In Pep we trust.

[Dimples]

IMO most of Pep's critics on this forum are over the top because:

1. The defence was targeted for improvement but we could not get our targets: Laporte, Bonucci, etc...
2. We did buy a second top class striker - Jesus
3. Pep's midfielders of choice are currently unavailable:
Gundogan injured and F1 suspended (unfairly when compared to Rojo, Fellani, Rooney and Zlatan's actions)
4. The attacking players are Peps choices, Sterling (probably), Brown, Sane, etc... and they are doing well BUT
Kun is not scoring (is he even trying?). To me it looks like Kun will be gone in the Summer.
5. The Sky/FA agenda anti us and pro Rags (get Rags in top 4 at our expense). That is costing us points directly and indirectly.
Penalties not given, F1 unavailable, etc...

We do have glaring weaknesses because of the above issues that they tried to address but could not.
The weaknesses are: 1. GK (A Pep mistake), 2. Defence (2 full backs + center half), 3. Kun. 4. A younger F1
5. No Steel/cojones/balle/polota/palla/bollar/liathróidí/myachi (we really really need this. Dare I say it Joey B or James Milner type of toughness).

IMO what will happen is:

1. All of the above five issues will be addressed this Summer.
2. IMO right now at boardroom level intense 'discussions' are taking place with the Sky/FA to ensure a level playing field.
It is inconceivable to me that our owners will not use their muscle to sort this out - pronto.
I believe they will prevail.

Write of this season. We might scrape top4 and with a kind draw progress in the CL (more suited to our defence).

Give Pep a break. Next season is the year to judge him.

[PrezIke]

IMO most of Pep's critics on this forum are over the top because:

1. The defence was targeted for improvement but we could not get our targets: Laporte, Bonucci, etc...
2. We did buy a second top class striker - Jesus
3. Pep's midfielders of choice are currently unavailable:
Gundogan injured and F1 suspended (unfairly when compared to Rojo, Fellani, Rooney and Zlatan's actions)
4. The attacking players are Peps choices, Sterling (probably), Brown, Sane, etc... and they are doing well BUT
Kun is not scoring (is he even trying?). To me it looks like Kun will be gone in the Summer.
5. The Sky/FA agenda anti us and pro Rags (get Rags in top 4 at our expense). That is costing us points directly and indirectly.
Penalties not given, F1 unavailable, etc...

We do have glaring weaknesses because of the above issues that they tried to address but could not.
The weaknesses are: 1. GK (A Pep mistake), 2. Defence (2 full backs + center half), 3. Kun. 4. A younger F1
5. No Steel/cojones/balle/polota/palla/bollar/liathróidí/myachi (we really really need this. Dare I say it Joey B or James Milner type of toughness).

IMO what will happen is:

1. All of the above five issues will be addressed this Summer.
2. IMO right now at boardroom level intense 'discussions' are taking place with the Sky/FA to ensure a level playing field.
It is inconceivable to me that our owners will not use their muscle to sort this out - pronto.
I believe they will prevail.

Write of this season. We might scrape top4 and with a kind draw progress in the CL (more suited to our defence).

Give Pep a break. Next season is the year to judge him.

I wonder if we could attempt a crazy exchange of Messi for Kun + cash. I can't believe I am even suggesting this, but Barca may struggle to pay him and he's certainly a Pep player if there ever is one.

Otherwise you wrote pretty much every point I have been thinking as well.

[Dubaimancityfan]

IMO most of Pep's critics on this forum are over the top because:

1. The defence was targeted for improvement but we could not get our targets: Laporte, Bonucci, etc...
2. We did buy a second top class striker - Jesus
3. Pep's midfielders of choice are currently unavailable:
Gundogan injured and F1 suspended (unfairly when compared to Rojo, Fellani, Rooney and Zlatan's actions)
4. The attacking players are Peps choices, Sterling (probably), Brown, Sane, etc... and they are doing well BUT
Kun is not scoring (is he even trying?). To me it looks like Kun will be gone in the Summer.
5. The Sky/FA agenda anti us and pro Rags (get Rags in top 4 at our expense). That is costing us points directly and indirectly.
Penalties not given, F1 unavailable, etc...

