Pep Guardiola

[Puyol the wall]

Wenger?

Good thing you have a Larsson avatar...



Everything points to it man

you have got to stay.

 

[mitkoa7x]

If Laudrup succeeds Pep, I wont be able to support the time like I do now... he is a half madridista ffs...

 

[Chainsaw]

Interesting beliefs. I'm not so sure I share them. I've seen no proof whatsoever of any of it other than the very warm personal relations between Guardiola and Bielsa.

There are a lot of reasons why one might not want the head coaching job at Barcelona: it's a very high pressure job with extremely high expectations that come along with it. Look at what 4 years in the job did to Guardiola. There are also issues like PR and, well, have YOU ever watched a Bielsa press conference? I have and he's not the very best public speaker.

Bielsa IS a very good coach and he's worked wonders with Athletic -- who, let us not forget, are still active in three competitions -- and he seems comfortable there and he's absolutely loved there (this from the several Athletic socios I know and the way people flock to him after practices - Athletic's practices are all open). [size=+1]Bielsa, it seems to me, does better with national teams than he does with clubs[/size] and Athletic is far closer to a NT than Barcelona is, given the makeup of the club. There's also the fact that this year's Athletic is a work in progress. They can only get better if he stays, so he may well see his work as unfinished. And he may see Athletic as a challenge: getting a team of guys chosen from a small region in northern Spain to two cup finals is a pretty impressive achievement.

No, just no woobie! You didn't say that!

What I think of Bielsa is that it's not about if he does better with the NTs or with the clubs. I think the underdogs are the types he suits in well. You know, the teams that are not on the spotlights 24/7. The only big team with high expectations that he managed in his entire career has been the Argentina NT which he left with the most embarrassing results ever (elimination in the group stage of the WC). Now what his fanboys say about that event doesn't matter. I've seen it all myself and he really blew it there with some of his decisions. And when the team needed calmness and concentration this guy looked the last person who could give 'em that.

Now some say he has improved alot since then. I was quiet skeptic about how he does with Athletic, considering his past screw up and the fact that his only spell in Europe has been a short one with Asspanyol long time ago and I assumed he will turn into another Bianchi. Now he did much better than that and no matter how much I dislike him I give credit to him for what he's done. But as you said about his character I'm not sure if he is the right person for Barca. If he arrives I'll be supporting him just like everyone else. But the club better think more carefully about their choice. This job is no walk in a park.

 

[Aryagorn]

Tito Nolan, you forgot Tito. For me Bielsa or Tito. Won't complain if it's Lucho either

 

[isenk2]

This is very sad,i really like him.
but we should not be selfish and try to appreciate his personal decision.
what a team he made,just a bit sad he won't leave in the highest fashion.What a standard he has set for this team even CL semi,league runner up and possible copa is not the highest fashion.
hopefully his replacement also got dynamic idea he possessed, i really like and hope Bielsa or AVB replace him if he surely leaves.They both have sucessfully made a dynamic team like the current Bilbao and 10/11 Porto.I even like AVB's Chelsea.
Difficult days lie ahead.Let's keep faith in our club. VIsca Barca!

 

[La Furia]

Tito Nolan, you forgot Tito. For me Bielsa or Tito. Won't complain if it's Lucho either

Would certainly not object if Tito is given a chance. He's been part of this project and should continue to be in some form.

 

[Aryagorn]

Would certainly not object if Tito is given a chance. He's been part of this project and should continue to be in some form.

He might be even more flexible than Pep... Like he played Henry in the middle when we needed a focal point in the middle(against Valencia) after 3 years and it was a master piece.

 

[Grunberg]

The bitter truth about sport is that there will be constant coming and going. That's the pain of being a fan, being loyal to the shirt itself and not to individual personalities. If this is it for Pep I'm definitely shocked, but I understand. If this ends up being some mindgame or something, so be it, don't be surprised when it happens for real.

A lot of you come from the English football tradition where managers tend to stay forever. There's a lot of reasons for that, but it rarely translates to other leagues. Even in the EPL today, the only real example of a manager staying on through the evolution of the game successfully if Ferguson. The imitations such as Wenger have often done more harm than good. Sport is always evolving, especially this game where there is so much happening at once.

