Was it ? I don't think that was the concept when they got thrashed by Madrid 4-0 in Allianz considering Bayern had just won the treble the previous season and Madrid in this very specific season finished third in La Liga.
Manchester City under Pep Guardiola | Pep on City v Liverpool ref: "He likes to be special"
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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.
Was it ? I don't think that was the concept when they got thrashed by Madrid 4-0 in Allianz considering Bayern had just won the treble the previous season and Madrid in this very specific season finished third in La Liga.
Assuming Liverpool finish them off, then Bayern winning it again under Jupp with a weaker Bayern would be the cherry on top to kill this Pep is a god talk!
He also lost to Atletico Madrid who are underdogs in every game they play due to their ultra defensive manager. That CL tie must be an anomaly in the matrix, because according to many on here Guardiola's style of play dominates defensive managers.
That was an absolute clusterfeck from Pep that night.
Fell into Simeone’s trap too in 2016.
Actually the Atletico match has been by far his best tie in the CL for us and we were unlucky not to go through. Against Real and Barca we looked pretty much as shambolic as City did today too though.
I think you mean sarcasm*Irony alert*.
He didn't. That was a tie lost on the margins (hello Muller!).
His Bayern should have lost v Juve before they even faced Atletico. Juve had a goal wrongfully disallowed that would have had them 3-0 up at half time.
I've been preaching for years that he pays for the extremeness of his tactics off the ball when they face a team that come to play for years hence what happened at Bayern. His teams are useless when going backwards, if they don't press and win the ball back quickly they'll pay the price. Now this version of a Pep side just isn't getting it done on the ball under serious pressure. The sort of pressure you don't see from any prem side not named Liverpool. Kompany, Otamendi, Fernandinho are far from what a team that obsesses of building up from the back should have. One fault of his system is the width they try to get, normally it helps but when under pressure the forward is left isolated against two defenders, while the wingers have defenders themselves. He tried to change that by having more midfielders but that just went pear shaped.
Plus Morata missed a ridiculous chance round about the same time.
The margins were fine - Bayern’s variety in attack during the first leg was extraordinary. But what did it yield? A 1-0 defeat at the Vicente Calderon - a scoreline and an approach that Simeone had long perfected. Pep too was a victim - twice in fact, Bayern lost 1-0 in the group stage and still he couldn’t find an answer.
Simeone is an exceptional defensive coach. He's snared other managers too (remember Mourinho at Stamford bridge?). A 3-3 aggregate result is not one I'm beating Pep with. The 3-0 today? Hand me my belt.
I don’t disagree.
It just serves to illustrate Guardiola’s shortcomings - every great manager has them. Despite the British media portraying Pep as a unicorn.
Excellent analysis. You could see Klopp told his midfielders to press the second ball intensely when their attacks broke down in the first half and this never allowed City to play through the midfield on the counter where much of their success is garnered. Definitely a blueprint on how to play Pep’s teams but you also need an excellent defensive performance as Liverpool, rather shockingly, produced tonight.
His shortfall is that half a billion is not enough
As I've said before... no excuses for not winning everything. Regardless of comfortably taking the title, this season is a relative failure.
If not for a sensational comeback their season is pretty much finished.
No because we lack the grafters like Robinson, Milner and Henderson like Liverpool do. We also lack a tireless CF like Firminho. We have to find our own way of beating City because we're not going to get the likes of Young, Matic, Pogba and Lukaku to do what their Liverpool counterparts did tonight
Of course what we could do is really spring a surprise and leave a large amount of those players out and play the likes of Herrera and McTominay in midfield instead and the likes of Rashford and Lingard up front like we did at home to Chelsea last season when Ibra was dropped (can't see that happening with Lukaku though)
Lukaku is probably our best player at the moment so would be crazy to leave him out anyway.
Front three of Rashford, Sanchez and Lingard with Matic behind Herrera and McTominay. feck it, give it a go.
I don't disagree, my point was though he's never going to do the same job Firminho does in terms of the defending from the front so again we can't use what Liverpool did tonight as a blueprint, we need to find our own way of beating them using our best players (Lukaku and Pogba being two of which)
I think Liverpool would have loved Lukaku in the second half when they couldn't get out. It's swings and roundabouts really. Klopp went for Solanke later on for more physicality but I don't disagree we need to pressure city from the off to be successful.
I think it’s more a mindset issue rather than type of player one, but I’d still like us to press a little higher against them when we attack. Agreed he won’t drop Lukaku but I wonder if Herrera will come back for Saturday.