We do have glaring weaknesses because of the above issues that they tried to address but could not.
The weaknesses are: 1. GK (A Pep mistake), 2. Defence (2 full backs + center half), 3. Kun. 4. A younger F1
5. No Steel/cojones/balle/polota/palla/bollar/liathróidí/myachi (we really really need this. Dare I say it Joey B or James Milner type of toughness).

IMO what will happen is:

1. All of the above five issues will be addressed this Summer.
2. IMO right now at boardroom level intense 'discussions' are taking place with the Sky/FA to ensure a level playing field.
It is inconceivable to me that our owners will not use their muscle to sort this out - pronto.
I believe they will prevail.

Write of this season. We might scrape top4 and with a kind draw progress in the CL (more suited to our defence).

Give Pep a break. Next season is the year to judge him.

That's a well balanced view.

[Bear60]

Only Man City can get a manager of the calibre of Pep and destroy him in 6 months. Typical City alive and well.

On a serious note he needs to stop being arrogant admit his philosophy isn't working and change it and find a method that works with the tools he has. I have never in my 30 years of watching City seen a City team that is so easy to score against. We have zero leaders and zero back bone. No one to put a foot in. We have gone from Mancini tough to beat solid team to one with a very soft underbelly.

agree entirely with this

[sidSmith]

I don't like the goalkeeping situation. Regardless of his actual accountability for each goal, he's under pressure but Pep keeps putting him in the spotlight. I don't like Zabaletta playing in the middle when we should have youngsters around the place who can fill in when we have 2 key players out. I'm frustrated as hell about our inability to put the chances away, Sterling is the one that sticks in my mind the most.

I don't like the way the media are having a wankfest over both Spuds and dippers yet seem oblivious to fact that despite how wonderful they are they are only 3 points ahead of the old pretenders that are shit City. They're on fire, we're definitely in transition, yet it's 3 fucking points.

[john@staustell]

Trouble is he is constantly being out-thought by supposedly lesser managers with worse players

Presumably by out-thought you mean they defend in numbers and wait for our dickhead players to make the inevitable mistakes? Hardly out-thought.

I agree with your interpretation but not your conclusion.

They must all be having a good chuckle, it's not rocket science is it?

There are 2 things we can't do:

Penetrate this packed defence
Draw them out so we can play to our own real strength - the counter attack!

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

I don't trust him to sort this problem out at all.

[carl_feedthegoat]

I don't trust him to sort this problem out at all.

Lets give him till next season - theres no argument he didnt take over mostly 'has beens' and he did want other players but never got them.

He biggest mistake is trying to implement his style with most players not being able to do it - some can , most cant.

Its madness to want him out...Ill give him till mid next season.

[Bluedj]

Some great posts in this thread. Agree with most things said

[sheblue]

Of course we have to give him until next season, and beyond. But the stark fact still remains that he needs players.
But will we get the right players we badly need in the next window. That's debatable.
Can't see much meaningful being done during this window.

[Original Dub]

Of course we have to give him until next season, and beyond. But the stark fact still remains that he needs players.
But will we get the right players we badly need in the next window. That's debatable.
Can't see much meaningful being done during this window.

Well that's just it.
I was sure we'd get almost whatever player we wanted because the lure of pep would be the icong on the cake.

I'd like to think he can spend as much as he wants at the end of the season and that will be his defining window, having had a full season with the squad he THOUGHT would work for him.

