100000000000007 Great comedy Man City moments

It showed up how "great" he was when Luis Enrique immediately came into barca and won the treble in his first season playing better football.

The funny thing is that he’ll go down as one of the best managers of all time. He’s been fortunate enough to be in the position to choose jobs where there things are in his favour since Barcelona.

It’s easy to pass the ball around with the best/most expensive players in the world on the pitch. It also works in your favour when your team is known for playing ‘beautiful’ football when you want to chase the ball off the opposition and commit cynical fouls.

He's not a top manager in his own right.

He's been a manager of top sides.

compare with what Fergie did at United...

Yeah Guardiola is a strange one
Obviously as Utd fans we're biased against him but the reality is even if he does nothing more among European football public and media he will go down as one of the great managers and innovators in football history

Clearly he's never had to build a side from the ground up with limited resources however the type of football he introduced has revolutionised the game
Prior to Pep taking over Barca you never saw sides constantly build from the goalkeeper with centre back splitting and the full backs pushing on
Now even shit sides do that
It's changed the game so much that lawmakers had to change the rule on players being allowed inside the penalty area on goal kicks

I was watching the other day on one of the Sky Sports channels the last 20 or 30 minutes of our win against Fulham in 2007 and I was amazed at how much football had changed since then
There was no playing out from the back, it was just normal for the goalkeeper to boot it up the pitch and then fight for second balls
Everytime O'Shea got the ball in our defensive third he just hacked it clear even when under no pressure, I thought there is no way a player like O'Shea would make it in today's game playing like that

Personally I've never liked watching Pep's side against teams who can't or won't be allowed to land a punch on them however it can be good to watch if against a team who can go toe to toe with a Pep side but generally they are few and far between
Still there's no point complaining about it as we've got to find an answer to it as he's been a thorn in our side since he took over Barca

Originally Posted by elhombre

He's not a top manager in his own right.

He's been a manager of top sides.

compare with what Fergie did at United...

Aye; it's one thing winning the league with Toure and De Bruyne, try it with Anderson and Cleverley ya smug #@&%!.

Originally Posted by ZiggyStardust

Yeah Guardiola is a strange one
Obviously as Utd fans we're biased against him but the reality is even if he does nothing more among European football public and media he will go down as one of the great managers and innovators in football history

Clearly he's never had to build a side from the ground up with limited resources however the type of football he introduced has revolutionised the game
Prior to Pep taking over Barca you never saw sides constantly build from the goalkeeper with centre back splitting and the full backs pushing on
Now even shit sides do that
It's changed the game so much that lawmakers had to change the rule on players being allowed inside the penalty area on goal kicks

I was watching the other day on one of the Sky Sports channels the last 20 or 30 minutes of our win against Fulham in 2007 and I was amazed at how much football had changed since then
There was no playing out from the back, it was just normal for the goalkeeper to boot it up the pitch and then fight for second balls
Everytime O'Shea got the ball in our defensive third he just hacked it clear even when under no pressure, I thought there is no way a player like O'Shea would make it in today's game playing like that

Personally I've never liked watching Pep's side against teams who can't or won't be allowed to land a punch on them however it can be good to watch if against a team who can go toe to toe with a Pep side but generally they are few and far between
Still there's no point complaining about it as we've got to find an answer to it as he's been a thorn in our side since he took over Barca

I've never liked watching his teams since his Barcelona of 2009. That was a really good side to watch, ever since then it's got progressively more robotic and system obsessed. Without Messi to add the flourish at the end of the move, all you have is training ground patterns repeated ad-nauseam. Football by numbers.

Part of the fun of football is the fluidity of the game, the way moves go from one end to the other, the quick transitions in possession to immediately change the tempo. Well City have done their best to pretty much eradicate that. There is no jeopardy in the game. It's just relentless possession, attack v defence in an empty ground resembling a training session.

I've no idea what happened to the competitive nature of our league in the last 5 years, with City and Liverpool both being dominant in different ways, but i've never seen so many one-sided, complete no-shows from opposing teams. It's like they don't even believe they can compete. And what happened to teams finding their own identities and playing their own way? There's a league full of these 'aldi' versions of City... teams trying to play triangles out from the back 4 against teams who are far superior at it. Why are you playing into their hands you idiots?

I compared City to watching Floyd Mayweather box on one of the matchday threads the other day. Well i take that back. Mayweather had a bit of style to his craft and his defence was without equal.

No, watching City is more like watching Wladimir Klitschko during his reign of terror through the 2010s. A robotic, jab-n-grab machine who would do anything to stop a slug-fest happening to protect his dodgy chin. 8-9 rounds of boring, one-paced, one-sided, beat downs which saw a hopelessly out matched opponent being systematically dismantled by jabs. Anytime they tried to close the space to land a shot - they got grabbed and leaned on. effective but £#%&!ing awful to watch.

You simply can't question anything he does. The most untouchable Football manager in the history of the game.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

I've never liked watching his teams since his Barcelona of 2009. That was a really good side to watch, ever since then it's got progressively more robotic and system obsessed. Without Messi to add the flourish at the end of the move, all you have is training ground patterns repeated ad-nauseam. Football by numbers.

Part of the fun of football is the fluidity of the game, the way moves go from one end to the other, the quick transitions in possession to immediately change the tempo. Well City have done their best to pretty much eradicate that. There is no jeopardy in the game. It's just relentless possession, attack v defence in an empty ground resembling a training session.

