General Premier League Thread - 2016/2017

Darkglasses

Manchester United

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Pardew out!

Guardiola has City set up very strange at the back.

Kolarov central is very strange indeed. 3 at the back perhaps?

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Hart on the bench, city will need a better backup than Caballero, probably the worst keeper in the league.

RedemptionZ

Jaysus is it just my TV or did Rio get a serious tan?

GreNoLi

Manchester United

How can Pep start Willy ahead of Hart, madness, come on sunderland.

Peno...

Dirty Dingus McGee

GreNoLi wrote: »

How can Pep start Willy ahead of Hart, madness, come on sunderland.

Peno...

It's clearly another example of Peps managerial genius.

You're just not intelligent enough to understand him properly.

HalloweenJack

Obly saw one replay but looked very generous, seemed like Sterling was going over when he switched momentum.

Can't understand dropping Hart. Caballero is an infinitely worse keeper.

Capajoma

Did you guys watch Hart at the Euros? Cabellero is much better with his feet which is what Guardiola wants from his keeper.

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

It's clearly another example of Peps managerial genius.

You're just not intelligent enough to understand him properly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YhqXGu9Mhs

HalloweenJack

Sterling was dirt at the Euro's but he's starting. I doubt that's why Guardiola would drop Hart.

Overall, Hart is a better keeper than Willy. Willy's backup at best.

RobertKK

Chelsea

Sunderland have been starting to get into this game towards the end of the first half.

MD1990

Sterling will be dropped when Sane is fit most likely. City have not been great not created much at all.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

Its early days but some of these movements are superb, a far cry from the lethargy and lack of cohesion of last season. Also see how compressed the City shape is upon losing the ball, their spacing, as with all Pep teams, is supreme. Loving the involvement of the full backs in their central roles and how quickly and precisely the centre backs are distributing the ball. Still areas to work on but its been an encouraging start here.

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Why wasn't Khazri starting, wouldn't be surprised if Moyes took sunderland down.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

Fantastic press, force the mistake from Khazri. You xan only do that if your shape is correct in possession in the first place.

Agent Coulson

Leicester

Defoe at it again.


Teaching Pep a lesson about English football.

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Legend, one all.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

Big issues there is the centre of the pitch, covering defender not tucked in, two wing backs not close enough to the centre and space too big in front of the backline to make time for that pass. Issues that must be addressed.

Unearthly

Chelsea

Overall city have been crap to be fair.

Early days

Agent Coulson

Leicester

City have been bang average against a very bang average team.

chupacabra

The constant camera shots of Hart after Caballero is involved is cringey to fúck

HalloweenJack

About six or seven City players around the box there, none of them getting vlose enough.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

Pep will hate how isolated his wingers have been here.

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Ugh.

Toobz

Poor Moyesy, looks a very resilient side this year though.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

It's not been perfect, that's obvious, but you can see by Pep's reaction what that goal means to this group pf players and the club in general. Big moment.

GreNoLi

Manchester United

Mediocre day of football.

citytillidie

hmm how did the refs not have to change there tops since it clashed with the Sunderland keepers top

RobertKK

Chelsea

City look like the team that finished level with United last season.

It will be interesting to see how City progress in upcoming games, lucky to get the win today.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

Well there you have it, probably the most interesting managerial debut in Premier League history. From dropping a raft of big money players, most notably the English number one whose distribution was deemed so poor that he was dropped for Caballero, to false full backs, to occasionally shifting into a formation with only 2 players at the back, to intricate prerehearsed movements. Ultimately what Pep hopes to achieve is a kind of higher ideal that will take time to perfect in a football culture that has been deemed unsuitable for it for the better part of a century. If a club wishes to give him the time and resources to achieve that ideal then that is their choice, certainly the rewards could be great but equally it is a far slower process than most managers will go through to implement their idealised version of football. Pep even addressed this process in his press conference, explaining how due to the nature of the game in England he must tell these players what to do in certain situations rather than allowing them to discover it for themselves.

Today you also saw the other side of Guardiola. The Pep is ruthless. While Pepball is beautiful to watch, to achieve it he must be cut-throat. No sympathy, no doubt, if you question Pep you are out, if you do not behave properly in the dressing room you are out, if you do not fit the football ideals of Pep you are out. His decisions today regarding personnel were very telling regarding a club that has been too lethargic for too long.

English football might (and I only say might) never be the same again.

Chelsea

MD1990

City keep playing with that shape & they will be badly exposed on the wings.

SlickRic

Andersonisgod wrote: »

It's not been perfect, that's obvious, but you can see by Pep's reaction what that goal means to this group pf players and the club in general. Big moment.

It wasn't big in any greater sense than any other winner in the last few minutes against a team you're expected to beat.

Chelsea

Frustrating to see Januzaj waist that corner at the end.
Typical end product from him. I would hope he can improve with regular football but that would annoy the hell out of anyone.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

M!Ck^ wrote: »

I had been hoping for a debate on how City will need to improve the use of their interior midfielders in support of the wide players in order to create overloads, but instead I got a Jim Carrey gif.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

SlickRic wrote: »

It wasn't big in any greater sense than any other winner in the last few minutes against a team you're expected to beat.

