Transfer: 2016 Summer Transfer Window

[Evilo]

Agreed with the general sentiment. Pep will have an easy time winning the league with City.
Which makes his choice even more ridiculous BTW.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Agreed with the general sentiment. Pep will have an easy time winning the league with City.
Which makes his choice even more ridiculous BTW.

So where should he have gone instead? Taking a team from place 3-5 to an easy title doesn't sound to me like something that would make a manager look ridiculous.

 

[YNWA14]

To be fair City have no business being lower than 2nd, especially this season.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I don't think Pep's anything special. Maybe they win the league, but there's always a "maybe" for Man City and winning the league.

 

[Power Man]

I call him Pep Jackson

 

[Deficient Mode]

To be fair City have no business being lower than 2nd, especially this season.

On paper, yes, but their placing and results show that they're flawed as a group. Lots of players are underperforming as a result.

I don't think Pep's anything special. Maybe they win the league, but there's always a "maybe" for Man City and winning the league.

Yikes

 

[Power Man]

Pep, a midfielder, told Eto how to play as a striker

And Eto wasn't just any striker at the time

Samuel refused to listen to him, scored a brace, pointed at Pep and told him "I told you!"

Samuel

 

[Live in the Now]

I don't think Pep could win the title with this City squad. They're not technical enough in central midfield.

 

[Deficient Mode]

I don't think Pep could win the title with this City squad. They're not technical enough in central midfield.

He'd adapt to the team. He did with Bayern. Bayern has extremely technical midfielders, but they're not relied upon nearly as heavily as Busquets/Xavi/Iniesta were for Pep.

 

[Evilo]

So where should he have gone instead? Taking a team from place 3-5 to an easy title doesn't sound to me like something that would make a manager look ridiculous.

City? I mean City? Why would he choose City?
For the atmosphere? For the recent history? For the city?

What was the point to choose City?

 

[YNWA14]

City? I mean City? Why would he choose City?
For the atmosphere? For the recent history? For the city?

What was the point to choose City?

IMO it's because they have a ton of money, already have probably the best team in the league on paper, and are an easy target for him to expand his trophy cabinet in another country.

Don't get me wrong I think that Pep is a great manager and his accomplishments speak for themselves, but I would have much rather seen him try and take over somewhere like Arsenal -- we already know he can dominate with a stacked team.

 

[Live in the Now]

I believe he chose City because they hired all his friends.

 

[cgf]

I call him Pep Jackson

That's not a bad comp. He has always worked with great players, but there's a different challenge when you're getting great talent to overachieve versus getting lesser talent to overachieve. Like the zen master Pep has incredible record at getting great talent to achieve up to its potential; in jobs that usually see a lot of turnover because of the expectations that talent creates.

Plus he's very tactically clever. I was a skeptic of his for a long time, but watching the clever way he searches for solutions with his constant adjustments and tweaks has changed my mind. I was genuinely impressed with the courage with which he attacked Barca last year, despite injuries leaving his side outgunned in the type of match up that most coaches at big sides default to conservatism even with full health.

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

City? I mean City? Why would he choose City?
For the atmosphere? For the recent history? For the city?

What was the point to choose City?

Close friends from his Barca days are in Citeh's management, a great youth academy (or so what I have read?), unlimited funds and an already quality squad.

I do see where you're coming from though.

 

[Deficient Mode]

City? I mean City? Why would he choose City?
For the atmosphere? For the recent history? For the city?

What was the point to choose City?

They paid him what he wanted and offered him strong influence over transfer decisions (unlike Bayern) as well as the money to pay for any transfers he could get? City really will be his project, much more so than Bayern or Barca, and Pep is kind of a control freak. How many other clubs could have done that and weren't a strong favorite to win the league with him as manager? United? Chelsea makes far less sense for him style-wise, and given their impatience with managers. Arsenal weren't in the market for a new manager. I can't think of another candidate in Europe.

