Champions League 2024-25

Who will win?

  • Total voters
    47
  • Poll closed .
BBZ8800

BBZ8800

Senior Member
Birdy said:
This is the end of his 2nd cycle at City.
1st cycle was until 2020, reached its peak in 2018

2nd cycle reached its peaked in 2023, it's now in the decline phase

Will he lead the 3rd cycle? we will see...

from his interviews, journo info, and all, it's certain he won't coach at club level again.
After City, it will be an NT
Click to expand...
I wouldn't call it the 2nd cycle.

Because when he came, he needed 2-3 years to buy the type of players whom he wants.

And today, his team is still full of players from his first 1-2-3 seasons at City.

Imo, a true new cycle will start only when he'll replace the core players.
And he has never done that in his career till now.
Because you have to get rid of players who brought you trophies.

Anyway, how I see it, his core players bought during his first 3 (max 4) seasons at City:

2015
De Bruyne

2016
Stones
Gundogan
Foden

2017
Ederson
Bernardo

2019
Rodri

Without Haaland, more or less, this is the core of City, right?
The only new players are defenders and tons of wingers who are all rotated.
But the true core, players "who make the City play like City" are Kdb, Rodri, Bernardo, Foden and Gundogan, right?

So, Pep has only replaced defenders, Alvarez, Grealish, Doku and similar.
But the brains of the team is the same.

Trying to replace Kdb-Bernardo-Gundogan-Foden-Rodri with younger and more motivated players is as equally as hard task as asking someone to build a new Xavi-Iniesta-Busi-Alves core at Barca from Pep's days.

So, again, I don't see Pep's City as two cycles till now.
It was just one long cycle with the same core players and new defenders and a few squad players wingers.

The real problem starts when Pep will have to replace the core of Kdb, Bernardo, Rodri, Gundogan.

It requires a skill:
1. of getting rid of your core players and not pissing up the locker room (Pep can't do that)
2. you need to buy an equally good new gen of players (Pep isn't doing that)
3. your football ideas still need to work (remember how Mourinho went from a hero to zero regarding tactical ideas in 10 years)
4. you need to keep your calm and sanity and Pep already for a few months looks like being on a verge of calling an ambulance and seeking an emergency help (mental health wise)

All in all, his new cycle is yet to come, and patterns and results from other coaches in similar situations paired with his current mental health don't offer too much to hope.
 
malvolio

malvolio

Senior Member
fergus90 said:
One thing I will say, the referee was genuinely good which is a rarity in football these days. Made the right calls, allowed sensible amount of contact between players.
Click to expand...
Fucked up by not calling that foul on Bellingham by Bernardo. But overall I agree that he didn't have major fuck-ups.
 
Messi983

Messi983

Senior Member
Barcaman said:
City defense is terrible. 200 million spent this winter. :lol:
Click to expand...

None of the players they spent 200m on didn't start. And that was probably a mistake. Yes, they are not fully adapted to the team yet but City desperately needs fresh blood. I expect Marmoush and Nico to start next week.
 
Messi983

Messi983

Senior Member
Also, I'm surprised they let Walker go on loan without bringing a replacement first. Maybe he wanted a new challenge or something happened between him and Pep. But I'm pretty sure they wouldn't concede the third goal with Walker in instead of Lewis.

They have problems all over in midfield and defense (except Gvardiol who is probably their best player) but a glaring hole at RB. Lewis is still young and could turn out well in few years but not ready for these type of games and playing Akanji or Nunes there out of position is not a solution either.

They wanted to sign Cambiasso last month but probably didn't want to pay Juve's asking price and then shifted their focus to Nico as was clear they need fresh legs in midfield too. I don't see Nico as a DM and he'll probably struggle if he'll be asked to play the Rodri role for next months but so would basically any player in the world and tbf their other midfield options are so underwhelming Nico will still be an upgrade imo. But I think he'll prove useful signing next season when Rodri will return.

So I think in summer they'll go back for Juve RB or maybe someone cheaper like Frimpong (he also can't defend and questonable how he'd fit into a system with 4 defenders; Pep could start playing 3 atb again though with how many CBs they have).

Besides a RB I expect them to bring 3-4 new players. Def a midfielder like Wirtz/Xavi Simons and possibly a new GK too and with Rodri returning they'll look very different next year. Pep just needs to survive this season without losing it.
 
BBZ8800

BBZ8800

Senior Member
FinBarcelonafan said:
City was so shit today. Silva is absolutely cooked. So is Grealish. Savinho can't make a pass or anything to save his life. In general City's physical level looked two steps worse than Real which is surprising. Pep isn't pushing the squad enough or the injuries are messing up their season completely.
Click to expand...
With Pep's and Klopp's style of pressing, your team can play only for 3-4-5 seasons.

Their legs are gone after that.

Then a coach needs to rebuild or move to a new club.

Pep has nowhere to move and he doesn't know how to rebuild.

And then you get an old, drained, tired version of what was once a superior team.
 
Birdy

Birdy

Senior Member
BBZ8800 said:
I wouldn't call it the 2nd cycle.

Because when he came, he needed 2-3 years to buy the type of players whom he wants.

And today, his team is still full of players from his first 1-2-3 seasons at City.

Imo, a true new cycle will start only when he'll replace the core players.
And he has never done that in his career till now.
Because you have to get rid of players who brought you trophies.

