YOU Are The Manager - What Next?

Johnny Baguette

Johnny Baguette

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I have tried hard to distance myself from the situation for a couple of hours and found myself seriously questioning the boss's judgement in some areas.

Goalie?
I think he made too hasty a decision on the net minder and its backfired but we are stuck with what we have got. What about putting Caballero in nets until the Monaco game and field Bravo in Europe who is clearly shot right now and unable to make saves? And sack the goalkeeping coach.

Left Full?

I did not understand the logic of the two young fulls being shipped out.
We must move for as good a left back as we can get this month imho. Clichy is now a total bottler and Kolarov is waiting to go with him.

Centre half?

Reluctant to spend big for this position again I still think Mangala could do a job. Recalling him could be an option only for the fact that I am tired of seeing Otamendi writhing about and Stones imho is struggling.

Central Mid

Need a proper dark arts master ball winner. We don't have one.

Leadership?

VK, please stay fit. We need a boss out there. We don't have one.

Tactically?

Batter a more direct approach into the squad and start defending from the front. Practice how to launch grand stand finishes to save the day and NEVER put Kun on the wing again.

Thoughts?
 
Well I agree re the young defenders for sure, I cannot understand the reasoning behind that with the way our defence is at the moment.
He has to change the way the goalie and the defenders are fiddling about with the ball as clearly it isn't working.
The midfield has to start delivering the ball to the forwards quicker and as for Sterling, he will never get a penalty decision as he is seen to be a diver IMO.
VK? would he make a difference to this side now, I'm not sure but he can not make it any worse one would think.
Beats me that we are in 5th spot.
 
Firstly Pep has been handicapped by the degree of injuries and suspensions the squad has suffered. The long term absence of VK has deprived the team of it's leader and natural heart and the defence of it's organiser. This has affected John Stones greatly - I am sure a VK/JS partnership was the original plan. Gundogan's injury ha she been a major blow - I believe that he is key to how PG wants the team to function. On top of this the repeated suspensions to Fernandinho and Agüero have been disruptive. Other injuries and absences have been a factor - Sane has been hampered by injury and the absence of Delph has reduced options.

Tactically - I believe that the players are struggling to deal with the fluid nature of football that Pep wants to play both collectively and, in some cases, individually. These individual and collective problems are creating holes which our opponents re exploiting ruthlessly. The model is now set - let them have possession, defend in numbers and wait for the mistake, when that occurs, break fast (they don't recover anywhere near quickly enough) and get a shot on target.

My worry is that by the time the quality issue is addressed (e.g. In the full back area) and we stir to get our sh*t together, it may be half way through his three year contract, we may be out of the CL and we end up with a disassembled squad, a disillusioned coach who could decide that he has 'tested himself' but now needs to 'move on to the next challenge' and leave us in a total mess.

Keeper - Bravo's confidence is shot and it is having a corrosives effect on those around him. Take him out the firing line and give Caballero the gloves

Full backs - recall Angelino and Maffeo (I know, won't happen) or spend squillions on Plyers like Coleman and Rose (I know, won't happen)

CB - 1. VK stays fit, pair him with Stones. 2. Play Adarabioyo - I would rather have mistakes made by a young player than those we witness from someone who should know better.

Midfield - Delph. Give him a go in th absence of Gundogan. Toure, despite his improved fitness, remains too slow and is getting 'picked off'. De Bruyne - relocate his mojo

Tactically up front - move the ball quicker and attach with more pace and get someone closer to Agüero.

My head is now hurting so I am going to stop
 
And another thing.......

I have just started reading one of my Christmas peesents, the updated book by Martí Perarnau 'Pep Guardiola The Evolution", and already on p23 have some concerns that Pep's micromanagement of players and the complexities of the instructions he expects them to follow could be confusing the hell out of them.

In a snippet from Pep's team talk to the Bayern players before they played Roma in the CL in 2014 he starts to describe what he wants from some of them....

"...David (Alaba) I only want you to be a defender when they are attacking us. At that stage you'll have to cope with Gervinho's speed. But the rest of the time you must become n extra midfielder. In other words we'll go out looking like a three man defence but the third defender will actually be Xabi even though it seems like Alaba. In the initial scheme Xabi and Lahm will line up like a 'doble pivote' (twin organising midfielders).....".....

.....and it doesn't end there. That is just a taste..

Fundamentally - with the quality of Alaba, Xabi and Lahm that might work. It seems he (& we) are finding out the hard way that it does not work with the current players he has at his disposal through injury, suspension, work rate or just plain basic ability. Clichy is no David Alaba for example
 
1. Play just one of KDB and Silva, DeBruyne seems to have caught Silva-itis this season in front of goal. If neither of them are scoring then drop one of them.

2. Play Nolito, I'm boring myself saying this now but he provides balance that we lack when he's not there. We talk about a team not being the sum of its parts, this fella's non-inclusion is a mystery to me with this in mind, he hasn't got anywhere near the quality that Silva or DeBruyne possess but the team works better with him in there.

3. Don't play two snail paced veterans in centre mid when playing against the counter, it's suicide.

As for Kompany, pack him off to the knackers yard at the next available opportunity, his injury issues have plagued not just him but our entire back line for three years now.
 
Dead right about the Nolito/De Bruyne/Silva conundrum. Nolito provides balance and holds his position which should suit Pep as that's what he wanted Robben to do for him at Bayern.

All good points there BD
 
I think making Tosin a regular might have the result of destroying his confidence - likewise Maffeo/Angelina were they still at Eastlands (as Skoorb says, they are unlikely to return this term) - although I'd have liked to see them all gain experience from the berti. .

And maybe the adage of you can't teach an old dog a new trick' applies to the core of the squad - there is no Mascherano to drop into central defence, either that or they're not versatile enough to change (Lahm at Bayern).

Seems that Pep was fast out of the traps to identify Hart as not being appropriate to his way of playing but why did he not come to the same conclusion about the defence? When presumably watching Stones as a future defensive stalwart did he not have concerns over the age/ability of the current full backs - Kolarov's adventure as a central defender started promisingly before he returned to type but why jettison Hart with such speed/haste when there were other, possibly more glaring issues to be addressed?

If there was one player we could sign to make things better it would be a Graeme Souness type to marshal the midfield, provide leadership, intimidate the opposition and weigh in with the odd goal - and then get the defence properly sorted in the summer.

 
Not normally a fan of much that Phil Neville says but he has some decent points here.....

City have problems in attack as well as defence

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38632357
 
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