[Kevin]

I agree that Pep was the manager that we wanted but something is seriously wrong, he does not look like he is interested and I don't think he has any idea how to get us out of this hole. The players look confused and I am really worried that Sergio just does not look like he is enjoying his football. It is blatantly obvious to all of us that it was a massive mistake to get rid of Joe Hart, we now have a goalkeeper who just cannot save a shot and clearly is not good enough. Nobody can deny that Joe Hart is a far better keeper, we have gone from having the best keeper in the premier league to having the worst. Somehow I don't think Pep will admit he has made a mistake. We are far too easy to score against and losing like we did to a very average Everton team should be ringing alarm bells with us all. We are heading towards the Thursday night league that nobody wants.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

I know it's all academic as well as being subjectively difficult to quantify but, allowing for any clangers he might have dropped, how many of the goals we've conceded would Joe have had a chance of saving and how many more points would we now have thanks to him ??

Moreover, how much more confident would our defence have been, with fewer goals being conceded.

As I say, it's all academic and I was just musing anyway, but the 'results', if it were somehow possible to extrapolate them, might even make Pep have a re-think.

[BookJunior]

IMO most of Pep's critics on this forum are over the top because:

1. The defence was targeted for improvement but we could not get our targets: Laporte, Bonucci, etc...
2. We did buy a second top class striker - Jesus
3. Pep's midfielders of choice are currently unavailable:
Gundogan injured and F1 suspended (unfairly when compared to Rojo, Fellani, Rooney and Zlatan's actions)
4. The attacking players are Peps choices, Sterling (probably), Brown, Sane, etc... and they are doing well BUT
Kun is not scoring (is he even trying?). To me it looks like Kun will be gone in the Summer.
5. The Sky/FA agenda anti us and pro Rags (get Rags in top 4 at our expense). That is costing us points directly and indirectly.
Penalties not given, F1 unavailable, etc...

We do have glaring weaknesses because of the above issues that they tried to address but could not.
The weaknesses are: 1. GK (A Pep mistake), 2. Defence (2 full backs + center half), 3. Kun. 4. A younger F1
5. No Steel/cojones/balle/polota/palla/bollar/liathróidí/myachi (we really really need this. Dare I say it Joey B or James Milner type of toughness).

IMO what will happen is:

1. All of the above five issues will be addressed this Summer.
2. IMO right now at boardroom level intense 'discussions' are taking place with the Sky/FA to ensure a level playing field.
It is inconceivable to me that our owners will not use their muscle to sort this out - pronto.
I believe they will prevail.

Write of this season. We might scrape top4 and with a kind draw progress in the CL (more suited to our defence).

Give Pep a break. Next season is the year to judge him.

Bang on the money mate. Unfortunately UEFA and the FA remain out of reach unless we appeal every decision and employ a QC. That could be a dangerous strategy though.

[DoomMerchant]

In the first official interview with Pep on the official site, he said that he hadn't prepared at all before starting his job at City - he wanted to start with a clean slate and without preconceptions.

I thought this sounded both very worrying and arrogant and voiced as much on here. However, the general consensus was that that was just something he said and that he would have been busy with assessing our squad and its strength and weaknesses and identifying possible transfer targets long before landing in Manchester.

But everything I've seen since then seems to point at Pep telling the truth in that interview. In other words, it's no wonder that he's been taken completely by surprise by the demands of the Premier League and by the weakness of our ageing squad.

As said above, I think this is quite arrogant and disrespectful to our club. When he went to Bayern he spent 6 months learning all he could about the club and German football, and even went the extra mile to learn the language. When he went here he was so sure of himself that he didn't do any homework at all?

i think the simple reality is that he didn't get some of his most required transfer targets, whether that's because he was too picky about what was available to buy, or whether the Spafia fucked it up, or whether it was a combo of both.

Buying zero fucking fullbacks and a 50M child defender who was shown to be fucking capable of some major league fuckups last season wasn't exactly going to create any stalwart defending. Add in trading an amazing shot stopper/dogshit distributor for a sweeper keeper who never met a shot he wanted to save and you have the defensive shitshow that we are.