Anyway, how I see it, his core players bought during his first 3 (max 4) seasons at City:

2015
De Bruyne

2016
Stones
Gundogan
Foden

2017
Ederson
Bernardo

2019
Rodri

Without Haaland, more or less, this is the core of City, right?
The only new players are defenders and tons of wingers who are all rotated.
But the true core, players "who make the City play like City" are Kdb, Rodri, Bernardo, Foden and Gundogan, right?

So, Pep has only replaced defenders, Alvarez, Grealish, Doku and similar.
But the brains of the team is the same.

Trying to replace Kdb-Bernardo-Gundogan-Foden-Rodri with younger and more motivated players is as equally as hard task as asking someone to build a new Xavi-Iniesta-Busi-Alves core at Barca from Pep's days.

So, again, I don't see Pep's City as two cycles till now.
It was just one long cycle with the same core players and new defenders and a few squad players wingers.

The real problem starts when Pep will have to replace the core of Kdb, Bernardo, Rodri, Gundogan.

It requires a skill:
1. of getting rid of your core players and not pissing up the locker room (Pep can't do that)
2. you need to buy an equally good new gen of players (Pep isn't doing that)
3. your football ideas still need to work (remember how Mourinho went from a hero to zero regarding tactical ideas in 10 years)
4. you need to keep your calm and sanity and Pep already for a few months looks like being on a verge of calling an ambulance and seeking an emergency help (mental health wise)

All in all, his new cycle is yet to come, and patterns and results from other coaches in similar situations paired with his current mental health don't offer too much to hope.
Click to expand...

It's a different cycle because football is different:
- City 2017-2020 was all out attacking, with a clear 4-3-3, two creative interiors, out and out wingers, and strikers dropping deep even as false 9. That city was a natural continuation of his work at Barca-Bayern, and was far more entertaining to watch, but very prone at the back

- City 2020-now is a different cautious team, caring more to structure a good OOP, prevent counters, force mistakes to the opponent, be patient and win games even by small margin.
Pep opted to change the approach to fare better in CL, and it worked. We saw already a different City in their first season 20-21 that reached the final with that type of football

Then core squad changed as well:
The change of football was reflected on the personnel, as different group of players were essential for each period: - 1st cycle of City were based players on Sane, Sterling, Walker, Kompany, Fernandino, David Sliva, Gabriel Jesus and Aguero
- 2nd cycle of City ditched wingers and false 9s and were based on technical players upfront: Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden, Gundo, with Diaz Ake Akanji at the back, with Rodri the pillar at the center, and of course the addition of Haaland

The only player that was as vital as as important across both 1st and 2nd phase was KdB. About the rest, their importance changed, and most of the 1st phase squad was recycled

We are heading now towards the end of the 2nd phase.
We will see how the 3rd will look like, if there is gonna be one under Pep
 
T

Temptation

Well-known member
Birdy said:
It's a different cycle because football is different:
- City 2017-2020 was all out attacking, with a clear 4-3-3, two creative interiors, out and out wingers, and strikers dropping deep even as false 9. That city was a natural continuation of his work at Barca-Bayern, and was far more entertaining to watch, but very prone at the back

- City 2020-now is a different cautious team, caring more to structure a good OOP, prevent counters, force mistakes to the opponent, be patient and win games even by small margin.
Pep opted to change the approach to fare better in CL, and it worked. We saw already a different City in their first season 20-21 that reached the final with that type of football

Then core squad changed as well:
The change of football was reflected on the personnel, as different group of players were essential for each period: - 1st cycle of City were based players on Sane, Sterling, Walker, Kompany, Fernandino, David Sliva, Gabriel Jesus and Aguero
- 2nd cycle of City ditched wingers and false 9s and were based on technical players upfront: Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden, Gundo, with Diaz Ake Akanji at the back, with Rodri the pillar at the center, and of course the addition of Haaland

The only player that was as vital as as important across both 1st and 2nd phase was KdB. About the rest, their importance changed, and most of the 1st phase squad was recycled

We are heading now towards the end of the 2nd phase.
We will see how the 3rd will look like, if there is gonna be one under Pep
Click to expand...
Totally agree, Bird. Such a good post. So well written.
 
xXKonan

xXKonan

Senior Member
There are very few teams out there that can perfectly sit for 90 minutes straight up defending and giving the ball to Real the majority of time.

Flicks approach is you basically have to keep up the pressure while in the back of your mind that yeah Real's front four are still very dangerous. Basically like fast fast-paced boxing match and you can't let up.
 
T

Temptation

Well-known member
Madrid have so much X factor for a cup competition format.


Mbappe, Vinicius and Bellingham can be very dangerous on their day.
 
N

NKMaribor

Active member
Yep. City is absolute trash. IF Carlo manages to frack up at Bernabeu, oh my. He is definitely capable of doing that.

Or maybe he finally realizes:

1. Rudiger - Ascensio partnership .
2. No Lucas.
3. 3 man midfield - with 3 forwards instead of 4.
4. Three compact blocks while defending. 4-4-2
5. Fast break attacks, simply because we lack proper conductor in the middle while front guys are made for that.

With this changes and some luck, RM is a contender for title - at least as far as CL goes. For La Liga, Barca will win it.

For next season. Its time for shopping. RB, LB, CB, CM. No way around it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Home of Barca Fans

Top