OUCH
That's a bad omen
No - just tells how relieable the source is and that he does not have a clue either.
Pep Guardiola at City next?
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
No - just tells how relieable the source is and that he does not have a clue either.
I'm still hoping... rationale goes out the window with Pep for me. I've never actually liked a coach like this since Hitzfeld. And the bullet points read so nicely!
Bit weird to manage barca, bayern & then city. Seems to follow a similar path to klopp & Lvg in wanting to manage big clubs that need a little kick up the back side.
I think mourinho could be a much better manager for city's objectives than pep.
I think mourinho could be a much better manager for city's objectives than pep.
Mourinho will never manage City as long as the Barca executives remain there.
Pep could potentially have his pick of us, Chelsea or city next summer. Would be an interesting one.
I am not sure that he will coach Bayern in 2016/17 - but I am pretty sure that if he coaches any team in 2016/17 it will be Bayern.
True, but if (and it is a big if, of course) he wants to coach in the PL, he may not get a better set of offers than next summer. Depending on what happens for the remainder of the season of course.
Don't you think there will be offers for him in any season?
Pere Guardiola and Josep Maria Orobitg, Peps agents, coming to Munich today "to watch the match".
Isn't Wenger staying at Arsenal for this season and the next? I'd love to see what Pep could do there.
He is living just 100 metres away from my office and I still hope to meet him at the nearest café and explain him why City is not an option for a coach like him. 
I keep you updated.
Seriously, from the sporting point Bayern is one of the best places to be as a coach. If you can deal with the boredom of the league you have a realistic chance to win the CL every season (if you beat Barca and/or Real.) But... at the same time it can be like a release to move to a club like Arsenal or City or United, because if you win the english league with them you will be a hero. Nobody expects the CL title in the first two years (like they "expect" it from him in Munich every season.) And I still have the feeling that Pep is annoyed of all the Champions League questions here in Munich.
An other important question: Is he fresh enough to move to England (if he wants) or does he need a sabbatical again? Nobody knows these things. It also depends on the family situation, I guess.
I keep you updated.Seriously, from the sporting point Bayern is one of the best places to be as a coach. If you can deal with the boredom of the league you have a realistic chance to win the CL every season (if you beat Barca and/or Real.) But... at the same time it can be like a release to move to a club like Arsenal or City or United, because if you win the english league with them you will be a hero. Nobody expects the CL title in the first two years (like they "expect" it from him in Munich every season.) And I still have the feeling that Pep is annoyed of all the Champions League questions here in Munich.
An other important question: Is he fresh enough to move to England (if he wants) or does he need a sabbatical again? Nobody knows these things. It also depends on the family situation, I guess.
I will be very disappointed if he ends up anywhere apart from here once he's done with Bayern. Ed cannot afford to feck about.
I feel like he is a dead cert for United.
Yeah, Bayern surely needed a kick after winning the trebble.
Hitzfield did it for bayern. He also retired straight after. LVG however goes for a club that needs their arse kicked in like us, bayern and barcelona. Then guardiola can basically finish the job that another manager started. Doesnt meant that the success is instantly attributed to someone else.
I just think guardiola is kept up with the gods due to his role at Barcelona. Bayern are yet to do anything extraordinary sinse his arrival. Pretty much what schemeichel said and id wait for them to win a CL before knowing that he should definitely be our next manager.
First Klopp to Liverpool now Pep to City
Yay
And we stuck with an ageing VG who loves rooney, YAY
I couldn't care less about him tbh. Klopp loves to be the underdog and will flop badly at some point. Pepinho loves to coach already beast players and will do jack at City cuz they are not full of super stars.
He is a sensational manager and nobody is going to convince me otherwise. He plays the proper barand of possession football. His team press very high up the pitch, try and keep the opposition in their own box. Van Gaal waits for teams to cross the halfway line. Pep always demands more from his team, always on the touch line driving them on. His teams play with a lot of intensity.
We have to get him as our next manager, I don't think there's another option.
We have to get him as our next manager, I don't think there's another option.
We'd be lucky to have Pep. One can only hope.
He plays an excellent brand of football, my concern however is that he has never really had a managerial challenge. Given his temperament, I could see a Mourinho style meltdown if things started to go south.
