My stance on him every time we were linked with him was that of a crazy ex......although he was never our ex.
I didn't want him, but i didn't want one of our rivals to get him, just in case i was wrong about him.
Now the man clearly has something about him to have his C.V.
But I’ve always maintained he’s never been suited to what Chelsea need. The arrogant part of me has always felt he inherited reasonably good teams. And for this reason I hoped he’d avoid coming to England to manage.
Please don’t try and convince me Barcelona were a club in crisis…………….You’d be wasting your time.
Bayern? You could argue the only way for him was ‘down’ from what the team achieved the season before he took over.
But winning a one horse race? I think there’s only North London based teams that wouldn’t win said race.
One argument I think is potentially being overused by the journos still in love with him on Sunday Supplement, is:-
“Don’t forget it is his first season in England."
As opposed to another manager, who’s team currently sits in the top 4 and also has aspirations of getting into next season’s Champions League or also trying to push to win the league.
Now ultimately he’ll probably prove me wrong. But I’m with MONS on this one. I’m not surprised he’s not finding our league the walk in the park some thought he would.
I appreciate Arsenal have not fully replicated Pep’s brand of football. But I’ve always felt it was the closest to his ‘preferred brand’ and since Wenger changed from his team who could “mix it", to the “pretty boy style", they have won zero Premier League trophies.
Pep
posted on 18/1/17
"If i dont think Fernandinhoo is all that, then that's my opinion."
Never said it wasn't. But I think if you ask anybody who watches City regularly they'd agree Fernandinho has been one of our most consistent top performers over recent years, for me probably our most consistent top performer - above Silva, Aguero etc.
posted on 18/1/17
Aging squad who have already demonstrated their strengths in the league and doesnt seem to be buying into his ideas. A defence that is probably on par with ours (Kompany included) and a midfield who apart from Fernandinho doesnt really do much defensive work. Too bad Gundogan is injury prone.
They also seem to be having some bad luck in that every mistake that leads to a half chance sees them being punished for it. Reminds me of us at times...we still suffer from this as well. Although it is self-inflicted so the onus should be on the players to concentrate more.
The fact that City have never bothered about buying new FBs for the past i dont even know how many years baffles me more than anything else. Sagna is probably the only signing in recent seasons. You still dont even see them linked to any FBs. Rookie mistakes because it probably where they are weakest.
posted on 18/1/17
Cannot remember who said it but there was a comment made about the type of teams he comes up with here as opposed to Spain for instance.
In Spain, teams try to play football and do not park the bus. That's why Atletico were a tough not to crack for a lot of teams as they were hard to break down and countered with deadly accuracy.
He's not a bad manager, but needs to learn how to sort out a defence or he will be in trouble
posted on 18/1/17
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 17 hours, 41 minutes ago
Very early days - too early to be writing City off this season.
You can get 18/1 for City to win the league - is it really that unlikely?
Maybe it is, but I don't think they've been that bad.
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I think that's fair, similar to last season they've lost five games before February, I believe only Blackburn have lost more than six and gone onto win the league in PL history. City need to go on one hell of run between now and May, which they won't, not with that keeper and defence.
posted on 18/1/17
BruceAndPally (U8201)
Yeh, you're probably right.
posted on 18/1/17
IMO a perfect storm is occuring at City.
They have gone hard after ex barca people but have shown thus far but we have to remember that Txiki Begiristain is in his FOURTH year at city now.
The city side as it stands is actually a total mess so how can city fix it with the same guy there?
Gk is a mess
Defence is a joke
Midfield is at best functional and at worst total mess
they have like all fancy dans spent on attack and focused on attack and have done little bar of course pla guys past their best or grossly overpaid for bad players at the back!
Pep has walked into that and its now 18 days itno the window and they've done NOTHING.
I wouldn't back city for a top 4 slot this year
posted on 18/1/17
comment by Firmino Can Karius {Proud owner of the 5 000 000th comment} (U2720)
posted 2 hours, 46 minutes ago
They also seem to be having some bad luck in that every mistake that leads to a half chance sees them being punished for it. Reminds me of us at times...we still suffer from this as well. Although it is self-inflicted so the onus should be on the players to concentrate more.
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There's probably an element of truth in this.
The high-line, front-foot system obviously means that a large amount of the chances against are going to be clear cut, but I read somewhere that at the weeken, Everton only had 4 attempts on goal, including off target. That level of efficiency is the sort you might not even expect from penalties.
posted on 18/1/17
comment by ManUtdDaredevil (U9612)
posted 1 hour, 34 minutes ago
Cannot remember who said it but there was a comment made about the type of teams he comes up with here as opposed to Spain for instance.
In Spain, teams try to play football and do not park the bus. That's why Atletico were a tough not to crack for a lot of teams as they were hard to break down and countered with deadly accuracy.
He's not a bad manager, but needs to learn how to sort out a defence or he will be in trouble
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I think it's more down to his having difficulty adapting the system to the resources available more than the opposition itself. He was hugely successful in Germany too.
Also, while there's an element of truth in the idea of how teams play in Spain, there's also a lot more diversity than the stereotype suggests. You mention Atlético being a tough nut to crack precisely because of that, but it's equally true that Atleti have faced all kinds of oppostion in Europe over the past 3 seasons and nobody bar Madrid have been capable of knocking them out.
posted on 18/1/17
comment by itsonlyagame (U6426)
posted 16 minutes ago
comment by Firmino Can Karius {Proud owner of the 5 000 000th comment} (U2720)
posted 2 hours, 46 minutes ago
They also seem to be having some bad luck in that every mistake that leads to a half chance sees them being punished for it. Reminds me of us at times...we still suffer from this as well. Although it is self-inflicted so the onus should be on the players to concentrate more.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
There's probably an element of truth in this.
The high-line, front-foot system obviously means that a large amount of the chances against are going to be clear cut, but I read somewhere that at the weeken, Everton only had 4 attempts on goal, including off target. That level of efficiency is the sort you might not even expect from penalties.
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Carragher did some analysis on Bravo on MNF this week, it showed that his saves to shots ratio was the lowest in the PL (since December 1st) at 36% the keeper one place above him (Fabianski) was at 53%.
Basically, the reason why City have been conceding from so few shots is because Bravo can't save them...
But Carra went on to say that one-on-one shot stopping is really important for teams who play a high line, and look to be on the offensive for most of the game.
You think about the likes of DDG and Cech, and going further back to Schmikes and David Seaman, they could/can all get their teams out of the sh*t by producing match winning saves, blocks etc, Bravo just can't seem to do it.
posted on 18/1/17
Conversely though, Bravo's save % the previous two seasons in Spain was over 80%, so he's obviously got it in him.