I've no idea what happened to the competitive nature of our league in the last 5 years, with City and Liverpool both being dominant in different ways, but i've never seen so many one-sided, complete no-shows from opposing teams. It's like they don't even believe they can compete. And what happened to teams finding their own identities and playing their own way? There's a league full of these 'aldi' versions of City... teams trying to play triangles out from the back 4 against teams who are far superior at it. Why are you playing into their hands you idiots?

I compared City to watching Floyd Mayweather box on one of the matchday threads the other day. Well i take that back. Mayweather had a bit of style to his craft and his defence was without equal.

No, watching City is more like watching Wladimir Klitschko during his reign of terror through the 2010s. A robotic, jab-n-grab machine who would do anything to stop a slug-fest happening to protect his dodgy chin. 8-9 rounds of boring, one-paced, one-sided, beat downs which saw a hopelessly out matched opponent being systematically dismantled by jabs. Anytime they tried to close the space to land a shot - they got grabbed and leaned on. effective but £#%&!ing awful to watch.

i get all that.

but if we could somehow get United to play exactly like that, and win the competitions city have since 2013...

would you take it?

yes or no?

£#%&! me... and we call them bitters.

Technically they are superior to us, they pass better, defend better and I’m sure you’d all give your right nut for 19 wins on the bounce.

Like last year with the verm gig just have to admit they’re far superior and move on rather than picking holes.

The jacket was a shocker though. What was he thinking?

Originally Posted by elhombre

i get all that.

but if we could somehow get United to play exactly like that, and win the competitions city have since 2013...

would you take it?

yes or no?

I don't know really. I guess when your club has no real traditions or identity, and has never really won anything of note, you'll lap that shit up.

But look how our fans responded to Mourinho's football even though we won two trophies and finished 2nd in the league, opinions were very polarised on the football he played.

Would i like United to have won loads of trophies? Yeah. Would I like to see us play like that every game, not really. United have always been about embracing creative, maverick type players who get the crowd excited. Those sort of players don't really have a place in a system where everyone has to carry out a specific job in a specific space like cogs in a machine.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

I don't know really. I guess when your club has no real traditions or identity, and has never really won anything of note, you'll lap that shit up.

But look how our fans responded to Mourinho's football even though we won two trophies and finished 2nd in the league, opinions were very polarised on the football he played.

Would i like United to have won loads of trophies? Yeah. Would I like to see us play like that every game, not really. United have always been about embracing creative, maverick type players who get the crowd excited. Those sort of players don't really have a place in a system where everyone has to carry out a specific job in a specific space like cogs in a machine.

if it's a no. i respect that - shows how much you love decent football.

the top and bottom of it is - there's too much money in the game and the cost of losing and reward for winning is too high.

it's as simple as that.

you have to win at all costs and so people will find ways to win ugly or at least not lose.

He’s Van Gaal with more money and less hair.

Originally Posted by Pop

So Guardiola's Barcelona are now overrated? Ffs, only on here could you read stuff like that!

They are one of the top 5 greatest club sides of all time, if not top 3. They were a team that not only won everything (literally everything in one season, with a sextuple in 2009), but were also made up of a bulk of players that dominated the international stage, winning the European Championships and the World Cup, all without Messi!

And whilst he's an insufferable, weird #@&%!, make no mistake, it was Guardiola that built that side. I don't get the idea they were dull or boring either. They dominated the ball at all times, always looked to play on the front-foot, in the opposition half, and consistently score goals. They were an incredible side; the best club side I've seen in my life.

Originally Posted by Neo

So Guardiola's Barcelona are now overrated? Ffs, only on here could you read stuff like that!

They are one of the top 5 greatest club sides of all time, if not top 3. They were a team that not only won everything (literally everything in one season, with a sextuple in 2009), but were also made up of a bulk of players that dominated the international stage, winning the European Championships and the World Cup, all without Messi!

And whilst he's an insufferable, weird #@&%!, make no mistake, it was Guardiola that built that side. I don't get the idea they were dull or boring either. They dominated the ball at all times, always looked to play on the front-foot, in the opposition half, and consistently score goals. They were an incredible side; the best club side I've seen in my life.

Just for clarification, pal, nobody's saying they weren't good.

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Just for clarification, pal, nobody's saying they weren't good.

exactly.

but i don't think you'd have to be a genius to win what Barca did..

Originally Posted by Sparky***

Just for clarification, pal, nobody's saying they weren't good.

They've been described a few posts above as anti-football, and over-reliant on Messi. Absolute balls.

We'd all be buzzing if United were dominating sides like Guardiola's teams have done down the years.

Originally Posted by Neo

They've been described a few posts above as anti-football, and over-reliant on Messi. Absolute balls.

We'd all be buzzing if United were dominating sides like Guardiola's teams have done down the years.

So you're saying Barcelona haven't been overly reliant on Messi? Ok pal.

Just out of interest how many champions league finals has Guardiola managed to get to without Lionel Messi, or indeed a once in a generation batch of spanish talent?

I mean, i know he's had his hands tied managing minnows like Bayern Munich and cash-strapped man city, but you know... surely a genius of such unparalleled calibre could manage at least a final?

Originally Posted by Sparky***

So you're saying Barcelona haven't been overly reliant on Messi? Ok pal.

Just out of interest how many champions league finals has Guardiola managed to get to without Lionel Messi, or indeed a once in a generation batch of spanish talent?

I mean, i know he's had his hands tied managing minnows like Bayern Munich and cash-strapped man city, but you know... surely a genius of such unparalleled calibre could manage at least a final?

Sparky doing a number on Neo here....

Closet ciddy fan gets rumbled