 

[Deficient Mode]

That's not a bad comp. He has always worked with great players, but there's a different challenge when you're getting great talent to overachieve versus getting lesser talent to overachieve. Like the zen master Pep has incredible record at getting great talent to achieve up to its potential; in jobs that usually see a lot of turnover because of the expectations that talent creates.

Plus he's very tactically clever. I was a skeptic of his for a long time, but watching the clever way he searches for solutions with his constant adjustments and tweaks has changed my mind. I was genuinely impressed with the courage with which he attacked Barca last year, despite injuries leaving his side outgunned in the type of match up that most coaches at big sides default to conservatism even with full health.

Phil Jackson wasn't that tactically clever though.

 

[Evilo]

Just in England (let's assume that's where he wanted to go), United and Arsenal would have made a ton more sense.
No Chelsea for the reasons you noted though, no doubt.
But do you think he would have trouble taking a team like, I don't know, West Ham or Tottenham, and make them a trophy winning team in a couple of seasons?
I don't think he needs more money, does he? And even then I'm sure Arsenal and United would have given him blank checks.

No, the real reason is his ego. He wants to go to a (somewhat) failing team and make them a powerhouse.
But in this case he should have gone for less money.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Just in England (let's assume that's where he wanted to go), United and Arsenal would have made a ton more sense.
No Chelsea for the reasons you noted though, no doubt.
But do you think he would have trouble taking a team like, I don't know, West Ham or Tottenham, and make them a trophy winning team in a couple of seasons?
I don't think he needs more money, does he? And even then I'm sure Arsenal and United would have given him blank checks.

No, the real reason is his ego. He wants to go to a (somewhat) failing team and make them a powerhouse.
But in this case he should have gone for less money.

Money matters to some people though. We don't expect Suarez or Messi to go play for Las Palmas at the end of their careers now that they've proven themselves at Barca; if anything we'd expect them to chase bigger paychecks in China or Qatar. That's just the way things work. Most rich people chase even more money.

I doubt United or Arsenal courted him like City did. They probably gave him far less indications that they would open the managerial position for him, much less that they told him he would have control over transfers.

I don't understand why you're criticizing him for the same thing ("He wants to go to a failing team and make them a powerhouse") that you say he should have done ("go to West Ham or Tottenham.") It just seems like Pep can't win with some of the criticism. Further, he definitely turned Barca B into a powerhouse in a way that they weren't without him.

 

[cgf]

Phil Jackson wasn't that tactically clever though.

That's true of basketball in general. The Triangle was innovative enough for that sport.

 

[Live in the Now]

Pro basketball is so much more about managing egos than having the right gameplan.

 

[Power Man]

That's true of basketball in general. The Triangle was innovative enough for that sport.

Except he didnt invent the triangle

But Phil was a great defensive coach

 

[Deficient Mode]

That's true of basketball in general. The Triangle was innovative enough for that sport.

IDK other coaches like Thibodeau, D'Antoni, or Kerr/his assistants seem pretty innovative.

 

[Plato]

IDK other coaches like Thibodeau, D'Antoni, or Kerr/his assistants seem pretty innovative.

Coaches certainly are important but individual talent takes center stage in basketball.
A terrible manager would have a much more profound effect on Aguero than a terrible coach would have on Harden for example.

 

[cgf]

IDK other coaches like Thibodeau, D'Antoni, or Kerr/his assistants seem pretty innovative.

To no where near the same degree. And I'm the one knicks fan who still likes Mike D and think he could've changed the game if we had kept our kids, Dolan not pushed Donnie Walsh aside, and we had gotten LeBron to pick us instead of Miami. But it still wouldn't be the same as what we see happen in this sport every couple of years.

Except he didnt invent the triangle

But Phil was a great defensive coach

True, but he implemented it with lethal precision; with how well he handled the egos of his superstars he left his impact on his teams to similar degree...for a basketball coach.

 

[Evilo]

I don't understand why you're criticizing him for the same thing ("He wants to go to a failing team and make them a powerhouse") that you say he should have done ("go to West Ham or Tottenham.")

Because of the money factor, as I said.