Guardiola has a connection to this club like no others. A lifelong fan, a product of a specific type of football that has been the club's identity at least since the 90s, he was the best Catalan representative on a team with built around Spaniards and Basques, and later foreigners, back when fans weren't spoiled with la masia producing half the team. His management career has been unreal so far. But maybe that's why he doesn't to push it. Maybe he's burnt out; we don't know everything. As a Rosell skeptic I suspect there's tension but I don't know anything for certain. Maybe he just feels like he needs to prove himself elsewhere, to show his ideals can transfer to other leagues on teams that don't have the double-benefit of a home produced golden generation and an unlimited budget. It's more respectable than refusing to evolve the way Wenger has.

The thought of what comes next is mostly scary because, who will replace him? I don't blame Lucho for Roma's failings, he's been stubborn but that's been an uphill battle all season and it could have been a lot worse. But is he ready or does he want to prove himself first? Who else is qualified right now who truly understands the club culture? The other members of the dream team have been coaching failures - Koeman, Stotchikov, Bakero. Laudrup hasn't flopped per se but he's proven nothing and is a traitor who should have no part in this club's future.

But this is the reality. Managers come and go, it's a part of the game. Guilt-tripping Pep to stay would be a terrible mistake if this is what he feels is right. Pep's instincts have been mostly right so far, we need to trust him. If he needs a break, feels he can only evolve in a new enviornment, or can't work with the guys above him, then it's for the best.

+100000

 

[Clockwise]

Fss. Leaving on the back of a poor season? Really? I expected him to give it another shot and put Real Madrid back into their place. That's what winners do. Now that Mourinho has finally built a competitive team he's jumping ship? Really?

And what is all this bollocks about "poor guy must have so much pressure". Fss. He's getting payed more than € 10 million a year to tell 11 men how to chase a ball properly once in a week. Get a perspective of life you 12 year old fucks! I wonder how Ferguson has survived 25 years at one of the biggest clubs in the world or Arsene Wenger after spending 8 years without trophies and the whole world including the own fans jumping on his back constantly. But Guardiola is totally outworn managing a team with a core of Euro and World Cup winners, a 3 times Ballon d'Or winner, the best youth setup in the world at his disposal and the backup of 1.6 million people in Barcelona. Fssssssssss.

I'm fuming right now. Tomorrow he better be announcing that he's staying. The bald fucker.

competitive team my behind. Madrid has actually dropped a few levels due to his influence and Pep knows this. this season was not their best. I actually expected much more of them. also we're yet to see Madrid collapse a second time ,at least for a while, after Mou leaves. Problem is not competing with Madrid, really.
People are different barcelonista, Pep is a very sensitive guy who is incredibly passionate and idealistic about this club. Barca to Pep is totally different than what MU is to Fergie and Arsenal to Wenger. And ffs have you seen Mou? have you seen how much he has aged in the span of one year with Madrid? ffs,barcelonista, the job is a bit more demanding than simply telling some men to run after the ball...get out of the thread until you cool off my man...

 

[mitkoa7x]

I honestly think Mou is ill, he looks 5 years older than last year..

 

[woobie]

Assuming Pep does step aside, it is going to be tough. Because of what Barcelona is, I tihnk the idea mentioned above of an inside guy getting a shot is probably a good one. Lucho's a possibility, Tito is (if he even wants the head coaching job), etc. Thing is, unless there's an unusual set of circumstances, whoever follows Pep - assuming he does actually leave - is very likely to suffer by comparison.

And concur with Nima to an extent - I'm not sure Bielsa's the right guy for the environment he will find at Barcelona. Nima did a good job of expressing aspects of it I didn't.

(futbolista, if you have been watching them all year, you'd probably know then that referring to the club as 'Bilbao' is actually rather insulting to the club.)

 

[La Furia]

While in a subject I don't want to get into I think Nima is a bit too obsessed with blaming everything that went wrong that year on Bielsa, I do agree with the general point, that Bielsa is at his best in an underdog role. He doesn't really have a track record when it comes to dominance, more with giving a team an identity.

I just realized Cocu is caretaker coach at PSV, how is that going?

 

[Puyol the wall]

Absolutely gutted as time passes the little hope that i have keeps on reducing looks like he won't renew.

 

[mitkoa7x]

2 hours remaining...

 

[liger05]

I think Bielsa could get it but also think AVB would be a good choice. His a good coach and that chelsea experience shouldnt be held against him. That club is a joke and a dressing room which cannot accept change.