He's the exact opposite. He's always polite, never picks fights with anyone, always respects managers, journalists, players. And his players never get tired of him, they love him, appreciate how he allows them to express themselves. Everyone is allowed to take risks. After 4 years at Barca, the players wanted him to stay. And right now at Bayern, the players publicly said they want him to stay.
Even if he doesn't renew, I would consider politely ntelling Van Gaal to go just to bring him here. And I am a fan of Van Gaal.
I am not too worried about him at City. It would not be the same sort of situation he walked in at Bayern.
I think that's just wishful thinking tbh. All that's missing from city, is European pedigree, and he'll add that in abundance. This without considering 1 or 2 signings he could still make, just because of his name.
A city team with Aguero, KdB, Sterling (considering Pep wanted him at Bayern), Silva isn't exactly "poor".
I think he'd walk the league with them IMO. But yeah, football, you never know!
He would need a whole new midfield to properly implement his system.
City are a team ready for Pep right now, which is rather worrying.
He'd need a couple of new central midfielders, so about half of what Man City do in a transfer window.
Yeah, Fernandinho's not been too shabby & what's to say Pep couldn't attract Thiago/Koke or someone of that caliber with him? It's not like we're talking 5 years from now. It could be next, probably 2 years from. But yeah, there's no certainties in football.
You wouldn't be worried if arguably the best manager in the world went to our biggest rivals, at a time when they are already miles ahead of us, and we end up with Giggs taking over from LVG?
Some of you lot really do live in a United bubble. If the above does happen, City would be confirmed as the biggest force in Manchester and English football, without a shadow of a doubt. They will have well and truly come from our shadow, and overtaken us.
But similarly, he has not really had to face much (if any) adversity yet, in the same way Mourinho hadn't until now. Don't get me wrong, Guardiolas football is excellent, and I wouldn't be complaining if he came to United, but the fact remains that he is largely unproven in any situation other than taking a great team in an uncompetitive league, and leading that team to success.
You wouldn't be worried if arguably the best manager in the world went to our biggest rivals, at a time when they are already miles ahead of us, and we end up with Giggs taking over from LVG?
Some of you lot really do live in a United bubble. If the above does happen, City would be confirmed as the biggest force in Manchester and English football, without a shadow of a doubt. They will have well and truly come from our shadow, and overtaken us.
It is incredible. Per at City and us with Giggs is nothing short of a disaster. If that happens, I would put money on us not winning the league for the next ten years.
Plus, there's a high chance Pep would be able to attract top Spanish talents given his contacts in the league. Maybe not every Madrid or Barcelona bound talent, but players like Óliver, Koke and Saúl from Atletico, Gayà from Valencia, maybe even Thiago from Bayern given their personal relationship, and Pere Guardiola being Thiago's agent. That midfield+attack would be frightening. Think Pep's managerial ability is being underestimated here, City is a team in need of direction, and Guardiola is a master at implementing his system. The prospect of him taking over at City is genuinely frightening to be honest, especially now that FFP has been relaxed.
@Balu has addressed the meltdown part. Pep is a very classy individual, even when you listen to him speaking all of that pours though; he's more likely to just walk away from the managerial side of the game like a Cruyff than have a Mourinho-esque fallout. And IMO he's faced plenty of challenges in his managerial career. And a lot of times, he isn't given enough credit for it, which is a bit unfair. Barcelona's transformation under Pep has been addressed in the Giggs thread.
But even at Bayern Munich, he didn't inherit a perfect squad despite the narrative of him taking over a treble winning, seemingly invincible squad. Firstly, the expectations were insane, no manager, no matter how good could repeat what Heyneckes did. That would require not just great football and timing, but circumstances working in the club's favor. Hence why trebles are so rare, even now. He's has to make so many adjustments to calibrate the team, and has churned a lot of players to marry his ideology with their traditional approach.
When one looks at their team from the 2013 Champions League final:
Starting from the front: Mandžukić is gone, Ribéry has been injury prone - started 0 matches this season, Robben similar, Müller is the ever-present element, Schweinsteiger is gone, Martinez has been injured a lot, Dante is gone; onto the squad and Kroos is gone, Gustavo is gone, Shaqiri is gone. That's 6 first teams players who are either out of Bayern, or have been injured for significant periods of time. On top of 5+ squad players, including Kroos. And to add to that, Badstuber keeps getting injured, and Thiago was out for long stretches.
