14 Aug 2016 10:44:15
First and foremost I probably do owe Jred an apology, sorry bud I was a little harsh last night. I'd like to blame the rum, but that might be a bit of a cop out.

My main frustration atm seems to be this media love in with Pep. Now I'm the first to admit that he is a great manager, his record speaks for itself. Sure he has had great teams and great players to use but many very good managers fail with great teams and great players. So he does deserve respect and kudos for what he has achieved.

My issue is with the way the media portray him as some kind of revolutionary, it's almost as if he invented football. All of his ideas are adaptions of already used ideas. To be fair unless there is a seismic shift in the rules or how we play the game then there is no way to come up with something completely new. A lot of what Pep likes is a combination of Marcelo Bielsa and Louis van Gaal. The high press, and use of space Bielsa loves and the metronomic possession and recycling of the ball that LvG bases his teams on. It's an interesting combination of ideas. The weaknesses in Pep's ideology is that he tends to go too far in looking for his idea of football perfection and is unprepared to compromise or adapt his idea's to the situation. That's not to say he doesn't have a plan B or C but that plan B and C is just a reimagining of plan A rather than a change of tact. His teams can also be suspect defensively due to his obsession with everyone being ball players, often this is mitigated due to the high level of possession his team have meaning the opposition only have the ball for a limited amount of time and therefore his teams are rarely tested defensively. You see this weakness most often at set plays, where the opposition already have possession of the ball in a dangerous area and the defensive frailties of his team are put under the microscope.

He may struggle with that in the EPL and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. In our league teams often hit you quickly when you lose the ball and as Leicester showed last season pace and power along with steely defending can win you more than you might expect. Our league is like nothing Pep has faced before and he is doing so with the worst group of players he has had during his managerial career.

Obviously it is very early in the season and players are still rusty and adapting to new managers and fresh ideas and styles, so judging teams after one game is slightly foolish. But I saw nothing in that game last night to change my opinion of Pep. The way he set them up was how he made Bayern play over the last couple of years, the difference though is the quality of players he had at Bayern to play that way as well as the lack of competition within the league to challenge him.

Playing Kolarov at centre back with Otamendi on the bench was a near pointless move. It was done due to Kolarov's superior ball playing ability, but for all that extra passing ability his team only created 4 goal scoring chances against a bottom half possibly relegation candidate team. The trade of being the lack of strength and specialist defending in the heat of defence which nearly was their undoing and if the luck was against rather than for them then they would have dropped points last night. Playing Caballero over Hart for his slightly better ball playing skills but lesser goalkeeping ability is another strange and potentially point costing decision. He will be punished far more often in the EPL for these types of decisions than he was in the Bundesliga, and in a league where there are at least 4 or 5 other teams with genuine title ambitions he can't afford to make such poor decisions over the course of the season.

Yes City will improve, but unless Pep shows a more adaptable side than he has so far in his career and plays a slightly more practical rather than idealistic style then he may well come unstuck in the EPL.

{Ed004's Note - Also a point no one has brought up was how poor the midfield Moyes had to play due to players like cattermole not being available. It was John O'Shea playing in midfield... I'd expect ever team in the league to dominate possession, no offence to O'Shea, he's an aging centre back}

1.) 14 Aug 2016
14 Aug 2016 11:04:14
Thats very true Ed, I'd still expect Pep's teams to have the majority of possession in nearly all if not all of their games this season. It might be that against the better sides more space might open up so they can create a couple more chances. But for all their possession they seemed to lack ideas and that is with De Bruyne, Silva and Aguero on the pitch. Gundogan looks like he will be vital to Pep's plans, which is very risky with his injury record and the rougher nature of the EPL. Sane is going to be a great player but he isn't going to offer anything more than the current players infant of him offer, just fresh legs. In a few years time that might change, but not this season.

City will no doubt be there or there about come the end of the season, but I didn't see anything that should make them far and away favourites as they have been touted.

{Ed004's Note - I agree}

2.) 14 Aug 2016
14 Aug 2016 11:06:26
Finally someone agrees with my opinion on pep, personally think he will be gone within 18 months, I don't enjoy watching pep teams play football it ends up becoming boring, 1 other point if he really was the messiah city would have sold out of tickets, I bet old Trafford is full for Jose's first game.

3.) 14 Aug 2016
14 Aug 2016 11:06:41
ha no probs pal, rum is always a good idea by the way .

i agree it will be interesting to see how pep does in the epl.
got to be honest i think its good to watch.

4.) 14 Aug 2016
14 Aug 2016 11:15:35
Shappy good post with humility. I respect you.
However coming back to the media I am really unhappy with them. You must already know that whatever it is, most if not all of them like to see Manchester (City and United) fail. More rhan that, if given a choice they'd rather City than United to succeed. That's because United has a lot longer and bigger history and a much more bigger club than City.

It can't be helpful given that a lot of past and some present pundits also prefer the Ldn reds. If Hargreaves can be so bias against his old club then I cannot be surprised that others are not with us.

I would prefer to use this to be positive and hopefully inspire the team to be like what Neville said "let us become the most hated club" as we become more if not the most successful club in the world.

Long story short, I can't care less what negativity is shown to us but just stay united and screw them all and win the title with the objective of CL next season.
There will be blips along the way but hope our own fans and supporters continue to support the team come rain and storm.

5.) 14 Aug 2016
14 Aug 2016 11:31:43
It certainly will Jred. Hopefully this season will be interesting due to many teams playing good football rather than like last season where very few teams did. It opened up the competition, but wasn't as exciting to watch.

Red666, I love it when the media put on their anti-United hats. Probably because most of the media currently grew up with Liverpool as the top team and the one they followed. Now they more often than not just come across bitter. Which I relish.

The thing I dislike though is the constant bumming of Pep. Every time he makes a subsitution they react like he's just invented the wheel.

6.) 14 Aug 2016
14 Aug 2016 11:35:16
Absolutely agree with u shappy, pep is a good coach but people always forget he inherited most of the Barcelona team and his buying record at Barcelona and bayern is hit and miss, at city he has got to buy very well to succeed given their aging squad and what he has bought until now won't fill me with any great hope if i was a city fan, for 150mn he has bought an average cb who might turn out to be worldclass, a good but injury prone mf and 2 kids with high potential but neither of whom will actually improve them as of now. Also it seems he tries to be fancy just for the sake of it from time to time, at bayern he did not name the same 11 for 100+ games in a row. Yesterday was another one as a lb played cb, and the 2 fb's played in mf.

7.) 14 Aug 2016
14 Aug 2016 12:10:18
i think he has bought a very good cb .
and bought for the future.

8.) 14 Aug 2016
14 Aug 2016 12:31:29
I don't like Peps football. Someone should tell him it's ok to run with the ball and take on a man and not always pass. And he will get sacked because everyone eventually does.

9.) 14 Aug 2016
14 Aug 2016 12:34:08
Whatever it is Pep is still a growing student and learning. If anyone were to say that they know all there is to know then that's pure arrogance and should be shot.
I used to hate Mou but now I seem to observe a certain humility in him and perhaps that's why he finally became our manager. There is a difference though in confidence and arrogance and Mou has confidence.
I hope it will be a great season with Pep putting his skills against our Mou. There is nothing better than a battle or world class managers in this seasons PL. I hope we win but if we are top 2-3 I am happy. But we will need to be definitely be title favorites next season with challenging CL title next season. Only then can I say that We have made great progression. Till then I will support Mou's decision all the way without question.