This team is literally aging dogshit. We said it last season and as "young" as it got by adding a couple players under 30, Gundowen is broken (again), Sane doesn't play much yet, and we're still waiting for Jesus to save us if we can get him registered.

I don't expect top 4 this season. But you'd better bet that we need to spend LVG style Rag money this next summer.

The troubling "holistic" story here is this: When has Pep ever had to rebuild a team in the transfer market? I think we all know the answer to that question. Big test for the lad. Hope he doesn't keep fucking it up.

cheers

[Beefymcfc]

Until we change the ageing players, there's no chance of us moving on. It's not only that the legs have gone, it's the mental strength that keeps getting knocked out of them.

Pep has time but the club need to support his plans. The Boss surely won't let Pep go on like this and will be kicking arse if they don't deliver his first choice players.

Over to you Cheeky?

[BookJunior]

I know it's all academic as well as being subjectively difficult to quantify but, allowing for any clangers he might have dropped, how many of the goals we've conceded would Joe have had a chance of saving and how many more points would we now have thanks to him ??

Moreover, how much more confident would our defence have been, with fewer goals being conceded.

As I say, it's all academic and I was just musing anyway, but the 'results', if it were somehow possible to extrapolate them, might even make Pep have a re-think.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that the partnership between 2 centre halves and the goalkeeper is absolutely vital. It's an unbreakable law.

The best I ever saw in any team was between Corrigan, Watson and Doyle, Also the idea of defensive midfield specialists wasn't born possibly because we had Colin Bell.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

I know it's all academic as well as being subjectively difficult to quantify but, allowing for any clangers he might have dropped, how many of the goals we've conceded would Joe have had a chance of saving and how many more points would we now have thanks to him ??

Moreover, how much more confident would our defence have been, with fewer goals being conceded.

As I say, it's all academic and I was just musing anyway, but the 'results', if it were somehow possible to extrapolate them, might even make Pep have a re-think.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that the partnership between 2 centre halves and the goalkeeper is absolutely vital. It's an unbreakable law.

The best I ever saw in any team was between Corrigan, Watson and Doyle, Also the idea of defensive midfield specialists wasn't born possibly because we had Colin Bell.

Those three players were enough to make even the man in the moon drool all night long.

What a trio.

[Justified logic]

I know it's all academic as well as being subjectively difficult to quantify but, allowing for any clangers he might have dropped, how many of the goals we've conceded would Joe have had a chance of saving and how many more points would we now have thanks to him ??

Moreover, how much more confident would our defence have been, with fewer goals being conceded.

As I say, it's all academic and I was just musing anyway, but the 'results', if it were somehow possible to extrapolate them, might even make Pep have a re-think.

Further points that would have increased not just defence but also team confidence and have led to an improved position: Hart knew how organise his defence; would bollock people for mistakes; was a leader; allowed the attack to worry less about the back door and take more chances being creative up front.

Dumping Hart without even a trial, whilst not bothering to understand the team or the English game was a huge, huge and unforgivable mistake

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

1 step back.. hopefully 2 steps forward.

Come on you lot.. remember when we had to sell SWP to pay the wages?..
Any other team in the world would have Pep as their manager.. so lets stop being spoilt cunts.

Kisses etc.

I'm kind of getting tired of all this "you've been spoiled" stuff. Yeah, I was around when we were shit. No, I haven't forgotten anything. Yes, I praise the mighty Bacchus every single day for bringing us Sheik. Yes, I do know we are living the dream.

BUT I'm tired of using that as an excuse for people WHO CAME AFTER TAKEOVER. There isn't single player, manager, youth team scout, physio, team doctor or executive who would be around if the takeover hadn't happened. You have to go to kitman and probably some low level assistants beforw you could even imagine these people being kind who would be here regardless.

SO, I do have patience and I'm not asking for Pep's head but for me our past isn't an acceptable excuse for failure for people who have NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR PAST. We are so far removed from that past that the resources should be measure for expectations and right now there are people at pitch and executive level (I'm looking at you Txiki) who are failing.