And they've spent as much as what Liverpool spent last season over 3 seasons, which is just mindboggling. Bayern's board deserves a lot of praise; but Pep's ability to handle that transition, to be able to seamlessly rotate squad players without skipping a beat like this season is getting severely underrated. If this was some other manager, and the club had spent just €70 million net over 3 seasons, he'd be getting acclaim left, right and center. But with Pep he didn't face any real challenges, and the squad was brilliant even without his influence. Some even insinuate that the Barcelona team didn't even need a manager at all. Does seem a bit duplicitous to be honest.
@Invictus
Yeah, I wouldn't be too happy with pep at city.
Yeah, I wouldn't be too happy with pep at city.
Per at City and us with Giggs is nothing short of a disaster. If that happens, I would put money on us not winning the league for the next ten years.
The amount of people who still seem to think just because we're Manchester United it means everything will be okay is amazing
Now that Fergie is gone, we're exactly the same as every other team. And the only way we will get back to the top is through having quality players, and a quality manager. Romantic nonsense will take us nowhere, as the Moyes era proved.
Pep at City, and us with Giggs would be an absolute catastrophe.
I love you @Invictus
We will console ourselves with the United Way.The amount of people who still seem to think just because we're Manchester United it means everything will be okay is amazing
Now that Fergie is gone, we're exactly the same as every other team. And the only way we will get back to the top is through having quality players, and a quality manager. Romantic nonsense will take us nowhere, as the Moyes era proved.
Pep at City, and us with Giggs would be an absolute catastrophe.
@Invictus he has overseen transitions of already-great teams, who have an almost unmatched pull for players, and are happy to spend big money as an when required. I dont think it is possible for a manager to go through their career without experiencing any sort of challenge or adversity, but as far as things go, Pep inherited a very strong Barcelona team, and a very strong Bayern team. I will say that Bayern have done exceptionally well with some of their transfers - Gotze for £25m, Douglas for £24m, Thiago for £17.5m ...these are all players who you would expect to go for a lot more, in my opinion, or maybe it is just the inflated English transfer market that makes me think that.
I dont think anyone is undervaluing or underrating Pep, or not giving him the credit he deserves. He is being widely touted as the best in the world (and after tonights game, it is hardly the time to argue against that). I just feel that he has performed extremely well, but in two jobs which - as far as elite football management goes - were pretty easy jobs. Of course I say "performed extremely well" but he is yet to win the CL with Bayern, which should really be considered the benchmark for that club, given the lack of competitiveness in the Bundesliga. Nonetheless, looking at how his side played against Arsenal tonight, it was one of the best and most complete European displays I have seen in years.
All this was of course after the Barca job which again was in a a relatively uncompetitive league, with a team that featured one of the GOAT players, as well as the likes of Xavi and Iniesta.
I am at no point trying to make Guardiola out to be some sort of big fraud. Merely that he has - so far - achieved success in a fairly limited set of circumstances, and I just dont regard him as being quite as well proven as some would make out. We already had a pretty lengthy discussion about this in the Giggs thread a while back, so I am hesitant to have a repeat of that.
I guess the shortened version of what I am trying to say is that I dont think Guardiola has been tested in some ways which you would probably expect an elite tier manager to have been. This doesnt mean he hasnt been challenged at all, but that as far as managers of elite clubs go, he has had a pretty easy ride so far.
I dont think anyone is undervaluing or underrating Pep, or not giving him the credit he deserves. He is being widely touted as the best in the world (and after tonights game, it is hardly the time to argue against that). I just feel that he has performed extremely well, but in two jobs which - as far as elite football management goes - were pretty easy jobs. Of course I say "performed extremely well" but he is yet to win the CL with Bayern, which should really be considered the benchmark for that club, given the lack of competitiveness in the Bundesliga. Nonetheless, looking at how his side played against Arsenal tonight, it was one of the best and most complete European displays I have seen in years.
All this was of course after the Barca job which again was in a a relatively uncompetitive league, with a team that featured one of the GOAT players, as well as the likes of Xavi and Iniesta.
I am at no point trying to make Guardiola out to be some sort of big fraud. Merely that he has - so far - achieved success in a fairly limited set of circumstances, and I just dont regard him as being quite as well proven as some would make out. We already had a pretty lengthy discussion about this in the Giggs thread a while back, so I am hesitant to have a repeat of that.
