[Mikus LFC]

Nine, this thread was started by a City fan bemoaning a possible exodus of players next season asking why Pep didn’t play certain players more. I put forward my thoughts on this which inevitably had some connections to Pep’s philosophy and the other night. For the record it was probably my last post on this anyway – I just thought the video was interesting and worthy of highlighting.

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[Mikus LFC]

Nine, this is a football discussion site. Pep has had much praise for a very long time over the last few seasons. In contrast, there has been a few days of legitimate discussions around his weaknesses. Some people may deem others as going too far. That’s another debate. But that should not stop those who wish to continue in civilised debate. As a poster I have always played the ball in debate, never the man.

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[Mikus LFC]

GJ, not saying you need to completely change the way you play, but I do think you need something a bit different here and there in the team. One big reason for Liverpool’s improvement this season is not just down to the new players (important as they’ve been) but the way Klopp has adapted to the premier league. In some ways there’s been times when Klopp has gone too far the other way with his new approach to the game, but I think he’s been trying to find that balance this season. Variety is the spice of life as they say and the more different options you have at your disposal the more robust a side you become, like the players that have made Liverpool more robust in Fabinho and Van Dijk.

If you have a few minutes I thought this video was very good on Pep and his weaknesses – particularly when he plays against similar styles of play – it’s as though he overthinks and adapts too much because he worries too much and doesn’t have the security of such players. But if you’re happy as you are, that’s your prerogative.

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[Mikus LFC]

You can’t keep all those players happy if they’re not getting the game time they want. Pep needs to start getting some monsters in rather than bringing in lots of nice technical/skilful players.

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[Mikus LFC]

City should still rue this opportunity lost. The competition in the CL this season, and arguably last season, has been declining. The Madrid clubs aren’t what they were, Barca aren’t at the level they’ve been at, Italy’s clubs continue to struggle, as do the German clubs, and PSG look as far away from the CL as they’ve ever been no matter how often they get hyped up.

As for the likes of Chelsea and Man Utd taking a long time to win it, I do think the competition was stronger back then.

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[Mikus LFC]

Nine, do you think Chelsea will sack Sarri at the end of the season? Or will an EL victory and/or top 4 finish save him? And who would you have come in if he is sacked?

Interesting to look at the current top runners and riders via SkyBet (suspect Ancelotti, Benitez and Ten Hag should also be on that list):

Steve Holland 7/4

Frank Lampard 4/1

Diego Simeone 5/1

Gianfranco Zola 6/1

Massimilano Allegri 12/1

Nuno Espírito Santo 12/1

Jose Mourinho 14/1

Arsene Wenger 16/1

Brendan Rodgers 16/1

Laurent Blanc 16/1

Guus Hiddink 20/1

Steve Clarke 20/1

Didier Deschamps 25/1

Eddie Howe 25/1

John Terry 25/1

Luis Enrique 25/1

Marcelo Bielsa 25/1

Mikel Arteta 28/1

Antonio Conte 33/1

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[Mikus LFC]

Nine, not saying he hasn’t improved players – he clearly has. The bottom line for me though, is that in that opening 25 mins which saw 5 goals fly in – it may have been very entertaining, but it was also absolutely ridiculous, and it was not the sort of behaviour/composure of a team who wants to win the CL. Pep takes a lot of the responsibility for his approach. But the players also have a duty to react to the situation and adapt themselves if need be – or else they’re just bystanders. If you’re a crew on a ship and you start taking on lots of water, you don’t wait for someone else to act – you act yourself.

(*Just to be clear in the above post – when I said “he hadn’t taken them up a notch” I meant Mahrez, not Pep)

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[Mikus LFC]

Sean, Pep undoubtedley coaches his players well, but in some ways you can’t teach real doggedness, character and in game awareness. I’m not saying City’s players don’t work hard, but in real testing times when you’re up against it, or the games drifting, you need players who have that awareness to take action, influence other players and turn games. That’s a different skill to working hard.

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[Mikus LFC]

The technocrats have now got a hold of our game, and what amazes me in these situations is how quickly the pundits/media generally just accept it and deem it as an improvement in the game. As I said last night about the very marginal offside decision in the last few minutes – all the pundits said it was the right call and justice was done. Yet a few seasons ago without VAR, the very same pundits would have said it would have been very harsh to give offside for that and how you could give the attacker the benefit of the doubt. Amazing how such seemingly intelligent people just accept such things so readily and quickly.