Bit of both is probably the correct answer, I can't see Pogba doing the running that the likes of Milner and Henderson did tonight but there's really no reason why he shouldn't be capable of doing it given the athlete he is
And with just the two trophies as well. Tut tut.
Agreed - Pogba’s skillsets should be encouraged, but he’s always going to be a better passer than runner with his mindset. It does beg the question do we need a scurrying tackler in the midfield and shouldn’t that be Herrera?
Leaving Lukaku out would be such a Guardiola thing to do.
He was supposed to be but he's been either injured or bang out of form when he's been healthy.
Absolutely, but my point was more is Herrera up to the task some (including myself) say we need regarding a high-pressing tackling midfielder.
I don't think we can depend on him to become that guy after a season like this. I'm not advocating selling him, but I feel strongly we must reinforce in midfield so we have depth AND quality. This year left us with bare bones in there too often and I believe it is a major reason Matic's form dipped so badly for awhile.
I tend to agree though don’t think Matic has been as bad recently as some think (I feel he’s played a lot of football and had to do a lot of covering for the midfield this season).
We need quality reinforcements, most certainly, but when you ask me to name them (realistic ones), I’m struggling. Who would you like us to get?
It's a good question mate. I think Fred from Shakhtar would give us alot of drive and energy in the middle which could serve well, but I've only seen him a handful of times.
Milinkovic-Savic is somebody all the top clubs seem in for, but I'm not sure myself that he'd improve our team play as much as his individual quality would suggest.
Seri is another player I quite like, but again, I've only seen him a handful of times.
Fabinho would be a good fit and give us good solidity in front of our CBs but I worry him and Matic together would hinder us in attack.
It's easier to identify issues rather than solving them lol.
The major issue with the human condition in a nutshell there...
I haven’t seen enough of Fred or Savic, but like Fabinho’s mobility. A friend of mine that lives in Paris keeps telling me that Verratti will be available in the summer and I’d love us to get him, but it’s all very easy typing this out, as you say!
I can't imagine the english media if Mourinho lose 3-0 at Anfield with zero shot on target. But it's their best team to grace the premier league so all is good.
He said apart from 15 minutes in the first half they were " so, so good." Even Jose wouldn't exaggerate that far.
Tactics in football have always gone in cycles, certain systems and styles of play go in and out of fashion depending on whose winning. When Pep was manager at Barca it seemed like almost every major club in Europe was trying to copy the tika tika model, you saw Chelsea with Boas, Rodgers/Martinez in the premiership too, Bayern moved towards that style and eventually signed Pep then you have Chiellini saying "Guardiolaism destroyed a generation of defenders etc" the truth is Klopp's entire style of play was designed as a way to exploit the tika tika systems, high press/quick transitions and a midfield which can cover incredible amount of ground for counter pressing. Klopp has by far the best record of any coach vs Pep because a team who religiously tries to play the ball out of defence is incredibly vulnerable to teams who excel in pressing/transitioning.
That type of performance would convince most people that Liverpool are a match of City but it's only true in games vs them rather than over a season. When Liverpool play vs ordinary premier league opposition who have no intention of playing out of the back or rolling passes into dangerous CM areas they struggle badly, Henderson/Milner/Ox may be good for covering ground and breaking forward but when you're up against 11 men behind the ball and someone has to produce quality in tight spaces they're much less convincing. That's where having Silva/Sane/KDB comes in handy.
I have to admit that I'm pretty jealous of how Liverpool take on City and wish Mourinho would take a few notes from Klopps books.
That type of performance would convince most people that Liverpool are a match of City but it's only true in games vs them rather than over a season. When Liverpool play vs ordinary premier league opposition who have no intention of playing out of the back or rolling passes into dangerous CM areas they struggle badly, Henderson/Milner/Ox may be good for covering ground and breaking forward but when you're up against 11 men behind the ball and someone has to produce quality in tight spaces they're much less convincing. That's where having Silva/Sane/KDB comes in handy.
I have to admit that I'm pretty jealous of how Liverpool take on City and wish Mourinho would take a few notes from Klopps books.
His shortfall is that half a billion is not enough
As I've said before... no excuses for not winning everything. Regardless of comfortably taking the title, this season is a relative failure.
Lol, he's not the only one with a £700m squad in England, hows the other guy doing.
That tagline though
That tagline though
Classic Caf tagline lol. Myself and United's first sugar daddy have it in common. Unfortunately he was far better off than me and I unfortunately don't live up to it.
Even with Salah possibly out, they still have no chance against Pool.