I guess the shortened version of what I am trying to say is that I dont think Guardiola has been tested in some ways which you would probably expect an elite tier manager to have been. This doesnt mean he hasnt been challenged at all, but that as far as managers of elite clubs go, he has had a pretty easy ride so far.
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Strongly disagree with the assertion that Barcelona had an already-great team when Pep took over mate. What they had were some strong pieces, and declining great pieces, and not a lot of structure to the whole thing, apart from morale being low by the end of Rijkaard's tenure. They had finished 10 points behind Villarreal in the league, and won just 4 games away from home. And although they reached the semi-finals of the Champions League vs United, it was an illusion of strength - they had faced the likes of Celtic and Schalke is the previous round of matches, so not exactly the greatest test for a supposedly strong team. Some key elements were there, sure, but it was an uphill task for Pep.
Right when he took over, he had to rectify the morale around the club, and sell Ronaldinho and Deco (two of their 3 biggest contributors over the last 5 seasons), apart from the likes of Zambrotta and Thuram. That's 4 first team players, and again for any other manager, losing someone of the caliber of Ronaldinho and Deco would be portrayed as a big deal necessitating a massive transition period. But for Pep, we maintain that he had nothing to do, and the team just ambled its way to a treble on autopilot. Up until then, Messi was not the Messi we know now, that fact is totally lost in the narrative. He was a wide attacker drifting in to complement Eto'o, not the GOAT caliber machine he later became. And for that Pep deserves huge amounts of credit - drawing inspiration from his idol and mentor Johan Cruyff's style of play as a false #9, he guided, and molded, and extracted the best out of Lionel, in a way that Rijkaard never did.
Rafael Márquez, their complement to Puyol was declining, they had signed a new right back, he had to introduce Barcelona B player Sergio Busquets as the #6, he had to find a way to fit Henry, Eto'o and Messi with Lionel as the center of attention instead of Eto'o, and get them to function as a collective. The task seems pretty easy, but it takes a rare manager and motivator to make an Henry and Eto'o defer to a 21 year old. He had to play a midfielder in central defense, he had to play Sylvinho at left-back he had to buy back Piqué who hadn't made many dents at United. And he won the treble in his first season playing the best football we've seen since Sacchi's Milan. That's more than incredible, something that likely won't be repeated for atleast the next couple of decades. I'd argue that no other manager in world football could do that in his first season while taking over a team in transition, while improving the mood around the club, while trying a player in a new position, while having question marks over 4 first team starting places.
Also, the thing is, he didn't struggle a lot because he didn't plunge his team to great depths - like Mourinho has, necessitating the need to prove himself in a period of struggle. I'd argue that's an excellent quality to have. Also, I'm commenting on this from the perspective of a United fan. We aren't exactly a mid-table club. Whatever luxuries were afforded to Pep in Barcelona or Munich will also translate in Manchester. Sure, he won't have some home grown players like in La Masia, or the access to the German players like in the Bundesliga; but as a club, United are more than capable of providing him whatever ammunition he needs. And Barcelona/ Bayern weren't easy jobs. He had to deal with massive expectations, media interference, board room drama, sponsor pressure, and he's done a brilliant job at both clubs.
Also, to the point about Bayern doing well in the transfer market, now that's a topic for another discussion mate. I've long opined about United's adventures in the transfer-market and how little value we extract, and how little intelligence we evidence at times, and I feel like giving up when people seriously suggest spending £35m on Mane, while calling Coman a very risky punt for a £6m pound loan. Not my money, but it makes me die inside a bit. Also, if the English market is inflated, buy from abroad. What's stopping United from doing that? But no, we need Premier League experience they argue... Sheesh! Anyway, another tangent, but if and when we get Guardiola, it's imperative that we also employ a top shelf DOF to go with him. The concept of a manager governing every sporting aspect of the club is so passé, and we need to move on a bit. Let the manager be the head coach of sorts, and let the DOF and the scouting team play him with the players he needs, with the managers input of course.
Excellent post.
@Invictus I hate arguing with you because you always come back with such well written posts, normally with at least a couple of other posters saying so as well!
