About changing his formation and lineup, he played vs Lyon in group stage in 2018/19.
Man City:Lyon 1:2, 2:2
His regular formation didn't work against Lyon, so he probably tried something new.
In the end, in 270 minutes against Lyon, he conceded 7 goals.
He managed to get KOd by 2 farmers clubs in 4 years.
Unlimited oil money & supposedly the best coach in the world < random farmers league clubs
I am reading City's forum.
Apparently, Pep is trying a new formation almost every time before a big match.
He is trying to surprise the opponents, yet he is confusing his own players.
Also, apparently some players are angry at him.
And are confused because he is trying too many new things in every match.
After some time, players are overthinking and they don't know what are they supposed to do on the field and they start to suck in basic things due to that.
His methods are both physically and mentally wearing players down after 3 years.
Further, even some City fans say what I have said yesterday: Jesus and Sterling offer a lot of movement and creativity, they get into a lot of chances but their conversion rate is very poor.
So, it is expected that City will dominate majority of matches, but often they will struggle to score.
Yesterday he fielded 5 midfield+attacking players out of only 1 is a good finisher (Kdb vs Jesus, Sterling, Gundogan, Rodri).
That's like fielding Busi, Arthur, Frenkie, Griezmann, Puig and wondering: wow, we dominated, had possession, created chances but failed to score.
What a shock.
He is not trying to score goals from quality finishes but from a huge amount of chances when even crappy finishers will eventually get simple tap ins or walk with a ball into a net.
But too often in Europe, that Shity approach (pun intended) doesn't work, as seen yesterday.
And then our fans are deceived and fall into a trap=but they are dominating.
Well, because he traded everything for fluidity and movement.
He gets tons of those but loses lethalness for example.
About defending, Pep is always trying to mask his flaws with keeping possession for 90% of time.
But if he can't keep possession all the time and/or if the opponents have figured him out, then his defending is quite shit and below average for a top club.
In 12 KO matches with City, he managed to keep a clean sheet in only 2 matches (Basel and Schalke).
He never kept a clean sheet against any bigger team.
For example, Real kept 5 clean sheets in 2016 in 7 matches.
And conceded 3 goals in 7 matches.
Rijkaard's Barca in 2006 conceded 3 goals in 7 matches, zero goals conceded from an open play in 630 minutes.
City and Pep's high line can't survive without conceding for 30 minutes.
Pep is closer and closer to reaching Mou's faith.
Once the best coach in the world, who got stuck in time, football moved on and his results became more and more average over time.
Pep is a slave of too much mobility and movement.
He is sacrifying a lot of things to achieve that and it is biting him both in attack and in defending.
As I have wrote a few days ago, it seems clearer and clearer that his style can win in Europe ONLY in perfect circumstances, like having prime Messi-Xavi-Iniesta-Alves and when the opponents haven't figured his style yet.
After that era, his European results are as tragical as Ev's and Setien's.
Without prime Messi-Xavi, his style is quite shit in Europe.
3 quarterfinals and one round of 16 exits, lol.
That's Roma's and Arsenal's level.
My most intriguing personal question is: for how many more years will our fans still stick to: if executed properly, his style is still the best, lol.
My bet is: at least for 5-10 more years.
Givenchy, KingLeo and some have given up from Pep.
Serghei will stick with him until 2080, my rough estimation 😉