Reply to: Pep Guardiola

[SimonMac]

Going to Man City its been confirmed for the new season

[jmo21]

Pep has only been managing 5 years and has reached the semi final of the CL for the past 5 years. I don't think he is that bad !

Maybe he needs the mixture of possession and pace as mentioned earlier.

He had arguably the best player in the world, and the best midfield in the world at Barca, and then strolled into the Bayern job with a fantastic squad just off the CL win last year.

He's definitely not "bad", but there is certainly an element of good luck in his career so far.

[TheBigD]

Pep has only been managing 5 years and has reached the semi final of the CL for the past 5 years. I don't think he is that bad !

Maybe he needs the mixture of possession and pace as mentioned earlier.

+1

He signed Zlatan for Barca a few years ago, which was an attempt at having a plan B. It didn't work because Zlatan HAS to be the focal point of any team, and he was never going to be that at Barca. Still I think it shows he's not quite a 1 trick pony.

Still - he has a lot of work to do at Bayern as it does seem like the other top European teams have sussed his plan A.

[FiveTimes]

Pep has only been managing 5 years and has reached the semi final of the CL for the past 5 years. I don't think he is that bad !

Maybe he needs the mixture of possession and pace as mentioned earlier.

[doodab]

And Bayern's problem wasn't so much style of play, more crap defending on the night

I'd disagree. They needed to score and they never looked like making it happen. The early goals didn't help but they weren't the whole problem.

[Doggy Styles]

To be fair to Guardiola, one of his best friends and former assistant died a few days ago so he may not have been at his best last night.

True.

And Bayern's problem wasn't so much style of play, more crap defending on the night.

Someone also pointed out that because they won their league a month ago, they've lost their edge by playing non-vital games.

[Bunk]

To be fair to Guardiola, one of his best friends and former assistant died a few days ago so he may not have been at his best last night.

[Doggy Styles]

Teams and styles come and go.

Inter Milan showed one way to combat tippy-tappy when knocking out Barcelona in 2010, and more teams are now doing it.

Barcelona's captain admitted earlier this season that they would have to adapt and be able to play in different ways.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Although I'm not a fan of Bayern, they are currently Champions League trophy holders so they can't be that bad and remember that they have played Real Madrid 10 times before in the semi's and beaten them 9 out of those 10 so they can't be too bad. Real are also only 2 points behind Barca in the Spanish league and have a game in hand and look who's top? They're playing Chelsea tonight, who will win that and who will be parking the bus tonight?

The posts below this one explain my point. Bayern are not Barca, while Bayern have still been successful it's a case of a manager imposing their own style on a team rather than adapting themselves to suite the style that suites the team best. Bayern are not as technically able as Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and so a good defence will simply not allow them past. Even United were 30 mins away from reaching the Semis before Evra cocked up.

[original PM]

One key difference is that whilst Pep was at Barcelona he had Messi in his prime. When you have Messi scoring 60+ a season you can afford to concede a few!

Don't get me wrong, Bayern are an excellent team with excellent players, there's no doubt about that, but they don't have anyone nearly as good as Messi was during those years.

Having said that, I don't think there's much between the two teams, on another day Bayern might've got the first goal and not conceded sloppy goals from set pieces.. It's just the way it goes sometimes.

I hope Chelsea make it (as a united fan, I should get used to being a neutral in the CL) but I see it being an all-Madrid final.

Indeed - when Barca were missing Messi and/or Iniesta they really struggled to score becuase the tippy tappy tulip simply did not unlock a decent defense.

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

One key difference is that whilst Pep was at Barcelona he had Messi in his prime. When you have Messi scoring 60+ a season you can afford to concede a few!

Don't get me wrong, Bayern are an excellent team with excellent players, there's no doubt about that, but they don't have anyone nearly as good as Messi was during those years.

Having said that, I don't think there's much between the two teams, on another day Bayern might've got the first goal and not conceded sloppy goals from set pieces.. It's just the way it goes sometimes.

I hope Chelsea make it (as a united fan, I should get used to being a neutral in the CL) but I see it being an all-Madrid final.

[doodab]

Although I'm not a fan of Bayern, they are currently Champions League trophy holders so they can't be that bad

But that was under different management, and although the personnel haven't changed significantly their style last year had a lot more power and pace about it. They were exciting to watch and looked dangerous everytime they came forwards. Guardiola has for some reason removed that aspect of their game and it's made them weaker. Now they look for a sideways pass instead. They've been beaten at home several times this year and they are a shadow of the team that tonked barca 7-0 on aggregate last year.

[darmstadt]

He is attempting to convert Bayern into Barca and since Bayern are not Barca they just can not compete with the absolute best in Europe...

Although I'm not a fan of Bayern, they are currently Champions League trophy holders so they can't be that bad and remember that they have played Real Madrid 10 times before in the semi's and beaten them 9 out of those 10 so they can't be too bad. Real are also only 2 points behind Barca in the Spanish league and have a game in hand and look who's top? They're playing Chelsea tonight, who will win that and who will be parking the bus tonight?

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

I guess the test will be if he manages to evolve (or perhaps devolve) his style of play to encompass more pacy and direct attacking when the opportunity arises. It just seems foolish not to take advantage of the space left when play breaks down.

He is attempting to convert Bayern into Barca and since Bayern are not Barca they just can not compete with the absolute best in Europe...

[doodab]

I guess the test will be if he manages to evolve (or perhaps devolve) his style of play to encompass more pacy and direct attacking when the opportunity arises. It just seems foolish not to take advantage of the space left when play breaks down.