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[Mikus LFC]

Nine, I think purely in footballing terms, few managers are better than Pep. But he does seem a bit blindsided in bringing in real fighters to the club – indeed contrast him with Klopp on that front, who mainly seeks out team players like Salah, Ox, etc who run ragged for his teams. (And Klopp has beaten Pep in the CL for the last 2 seasons). Instead Pep targeted another technically gifted footballing player in Mahrez for £60 million. (And was also apparently after Jorginho – another techical player). But he’s not taken them up a notch has he? Yes Fernandinho was missed – but the other players had to step up.

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[Mikus LFC]

It’s not so much those players’ ability Nine, it about their doggedness. Now look, maybe Pep did go too gung-ho last night. But the players on the pitch had to take responsibility too and try and keep things together. Instead they looked in disarray at times. Where was the glue to keep things together?

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[Mikus LFC]

Nine, I’m not doing Pep down. As I said on the other thread, City are a formidable team the way Pep has set them up, and whether you try and contain them, or attack them, it will still, probably, end in a defeat for you. However, at the same time, I think his approach/tactics in certain CL games over the years, both at Bayern & City, can be questioned and in the CL, you do need to be extremely dogged and tactically strong to win it. Also, whilst City would have still won the league last year with stronger competition, these record points totals do have to be put into the context of how weak the premier league was last year, and to some extent, this year.

So Pep is undoubtedley a top coach, who gets his complicated messages across extremely well to his players, and his devastating plan A almost always works. But tactically, against the better and more attacking teams, the strategy does become more fragile and risky. Now no manager is perfect, and this is why he needs real strong characters akin to the likes of Gerrard, Terry, Puyol, Ramos, etc to get their teams over the line. City, for me, just don’t have that level of character. It was certainly close last night, and in years gone by without VAR, City would have gone through. But shouldn’t a team of City’s stature be wiping the floor against a team who are 16 points behind them in the league? And who finished 23 points behind them last season? They should have wiped the floor against Liverpool last season. But they didn’t. Almost the opposite. It’s perfectly legitimate to start asking why that is.

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[Mikus LFC]

To win the CL, you need both a top manager and really top characters. City have some amazing players but I do think they lack these leaders which is why I never fancied them for the CL.

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[Mikus LFC]

A big strength of this City side is that you’re damned if you try and contain them, and damned if you have a go at them. Remember, City still won the game last night, just not by enough. Be fascinating to see how both managers play it. Spurs need to win too remember! The contrasting emotions in the heads of both sets of players, whether good or bad, could detrimentally effect both of them. Whoever stays the most focussed wins for me.

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[Mikus LFC]

Mak, a key part of this development will be to re-evaluate what VAR was *supposed* to do – i.e. as HH said above – overturn “clear and obvious” mistakes. A big problem however is that now we *have* the technology and *ability* to officiate the game down to the millimetre, it poses the question to the VAR referees – do we then punish mistakes down to the smallest details like with the offside last night? – which then conflicts with the “clear and obvious” instruction. It is pivotal that this issue is resolved before VAR comes in next season – and that VAR is used only in times of clear and obvious mistakes – as was initially defined.

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[Mikus LFC]

Spurs’ new stadium arguably played a big part in all this – is that why Pep played more conservatively in the first game? Perhaps others could confirm this but looking at the images of it from the inside, there is somewhat of a intimidating/claustrophobic feel to the new stadium. Could prove a difficult ground to go to for the opposition. Wonder how many more points Spurs would have now had they been there from the start of the season? A good few I’d say.

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[Mikus LFC]

Nil, I think if we’re talking about margins over the goal line, you can be exact about that. But if we’re pulling up attackers because, say their hand is offside, that’s getting a bit daft.

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[Mikus LFC]

Mak, like the idea of a lighting system. Surely with the technology and people employed in the VAR office, they can quicken up the process? On the point on the narrowness of the decision however, as I say, if it came down to the tiniest fraction is that really in the spirit of things? There will be cases where it will be even narrower than tonight’s call. I just think some leeway should be given in such situations or else football could get pretty dull with lots of reviews and decisions. And the winner in such cases will be VAR but football won’t be the winner, if you get my drift.

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[Mikus LFC]

Regarding the VAR decision for the last goal. It’s a funny one isn’t it? Had there been no VAR, a lot of the pundits would probably forgive the officials for not picking up a very narrow offside. And as the cliche went, you give the attacker the benefit of the doubt. Not anymore. Now the pundits are all saying how wonderful it is that justice has been served.

I guess my point here – to what depth and detail do we judge offside? The game was designed to be officiated “by the eye”. Now that is no longer the case. Is that in the “spirit” of the game? Discuss.

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[Mikus LFC]

Not necessarily Sean. That could deflate them a fair bit that.

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