Nonetheless, I think you are slightly overstating the job Pep took on at Barcelona (and at Bayern for that matter). He took over for the 08/09 season, and prior to that, Barca had won the league in 04/05 and 05/06, and like you said had reached the CL semi-finals before Pep was appointed. Hardly a club in crisis. Messi may not have been GOAT-material until Guardiola changed his position build the team around him (for which he deserves credit), but even when he was playing out on the right I remember seeing him and thinking he looked like a hell of a player. Combined with the fairly well established Xavi-Iniesta duo, that was already a very strong core to build the team around. Of course there was work that needed doing, and it wasnt all a bed of roses and trophies, and Guardiola again deserves a lot of credit for assembling what can be considered as one of the best club sides of all time - I am not disputing that he is capable of doing this in the right circumstances (which he has had during both of his appointments).
The circumstances at Bayern are interesting. On the one hand, expectations are very high as you said, but on the other hand, they do not have any real competition for the Bundesliga and can focus (moreso than other clubs at least) on the CL. Even if they fail to win the league, CL qualification is all but guaranteed for Bayern, barring a Moyes-like disaster. Pep inherited an incredibly strong team at Munich (evidenced by the treble), and he has/is moulding that into another *great* club team - and again I am not disputing that he is capable of doing that.
On your point about transfers - I completely agree with what you are saying. I think United's transfer strategy has been appalling and I too baulk at suggestions of signing Mane for £35m. However, your comments about needing a DOF are interesting - and something that we discussed a bit in the Giggs thread as well I think. I actually agree that we *should* try to use a setup of basically a first team coach and a DOF, but unfortunately I dont think that is going to happen. Woodward as our CEO handles a big part of the transfer negotiations along with the manager. Moving to a DOF/head coach system would either mean replacing Woodward or changing/reducing his responsibilities within the club. There is a chance that they could sell this to him, allowing him to focus 100% on the commercial aspects of the job whilst getting a football-man in to be the DOF, but it then starts to sound like quite a lot of upheaval and transition at board level, and I am not sure that those in charge will want that - especially with Ed and the commercial team doing such a good job in that side of the business already (they wont want to risk losing him).
Long story short I cant see us implementing a DOF setup, even if I would like us to. This is the sort of reason that I dont see Guardiola as the silver bullet, 100% guaranteed risk-free appointment that some do. He would have a fairly different set of challenges at United I reckon, including many that he has not faced before and that we simply do not know how he will respond to. If he could get us playing the way Bayern played tonight against Arsenal then I would be over the moon, but there are things I have concerns about;
* Can he successfully manage the more competitive environment and high tempo/physical nature of the PL? I say this because one thing I have always noticed about Guardiola is he doesnt tend to rotate his squad much. With a lack of a winter break, and arguably more intense games and more competitive games every week, I would have some questions about how well he can rotate and manage the fitness of the players, in the context of the PL. Also, injuries.
* Going on from the above - if the team does start to struggle in the league for any number of reasons, how will Guardiola respond and manage it? We can talk about his personality all day, but I dont think anyone can predict how an individual will react to these sorts of things. Mourinho is an example - he has always been a bit volatile but I dont think anyone foresaw a meltdown of the sort of extent we are currently seeing. It was a situation he has never been in before, and he has not coped with it well.
* What we just mentioned about the DOF (or lack of) in United's setup. I dont think it is reasonable to assume we would implement a DOF if Pep came in, and therefore looking at Pep as a Manchester United "govern every sporting aspect of the club" manager - it is again a different challenge, a different set of tasks, things that Pep may not be used to and may not have experienced before. This from a manager who already seems to have quite a high risk of simply burning out - how long is he actually going to last if he has even more responsibilities than before?
* Going on from the above - how long would Pep stay for anyway? Is he capable of maintaining success for more than just the short term? How will he manage when not inheriting a squad that is already pretty strong?
These are just a few things off the top of my head, a bit of food for thought basically. Like I said before, I would not object to having Pep as our next manager, and if we followed your suggestion of getting in a DOF as well then even better. However I think that as as manager, he is still unproven in some areas and there are a lot of challenges that he has not yet faced as a manager.
I actually came into this thread originally tonight to praise Pep after seeing them demolish Arsenal, in one of the best and most complete displays I have seen in the CL in years. How I went from that to this I dont know!
