Pep is supposed to be a genius. I am sure it will all come good in the end.
Correct- Weren’t the likes of Sterling and Fernandinho singing his praises in August saying they had learned more in 2 weeks under Pep than they had in the previous few years.
Bobby Mancini would walk the EPL if he were still in charge at City.
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Guardiola is a guy who thinks he has to reinvent the wheel - playing Kolarov as a centre back has been an unmitigated disaster for them.
They’re a rabble and the team looks extremely unbalanced. Maybe after they chuck another £500m on it, they might look a bit better.
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Was it ever debated on here if Kompany or Stones was a better defender?
Think it was decided on here a while ago that both were donkeys.
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It’s because his team is nowhere near as good as the others he managed. If his Barca team were in the PL now the “competitiveness” wouldn’t be an issue
The barcelona team pep inherited were a mess.
He’s an inflexible manager though, his teams only play one way, irrespective on the personnel he has - which is a bit daft.
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They were a mess with the potential to be the best team out there through players already at the club, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Alves, Eto’o, Messi, Henry. Man City don’t have that potential
A bit like Brendan Rodgers.
That’s inflammatory and innacurate.
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Southampton boss Claude Puel admitted Saints’ New Year’s day collapse was simply one game too far for his exhausted players.
Saints had looked on course for a gritty point at Everton in a tense game with few chances for both sides, but then fell apart when they conceded three goals in the last 17 minutes.
And the French coach insisted a Christmas programme that has seen them play three games in six days was simply too punishing for a side that has endured a heavy cup programme this season.
“We start the season with many games – European games – we’ve played every three days and sometimes every two days and always without recovery for my players,” he said.
“We had a list like Real Madrid and Barcelona, but not their squad. Just since Boxing Day we have played three games in five days and we tried to give a good answer, but it impossible. We did for 70 minutes, but we couldn’t give a good answer in the end.”
Hours taken to play all three festive matches from the start of a team’s first game to the end of their third game:
1 223.00 Chelsea
2 201.50 Watford, Crystal Palace
3 199.00 Swansea
4 198.75 Woolwich, Bournemouth
5 172.75 Stoke
6 172.50 West Ham
7 172.25 Man Utd
8 170.00 Burnley, Everton, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Brom
9 167.75 Hull, Man City
10 167.50 Leicester, Middlesbrough
11 143.75 Liverpool
12 117.00 Southampton
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Is there a televised game tonight, lads?
Can you do a similar one for amount of players the opposition were missing through injury and suspensions over the festive period?
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The Jack Wilshere derby
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Bournemouth v Arsenal
LIVE ON SKY SPORTS
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From a Spurs perspective we’re really stretched at the back. Toby Alderweireld after an injury plagued season missed the Southampton game on 28 December with a virus. Ben Davies has been out injured for about 6 weeks. Kyle Walker and Jan Vertonghen picked up suspensions in the Southampton game and were suspended for the trip to Watford on Sunday. We’re still forced to deploy our central midfielder Eric Dier at centre back. Erik Lamela remains on the injury list.
Southampton lay 7th at the start of play on Boxing Day. They’ve just endured their worst run of the season losing all three of the games the fixtures committee handed them to play in under five days and have now slipped to 10th.
Injuries and lack of squad depth not a set of problems Chelsea have to contend with. Any sign of Chelsea springing their £33 million summer signing Batshuayi any time soon?
That’s great Geoff, but it has zero relevance to the question posed.
Why is it you continue to respond to questions with irrelevant, long winded posts?