gigs, the Bayern one has been the flattest..coz man didn't have the money freely available their. He didn't bag the CL with them either.

 

[paultheplug]

I've predicted us to lose tonight in the vain hope that I might jinx us into a win.

Your rcl attempt failed. He has the monopoly on that approach

 

[The RDBD]

you obviously didn't read the arguable part in my statement .

Barcas ticky tacky is boring. This city side are more fun than his barca at least they counter attack at speed.

Munich 2012-13 flattened Barca tika-taka.

Some of us feared that Pep would add that to the
existing Teutonic terror machine and make Munich
invincible. What actually happened is that he
Barca-fied Munich which made them worse in the CL,
and irritated some Munich supporters with the
style of play.

 

[NSIS]

That's because Pep buys his own players to fit his style, the owners of PSG buy the players for the manager and then judge him if it doesn't work..that rarely works and just exposes the manager...Conte at Chelsea being a prime example of that this season compared to last. Poch buys his own players...imagine an extra 200 mill for Poch...we would be right up there.

Bayern didn't think much of Pep and Pep only maintained what previous managers had done their..he didn't move them on and out of all the big teams in Europe I reckon Bayern are the tightest run ship....for me, it's not a coincidence out of his 3 gigs, the Bayern one has been the flattest..coz man didn't have the money freely available their. He didn't bag the CL with them either.

I’m not saying the money isn’t a factor, of course it is. The ability to go out and buy pretty much whoever and whatever you want can’t be underestimated. But it’s the players he chooses as much as anything. He knows just what he needs to balance his side and make it play the way he wants it to.

I mean, look at Whinger for instance, as an extreme example of the opposite. Half the world can see what’s wrong with his side - that the balance is all wrong. Yet he still goes out and spends millions on players who mostly give him no improvement whatsoever.

 

[BobbyD]

I’m not saying the money isn’t a factor, of course it is. The ability to go out and buy pretty much whoever and whatever you want can’t be underestimated. But it’s the players he chooses as much as anything. He knows just what he needs to balance his side and make it play the way he wants it to.

I mean, look at Whinger for instance, as an extreme example of the opposite. Half the world can see what’s wrong with his side - that the balance is all wrong. Yet he still goes out and spends millions on players who mostly give him no improvement whatsoever.

to be fair everyone knows whinger is past it. That's not a fair comparison. What next, Fat Sam is a genius because he's doing far better than Alan Pardew

 

[NSIS]

to be fair everyone knows whinger is past it. That's not a fair comparison. What next, Fat Sam is a genius because he's doing far better than Alan Pardew

Not just recently. Whinger’s been making the same mistakes for years.

 

[Tobes]

The bit in bold....that's the back breaker and you don't need to be a genius to do that...you need a blank cheque book. You telling me Poch would not be sat at the top with an extra 200 mill to inject into our squad? Or Klopp or Conte?

We’ve spent about £200m recently and we’re dogshit.

It’s not just about the money, albeit it helps. What Pep does is all about a way of playing, winning is a consequence of that style of play.

 

[BobbyD]

We’ve spent about £200m recently and we’re dogshit.

It’s not just about the money, albeit it helps. What Pep does is all about a way of playing, winning is a consequence of that style of play.

big difference just forking money out though to replace the ones you sold on. Pep doesn't have such worries its just splashing out more to reinforce what he already has. Saying that though he has spent it very well as a lot of the players hes bought in will probably be there for many years.

 

[Sucky]

Chavs to win tomorrow, trust me on this one lads get down the bookies, smk approved.