Nonetheless, I think you are slightly overstating the job Pep took on at Barcelona (and at Bayern for that matter). He took over for the 08/09 season, and prior to that, Barca had won the league in 04/05 and 05/06, and like you said had reached the CL semi-finals before Pep was appointed. Hardly a club in crisis. Messi may not have been GOAT-material until Guardiola changed his position build the team around him (for which he deserves credit), but even when he was playing out on the right I remember seeing him and thinking he looked like a hell of a player. Combined with the fairly well established Xavi-Iniesta duo, that was already a very strong core to build the team around. Of course there was work that needed doing, and it wasnt all a bed of roses and trophies, and Guardiola again deserves a lot of credit for assembling what can be considered as one of the best club sides of all time - I am not disputing that he is capable of doing this in the right circumstances (which he has had during both of his appointments).
The circumstances at Bayern are interesting. On the one hand, expectations are very high as you said, but on the other hand, they do not have any real competition for the Bundesliga and can focus (moreso than other clubs at least) on the CL. Even if they fail to win the league, CL qualification is all but guaranteed for Bayern, barring a Moyes-like disaster. Pep inherited an incredibly strong team at Munich (evidenced by the treble), and he has/is moulding that into another *great* club team - and again I am not disputing that he is capable of doing that.
On your point about transfers - I completely agree with what you are saying. I think United's transfer strategy has been appalling and I too baulk at suggestions of signing Mane for £35m. However, your comments about needing a DOF are interesting - and something that we discussed a bit in the Giggs thread as well I think. I actually agree that we *should* try to use a setup of basically a first team coach and a DOF, but unfortunately I dont think that is going to happen. Woodward as our CEO handles a big part of the transfer negotiations along with the manager. Moving to a DOF/head coach system would either mean replacing Woodward or changing/reducing his responsibilities within the club. There is a chance that they could sell this to him, allowing him to focus 100% on the commercial aspects of the job whilst getting a football-man in to be the DOF, but it then starts to sound like quite a lot of upheaval and transition at board level, and I am not sure that those in charge will want that - especially with Ed and the commercial team doing such a good job in that side of the business already (they wont want to risk losing him).
Long story short I cant see us implementing a DOF setup, even if I would like us to. This is the sort of reason that I dont see Guardiola as the silver bullet, 100% guaranteed risk-free appointment that some do. He would have a fairly different set of challenges at United I reckon, including many that he has not faced before and that we simply do not know how he will respond to. If he could get us playing the way Bayern played tonight against Arsenal then I would be over the moon, but there are things I have concerns about;
* Can he successfully manage the more competitive environment and high tempo/physical nature of the PL? I say this because one thing I have always noticed about Guardiola is he doesnt tend to rotate his squad much. With a lack of a winter break, and arguably more intense games and more competitive games every week, I would have some questions about how well he can rotate and manage the fitness of the players, in the context of the PL. Also, injuries.
* Going on from the above - if the team does start to struggle in the league for any number of reasons, how will Guardiola respond and manage it? We can talk about his personality all day, but I dont think anyone can predict how an individual will react to these sorts of things. Mourinho is an example - he has always been a bit volatile but I dont think anyone foresaw a meltdown of the sort of extent we are currently seeing. It was a situation he has never been in before, and he has not coped with it well.
* What we just mentioned about the DOF (or lack of) in United's setup. I dont think it is reasonable to assume we would implement a DOF if Pep came in, and therefore looking at Pep as a Manchester United "govern every sporting aspect of the club" manager - it is again a different challenge, a different set of tasks, things that Pep may not be used to and may not have experienced before. This from a manager who already seems to have quite a high risk of simply burning out - how long is he actually going to last if he has even more responsibilities than before?
* Going on from the above - how long would Pep stay for anyway? Is he capable of maintaining success for more than just the short term? How will he manage when not inheriting a squad that is already pretty strong?
These are just a few things off the top of my head, a bit of food for thought basically. Like I said before, I would not object to having Pep as our next manager, and if we followed your suggestion of getting in a DOF as well then even better. However I think that as as manager, he is still unproven in some areas and there are a lot of challenges that he has not yet faced as a manager.
I actually came into this thread originally tonight to praise Pep after seeing them demolish Arsenal, in one of the best and most complete displays I have seen in the CL in years. How I went from that to this I dont know!