With absolutely no context at all that would be true. However moments are made as a result of context and in the context of the day, that was absolutely huge.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

MD1990 wrote: »

City keep playing with that shape & they will be badly exposed on the wings.

The wings tend not to be the issue with this shape (which Guardiola has adapted slightly since Bayern's 2nd season under Pep) rather it's quick turnovers and a player switching off when the team have the ball. The common theme in Pep's teams are that the defenders he chooses are all excellent 1 vs 1 (another reason for the Stones purchase) and can ably shift across to full back positions to cover the inverted full backs.

RainMakerToo

Chelsea

You make it sound like he's taken Yeovil to the brink of a Champions League final.
It's Man City - they finished in the top 2 in 4 or the last 5 seasons. They beat Sunderland today....

Trigger

Chelsea

Andersonisgod wrote: »

From dropping a raft of big money players, most notably the English number one

Tell me again how much Joe Hart cost, must have missed it

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

RainMakerToo wrote: »

You make it sound like he's taken Yeovil to the brink of a Champions League final.
It's Man City - they finished in the top 2 in 4 or the last 5 seasons. They beat Sunderland today....

You've misinterpreted tactical discussion as sensationalism. It literally matters not who he beat or even the score in the match today, it was the approach to it and the decision-making that was so fascinating. Also nobody you speak to, myself included, will tell you that was a great performance from City today. The intrigue around Man City this season is that at their helm is a manager who represents all the things that English football has (again I repeat) for the better part of a century rejected. Its a collision of two different worlds happening on a pitch every week for 90 minutes. The other personal interest for me is seeing, in my view, the most interesting football mind since Cruyff develop his ideas in a new environment and seeing how he inpacts that environment and how it impacts him.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

astradave wrote: »

Tell me again how much Joe Hart cost, must have missed it

His wages are, I'm assuming, amongst the highest of any keeper in the world, certainly in the top 5%

RobertKK

Chelsea

Pep was so relieved he got out of jail in that game. There was nothing exceptional about City.
They needed a set piece as in a penalty to get their first goal and an OG by McNair to get their second.
All that possession, it was like watching an LVG game.

Lithium93_

Chelsea

astradave wrote: »

Tell me again how much Joe Hart cost, must have missed it

Andersonisgod wrote: »

His wages are, I'm assuming, amongst the highest of any keeper in the world, certainly in the top 5%

I'm assuming/thinking he meant transfer fee, not wages.


You did mean transfer fee right astradave?

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

Lithium93_ wrote: »

I'm assuming/thinking he meant transfer fee, not wages.


You did mean transfer fee right astradave?

Lol then switch big money to high profile players. It's such a pedantic thing to pick up on after what you've just watched.

callaway92

Manchester United

Potential for City to run away with the league I think. Very silky side - Nothing wrong with them scraping through with it being the first game of the season.

Skylinehead

Andersonisgod wrote: »

His wages are, I'm assuming, amongst the highest of any keeper in the world, certainly in the top 5%

So are Willy Caballeros wages.

What sort of comment is that :pac:

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

callaway92 wrote: »

Potential for City to run away with the league I think. Very silky side - Nothing wrong with them scraping through with it being the first game of the season.

Definitely potential there and there's a lot of traits of Pep's teams already evident. That being said there's certainly issues too. The addition of Gundogan, Sane and a centre back beside Kolarov should help. A keeper and a right back would really help things.

SlickRic

There's no higher ideal.

There's a manager who simply believes that the best way to win is his way. That's it. If you believe anything else, you're buying into a fantasy.

If Mourinho dropped DDG tomorrow because he was weak on crosses in training, and Utd beat Bournemouth in the last minute with a random own goal, nobody in their right mind would call it a 'big moment'.

Also, English football is grand. It's not archaic, and certainly hasn't been stuck for a century. There are a multitude of teams scattered throughout the years...from 60s Utd, to 70s Leeds and Liverpool, to 80s Liverpool and Everton, to Arsenal and Utd in the 90s and 00s under Fergie and Wenger...who have been just fine without Cruyff and Pep's doctrine.

He's in England for the £20m a year, and the chance to bring success to the most oil rich club in England, that is best placed of any team to dominate.

Good luck to him.

Super-Rush

If City play with that same set up every week, they will concede heavily against better sides than Sunderland. Pep needs to realise that his his defensive options are heavily limited and will definitely cost him a lot of goals.

If he wants to try a you score 3 and we'll score 4 philosophy, then at least it will be entertaining for the neutral fan.

Andersonisgod

Manchester United

Skylinehead wrote: »

So are Willy Caballeros wages.

What sort of comment is that :pac:

I dont even know to be honest. My point was so obvious I was slightly frazzled at having to justify it. The English number one being dropped cos he can't distribute the ball should speak volumes.

Trigger

Chelsea

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Lol then switch big money to high profile players. It's such a pedantic thing to pick up on after what you've just watched.

For someone that went absolutely ballistic because people said that they never heard of Vertical offers, you have some gall on you to say that..

Maybe if you took off your jizz filled glasses you would see that the match was pretty mediocre and their was nothing special on offer.

But hey don't let that get in the way of you going on as if you have watched the second coming of Christ.

tbf I just thought it was funny that out of the players dropped you chose to use Hart as "the most notable" "big money player" when the obvious and most notable one was Yaya