30 May 2021 00:26:40
Do you think lad's that Pep was being way too smart for his own good?

{Ed0666's Note - I think it’s a case of if City would have won he would have been hailed a genius but consequently he’s being besmirched for it. Let’s face it he’s not had a bad career and i for one am glad he plies his career in England.

30 May 2021 05:19:35
He’s an incredible coach but definitely too smart by far - why start a team you’ve never started together before, with no defensive midfield cover, and also removing your most visionary player (De Bruyne) from being able to run the attacking play?

Chelsea were worthy winners in the end and far more balanced thanks to Kante (someone who I still wish we had in our side) and were better for having Werner as a focal point going forward.

30 May 2021 05:16:22
Oh he bottled this one ed, barry. He big time bottled this one. He is a great coach and of course his teams are a joy to watch but yesterday he bottled it.
But by god kante what a player!

{Ed0666's Note - I have to be honest I didn’t watch the game. I was getting a manicure! The last thing I wanted to do was watch rivals win the champions league.

30 May 2021 09:56:16
I'm with you Ed0666 I never watch rivals in any final.

{Ed0666's Note - i don’t understand why anyone would mate?

30 May 2021 11:26:31
Getting to a CL final and losing should be placed in it’s specific context- when LFC, Spurs, BVB and Atléti got there, they outperformed their resources, so it should still be regarded as a phenomenal coaching achievement

When you have the most expensive squad ever, you have to win

I think this tweet I found, sums it up perfectly. Let’s be real, as highly as I rate pep, he’s basically playing football manager, he’s never really needed to sell his best players to work within the means of what the club generates, he’s just playing monopoly. I know they aren’t solely on their own in this regard, but they are the worst perpetrator of it, and bottle it in the most prestigious club competition time after time. Pep will get another 3-4 players all worth £50m+ to do the same thing next season, so the narrative of him being a genius continues. He is an elite football coach, but he will never be respected in the same way some others will be, because he’s had everything handed to him.

30 May 2021 12:22:26
I got so irritated with his after game interview. The man had just lost the ultimate game, the event he's been hired for, and there he was smiling and talking softly with his usual "sophisticated humility" all covered in smugness. No doubt he's one of the best if not the best. But the worst thing is always when one knows he's the best. It's almost like he tries to re-invent the game at these big events and thinks he can get away with it.

30 May 2021 12:46:19
He’s not as good as he’s made out to be and when you look at the teams he’s managed you realise how his reputation has been hyped up unjustly. Was fortunate to manage a ridiculously talented Barcelona team with prime Messi at its heart, a Bayern Munich team miles ahead of their domestic rivals (and still managed to make them regress under him), and City who have unlimited funds and no qualms about using said funds time and again. Any manager would have success in these circumstances, damn I reckon even I could get the Barcelona team he managed winning stuff! His goal at City has been to win the CL and he has failed time and again and a lot of the time his tactical approach has been at fault. Wildly overrated in my opinion - give him a job where he doesn’t have the best players and/ or huge sums of money and see how he does. Or put it another way: if he was our manager the past few seasons I don’t think he would’ve won the league or CL.

{Ed025's Note - "pint of bitter for seano".. :)

30 May 2021 14:17:03
Kman92, makes brilliant points and I agree with all of them. Pep was brought in to win the CL and has been given every single piece of resource especially financially to get it done. The fact that it took him this long after 830m spent on players alone, to get him there this season after 5 years is a disgrace on its own but I’ll let that one go.

Let’s face it where he at Real Madrid he would have been sacked well before now for not winning the CL after spending the equivalent of a country’s national budget on players. That much we know cos the proof is out there with the way they treat managers who fail in Europe. Then here, he literally tried to outsmart the opposition and he ended up outsmarting himself and left his midfield open for a monster like Kante to feast on instead of playing Rodri or Fernandinho to add some bite. That is Pep’s cross to bear.

Now does that mean City would have won had he played these players? No but it would have given them a better chance. Frankly, the guy plays monopoly and Footie Manager with real money and real players like Kman92 stated so expect another 150m this summer to blow on players cos well, it’s what “football geniuses” do, init? Nothing bitter about stating the obvious, btw.

30 May 2021 14:26:08
just curious Ed025, why is what seano written bitter? I don't think it is at all, it's his opinion and he's not the only one with the same view. my view of pep isn't as extreme, but i get where seano is coming from. not arguing with you, just curious why you think that.

{Ed025's Note - im afraid its the old liverpool jealousy rearing its ugly head again stone, it used to be fergie who got it in the neck when utd were the top side but now its pep, abramovich has got the treatment before and now its mansoor because they have more money than liverpool, you are not the only club who do this by the way but its not very becoming mate..

30 May 2021 15:58:19
Good to see you back Ed025, I don't mind a bitter but am a bit more partial to a good IPA. Yeah rereading my post back it does come across a little bitter, I still maintain though Guardiola isn't quite as amazing as he's cracked up to be.

{Ed025's Note - i think he is top class seano, and cheers mate..

30 May 2021 16:11:44
Manicures, Iphones! Your fanciness knows no bounds 666 mate.

30 May 2021 16:06:43
It was shocking Ed - no CF to make runs in behind and stretch the defence, so Chelsea could just push up, compress the midfield and cut down the space for the 17 attacking midfielders Pep tried to squeeze into the starting squad.

James put Sterling in his pocket, Mahrez was well handled by Chilwell, and so City were pretty toothless both through the midfield or when they our wide, and they looked vulnerable on any turnovers because there was no Fernandinho or Rodri.

I know it’s easy to say in hindsight but I just don’t get what Pep thought he was doing. If he really wanted to reinvent the entire game strategy, why do it in such a massive game for the first time?

KISS is the acronym that comes to mind.